THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF NELLY BLY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast
Jon Hagadorn
4.5 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2023
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1887 a 23 year old young woman named Elizabeth Cochrane arrived at the New York World newspaper asking for a job. At that time, the newspapers didn't hire women for serious reporting. But the Chief Editor took pity on her and asked her if she was willing to go undercover and report on Blackwell Island Insane Asylum. He told her she would have no contacts inside and would receive no help until after ten days inside, at which time the3y would send an attorney for her release. Blackwell's Island was known for housing the criminally insane as well as innocents who were declared insane. Elizabeth agreed to the deal and went in under the name Nelly Bly. The rest was history. She became the 1st female investigative reporter for a major newspaper and her fame spread round the world- even more so when she piloted a balloon solo around the world.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | . |
| 0:30.0 | Welcome back everyone to One Thousand One Heroes, Legends, Histories, and Mysteries podcast. |
| 0:37.0 | This is your host, John Hegedorn. |
| 0:39.5 | And I have a true hero's story for you today, and a very fitting one for women's history |
| 0:43.8 | month. |
| 0:44.8 | I'll begin with this question for you female listeners. |
| 0:48.6 | Would you, as a 23-year-old young woman, desperate for work, fake insanity to gain access |
| 0:54.8 | to a very dangerous and very badly-managed lunatic asylum in order to secure a job with |
| 1:00.0 | a city newspaper? |
| 1:02.1 | You will have no contacts on the inside, and no way of calling for help. |
| 1:06.0 | Should you be in a situation which requires securing your safety? |
| 1:09.6 | And in the times in which this story takes place, cell phones, and modern means of communication |
| 1:14.8 | were not existed. |
| 1:16.2 | I'm wondering how many of you would answer yes? |
| 1:20.3 | Well one young woman took that offer. |
| 1:23.2 | Her real name was Elizabeth Cochran, but in just a few months, the world would soon |
| 1:27.4 | know her as Nellie Bly. |
| 1:30.6 | She would become the best-known investigative journalist in America, male or female. |
| 1:36.0 | All the hard-working female investigative journalists out there today, uncovering scandals, |
| 1:41.6 | covering war zones, and reporting from very dangerous places around the world on human |
| 1:46.2 | suffering and abuse. |
| 1:47.6 | Oh there start, at least in a small way, to Miss Cochran, and this is her incredible story. |
... |
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