44 Years in Darkness

A True Story of Madness, Tragedy, and Shattered Love

By: Sylvia Shults

Narrated by: Kendal Steele

In the later part of the 19th century, Rhoda Derry spent over 40 years in the Adams County Poor Farm, curled in a fetal position in a box bed. She had clawed her own eyes out. She had beaten her front teeth in. Her legs had atrophied to the point where she could no longer stand on her own, or even sit in a wheelchair. She had been committed there by her own family when they could no longer care for her at home. She spent decades locked away from the world.

Her crime? Falling in love.

Rhoda suffered a mental breakdown after being “cursed” by the mother of the boy she was engaged to marry. Committed to the almshouse for violent insanity, she was eventually rescued by Dr. George A. Zeller. She was transferred to the Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville, Illinois, where she spent the remainder of her days in peace and comfort. Rhoda died in 1906, but her spirit seems to live on....

Sylvia Shults, author of Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital, returns to the hilltop to tell the story of Rhoda's life, and her afterlife. She examines the social pressures that led to Rhoda's breakdown and her eventual insanity. And she explores the stories that continue to be told about Rhoda, and her presence on the hilltop.

©2016 Sylvia Shults (P)2019 David N. Wilson

Very interesting history on Illinois!!

I grew up in Illinois along the IL river in LaSalle county. Between Utica IL and Peru IL. I love history and while I heard of Ms. Derry and the horrible conditions she was kept in but I learned a lot more her history and the history of IL. Yet please don't get me wrong this wasn't just one long history lesson!! It was a good book. Very sad but also showed a lot of the time these places were built and ran with good intentions. The ending was bittersweet. Don't want to say more so I don't ruin it. Definitely recommend.

Fascinating story of human resilience.

She did a great reading; but I read faster than she, especially in the really interesting part.

It took too long to get to the point

All the surface this book sounds like a very interesting story and maybe it is I wouldn’t know I’ll stop listening it took so long to get to what happened to Rhoda and then I find out no one really knows how to roll the mat Charlie how do you with carrots for his mother this is all made up story but first they have to tell you the history of Ohio the history of her grandpa then her daddy and his first wife just goes on anon blah blah blah so I just stopped reading it especially when she ran home and the books that she saw scratch Satan following her home. Don’t tell me a story is made up and then throw in a ridiculous detail like Satan was following her home if you’re going to tell a true story tell it from the truth that you know please don’t make anything up especially right after you tell me to go onto the rule of the story. At least for me it did. That wasn’t the worst part though they just said so much unnecessary detail in this book like the history of the state her great grandpa and his first wife who has nothing to do with her so much it was just all relevant and to me it was just filler and boring.

Loved the story and the history that went with it.

The author had to assume certain situations and meetings, but I think she did it very well and with much discretion. What happened to a beautiful young girl should be told and never forgotten.