On 9 October 1906, Rhoda Derry died at the institution that had finally offered her something she had been denied for much of her life: compassionate care.
She was buried on the hospital grounds in grave 217.
Today, her memorial bears words that transform this from simply another tale of a supposedly haunted asylum into something much more human — a remembrance of suffering, dignity and the lessons learned from one woman's life.
On the anniversary of Rhoda's death, Haunted History Chronicles returns to Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville, Illinois, exploring its remarkable history, its ghosts and the woman whose story became inseparable from its legacy.
Opened in 1902, the institution began life under the deeply troubling name of the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane. Its first superintendent, Dr George Zeller, rejected the very idea behind that name. He pursued a radically different philosophy of care based upon non-restraint, freedom and humane treatment, removing bars and restraints and developing what became an influential model of institutional mental-health care.
And then there was Rhoda.
Before reaching Peoria, Rhoda Derry had endured decades of institutionalisation and appalling conditions. Under Zeller's care, the final years of her life were very different. When she died on 9 October 1906, Zeller wrote movingly of the nurses who had cared for her and wept at her graveside. He believed that the institution itself had been changed by having cared for her.
But Peoria has another history too.
Stories of apparitions, strange voices and unexplained experiences became attached to the sprawling hospital complex and those who once lived and died there. Even Dr Zeller recorded unusual stories associated with the institution in his own writings.
Joining me is author and paranormal researcher Sylvia Shults @sylviashults3142 whose extensive work on Peoria State Hospital includes Fractured Spirits and 44 Years in Darkness, her study of Rhoda Derry's life and legacy. Together we explore the history of the hospital, the philosophy of Dr Zeller, its paranormal stories and, most importantly, the extraordinary and heartbreaking life of Rhoda herself.
This is not simply the story of a haunted asylum.
It is the story of how society treated some of its most vulnerable people; of one doctor's determination to do things differently; of the ghosts said to remain on the hilltop — and of a woman whose suffering ultimately became an argument for compassion.
On 9 October, we remember Rhoda Derry: 1840–1906.
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