Women Were Committed Here for Being "Tired" — The Taunton State Hospital Story Nobody Tells

In 1854, Massachusetts opened Taunton State Hospital with one goal: to heal the mentally ill with dignity and fresh air. But within years, the wards were dangerously overcrowded, the treatments turned harmful, and women were being committed for reasons that had nothing to do with mental illness — exhaustion, independence, disagreement with their husbands. Over 800 patients died here and were buried in unmarked graves. This is their story.