PHOTOS: A Sinister Look At The Barbaric Methods Used In A 19th Century Mental Asylum

Back in 1874, an institution simply named ‘State Hospital for the Insane #2’ claimed to take part in helping revive people who were mentally unwell. However, the methods that were used were completely barbaric and bordering on torture, many of which were experimental.

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50 years later and still many patients passed through the hospital including dangerous criminals. The hospital carried on with its practices for 127 years until in 1967, an employee of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, George Glore, opened a museum which presented many artifacts that had been used to treat mental health patients. Below are some of the many exhibits on display at the ever expanding Glore Psychiatric Museum that reflect the tortures these patients had to endure:

Restraint cage

Lunatic Box

Tranquiliser Chair (some patients spent up to 6 months strapped to it)

The Bath of Surprise

Hydrotherapy tub

Restraint jackets

Fever cabinet used to sweat out syphilis

Buttons and safety pins once swallowed by a patient

The O’Halloran’s Swing (used to rotate patients at high speed)

Seems more like a house of tortures than a place for sick people to get better. As said, many of these methods were experimental – you’ve got to feel for the poor patients who were the guinea pigs. Their lost souls were damaged even further without any hope of recovering.