The History of Bedlam Hospitals

In 1887, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nelly Bly pretended to be mentally ill as part of her undercover assignment. She was admitted to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island in Manhattan's East River. After the hospital started principally serving those with severe mental illness, it became known as bedlam. And today, bedlam is a byword for chaos or madness.