Rhoda Derry
Not many people would survive in the mental institutions from past centuries. That wasn’t the case for Rhoda Derry, who spent most of her life in such facilities and lived on to be 72! She was not born naturally ill but developed it over time after the man she loved didn’t get approval from his mother.
The mother told Rhoda that if she didn’t leave her son alone, she would cast a spell on her. Rhoda was terrified of witches, and at the age of 25, she was admitted to Adams County almshouse. And that’s where she lived until she passed away in 1906.
