I don’t know that this non-fiction book by Daniel Keyes is something I would have ever read in the past were it not for an intriguing trailer for a new Tom Holland-led show on Apple+. But I am thankful to that trailer, because it led me to one of the most whacky true stories I have ever heard! The Minds of Billy Milligan captured me in a similar way to the fictionalized Chernobyl storytelling did.
Admittedly, I was going to wait until I watched The Crowded Room, the fictional series this book inspired, and a four-part documentary series on Netflix, before writing this review, but it’s going to take some time for those to get finished. I couldn’t wait! And yes, I remember that I should watch the things before I read the things, but this is the first thing that came my way. So sue me. Billy Milligan was 22 years old when he was arrested for three rapes on the Ohio State campus. Oh yeah, this guy is from Ohio! Of course he is! Pretty quickly his public defense team knew something wasn’t quite right with him, so they called in the help and evaluation of several psychologists who had all come the same conclusion. Billy was suffering from multiple personalities.
It was both good and bad that at the time of Billy’s arrest and diagnosis, that multiple personalities was a relatively new thing. Sybil was the only other well-known case in that era. In a first for the state, and the country, Milligan was acquitted of all charges brought against him, but was to spend time at well-to-do treatment facility to try and fuse the nine personalities that had been discovered in the lead-up to the trial. I was surprised at all the parties willing to come together to do right by this very ill young man, and I was even more impressed with how many skeptics also converted to the cause. It was some time later when it was determined that Billy actually had 24 personalities living within him, and that “the teacher” was the whole and complete Billy.
I was fascinated to learn about how these personalities came to be, but was sadly not surprised to learn that abuse from a stepfather was the catalyst. It was more interesting to learn about all of these personalities, what their talents were, and their ultimate purpose for showing up at times. It was sad to learn that the youngest personalities were meant to handle the pain and abuse Billy suffered for a very long time, but it was also wild to learn about how intelligent he was. A talented! Not only did he have some incredible strength in one of the personalities, but many of them were artists in some medium and subject when they “took the spotlight.”
I was devastated to learn how eventually some backwards thinking facilities and physicians treated him after making so much progress elsewhere, but I’m hoping things were able to get patched up a bit for him before he passed back in 2014. Of course I’ll be reporting back once I’ve watched the two shows I mentioned, so keep an eye out for that.