Haunted Homebodies

Monster Med is back but now with a new name and a new co-host! Make sure to subscribe to Don’t Look Under The Med: Macabre Medical Stories to make sure you never miss a creepy moment.

WE'RE BACK BABY! After a rather long hiatus, I am super excited to announce that the podcast will return in one short week. So buckle up and get ready for more fun, creepy medical chats coming your way!

Monster Med is now known as Don't Look Under The Med: Macabre Medical Stories, and joining me as co-host in this fresh new chapter is my childhood best friend, Sara, who shares my passion for well... pretty much everything.

Together we will share stories of haunted hospitals, murderous healthcare providers, and horrific medical procedures- you know, all the fun stuff you've come to expect from me up until this point.

Tune in on August 21st, to hear our chat about serial killer nurse, "Jolly" Jane Toppan. Be there, and be scared!

Waverly Hills Sanatorium provided medical care in response to the Tuberculosis outbreak in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1910 to 1961. Although the exact number is unknown, the total number of deaths within Waverly's walls is estimated to be between 50 to 64 thousand. Since its closure, the main sanatorium building was briefly opened as a geriatric care center before being closed by the government. It is now privately owned and has gained a lot of attention from paranormal investigators as it is considered one of the most haunted locations in the world.

Book

Waverly Hills Sanatorium: A History, by Lynn Pohl

Websites

Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Waverly Hills Historical Society

Articles

Buzzfeed- Notes For Unsolved: Waverly Hills Sanatorium, by Unsolved Research Notes Buzzfeed Staff

Newspaper Article

The Courier-Journal- Home’s plan to close ends state’s most intense probe, Published 15 Dec 1980, by Robert L. Pierce

Youtube

Paranormal Investigation - See inside the sanatorium now!

OVERNIGHT in HAUNTED WAVERLY SANATORIUM: Evil Lives Forever, TFIL

1931 Government Tuberculosis film - See inside the sanatorium while it was open

Waverly Hills 1931, Steve Russell Video Productions

Follow along to never miss a monstrous moment! New episodes released every other Monday. If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to rate, review, and share! Stay monstrous, friends!

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina carved a devastating path of destruction through New Orleans, Louisiana, resulting in 1,833 reported fatalities. Considered the most significant loss was the deaths of 35 older and/or medically compromised adult residents at St. Rita’s nursing home. In today’s episode, we will explore the tragedy that occurred at St. Rita’s and the trial of the nursing home’s owners, Sal and Mabel Mangano.

Book

Flood of Lies: The St. Rita’s Nursing Home Tragedy, by James A. Cobb, JR.

Articles

New York Times- Many of Hurricane Ian’s Victims Were Older Adults Who Drowned, by By Mitch Smith, Frances Robles, Eliza Fawcett and Ava Sasani

Global Action on Aging via USA TODAY- What Really Happened at St. Rita’s?, by Laura Parker

ABC News- Eight Years After Katrina: St. Rita's Owners 'Still Feel the Stigma’, by Kelley Robinson

nola.com- New assisted-living center at St. Rita's site fills need -- but stirs painful Katrina memories, by Chad Calder

TV Special

48 Hours: No Way Out, CBS News

Video Clips

A Look Inside St. Rita’s Three Years After Hurricane Katrina

Lawyer James Cobb, Jr. talks about his book Flood of Lies

Maps

Louisiana Map Highlighting St. Bernard Parish

St. Bernard Levee System Map

Click here to support victims of Hurricane Ian in Florida.

Follow along to never miss a monstrous moment! If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to rate, review, and share! Stay monstrous, friends!

“Starvation Heights” was the nickname given to the sanatorium, Wilderness Heights, built by Dr. Linda Hazzard as a place to offer the elite her “fasting cure.” Many people under her “care” ended up starving to death, only after she ensured that their riches were transferred to her.

Articles Referenced During Episode:

History Link - Hazzard, Linda Burfield (1867 - 1938), by Katherine Beck

Smithsonian Magazine - The Doctor Who Starved Her Patients to Death, by Bess Lovejoy

Books Referenced During Episode:

Olsen, G. (1997). Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest. Random House.

Ramsland, K.M. (2007). Inside the Minds of Healthcare Serial Killers: Why They Kill. Praeger Publishers.

Follow along to never miss a monstrous moment! New episodes released every Monday. If you enjoyed today’s episode be sure to rate, review, and share! Stay monstrous, friends!

What is a worthy risk in the name of science? Today we will explore some of the lesser-known, yet most unethical medical experiments in U.S. history. Often prisoners, orphans, or patients at psychiatric or state hospitals were unfairly used as human subjects in these experiments. From shockingly strange experiments involving testicles, to willfully injected people with cancer cells, in this episode we explore the dark beginnings of medical research before the National Research Act and The Belmont Report in the 1970s tighten regulations on the use and treatment of human subjects.

Articles Referenced During Episode:

McGill: Office for Science and Society - 40 Years of Human Experimentation in America: The Tuskegee Study, by Ada McVean

CNN Health - Unethical experiments' painful contributions to today's medicine, by Nina Avramova

Discover Magazine - 5 Unethical Medical Experiments Brought Out of the Shadows of History, by Allison Futterman

NBC News - Ugly past of U.S. human experiments uncovered, by Mike Stobbe

Follow along to never miss a monstrous moment! New episodes released every Monday. If you enjoyed today’s episode be sure to rate, review, and share! Stay monstrous, friends!

Is (mental) health care a human right?

Today is the second part of a two-episode series on the history of prison healthcare. In this series, we explore the extensive cross-over that exists between incarceration and mental illness, the medical and mental health services available to incarcerated people, and Supreme Court cases that shaped the way healthcare is provided to prisoners. We will also take a look at the history of solitary confinement and its impact including the history of the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Articles Referenced During Episode:

The Philadelphia Inquirer- Incarceration: Inventing Solitary, by Samantha Melamed

Federal Bureau of Prisons - Historical Information

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site - Timeline

Books

Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness, by Alisa Roth

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, by Ted Conover

Follow along to never miss a monstrous moment! New episodes are released every Monday. If you enjoyed today’s episode please take a minute to rate, review and share!

Is (mental) health care a human right?

Today is the first part of a two-episode series on the history of prison healthcare. In this series, we explore the extensive cross-over that exists between incarceration and mental illness, the medical and mental health services available to incarcerated people, and Supreme Court cases that shaped the way healthcare is provided to prisoners. We will also take a look at the history of solitary confinement and its impact on mental health.

Stay monstrous!

Articles Referenced During Episode:

The Philadelphia Inquirer- Incarceration: Inventing Solitary, by Samantha Melamed

Federal Bureau of Prisons - Historical Information

The Marshall Project- Infected, Incarcerated, and Coming to an ICU Near You?, by Joseph Neff and Beth Schwartzapfel

Books

Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness, by Alisa Roth

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, by Ted Conover

Follow along to never miss a monstrous moment! New episodes released every Monday. If you enjoyed today’s episode be sure to rate, review and share!

The “hero complex” is a psychological term used to describe people with the compulsive, insatiable need to help others. This impulse is typically only harmful to the individual suffering from the complex, as they go above and beyond to help everyone and everything they can. But the hero complex can also manifest itself in criminal ways. These people create life-threatening scenarios which they have the skills to resolve, seeking recognition for their so-called heroic acts. This complex commonly shows up in careers meant to help others like law enforcement, fire and rescue, and nursing.

Articles Referenced During Episode:

University of Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute- The “Hero Syndrome”, by Sergeant Ben D. Cross

The Washington Post- ‘Hero’ Admits Planting Olympic Bomb, by Jay Mathews

Vanity Fair- American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell, by Marie Brenner

Psychology Today- “Hero” Serial Killers: Some healthcare workers like the rush of “saving” patients they've endangered, by Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.

NPR- Former German Nurse Guilty of Killing 85 Patients In Serial Murder Case, by Bill Chappell

The New York Times - Former Patient Points to Nurse In Murder Trial, by Philip S. Gutis

Books

Inside the Minds of Healthcare Serial Killers, by Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D.

TV Shows/Movies:

Manhunt: Deadly Games

Richard Jewell

Criminal Minds - Hero Syndrome Episodes

Follow along to never miss a monstrous moment! New episodes released every Monday. If you enjoyed today’s episode be sure to rate, review and share!

The Pennhurst State School and Hospital was an institution opened in Pennsylvania in 1908 to house children with epilepsy and intellectual disabilities with the goal of eliminating such genes from the population. The history of Pennhurst is full of controversy, with undisputed reports of unsafe living conditions, abuse, resident, and lack of adequate care or education. Despite the horrific conditions endured by the children and adults who resided at Pennhurst, legal action against the facility contributed to positive social changes, including the right to education for all children.

Articles Referenced During Episode:

Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance

Suffer The Little Children: The ground-breaking 1968 NBC10 Expose on Pennhurst State School by Bill Baldini

Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, Case: Halderman v. Pennhurst, Filed Date: May 30, 1974

Suspension For Doctor After Probe, The Indiana Gazette, 13 July 1968, Page 15

Ghost Adventures Episode on Pennhurst

NPR, Haunted House Has Painful Past As Asylum

The Pennhurst Longitudinal Study: Combined Report of Fiver Years of Research and Analysis, Published February 28, 1985

Follow along to never miss a monstrous moment! New episodes released every Monday. If you enjoyed today’s episode be sure to rate, review and share!