The Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane stood tall
against the dark background of the rolling fields and barren lands. Built
in 1931 by Doctor Vannacutt the building housed some of the most dangerous
criminals in the country. All were classed as criminally insane.
The building was bigger and in some senses better than any other place in the country. It was said that it was impossible to escape from the building, which was more like a fortress than a hospital. It was situated on the edge of a sheer cliff. Any prisoner who tried to escape would fall and be dead before they could even think about escaping into the local community. The building itself was said to be state of the art. It had all the latest security measures in place but what made it most famous was the "lock down mechanism". This ensured that should they need to the staff could lock down the hospital so no one could escape.
The system was flawless. There were some, however, that didn't approve of the new hospital. Keeping so many violent and mentally unstable patients in the same place seemed a little dangerous. Doctor Vannacutt insisted that it was safer than Alkatraz.
He himself was a great doctor but was also insane. His strange ideas about how to 'cure' his patients had travelled around the world. His theory was that if a sane person could go mad then an insane person could be made sane. He had rather extraordinary methods of doing this. He believed that using harsh and often cruel methods he could make his patients sane.
**
The patient who was said to be one of the maddest in the Institute was a young girl, of around twenty years of age. Her name was Nadine but she had always insisted on being called Ned, no one knew where this name came from but she had once tried to kill the man who came into her cell and called her Nadine.
Although no one knew her crime she was sent to Doctor Vannacutt when she was sixteen because she had consistently sat in her room killing small animals with all kind of tools. Including stakes and fire. When she met a local minister once she had slit his throat and then decapitated him and put the severed head in amounst her toys. When her maid found it one day she was sent to Doctor Vannacutt and told not to return until she was cured.
**
The next patient that Doctor Vannacutt was particularly interested in was another young girl of about eighteen. Her name was Winifred she was at school when she was arrested by the local police station. After spending two days in a cell she somehow got out and killed all twenty of the guards that tried to stop her.
Fred, as she preferred to be called was then recaught and sent to Doctor Vannacutt. She was sent to the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally insane where she met her two friends Ned and another patient called Roberta, or Bob.
** Bob was also young but she was about twenty-four. Her crime seemed more severe than the others in the hospital; she was arrested when she was found in her college classroom eating a young boy. His name was Mark and he certainly annoyed her at some point. Bob never explained why she had killed and ultimately eaten him, not even to the Doctor himself.
Now this most violent criminal was kept in a cell at the end of a long corridor. She was locked up in a straight jacket, which was often so tight that she couldn't breathe.
Doctor Vannacutt was well known for his somewhat bizarre methods of treating the mad. In Bob's case his answer was to keep her not only in a straightjacket but also have a cage on her head. It was the most awful invention. The device was made completely of metal and was fixed around the patient's head. There were bars all around it and each bar had several log, sharp spikes on them. This not only made the prisoner very uncomfortable but if they caused any amount of fuss, for example trying to eat the staff, the spikes would begin to hurt them as they moved their head backwards and forwards.
This certainly was the most brutal way of torture but it appeared to work, as so far Bob hadn't hurt one of the doctors or nurses working at the Institute.
Even though his methods were a little unorthodox and by some considered plain cruel not many people took notice of his strange experiments. After all these people were the social outcasts and no one would miss them, also very few people knew about Vannacutt's experiments.
**
In the cell where Bob was being kept there was a chain so thick that no one could break it. There were bars over the metal door, this was one prisoner that the doctors didn't want to get out. Unfortunately for them Doctor Vannacutt had plans for Bob and he wanted her taken out of the cell. It was his ambtion to cure her of her insanity. To do this he had to teach her that being crazy was a bad thing although this was hard seeing as most of the prisoners liked being mad. They didn't want to change but it wasn't up to them.
**
Doctor Vannacutt, a nurse and two orderlies went to fetch her from her cell. They were more careful than any other prisoner in the asylum. Bob didn't move at all even though she could easily lash out at them, she was surprisingly mellow today and this made all of the staff very nervous.
"Come now Bob. We don't want any trouble from you today. You understand?"
The nervous orderly tried to lighten the mood.
They wheeled her through the corridors of the asylum and passed the screaming prisoners that wanted so desperately to get out. There was no hope of that in the near future.
Doctor Vannacutt went ahead of them and took out a great key that opened the door to a room that was usually out of bounds. He told the orderlies to wheel Bob in and strap her to the bonds that were hanging from the ceiling. None of the staff liked this part of the job, she was for a moment free and that made them very nervous.
To their relief and surprise she didn't try to do anything so they were safe for now. She stared at Doctor Vannacutt who was looking straight back at her. He liked to think that he was beginning to connect with her but she had other ideas.
She gave him a malicious smile and he grinned back and walked backwards towards the door.
"I hope you understand why I am doing this Roberta." He knew how much she hated that name.
He smiled as he closed the door and looked through the small glass porthole at her. There was something there, some spark of sanity. His theory was that if torture could make people insane then it could also be reversed and make them sane again. This was a sentiment not shared with his colleagues.
He leaned over and pulled a lever that began the electric shock treatment. At first nothing happened and then it began.
Bob's screams echoed through the room.
Doctor Vannacutt smiled grimly at the thought that he was making things better, he did enjoy these sessions.
**
The building was bigger and in some senses better than any other place in the country. It was said that it was impossible to escape from the building, which was more like a fortress than a hospital. It was situated on the edge of a sheer cliff. Any prisoner who tried to escape would fall and be dead before they could even think about escaping into the local community. The building itself was said to be state of the art. It had all the latest security measures in place but what made it most famous was the "lock down mechanism". This ensured that should they need to the staff could lock down the hospital so no one could escape.
The system was flawless. There were some, however, that didn't approve of the new hospital. Keeping so many violent and mentally unstable patients in the same place seemed a little dangerous. Doctor Vannacutt insisted that it was safer than Alkatraz.
He himself was a great doctor but was also insane. His strange ideas about how to 'cure' his patients had travelled around the world. His theory was that if a sane person could go mad then an insane person could be made sane. He had rather extraordinary methods of doing this. He believed that using harsh and often cruel methods he could make his patients sane.
**
The patient who was said to be one of the maddest in the Institute was a young girl, of around twenty years of age. Her name was Nadine but she had always insisted on being called Ned, no one knew where this name came from but she had once tried to kill the man who came into her cell and called her Nadine.
Although no one knew her crime she was sent to Doctor Vannacutt when she was sixteen because she had consistently sat in her room killing small animals with all kind of tools. Including stakes and fire. When she met a local minister once she had slit his throat and then decapitated him and put the severed head in amounst her toys. When her maid found it one day she was sent to Doctor Vannacutt and told not to return until she was cured.
**
The next patient that Doctor Vannacutt was particularly interested in was another young girl of about eighteen. Her name was Winifred she was at school when she was arrested by the local police station. After spending two days in a cell she somehow got out and killed all twenty of the guards that tried to stop her.
Fred, as she preferred to be called was then recaught and sent to Doctor Vannacutt. She was sent to the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally insane where she met her two friends Ned and another patient called Roberta, or Bob.
** Bob was also young but she was about twenty-four. Her crime seemed more severe than the others in the hospital; she was arrested when she was found in her college classroom eating a young boy. His name was Mark and he certainly annoyed her at some point. Bob never explained why she had killed and ultimately eaten him, not even to the Doctor himself.
Now this most violent criminal was kept in a cell at the end of a long corridor. She was locked up in a straight jacket, which was often so tight that she couldn't breathe.
Doctor Vannacutt was well known for his somewhat bizarre methods of treating the mad. In Bob's case his answer was to keep her not only in a straightjacket but also have a cage on her head. It was the most awful invention. The device was made completely of metal and was fixed around the patient's head. There were bars all around it and each bar had several log, sharp spikes on them. This not only made the prisoner very uncomfortable but if they caused any amount of fuss, for example trying to eat the staff, the spikes would begin to hurt them as they moved their head backwards and forwards.
This certainly was the most brutal way of torture but it appeared to work, as so far Bob hadn't hurt one of the doctors or nurses working at the Institute.
Even though his methods were a little unorthodox and by some considered plain cruel not many people took notice of his strange experiments. After all these people were the social outcasts and no one would miss them, also very few people knew about Vannacutt's experiments.
**
In the cell where Bob was being kept there was a chain so thick that no one could break it. There were bars over the metal door, this was one prisoner that the doctors didn't want to get out. Unfortunately for them Doctor Vannacutt had plans for Bob and he wanted her taken out of the cell. It was his ambtion to cure her of her insanity. To do this he had to teach her that being crazy was a bad thing although this was hard seeing as most of the prisoners liked being mad. They didn't want to change but it wasn't up to them.
**
Doctor Vannacutt, a nurse and two orderlies went to fetch her from her cell. They were more careful than any other prisoner in the asylum. Bob didn't move at all even though she could easily lash out at them, she was surprisingly mellow today and this made all of the staff very nervous.
"Come now Bob. We don't want any trouble from you today. You understand?"
The nervous orderly tried to lighten the mood.
They wheeled her through the corridors of the asylum and passed the screaming prisoners that wanted so desperately to get out. There was no hope of that in the near future.
Doctor Vannacutt went ahead of them and took out a great key that opened the door to a room that was usually out of bounds. He told the orderlies to wheel Bob in and strap her to the bonds that were hanging from the ceiling. None of the staff liked this part of the job, she was for a moment free and that made them very nervous.
To their relief and surprise she didn't try to do anything so they were safe for now. She stared at Doctor Vannacutt who was looking straight back at her. He liked to think that he was beginning to connect with her but she had other ideas.
She gave him a malicious smile and he grinned back and walked backwards towards the door.
"I hope you understand why I am doing this Roberta." He knew how much she hated that name.
He smiled as he closed the door and looked through the small glass porthole at her. There was something there, some spark of sanity. His theory was that if torture could make people insane then it could also be reversed and make them sane again. This was a sentiment not shared with his colleagues.
He leaned over and pulled a lever that began the electric shock treatment. At first nothing happened and then it began.
Bob's screams echoed through the room.
Doctor Vannacutt smiled grimly at the thought that he was making things better, he did enjoy these sessions.
**