Today on the Grave Talks, the ghost of Rhoda Derry.

Rotadari was a victim of our society's once cruel and bizarre system of treatment of the mentally ill.

Her life was also an example of how one can find peace and overcome such disturbing treatment when matched with the right care.

Does the spirit of Rotadari still haunt the last location she called home?

Did the horrendous abuse suffered by Rhoda Derry leave a permanent imprint on the world that we live in today?

Some still claim to see the ghost of Rotterrey on the grounds of the Peoria State Hospital.

It's a ghost of Rotadari finally at peace.

We discuss the tragic story today with Sylvia Schultz. In order to talk about Rotadari, we really also do need to talk about the Peoria State Hospital and Dr. George Zeller. Now, when you say

haunted mental asylum, your mind automatically goes an all-American horror story on you,

and you automatically assume that there was pain and fear and abuse. And it is my privilege

and my great joy to tell people, this is not the case at the Peoria

State Hospital.

This was a place where patients were treated like family.

Dr. Zeller always used to tell people about this fine old word, asylum.

This is a place where people can come to get help.

And if somebody is beyond help, this was a place for them to live and be cared for

for as long as they needed to be.

So, Dr. Seller felt very strongly about not having any sort of restraints at all.

And this becomes important in Rota's story, too.

Dr. Zeller believed that people, patients would come to the asylum from other poor houses and from other

hospitals, and they would come in straitjackets, and Dr. Zeller would have his staff confiscate any straight jackets, handcuffs, foot cuffs that the patients arrived in.

And Dr. Zeller would keep all of these items, and he kept them in a room next to his office.

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