Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project

Despite reforms in the first part of the 19th century, mental health treatment during the Victorian years could still be a gruelling experience depending on where a patient ended up. Like poverty, it was largely seen as a moral failing rather than a serious illness. Some treatment was nothing short of barbaric.

Nobody knew this more than Noah Tar who was one of the more ‘difficult’ patients. He was admitted to Lancaster Moor Hospital in July of 1884 where he remained until his passing several months later.

But let’s rewind a little. When Noah turned 16, he began to display worrying behaviours and beliefs. The heart of the matter was that Noah became certain that he had been chosen by God to erradicate a cult ‘harbouring the wrath of Satan’.

Although there was little information taken by family members and hospital staff about this cult, we believe it was likely to be The Siblings of Saint Rupert. The only reason that there’s some doubt among the experts is because at the time, research shows that nobody knew of the Siblings; at least nobody who would dare declare it.

Photograph #1 is among the very few we have of Noah. He is sitting at some sort of altar which was set up in the basement of his family home. It remained hidden from his family for a  short time. However, one night his sister was alerted to it when she heard ‘tortuous thrashing and demonic shrieks’ coming from the basement.

After bursting through the door, she found Noah in a bloody heap with broken limbs and lacerations. He was mumbling what sounded like a Latin hymn. She immediately found help and Noah was put under surveillance at the asylum.

From a Victorian medical perspective it was clear he was insane. Nobody could possibly self-harm on such a scale.

After partially recovering from his injuries, the situation only deteriorated. As soon as Noah had mobility again he tried to break out of his isolation room. He met the restraint of several doctors and, during the intervention,  injured two of them by his violent thrashing around.

Noah was put in another isolation room except the doctors resorted to chaining him up which we can see in photograph #5.

It appears that during this time, he admitted to himself that it’s hardly likely he could ever really escape the asylum and carry out God’s will. He therefore proposed to his doctor that if they provide him with art materials and a copy of the Bible then he will become passive and docile for the rest of his stay.

The doctor agreed, but told Noah he would remain chained up for a trial period. Noah was apparently unfazed by this.

Over several months he stayed true to his word, and endlessly and frantically painted the above images plus hundreds more. According to Noah he said that they were a warning to mortal men that the apocalypse is coming.

Not long after Noah had mellowed, he was found dead one morning in his isolation room. He had been dismembered, stabbed and his eyes had been picked out of their sockets like boiled eggs.

Although the ruling was suicide, it is worth noting that there was really no way Noah could have inflicted those injuries on himself. There was a point where Noah would have died from approximately 30% of all recorded injuries. Yet something just kept on going. Hopefully one day we will all find out what.

Thank you for your continued support. Have a lovely weekend.

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