Billy Milligan was born in 1955 and after some time got into all the textbooks of psychiatry. Usually, a split personality suggests that there are two personalities inside one body, most often conflicting with each other. Inside Billy, 24 personalities gathered, the change of which others could observe and even distinguish personalities by voice and facial expressions!
Of the 24 personalities, 10 were the main ones, and the rest were suppressed for committing acts dangerous to the “collective” and were called “undesirable”. The kaleidoscope of personalities was fantastic: Arthur was an intelligent Englishman who was in charge of order in relations between subpersonalities, Reigen was a communist from Yugoslavia, two teenagers, a three-year-old girl, a 19-year-old girl, Allen was an artist, musician and swindler, and others.
At 23, Billy was arrested on suspicion of rape. His guilt was obvious until the psychologist noticed that at times he behaved very strangely. After careful study of the suspect, many incredible details of the life that boiled in his mind came to light.
Billy Milligan Personalities:
Billy Milligan's alter personalities appeared at the age of 3-4 years (an unnamed boy with whom he played, and Christine, who took care of her younger sister). The number of personalities increased at the age of 8-9 years, when little Billy was repeatedly raped and beaten by his stepfather. 10 personalities were considered basic (the description is given as of 1977-1978, during treatment).
Billy - the original William Stanley Milligan, is the main personality, suicidal.
Arthur is a sophisticated, educated Englishman. Expert in science and medicine, with a focus on hematology.
Independently studied Arabic (to study the inscriptions on the Egyptian pyramids) and Swahili. With the help of logic and deduction, he found out that he was not alone in the body of Milligan, and identified other personalities. Along with Reigen, he took responsibility for the overall body - except for dangerous situations.
Established rules of conduct for the rest of the "family members" - Milligan's personalities.
Reijen Vadaskovinich is a Yugoslavian with a Slavic accent in English, writes and speaks Serbo-Croatian. It is the "guardian of hatred". A communist, expert in weapons and ammunition, in charge of fitness. Possesses extreme strength, due to the fact that Arthur taught him "how to control the flow of adrenaline." Ragen's weak point is women and children, he does not hesitate to help them if they are in trouble, even to the point of stealing food and things for them. He controls basic actions in dangerous situations and, along with Arthur, can classify individuals as "undesirable").
Allen - 18 years old, swindler, manipulator, has excellent eloquence. Most often communicates with the outside world. Draws portraits, plays the drums. The only right-hander and the only one who smokes cigarettes.
Tommy is the "guardian of salvation". In his own words, he is often confused with Allen. Independently figured out electricity, the principles of operation of electrical and mechanical devices, locks. I learned to control muscles and joints, to get rid of handcuffs. Plays the saxophone, paints landscapes.
Danny is a frightened 14 year old boy who is afraid of people, especially men. He paints only still lifes, because he is afraid of the earth in any form - Chalmer once forced him to dig a grave and buried him in it, leaving only a hole for breathing.
David - 8 years old, "keeper of pain". He occupies consciousness to take the pain of others.
Christine is a 3-year-old English girl, one of Billy's first personalities and the first to know of the existence of someone else. She stood in the corner at school and at home if "Billy" messed up, because, unlike other personalities, she did it calmly. She is dyslexic, but Arthur teaches her to read and write. Reigen has a special affection for her. Family favorite.
Christopher - Christine's brother, age 13, plays the harmonica.
Adalana is a 19 year old active lesbian. Has the ability to occupy the body at will. He cooks, puts things in order in the "family", writes poetry. Takes the body in situations when it comes to being a "gentleman", gentle with women. She was the one who did the rape.
unwanted
Phil is a Brooklynian with a pronounced accent. A criminal element engaged in drug trafficking, participated in armed robberies of homosexual couples, waiting for victims in parking lots near the highway.
Kevin, a friend of Phil, developed a plan to rob a pharmacy, and then stole the loot from his comrades in the case. Later, during his stay in a maximum security clinic in Lima, in gratitude for the uprising against the orderlies who beat the patients of the clinic, Arthur removed Kevin from the list of undesirables.
Walter is an Australian who loves to hunt. He was allowed to the body when his ability to find the right direction was required. Arthur classified it as undesirable for "barbarism" - killing a crow in the forest.
April is a black-haired, dark-eyed, slender girl with a Boston accent. She was obsessed with the idea of killing Billy's stepfather. Declared unwanted after convincing Ragen to kill Chalmer. Arthur, having called Christine, was able to persuade Ragen not to commit murder.
Samuel is a religious Jew. Was deemed undesirable by Arthur for selling Allen's painting. The only religious person.
Mark is the workhorse. He is often referred to as a zombie because he doesn't do anything unless told to and stares at the wall when everyone gets bored;
Lee is a joker and a wit. For the first time he began to control the body in a Lebanese prison and at the same time was declared undesirable for the fact that his pranks went too far and threatened the "family". After that, he completely disappeared from consciousness.
Steve is a parodist, called in prison after Lee's expulsion, because he knew how to make people laugh. Infuriated Ragen by parodying his accent and Arthur by speaking Cockney. Was caught mimicking the warden, resulting in Milligan being placed in isolation.
Jason is the "pressure valve". Used as a child to release tension, but it constantly led to difficult situations.
Bobby is an idle dreamer. He dreamed of adventure, saw himself as an actor, traveler, hero, but did not want to do anything specific for this. He went on a hunger strike, for which he was classified as "undesirable" - in prison conditions, a good physical condition was necessary.
Sean is a developmentally delayed deaf boy. Occupied consciousness in childhood when Billy was punished and shouted at him. Because of his deafness, he often buzzed, listening to the sounds echo in his head. It was classified as undesirable, since in adulthood it was not necessary.
Martin is a snob and braggart from New York. Arthur classified it as undesirable due to the lack of desire for self-improvement.
Timothy - worked in a shop as a florist until he ran into a homosexual who flirted with him. After that, he entered his own world.
The unifying personality was the Master, who first became apparent during Billy's treatment at the Mental Health Center in Athens. It was he who helped Keyes tell the story of Billy Milligan, as he was able to recall those episodes that were not available to the rest of the "family".
Some of Billy Milligan's personalities were gifted artists and musicians, with each specializing in a separate direction in painting / graphics or a musical instrument. All 24 had different IQ and different EEG data.
7 most interesting facts about Billy:
1. Billy himself was not allowed to mind control, because every time he came to his senses, being in an unknown place or prison, he tried to commit suicide. Whenever he woke up, Billy was shocked, because he considered the previous suicide attempt successful and thought that he had been dead for a long time.
2. On one of his birthdays, three-year-old Christine (one of the personalities) baked a cake for Billy. On this occasion, Arthur allowed Billy to be "awakened", but this led to another suicide attempt and Billy was "put to sleep" for several years.
3. Individuals had different abilities and characters. Two of them spoke with accents, one knew a language that Billy never learned, another knew how to get out of handcuffs and therefore played the role of a leader when he got into jail, the third drew great pictures, and the young girl was a lesbian. Possessing "specialization", different personalities began to control consciousness just at the moment when it was most needed. So, when Billy was in pain, teenager David was included in the work, who took the pain upon himself. Billy himself never experienced mixed feelings: different personalities were responsible for everything.
4. In order for Billy to be able to stand trial and testify in the rape case, psychiatrists tried to "collect" all the personalities into one. The so-called integrated personality was formed over the years and with great difficulty. At first, it was possible to “glue together” the personalities closest to each other in terms of temperament. However, when Billy got too excited, the personalities fell apart again, and everything had to be started over again.
5. When combining personalities, the general abilities turned out to be worse than the abilities of each separately, the resulting personality had problems with self-determination and was a kind of “average” option, unable to remember its own name.
6. It turned out that the rapes were due to Adalana (a 19-year-old lesbian) while one of the other individuals was trying to rob women. Despite the fact that Adalana was forbidden to take possession of consciousness, she "illegally" turned on and committed crimes. None of the other personalities had any idea what had happened.
7. During interrogations, it was extremely difficult to talk to Billy. To do this, it took a long time to persuade Arthur to give permission to wake Billy. Permission was given in exchange for a promise to keep the suicidal Billy safe, above all from himself.
Activities after release
In 1988, after 10 years of intensive treatment in various medical institutions in Ohio, Billy Milligan was declared "whole" and released. It is known that in 1996 he lived in California, owned a small film studio "Stormy Life Productions" and was going to make a short film (which, apparently, was never released). The current place of residence and occupation of William Milligan are unknown, his former acquaintances have lost contact with him. According to his lawyer, Bruce Tabit, “Some of the walls of the rooms of his house are beautifully murals, others are covered with mathematical formulas. It's beyond human ability to know everything about Billy Milligan."
William (Billy) Milligan became known to the world after a lawsuit in Ohio. He was accused of rape and robbery, but the defenders achieved an acquittal. Their main argument was that Milligan suffered from a personality disorder. The crimes were committed by several of his alter personalities.
The first alter personalities appeared in Billy in early childhood. In the future, their number increased. At the age of 16, Billy tried to commit suicide, but the personalities finally took control of the basic consciousness and "lulled" him. Each personality was endowed with its biography and character. Their age, gender and nationality were also different.
For the first time, the doctor David Kohl, who already had experience of interacting with such patients, came into contact with all personalities.
Theater of one actor (and many roles)
According to the descriptions included in the book by Daniel Keyes, the personalities were in contact with each other. In fact, something like an international club or a hostel was constantly operating in Milligan's head - with dialogues, disputes, division of duties. In conversations with physicians, the alters described the role reversal as "standing on a spot of light in a dark room." The person who got up on the spot received temporary power over consciousness.
Depending on the situation, the most suitable person received the leadership. The main communication with the doctor was carried out by the Teacher, who appeared during Milligan's treatment. He was a person "above the fight": he watched the actions of the others, but did not interfere.
Arthur Smith was the first to identify the rest of the personalities and set the rules of behavior for them. He also controlled the change of alter personalities. For a long time, neither his friends nor relatives knew about the specificity of Milligan's life.
Yugoslav Reijen was responsible for actions in dangerous situations. He and Arthur were the main and desirable personalities. There were also alter personalities with criminal tendencies.
The main personalities regarded the sex life as a destabilizing factor, so none of the male personalities could start a relationship. There were precedents, but individuals were sure that the communication was exclusively platonic. The ban did not apply to women, which was the reason for the high-profile crime: rape was committed by a female personality - an active lesbian. She also took control of her mind during Billy's novels.
Was it Milligan?
The debate about whether Milligan really was a man of many faces does not subside. There are reasons for this.
Daniel Keyes' books remain the main source of information. They are based on conversations with Milligan, and conversations are not the most objective evidence. Moreover, Milligan himself asked to write the book, and the scenes and dialogues were recreated from his words.
There is a theory that the disease appeared from the influence of a doctor. After the publication of the story, a surge of similar cases was recorded, and before that, David Kohl was almost the only doctor in the United States who investigated cases of split personality.
Defenders of the version that 24 personalities really "lived" in Milligan's body say that depending on the change of personality, Milligan's plastic completely changed, he moved and spoke differently and never strayed. However, there are no videos that show the change of personalities in the public domain. There are only very short fragments.
There are also no separate interviews or memoirs of Milligan's friends and relatives. All evidence is available only in the books of Keyes. In addition, Billy did not meet specialists from different fields of science and art, so it is difficult to verify claims about how well this or that person played musical instruments or spoke a foreign language fluently.
Liberation
Milligan spent 10 years in treatment, after which he was considered cured enough to be released. The doctors issued a verdict: Billy's psyche is stable, and although it was not possible to "completely assemble" a single personality, he could control his mind.
With the interest due from the book that made him famous, Milligan went to California, where he founded a small film studio. It soon burned out. Billy changed his place of residence and for some time stopped contacting friends and relatives. He died in 2014 at a nursing home in Ohio.
His biography is partly inspired by the recently released and already blockbuster movie Split.
The full name of this unique man is William Stanley Milligan. He was born in 1955 and after a while got into all the textbooks of psychiatry. A split personality suggests that a person, as it were, is divided into two personalities inside one body and cannot agree with himself. To one degree or another, every person has this, but the most extreme cases, of course, are called complex psychiatric terms.
Billy Milligan does not even fall into extreme cases. Inside it gathered 24 personalities that were obvious to others. Usually people keep their internal disputes to themselves, many of us are not even aware of them, but with this Englishman, each individual person lived his own special life. It seemed that just a few separate souls settled in one body, like in a communal apartment.
Of the 24 personalities of Billy Milligan, 10 were the main ones, and the rest were severely suppressed for some kind of immoral behavior. Scientists were given the great honor to get acquainted with the inhabitants of the country "Billy Milligan".
background
Sometimes there come such moments in life when you want to get away from reality, abstract yourself, become a different person, change your body and mind. Problems pile up at once en masse, you try to split into two, get upset, but you are just one person with a certain set of qualities, capabilities, knowledge and skills. Probably a strong person, in the end, copes with problems. He learns something, becomes stronger, gains experience needed in such situations. But, we are all different. In fact, we do not have to be all equally strong. The diversity of personalities is the main key that allows humanity to develop.
But, occasionally, extraordinary people, obviously having certain inclinations, I can’t say with certainty that they are definitely weak, find a different way to deal with problems and difficulties. They learn to “multiply” their personality, break up, so to speak, into pieces, becoming no longer a homogeneous whole, but a collection of parts. They create in one shell such a number of personalities that allows them to adequately and effectively, in their opinion, coexist with society.
This phenomenon is called dissociative personality disorder. The word dissociation is a chemical term for a decomposition reaction. As applied to psychiatry, this term was first used at the end of the 19th century by the French psychologist and physician P. Janet. So what is personality dissociation from the point of view of psychology?
The integrity of the personality (even psychiatrists call this process the integration of the Ego) is determined by the ability of a person to analyze external events, comparing them with his own feelings, and reacting to these events adequately in a constant manner. However, if a person’s personal qualities are imperfect and he cannot, due to circumstances, cope with the situation, developing his individual reactions, his personality can begin the process of disintegration, disintegration of the Ego, while forming other, new personalities. It is this process of the appearance of a plurality of personalities in one subject that is called dissociation, splitting or split personality.
By creating multiple personalities in this way, a person actually receives several people inside himself: of different ages, genders, different health conditions, a set of qualities, knowledge and skills. It is always all the more surprising that some individuals have such a set of knowledge that the original subject had nowhere to receive it from. From here, it looks very mystical and incomprehensible, giving rise to religious associations about the installation of the devil in a person.
Psychologists tend to consider a combination of certain conditions as possible reasons for this phenomenon: unbearable stress, which is often experienced by a person in childhood, plus an innate ability to dissociate.
Of course, such a phenomenon is quite rare. It's hard to say why. For if all people, when faced with unsolvable problems, “multiplied” their personalities, there would be quite a lot of such people among us. Meanwhile, there are few such cases. Psychologists are puzzling over this, introducing great doubts into our understanding of what our psyche really is. Moreover, their explanation of "multiplication of personalities" as the reaction of the subject to strong external stimuli is rather controversial. And one of the most striking cases in the study of this phenomenon was the case of a very outstanding either a criminal or a victim named William Stanley Milligan. Who was he: a brilliant actor-swindler, a schizophrenic or a phenomenon in psychiatry?
It was October 1977 outside. By this time, many interesting events had taken place in the world. The first Apple personal computer went on sale, Francis Ford Coppola finished shooting Apocalypse Now, and for the first time in America, the president of a country was accused of tax evasion.
But Billy Milligan, a 22-year-old unemployed man, enjoyed himself differently. The police received the first signal about a strange rape on October 14, 1977. It was later revealed that this was not the first time Billy Milligan had committed a crime.
One of the Ohio State Medical University students, a future eye doctor, went to the police with a story that late in the evening, approaching her car in a parking lot near the university campus, a young, handsome man jumped up to her from nowhere. At gunpoint, he dragged her into a wooded area, where he raped her. Surprise was the fact that the young man did not show open aggression towards his victim. On the contrary, he was quite amiable, not angry, spoke of love, and even in some way was sympathetic to the victim. After the end of the violent act, he asked the victim to write him a check for a small amount and calmly let her go without threatening.
The second rape became known 8 days later, on October 22. The story in the descriptions was very similar to the first, except that the second victim told that the rapist spoke with a fairly noticeable German accent. And she added that if this young man had met her under normal circumstances, she would have liked to meet him. “What is this strange person with a pleasant appearance and manners who rapes women and steals money from them?” thought the police, confidently combining the two crimes.
Four days later, a third woman, also a student at the same university, was similarly raped. Rumors spread around the university, calling the unknown perpetrator a "university rapist." At this point, the police actively began to investigate, realizing that they were clearly dealing with a serial criminal. And they were lucky.
In the last crime committed, the perpetrator was negligent, leaving his fingerprints in the victim's car. After checking them in the database, the police are surprised to find that the identity of the criminal has long been familiar to them from previous crimes. This is a young man named William Stanley Milligan, who just got out of prison in April of this year. The history of the crimes of this man was quite diverse.
(Photo by Billy Milligan immediately after his arrest)
He first came to the attention of the police in 1973 after three women complained of rape. At that time he was only 18 years old. Under interrogation, Milligan stated that all three women were prostitutes who did a poor job. He could not perform sexual acts with them and therefore did not pay, hence their complaints. However, the police did not believe him, and simply considering the young age of the offender, they sentenced him to only six months of corrective labor.
After serving this duty, soon Milligan gets a job as a security guard in a pharmacy and at the same time sells weapons. By the end of 1974, he again falls into the field of view of the police, but while they keep him "in development", he commits an armed attack with the aim of robbing two men right at the bus stop. But even now, the police allow him to get away from punishment, hoping that he will lead them to the suppliers of weapons that Milligan sells. And he, without hesitation, plans, and then commits a robbery of the pharmacy, where he worked as a security guard, “in passing” raping a pharmacist. At this point, it was impossible to pull the police further, and Milligan finds himself behind bars for two years.
And after leaving prison in April 1977, already in October he begins to commit the following crimes - rape again. He is arrested at his home in Reynoldsburg, a small town in Ohio. It was not difficult to prove his involvement in the rape of medical university students. A search of his home reveals handcuffs, a gun, checks, and some items of clothing from the victims of the last three rapes. The police rejoiced - to find the criminal so quickly, and even with such a classic set of evidence, could mean unheard of luck. Now it was possible to take a break by announcing to the public about the capture of a malicious recidivist who had deprived the campus of rest. But the police did not rejoice for long. So simple at first glance, the case soon turned into the greatest scandal and getting into the annals of history.
Literally at the very first interrogation, the head of the investigation, Elliot Boxbraum, comes to the conclusion that either a crazy person or a skillfully feigning insanity is sitting in front of him. All the police officers who encountered Milligan unanimously stated: “I didn’t understand what was happening, but it felt like I was talking to different people all the time.”
Of course, Milligan is sent for a psychiatric examination for the purpose of examination. And here the main mystery of Billy Milligan begins to appear. Psychiatrists replace one another, but they cannot give a clear answer. It is not at all clear whether Milligan is feigning or if he is really a psychiatric phenomenon. However, they also echo each other: "I saw several personalities in Milligan". For the first time, the phrase "multiple personalities" and "split" begins to sound. However, the term bifurcation did not quite clearly depict the essence of the unusual situation, because in Milligan there were not two personalities, but many - dozens.
Bernard Yavitch, the prosecutor who dealt with the Milligan case, having received the diagnosis of a whole council of psychiatrists, at first laughed and said that he would never believe in such nonsense. The criminal is simply skilled, maybe even a talented actor who managed to trick the Aesculapius. But Milligan will not be able to deceive him, an experienced interrogator, and he goes to interrogate the suspect personally. After more than two hours of talking with Billy, Yavitch, according to his own recollections, left the interrogation room "with his jaw dropped," not understanding what was happening and what assessment of this phenomenon should be given. "I saw several personalities" Yavitch said. “He spoke differently, even the accents of speech were different. Absolutely different facial expressions and movements. He sat in a chair in different ways!.
The fact is that even a talented actor needs some time to transform. To create a reliable image, you need to work it out, comprehend, get used to it and skillfully embody it, copying the appropriate facial expressions, intelligence level, behavior style. Billy's roles changed instantly one another. In front of you could be that three-year-old child, sitting in a chair like a child and talking accordingly, and then, in the blink of an eye, Milligan was transformed and became a mature teacher, demonstrating a level of knowledge and a way of thinking.
His images, personalities were absolutely alive: they had different accents, different ages and genders, different experiences and completely different characters. Each of these images had its own name, communicated with the police and doctors on different topics, demonstrating a different social background and even a different level of intelligence.
And the most incomprehensible thing was that Billy himself was not inside. According to several individuals, Billy had been asleep for a long time. All the other 22 personalities forced him to sleep, for Milligan had a tendency to suicidal attempts. And so that Billy's body would not be physically damaged, the rest of the personalities removed him from the reins of the body.
Doctors examined Milligan, doing all possible experiments and studies, but even the most skeptical, confirmed that Milligan could not pretend like that. Now there was already an understanding that Billy was inadequate, beyond jurisdiction and should be treated, and not serve time in prison. 
Due to the defendant's lack of funds, he is assigned free, public lawyers - Judy Stevenson and Gary Schweikart. 
(Pictured: Milligan's attorney, Gary Schweikart, with one of Billy's drawings)
“When Gary Schweikart came to me with this ridiculous story, I laughed heartily, of course not believing a word. He said that based on Billy Milligan's split personality diagnosis, they would build their defense." Terry Sherman, Assistant District Attorney, will say later.
Dr. George Harding, director of the hospital in Worthington, spends several months with Milligan trying to study him, and also comes to the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder. He concludes that some of Milligan's personalities deliberately committed crimes, knew about the illegality of many acts, but Milligan himself cannot be held responsible before the law for them.
This was an odd turn of events in the case. Judge Jay S. Flaver listened attentively to the representatives of the prosecution and the defense, and for a long time could not decide on the defendant, who was actually accused of many terrible crimes: robbery, theft, kidnapping and rape.
The trial of the notorious "university rapist" received such a response and publicity that no one had the right to make a mistake. Literally everyone wrote about Milligan: The New York Times, Washington Post, Detroit Free Press, Time magazine and radio news invited famous psychiatrists to get their opinion and evaluate what was happening.
In the final speech at the trial, the lawyers read in a low voice a petition for clemency for Milligan on the basis of the defendant's insanity. “Milligan is no ordinary rapist, he is a victim. Billy is a talented artist with a high IQ. But he was not present when the crimes were committed. His personality has been dormant for the last 7 years. Two of his other personalities claimed responsibility for the crimes.. Representatives of the prosecution did not dare to argue the opposite, recognizing that Milligan was not subject to jurisdiction.
At the trial, one of the relatives of the rape victim finally breaks down and explodes with the words that the media and the court are making a national hero out of Milligan, forgetting about the pain and evil that he did. Indeed, this unusual case so captivated people with its phenomenon and mystery that, in fact, everyone forgot about its victims. There was an interest only in studying the psyche of the criminal, but the psychological problems of the people who had suffered his violence became completely indifferent to everyone - it was too ordinary.
However, all the same, rare statements by both prosecutors and psychiatrists who paid attention to this sounded. In particular, they tried to muffle the hype, so that later the practice of demonstrating “multiple personalities” would not be used by other criminals for selfish purposes to justify crimes.
Legally, it was decided that Milligan could only be released from custody if several conditions were met. The first was compulsory compulsory treatment and the responsibility of physicians for it. In the event of an acquittal, it was assumed that the first examination of his mental state should take place 3 months after the trial. Then the judicial board should talk to him in another 2 years, and so every 2 years, either for the rest of his life, or until complete recovery. With a possible complete cure of the suspect, the doctors could release the Milligans completely from their care. After a few hours of the meeting, Milligan was declared insane, it was decided to send him for compulsory treatment at the Athens Mental Health Center.
So what so shocked the entire venerable audience in Billy Milligan himself, and why was he considered, after all, not a criminal, but a victim? The story of this man is truly mysterious, and even mystical.
Childhood.Milligan was born in 1955 to unsuccessful singer Dorothy Pesky and comedian entertainer Johnny Morrison. The relationship between Dorothy and Johnny was illegal, because Johnny had a family from which he did not plan to leave. Meanwhile, William Stanley, whom we know as Billy Milligan, was already the second child of the hapless Dorothy-Johnny couple.
Milligan's parents belonged to the kind of people who should not have had children at all. Dorothy's mother has always been especially frivolous, not very smart and quite a walker. 
(Pictured: Dorothy Pesky, mother of Billy Milligan)
All her life she "jumped on the beds" of all kinds of men, having been married several times, but never understanding what she needed. She never cared about her own children; she took care of them according to the “leftover principle”. From early childhood, Billy suffered from loneliness, neglect, hunger and neglect.
Father Johnny Morrison, running between two families: having a legal wife and two children from this marriage, as well as a restless mistress Dorothy, who constantly demanded financial investments in stage costumes, he was completely confused. When Dorothy, after the second child, gave birth to him also a third, Johnny finally slipped into a debt hole. He was a mediocre, not particularly in demand comedian, and here there are two families and five children at once! His debts grew exponentially, eventually, under the weight of insoluble problems, he became depressed, depressed and began to sullenly, constantly drink. By the age of 36, this man had completely lost interest and desire for life and tried to kill himself for the first time. He washed down a large amount of sleeping pills with alcohol. But Dorothy saves him just in time. 
(Pictured: Johnny Morrison is Billy Milligan's father)
However, not even a few months after being discharged from the hospital, Johnny re-commits an act of suicide, already in January 1959, having achieved his goal by turning on the gas in the house. At that time, Billy Milligan was only 4 years old. As a very young child, he witnessed the death of his father.
Dorothy gives up her failed career and, after Johnny's death, already in 1960 returns to her hometown of Serqueville, where she again converges with her first husband, Dick Jonas. But the second marriage with him was just as unsuccessful as the first, and, having not existed together for even a year, they again scatter. 
(Pictured: Billy (age 4) with brother Jim (age 6) and sister Katie (age 3))
Dorothy's "walking nature", meanwhile, did not disappear and continued to appear. The children were still mostly left to themselves, and she was again in search of the next man. Which soon became Chalmer Milligan. His first marriage ended when his wife filed a complaint with the police about domestic violence. Chalmer often beat her, besides, he was addicted to perverted sex.
Chalmer regularly beat Dorothy for the slightest infraction. Children also got it with enviable constancy. When Billy was 9 years old, one day, under the pretext of helping in the household, Chalmer called him to the barn. It was then that the stepfather raped the boy for the first time.
However, it was the first time, but not the last time. The violence then continued and became permanent. And sexual violence was not the only misfortune and pain. Chalmer often "added" physical and psychological sadism to the rapes. He hung the boy by the arms and legs, buried him alive in the ground, frightened him with snakes and rats, urinated on him. As it later turned out, it was at this time that the boy, unable to fight back an adult man, created several additional personalities in himself, who, instead of Billy, endured all the bullying. It was a kind of escape from reality. The only defense mechanism available then to the child. It is worth noting that Chalmer himself never confessed to child abuse and was never brought to trial for such actions.
Now you, having read this line, of course, mentally found the main reason for the appearance of a split personality in Milligan. This happened to many other psychiatrists who examined him in their time. Those considered that it was children's stress and violence that became the trigger for Milligan's split personality. However, not everything turned out to be so simple. As it turned out, the first additional personality in Milligan appeared at the age of 3, by the age of 5 there were already 3 of them. Each of these personalities performed its own functions: Milligan played with someone, creating his fictional children's fairy-tale world, some of the personalities performed household assignments, which are a routine, uninteresting occupation, and someone took punishment for misconduct. Thus, at the age of 5, Milligan already had 4 independent personalities inside, each of which had its own name and character. And they appeared long before the stress factor in the form of a monster stepfather. Thus, we can conclude that a dissociative disorder is obviously possible only in the presence of innate tendencies to it.
By the age of 10, Billy Milligan had created a dozen different personalities inside himself. Each of them was assigned its own role and purpose, each of them had its own character and abilities, and interestingly, all these personalities were somehow “good” and some “bad”. 
From this point on in Milligan's life, trouble comes at him from all sides. He behaves strangely, cannot adequately communicate with anyone, has no friends and comrades. Everyone automatically turns away from him, recognizing his madness. He is expelled from school, and in order not to inform his indifferent mother and Herod-father about this, while still a child, Billy leaves the house, setting off to wander. But the police catches him, returns him home and his parents, without squirming for a long time, hand him over to a psychiatric hospital. There, Milligan is diagnosed with a deep neurosis and a state of hysteria. In the clinic, they allegedly try to treat him, but such therapy does not bring results. Sometimes he behaves like a violently mad destroyer, screaming, scandal and destroying everything around. After several fights with patients and medical staff, he is also expelled from the clinic, without providing proper assistance.
At the age of 16, unable to bear the bullying of his peers, their cruelty and indifference, he makes the first attempt to kill himself. There were several more such attempts. Attempts to commit suicide were made by the personality of Billy himself. But every time one of the strong other personalities stopped him, not allowing him to commit suicide, and therefore with the rest of the natures living in him.
Already at the age of 17, Milligan petitioned to be accepted into the ranks of the US Navy. And oddly enough, despite his diagnosis and very significant oddities in behavior, Milligan is accepted, but literally a month later, they are expelled due to his inability to fulfill the duties of a military man.
It so happened that at the time of his arrest, 22 active personalities already coexisted inside Billy Milligan, the 23rd was Billy himself, who was in a state of sleep.
Personalities.10 personalities were considered basic (the description is given as of 1977-1978, during treatment).
Billy- the original William Stanley Milligan, is a suicidal core personality. At the age of 16, he tried to jump off the roof, but other personalities did not give him this and put him to sleep for 6 years, only occasionally allowing him to "come out into the light." Each such awakening was a shock for Billy, because he believed that he was dead.
Arthur- a very intelligent man, responsible for the order in relations between subpersonalities. Arthur is a sophisticated, educated Englishman. Expert in science and medicine, with a focus on hematology. With the help of logic and deduction, he found out that he was not alone in the body of Milligan, and identified other personalities. Along with Reigen, he took responsibility for the common body - with the exception of dangerous situations in which Reigen exercises control. Established rules of conduct for the rest of the "family members" - Milligan's personalities.
Reigen Vadaskovinich- Yugoslav, speaks with a Slavic accent, writes and speaks Serbo-Croatian. It is the "guardian of hatred". A communist, expert in weapons and ammunition, in charge of fitness. Possesses extreme strength, thanks to Arthur teaching him how to control his adrenaline rush. Ragen's weak point is women and children, he does not hesitate to help them if they are in trouble, even to the point of stealing food and things for them. He controls basic actions in dangerous situations and, along with Arthur, can classify individuals as "undesirable").
Allen- 18 years old, swindler, manipulator, has excellent eloquence. Most often communicates with the outside world. Draws portraits, plays the drums. The only right-hander and the only one who smokes cigarettes.
Tommy- Guardian of salvation. In his own words, he is often confused with Allen. Independently figured out electricity, the principles of operation of electrical and mechanical devices, locks. I learned to control muscles and joints, to get rid of handcuffs. Plays the saxophone, paints landscapes.
Danny- frightened 14-year-old boy, afraid of people, especially men. He paints only still lifes, because he is afraid of the earth in any form - Chalmer once forced him to dig a grave and buried him in it, leaving only a hole for breathing.
David- 8 years old, "guardian of pain". He occupies consciousness to take the pain of others.
Christine- A 3-year-old English girl, one of Billy's first personalities to emerge and the first to know of the existence of someone else. She stood in the corner at school and at home if "Billy" messed up, because, unlike other personalities, she did it calmly. She has dyslexia, but Arthur teaches her to read and write. Reigen has a special affection for her. Family favorite.
Christopher- brother Kristin, 13 years old, plays the harmonica.
Adalana- 19 year old lesbian. Has the ability to occupy the body at will. He cooks, puts things in order in the "family", writes poetry.
13 other personalities were declared undesirable by Arthur and Reigen for certain offenses (antisocial behavior, breaking the rules, etc.)
Phil- Brooklynian with a pronounced accent. A criminal element engaged in drug trafficking, participated in armed robberies of homosexual couples who were waiting for victims in parking lots near the highway.
Kevin- Phil's friend, developed a plan to rob a pharmacy, and then stole the loot from his comrades in the case.
Walter- Australian, hunting enthusiast. He was allowed to the body when his ability to find the right direction was required. Arthur classified it as undesirable for "barbarism" - killing a crow in the forest.
April- black-haired, dark-eyed, slender girl with a Boston accent. She was obsessed with the idea of killing Billy's stepfather. Declared unwanted after convincing Ragen to kill Chalmer. Arthur, having called Christine, was able to persuade Ragen not to commit murder.
Samuel- Religious Jew. Was deemed undesirable by Arthur for selling Allen's painting. The only religious person.
Mark- workhorse. He is often referred to as a zombie because he doesn't do anything unless told to and stares at the wall when everyone gets bored.
Lee- joker and wit. For the first time he began to control the body in a Lebanese prison and at the same time was declared undesirable for the fact that his pranks went too far and threatened the "family". After that, he completely disappeared from consciousness.
Steve- a parodist, called in prison after Lee's expulsion, because he knew how to make people laugh. Infuriated Ragen by parodying his accent and Arthur by speaking Cockney. Was caught mimicking the warden, resulting in Milligan being placed in isolation.
Jason- "pressure valve". Used as a child to release tension, but it constantly led to difficult situations.
Bobby- an inactive dreamer. He dreamed of adventure, saw himself as an actor, traveler, hero, but did not want to do anything specific for this. He went on a hunger strike, for which he was classified as "undesirable" - in prison conditions, a good physical condition was necessary.
Sean- a deaf boy with developmental delay. Occupied consciousness in childhood when Billy was punished and shouted at him. Because of his deafness, he often buzzed, listening to the sounds echo in his head. It was classified as undesirable, since in adulthood it was not necessary.
Martin- a snob and a braggart from New York. Arthur classified it as undesirable due to the lack of desire for self-improvement.
Timothy- (worked in a flower shop until he ran into a homosexual who flirted with him. After that, he entered his own world). 
The unifying personality was the Master, who first became apparent during Billy's treatment at the Mental Health Center in Athens. It was he who helped Case tell the story of Billy Milligan, as he was able to recall those episodes that were not available to the rest of the "family".
Judgment and later life.
Milligan's trial was held "closed". Reporters, independent experts or any outside observers were not allowed there. In addition, the trial was held without the participation of the jury. That is, none of us can now say what documents and certificates were provided on it.
Once not in prison, like an ordinary criminal, but in the Athens Mental Health Center (Ohio), Billy was treated by Doctor of Psychology David Cole.
In those days, the diagnosis - a dissociative disorder, confidently "came into fashion" in America and Europe. I will talk about this amazing phenomenon in detail a little later. But at the time when Milligan is in the clinic, his attending doctor Cole was unimaginably passionate about studying this disorder. Psychiatry only took timid steps in understanding what the human psyche is, and Milligan ended up exactly in the place where they wanted him ... no, not to help, but only to study. Long conversations with an enthusiastic psychiatrist, an absolutely depressing, depressed environment, painful procedures, restrictions and punishments - this is what Billy ended up getting for his crimes.
Subsequently, Cole will claim that he fought hard for his unusual patient, trying to unite his personalities into one whole. But in fact, according to Milligan, his attempts were weak, unprofessional and did not look like help at all. That is, Milligan's new personality - the Teacher did not appear in response to the work of the Aesculapius, Milligan "created" it on his own.
The teacher was "born" at the end of 1978. Milligan began to cooperate with the doctors, behaved peacefully and quite adequately, and soon they began to let him go to the city for long walks without supervision. But, you can imagine how delighted the locals were from such things! Known throughout the country, a crazy rapist walks among civilians. The fact that Milligan wanders the streets of Athens quickly became known to reporters and waterfalls of criticism and condemnation fall on him and the clinic. Obviously, in response to this “publicity”, the Teacher in Billy’s head retreats, again giving way to multiple personalities. Milligan is taken back to the hospital, closing the possibility of walks in order to reassure the public.
But Milligan no longer wants to cooperate on these terms with the doctors. Remaining a popular personality, he clandestinely sells his paintings to those who wish, sells drugs within the walls of the hospital, and makes dubious deals for the resale of non-existent things. He gets caught in his scams and again his case is taken to court. This time he is tried in Athens, and the judge is less accommodating. Under the pretext that Milligan poses a threat to the patients of the Athens Center, he is transferred to the state hospital in Lima (Ohio) for the mentally ill criminals for maintenance and treatment. 
Subsequently, Milligan will characterize his stay in this prison as the most terrible period in his life, calling this place nothing more than a "house of horrors." Combining all the nightmares of a prison for especially dangerous criminals and the depressiveness of a psychiatric clinic, the prison in Lima brought to life all the most hidden fears of Milligan. After a little over a year there, he would be transferred to a clinic in Dayton, then to the Ohio Central Psychiatric Hospital. The situation and the rules of the latter were liberal and Milligan, seizing the moment, escapes from there.
First of all, he conspires with local reporters. He records a devastating interview on videotape, in which he denounces all psychiatrists as ignoramuses and sadists, and sends the tape to the local radio station in Columbus (Ohio). This cassette will subsequently disappear somewhere without becoming public knowledge.
He was arrested only 5 months later, caught in Miami. And again the clinic. But Milligan is too learned by experience. He no longer exhibits dissociative disorder, becoming just Billy Milligan, becoming one.
In 1988, having passed a number of commissions for mental examination, William Milligan is recognized by doctors as completely cured. After spending more than 11 years of his life in the worst mental hospitals and prisons, he is finally free.
For another three years, Milligan will be under police and medical control, but already in 1991 he is recognized as a full-fledged member of the community, free to live his life as he pleases.
He moves to California, is engaged in programming, physics and mathematics. In 1999, he wrote Harsesis, an artificial intelligence program with enhanced communication capabilities, and created about a dozen websites. He is fond of drawing. According to his lawyer, Bruce Tabit, “on some walls of the rooms of his house there are beautiful frescoes, others are covered with mathematical formulas”. Opens his small film studio called "Stormy Life Productions" (translated as "Stormy Life Production") and begins to collaborate with James Cameron, the world-famous director of "Titanic". Cameron wants to make a film based on Daniel Keyes' book The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan, coming up with the film's working title The Crowded Room. Some of the most famous and talented actors in Hollywood - John Cusack, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Colin Farrell - claimed the main roles in this drama. Cameron, not too lazy, gets acquainted personally with Milligan, later describing their meeting as "we became friends." The script was completed, the film was in the stage of filming. In a word, the story promised to be grandiose and successful.
But the dreams were not destined to come true. Back in 1981, as it turned out, the film rights to Keyes's book were bought by a strange, unknown woman, supposedly a restaurateur, named Sandy Arcara. It was she who at one time began negotiations with Cameron, offering him to film the story of Milligan. The deal went through, Arkara was supposed to receive a round sum of 250,000 US dollars for her rights.
Cameron enthusiastically advertised his upcoming film, promising to do it immediately after the release of Terminator 2. And suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, he receives a double lawsuit - from Arkara, who already wants $ 5 million for her rights, and Milligan, who puts forward demands for his share of the rights to the film in the amount of $ 9 million.
Long lawsuits and scandalous negotiations begin, the result of which is Cameron's refusal to pay this money, which means making a film.
A little later in an interview, he will sadly say: “It was Milligan who ultimately contributed to the downfall of the project. I don't negotiate with terrorists and extortionists.". However, it may turn out that in the process of work, Cameron simply lost interest in this story, and, not seeing a financial prospect in it, did not want to continue.
Beginning in 1996, Milligan's business began to deteriorate again. He was considered by the community to be a healthy person, and therefore had to pay the bills. He owes $450,000 on a home loan he bought in Los Angeles. In addition, the Ohio court suddenly remembered that someone had to pay for Milligan's treatment. And if the patient is healthy, then the treatment was effective.
“Everyone got a piece of me, and I never got anything. Now they're all trying to make me sick again to take their money." Milligan will say so in one of his last interviews.
Of course, to pay the amount of 570,000 dollars. USA Milligan was not able to, and, declaring himself bankrupt, he forever disappears from the field of view of all researchers.
On October 21, 1996, he will give a short telephone interview to the small publishing house Astraea, which specializes in the release of fantastic bestsellers. He will reject their offer to write a book based on his story and will say that he is already working with Japanese publishers.
The last time he was heard in 2000 by a realtor dealing with Milligan's real estate, and from now on no one will know where such an odious person is, who left memories of himself on many pages of newspapers and discussions. They searched for him for a long time and unsuccessfully, calling all the people who had ever had contact with him. But there was not a single person in the world who knows where William Stanley Milligan now calmed his soul.
To date, most of the information about the true state of the psyche of Billy Milligan at the time of his arrest cannot be verified, because time "erases the footprints in the sand." His lawyers are dead, Dr. Cole and Dr. Harding have also passed away.
Documentary: Billy Milligan's 24 Demons
Name: The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan Daniel Keyes
Description: This amazing story, based on real events, reveals to us the split world of consciousness of Billy Milligan, a man with a multiple personality 24 separate personalities, adults and children of different intellect and aspirations, men and women, persons with criminal inclinations and sensitive artistic natures - are fighting for possession of his body, not allowing him to control their actions. There is also a series of "Billy Milligan" in audio transmission "Frankie Show".
