Although she was a groundbreaking pioneer in the field of investigative journalism, Nellie Bly's name is not widely known. But it should be. In her seminal book Ten Days in a Mad-House, which she initially wrote as a series of articles for a well-known magazine of the time, Bly recounts her experience going undercover in a "lunatic asylum." She lived at that "lunatic asylum" in New York, at the request of Joseph Pulitzer, for ten days. There, she discovered the horrible conditions that patients had to endure and began to legitimately question her sanity, as well as the sanity of other patients at the asylum. Despite her sound mind, all but one doctor proudly declared that she was insane.
After spending some time at the asylum, Bly came to a fairly memorable: "The insane asylum on Blackwell's Island is a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there it is impossible to get out.” And Bly's book is certainly memorable. It was responsible for a grand jury investigation into the asylum Bly went to and which resulted in the State of New York increasing the asylum's budget.
Separately, Bly's book has been adopted into film and television twice. The first film based on Bly's book was released in 2015; the second was released in 2019. The television series American Horror Story used Ten Days in a Mad-House as an inspiration for its second "Asylum" season. Finally, a television series called Ten Days in a Mad-House was released in 2017. All four projects were well-reviewed and increased the awareness for Bly's book.
