A young reporter walks into an asylum and changes journalism forever. Nellie Bly became one of the most daring historical figures of the Gilded Age by getting herself committed to Blackwell’s Island asylum, then exposing the cruelty, neglect and institutional horror she found inside. But Ten Days in a Mad-House was only one chapter in a life built on risk, spectacle and rule-breaking.

This episode follows Nellie Bly from Elizabeth Cochran’s early career to Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, where undercover reporting became a public event and stunt journalism turned into a weapon. We explore what really happened inside Blackwell’s Island, how her reporting helped trigger a grand jury investigation, and why the asylum exposé still sits between dark history, investigative journalism and true crime stories of institutional abuse.

Then the story races outward: Nellie Bly’s attempt to beat Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg by travelling around the world in 72 days. Part biography podcasts material, part hidden histories, part history podcast adventure, this is the story of one of the most famous women in history — a journalist who understood danger, publicity and power before the modern media machine had a name.

Topics include:

• Her early career and the making of Nellie Bly
• Going undercover inside Blackwell’s Island asylum
• What her investigation revealed about care, cruelty, and institutional neglect
• Investigative journalism as performance, risk, and public spectacle
• Joseph Pulitzer, the New York World, and the machinery of sensational reporting
• Her 72-day trip around the world and the frenzy that followed

Resources and Further Reading

• 10 days in a madhouse - by Nellie Bly
• Nellie Bly - Wikipedia
• Woman & The American Story - nyhistory.org

Host & Show Info

• Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
• Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland

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• Website: thecompendiumpodcast.com
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