The Tragic Ghost of Rhoda Derry, Part Two | Grave Talks CLASSIC
The Grave Talks | Haunted, Paranormal & Supernatural
Ghost Stores, Haunted, Paranormal & Supernatural Stories
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 October 2024
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rhoda Derry’s life was anything but peaceful. A victim of society’s cruel methods of “treating” the mentally ill, she endured unimaginable torment at the hands of the asylum system. But did her suffering end with her death? Not quite. Today, some say Rhoda’s spirit still roams the grounds of the Peoria State Hospital, where she spent her final days. Is Rhoda’s ghost still seeking the peace that eluded her in life, or is she forever trapped in a haunting loop of her tragic past? Join us on The Grave Talks as we discuss the heartbreaking and haunting tale of Rhoda Derry with Sylvia Shults. This is Part Two of our conversation.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to part two of our interview about the ghost of Rotterrey and our conversation with Sylvia Schultz. |
| 0:08.0 | What happened, I mean in a nutshell, chronologically, after she had passed with the state of the state hospital between |
| 0:16.5 | then and up until she told the state it's at today. |
| 0:21.2 | Oh well, Dr. Zeller retired a few years before he passed away in 1938. His influence was still very much in evidence at the Peoria State Hospital. |
| 0:37.8 | It had a legacy of caring and commitment to the patients. |
| 0:42.4 | This really was a place where patients could come to find help, |
| 0:47.0 | not just be warehoused, but where they could find help. We had the highest rate of reintegration into society of any state |
| 0:55.6 | hospital in the United States. In 1938, the year Dr. Zeller passed away. We had a patient who was actually a member of British royalty, |
| 1:09.8 | or not not royalty, but new but nobility nobility this person Emily Belcher was the last surviving |
| 1:17.8 | descendant of Sir Francis Drake and when she started having mental issues, her family scoured the entire globe for the |
| 1:28.1 | best care for her. |
| 1:30.7 | And that's where they found it is in Bartonville, Illinois at the Peoria State Hospital. |
| 1:36.0 | And that's where Emily was committed to. |
| 1:40.0 | She received a care package every month, which included a pound of silver for her upkeep and when she realized that she was in her final illness in 1938, she wrote to her family and in England and she said you know I know that I |
| 1:58.1 | should come back to England and be buried in the ancestral ground and all that but |
| 2:02.4 | this is my family now and I would like to be buried when I |
| 2:06.8 | pass away I would like to be buried with my family and her wishes were |
| 2:11.0 | honored and she is in Cemetery 3. |
| 2:13.7 | So yeah, this was a place that was very well respected |
| 2:19.1 | in the field of mental illness and the treatment of mental illness, this was a great big remodel of the asylum. |
| 2:37.0 | We did things like make the asylum ADA compliant. |
| 2:43.4 | The nurses building with the nurses classrooms was turned into office space, |
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