On March 16, the film “Split” was released in Russian cinemas, telling about a guy with a fairly rare disorder called “multiple personality”. Because of this, his personalities are constantly jumping: he is a calm Patricia, then a nervous Dennis, and then a 9-year-old boy who loves to dance. Behind this plot is the real story of Billy Milligan. The researchers counted 24 full-fledged personalities inside this American. However, judging by the reviews, the tragedy of Billy Milligan was turned into a typical horror, although the audience was waiting for a subtle psychological thriller.

Billy himself became a unique object of study for psychiatrists. Doctors stumbled upon the man when they were conducting an examination before the court. He was accused of three rapes and several robberies, which, according to the accused, were committed by two other personalities that lived in his head. As a result, the court acquitted Milligan, after which he began to be treated in one of the mental hospitals in Ohio. All this happened in the late 70s. After 10 years of therapy, Billy was released as he almost recovered.

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Billy was born in Miami on February 14, 1955. His mother had an affair with married comedian Johnny Morrison, with whom she had three children, including William (the real name of the protagonist of our article). Billy's father drank heavily and often became depressed due to lack of money and prospects. In 1958, he tried to commit suicide but was rescued. When Billy was only 4 years old, his father still died due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

William's mother was not sad for a long time and married Dick Jonos. Together with him, the family went to Circleville. In 1962, the woman met Chalmer Milligan. The man had recently gone through a divorce from his wife and now lived with two daughters. As a result, it was he who became the new father of Billy.

According to Billy Milligan, when he was eight years old, his stepfather tied him up in a barn and raped him, which was the beginning of his first personalities. Chalmer also constantly beat his new wife. The author of a book about this phenomenon, Daniel Keyes, believes that the first personalities appeared in the boy as early as 3-4 years old. Chalmer Milligan was later charged with rape.

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Despite the fact that Billy already had some behaviors, his parents did not pay attention to them. As a result, he, like all children, went to school, skipped classes and played with friends. He drew attention to his person in 1977, when he was already 24 years old. First, he was accused of robbing a pharmacy, he even spent a little time in prison, and then of raping three Ohio University students.

It was then that Milligan first began to be investigated. At first he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and only an experienced doctor realized that many people live in this man. By the end of the study, they counted as many as 24.

How old are you, David?

Eight. Soon it will be nine.

Why exactly did you come to talk to me?

I didn't even know that I would show up. Someone got hit in jail and I went out to take the pain.

Please explain.

Arthur says I'm the keeper of pain. When someone hurts, I need to stand on the spot and feel the pain.

It must be terrible. His eyes filled with tears.

Yes, it's not fair.

Tell me, David, what does it mean to "stand on the spot"?

That's what Arthur says. He explains to us how it happens when one of us has to go out. This is a large bright spot of light, like from a spotlight. Everyone is around him, awake or sleeping in their beds. And whoever gets on the spot, he goes out into the world. Arthur says: "He who stands on the spot, takes possession of consciousness."

Who are these other people?

A lot of them. I don't know everyone. Now I know some of them, but not all. Ouch! He suddenly stopped talking.

Milligan's personalities

William himself knew about the existence of 10 personalities in his head. The psychiatrist found 14 more people that Milligan's two main personalities suppressed, as they considered them undesirable. All these personalities built relationships with each other, had different memories, habits, manner of communication and addictions. According to doctors, the course of the disease was aggravated by the fact that Billy tried to commit suicide at the age of 16.

• Billy- the original William Stanley Milligan, is the main personality, suicidal.
• Arthur Smith- 22 years old, 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 in dangerous situations. Established rules of conduct for the rest of the "family members" - Milligan's personalities. Smokes a pipe. Atheist.
• Reigen Vadaskovinich- Yugoslav, 23 years old, with a Slavic accent in English, writes and speaks Serbo-Croatian. Colorblind, so he paints monochrome pictures. 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 he knows "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 "unwanted".
• Allen- 18 years old, swindler, manipulator, has excellent eloquence. Most often communicates with the outside world. Agnostic. Draws portraits, plays the drums. The only right-hander and the only one who smokes cigarettes.

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• Tommy- 16 years old, "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 and a straitjacket. 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 - his stepfather 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 anyone else. "A child for the corner" - stood in the corner at school and at home if "Billy" messed up, because, unlike other personalities, she did it calmly. Arthur teaches her to read and write. Reigen has a special affection for her. Family favorite.
• Christopher- Brother Kristin, 13, plays the harmonica.
• Adalana- 19-year-old active lesbian. He cooks, puts things in order in the "family", writes poetry. Has the ability to occupy the body. It was she who was engaged in rape, in order to receive warmth, affection and love, she needed hugs. Until the moment of her arrest, only Arthur and Kristin knew about her existence. She was declared undesirable by Arthur: she was forever forbidden to "stand on the spot" (that is, to keep consciousness) and ever take time.

unwanted

• Phil- 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- Phil's friend, 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 struck Kevin off the list of undesirables.
• Walter Milligan- 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 paintings by Allen and Tommy. Later, Arthur admitted that he made too harsh a decision under the influence of emotions, but did not begin to cancel it. The only religious person.

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• 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. He first 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 preferred to disappear from consciousness completely.
• 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. He was caught mimicking the warden, resulting in Milligan being placed in isolation, after which he was declared undesirable.
• Jason- "pressure valve". Used as a child to release tension, but it constantly led to difficult situations.
• Bobby (Robbert)- 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 closed himself in his own world.

To talk about the relationship between the parts of Billy's consciousness, another person appeared, whom he called Master. This first happened during Billy's course of treatment. 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".

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Daniel Keyes, quote from The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan:

Billy didn't seem to be upset by either the appellate ruling or Judge Flowers' decision. I got the impression that he was tired of all this. Billy and I still spoke frequently on the phone, and from time to time I visited him in Dayton. Sometimes it was Tommy, sometimes Allen or Kevin. And sometimes it was a man without a name. On one of my visits, when I asked who was in front of me, he said:

I do not know who I am. It's empty inside.

I asked him to share his feelings.

When I'm awake and not on the spot, he said, it's like I'm lying face down on an endless glass and I can see through it. Behind the glass, in the boundless depth, you can see like stars in space, and then a circle appears, a ray of light. As if this beam comes from my eyes, because it is always in front of me. Some of my "family" lie in coffins around the beam. The coffins are not closed because they are still alive - they are sleeping, waiting for something. There are some empty coffins because not everyone came there. David and the other younger ones want to live longer, while the older ones have given up hope.

How is this place called? I asked him.

David named it, he said, because he drew it. He calls it the Place of Dying.

Some of Billy Milligan's personalities were gifted artists and musicians, each specializing in a particular art/drawing or musical instrument. Not all parts of Milligan agreed to be tested for intelligence levels. Among those who passed it, the results ranged from 60 to 120 points.

Life after recovery

According to various sources, in 1988 or 1991, Billy was recognized as a whole person and released from the hospital. He was no longer in the field of view of the police. It is known that at first he opened a small film studio and tried to make films, but after a few years he went bankrupt. After that, he stopped communicating with friends and doctors, so little is known about his life. A man died in a nursing home from cancer when he was 59 years old.

Daniel Keyes, quote from The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan:

At this time in the clinic, according to Billy, there was a lot of aggression, the orderlies beat the patients, but of all the personalities, except Ragen, only Kevin rebelled against the orderlies. In recognition, Arthur crossed him off his "undesirable" list.

Something bad happened, but I don't know what. Complete collapse is only a matter of time, and Billy will fall asleep forever. Arthur says that Billy still has a taste for conscious life, but, unfortunately, this taste is bitter. Here he is getting weaker day by day. He cannot understand the hatred and jealousy of the heads of this institution. They urged other patients to hit him and forced Ragen to fight, but Billy couldn't call Ragen back...he couldn't. Doctors say bad things about us, and they are right, that's what hurts ...

We, I are freaks, a misunderstanding, a mistake of nature. We hate this place, but this is the only place we can live. We were not well received, were we?

Ragen stopped everything forever. He had to do it. He said if you don't talk, you don't hurt anyone, inside or out. Nobody can blame us for anything. Reigen turned off his hearing. Attention will be turned inward and this will lead to complete blockage.

By shutting ourselves off from the real world, we can live peacefully in our own world.

We know that a world without pain is a world without feelings... but a world without feelings is a world without pain.

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Judging by the recordings made by Daniel Keyes, the real Billy Milligan almost stopped appearing in the "spot", as he tried to commit suicide several times. It turns out that his real essence never lived. Friends who inspected his house said that one wall was painted with the most beautiful frescoes, and mathematical formulas were heaped on the other. He was a man with gigantic abilities: he knew several languages ​​perfectly, drew beautifully, studied science and the history of art, had phenomenal physical abilities and a highly developed intellect, but he never found unity in his mind.

• Not only doctors, but also writers, musicians, directors became interested in the Billy Milligan phenomenon. Two books have been written about him, in 2016 in St. Petersburg, Such a Theater staged a performance describing the life of a man. Filming of the film "A Crowded Room" is still ongoing. The script for it was written in 1997. Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Collin Farrell and others wanted to play the main role. According to unverified information, she went to Leonardo DiCaprio.
• Psychiatrists say that this disease is the result of severe psychological trauma in childhood. Some researchers claim that something similar happened to shamans and soothsayers in ancient times. The first documented cases date back to the 16th century. At the same time, it was established that individuals can speak different languages, including non-existent ones. Researchers are still arguing about the nature of this disorder, as it is quite rare. Although it is not known whether the disease can be completely cured, it is known that patients can live in society and take control of their personalities.

William Stanley Milligan, aka Billy Milligan, is one of the most famous multiple personality diagnoses in the history of psychiatry.

In late 1977, several rapes occurred within a short period on the Ohio State University campus. Thanks to the fact that one of the victims identified the rapist from a photograph in the police file, his whereabouts were revealed and the suspect was detained in the shortest possible time. It was a certain Billy Milligan - a 22-year-old youth who had been convicted of rape and armed robbery two years earlier.

The strange behavior of the detainee first led the police to the idea that the suspect was feigning a mental disorder in order to evade justice. But already in the process of preparing for the trial, the defense of the accused insisted on a psychological examination, which was conducted by Dr. Willis K. Driscoll. Milligan's preliminary diagnosis was acute schizophrenia. To accurately determine the disease, the suspect underwent an examination at the Southwestern Mental Health Center in Columbus. Dorothy Turner, the psychologist who conducted the study, made a disappointing conclusion for the prosecution: Billy Milligan suffers from multiple personality disorder.

Milligan was declared insane, after which he was sent to a mental health center for compulsory treatment. It would seem that this is unusual: a split personality is not an outlandish disease. But the fact is that Dorothy Turner declared at least ten personalities, living in his body. They, depending on the situation, seized control over the body - this explained the abrupt changes in the patient's behavior, the illogicality of actions and other striking oddities. Individuals had different ages, nationalities, skills and "functions".

Billy Milligan was born in 1955, and after a while he 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. 24 personalities gathered inside Billy, the change of which others could observe and even distinguish individuals by voice and facial expressions! Of these, 10 were the main ones, and the rest were suppressed for committing acts dangerous to the “collective” and were called “undesirable”.

Billy's alter personalities appeared at the age of 3-4 years (an unnamed boy with whom he played, and Kristin, 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).

Some of 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.

Main or alter personalities:

• Billy- The original personality of William Stanley Milligan. Due to a lack of understanding of what, in fact, is happening to him, Billy shows suicidal tendencies. After failing to jump off a roof on his 16th birthday, Billy was "put to sleep" by the "others" and slept until his next awakening seven years later. After Milligan "suddenly" woke up in prison, he also tried to commit suicide - smashing his head into the blood on the wall of his own cell.
• Arthur- a refined, educated Englishman. It was Arthur who figured out that there are too many personalities in Billy's body. He developed "rules of conduct" for other personalities (Arthur himself prefers to call them people and "family members"). Expert in science and medicine, with a focus on hematology. Independently studied Arabic (to study the inscriptions on the Egyptian pyramids) and Swahili. Sometimes he smokes a pipe.
• Reigen Vadaskovinich- Yugoslav, speaks with a pronounced Slavic accent, writes and speaks Serbo-Croatian. Has communist views. It is the "guardian of hatred". He is well versed in weapons, shoots excellently, owns the technique of hand-to-hand combat, has extraordinary physical strength, thanks 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 "unwanted". Do not mind drinking, using drugs.
• Allen- one of the most frequently manifested personalities of Milligan. An 18-year-old swindler, he is eloquent and excellent at manipulating people. Most often communicates with the outside world. He knows how to play the drums, draws portraits. The only right-hander and the only one who smokes cigarettes.
• Tommy- Guardian of salvation. The 16-year-old boy, who is excellently versed in electricity and mechanics, knows how to open both mechanical and electric locks. He mastered the technique of controlling joints and muscles, therefore he is able to independently remove handcuffs and a straitjacket, which happened in a psychiatric hospital. He paints landscapes and plays the saxophone. In his own words, he is often confused with Allen.
• Danny- frightened 14-year-old boy, afraid of people, especially men. It was Denny who owned Milligan's mind when his stepfather buried him in a shallow grave, leaving only a breathing tube; because of this, Danny is afraid of the earth in any form and even promised never to lie down on the grass again. For the same reason, he paints only still lifes.
• David- 8 years old, "guardian of pain". He occupies consciousness to take the pain of others. It is believed that David appeared during the period when Billy was sexually abused by his stepfather.
• Christopher- 13-year-old Englishman, plays the harmonica.
• Christine- 3-year-old Englishwoman, Christopher's sister. Probably the first of Milligan's multiple personalities, and one of the first to be aware of the existence of the others. Mastering consciousness, Christine helped her mother and looked after Milligan's younger sister. 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, and she influences him. Family favorite.
• Adalana- 19 years old, active lesbian. It was she who controlled Milligan's mind during the rape. 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. For a long time, only Arthur and Kristin knew about the existence of Adalana. She was recognized as an undesirable person, as a result of which she was forbidden to control consciousness.

13 other personalities were declared undesirable by Arthur and Reigen for certain offenses (asocial behavior, violation of the rules, etc.) - they were forbidden to “stand on the Spot” and control their minds:

• Phil- 20 years old, 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- Phil's friend, developed a plan to rob a pharmacy, and then stole the loot from his comrades in the case. Later, during a 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- 22 years old, Australian, hunting enthusiast. He was allowed to the body when his ability to quickly orient himself and find the right direction was required. Arthur classified it as undesirable for "barbarism" - killing a crow in the forest for no reason.
• 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 (stepfather's name - ed.). Arthur, having called Christine, was able to persuade Ragen not to commit murder.
• Samuel- 18 years old, religious Jew. Was deemed undesirable by Arthur for selling Allen's painting. Milligan's only religious personality.
• Mark- 16 years old, "workhorse". Inactive and inactive personality. Possibly autistic. He is often referred to as a "zombie" because he doesn't do anything unless told to and sits staring at one point when everyone gets bored;
• Lee- joker and wit. He first 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. He was caught parodying the head of the prison, as a result of which Milligan was placed in an isolation ward.
• Jason- 13 years old, "pressure valve". A hysterical personality, through which the tense situations that arose in Billy's childhood were filmed, most often such "descents of steam" led to difficult situations.
• Bobby- 17 years old, unfortunate dreamer who imagines himself as an actor, traveler or public favorite hero, but did not want to do anything specific for this. Due to the fact that he went on a hunger strike in prison, he was declared an undesirable person.
• Sean- 4-year-old 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- 19 years old, smug snob and braggart from New York. Arthur classified it as undesirable due to the lack of desire for self-improvement.
• Timothy(usually Timmy) - 15 years old, under the control of this personality, Milligan worked in a flower shop until he encountered a homosexual. After the latter's unequivocal suggestions, Timmy entered his own world.

The unifying personality was the Master, who first came to the fore during Billy's treatment at the Mental Health Center in Athens. It was the Teacher who helped to tell the story of Milligan, as he was able to recall those episodes that were not available to the rest of the "family". Was the sum of all Billy's personalities.

1. Billy himself was not allowed to mind control, because every time he came to his senses, being in an unknown place or prison for him, 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 connecting 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 the fault of Adalana (a 19-year-old lesbian) while one of the other personalities 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, 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 in his house are beautifully murals, others are covered with mathematical formulas. It's beyond human ability to know everything about Billy Milligan."

Billy Milligan is an American who gained fame due to multiple personality disorder. He was accused of rape and robbery, but became the first person in history to be acquitted by a US court due to a mental disorder. In 1977, he was sent for compulsory treatment and entered the history of psychiatry as the owner of 24 full-fledged personalities.

William Stanley Milligan was born on February 14, 1955. He was one of the sons of American comedian Johnny Morrison. The father committed suicide when the boy was about four years old. His mother Dorothy tried several times to arrange a personal life until she married Chalmer Milligan in 1963. The new spouse turned out to be a cruel man, prone to violence and sadism.

Researchers believe that the personality of William Milligan, better known by his shortened name Billy, split at the age of eight when he was abused by his stepfather. The rape took place in a barn, near the house where the Milligan family lived. Severe childhood trauma led to mental illness. Studies have shown that the youngest person who lived inside a man was no more than 3-4 years old. This age falls on the period when Billy's own father made two suicide attempts.

Crimes and victims

From a victim, Milligan himself gradually turned into a criminal. The man was first arrested in 1975 for armed robbery. Milligan ended up in prison because of the personalities who later entered the list of banned persons.

Billy himself lost control of his body at the age of 16 when he first tried to commit suicide. The intellectual who lived in it Arthur and security officer Reigen suppressed the main owner of the body and put him into a state of sleep. After Billy fell asleep, the number of his active personalities increased. Two of them brought Milligan to jail for the first time: a Brooklyn boy Phil was involved in robberies of homosexual couples, and his friend Kevin committed an armed attack on a pharmacy.

One of the personalities described Milligan's inner world as a dark room, in the center of which was a beam of light. To capture the consciousness, the person had to "stand on the spot." In detention, the main dominant personality was the Yugoslav communist Reigen Vadaskovinic, and after prison, the Englishman Arthur Smith. These two persons decided who and when can be allowed to the “spot”.

When the personalities were not conscious, they slept, observed or interacted with each other. The term "family" was used to define this group. Arthur and Reigen could ban one of the personalities and deprive her of the opportunity to "stand on the spot." This was the case, for example, with Adalana, due to which Billy's body went to prison a second time. The “quiet” female hypostasis under the influence of drugs became an aggressive lesbian who raped several students. The person tried in this way to make up for the lack of love and attention. After this story, Arthur and Reigen classified Adalana as "undesirable" persons who are not allowed to take possession of consciousness.

In 1977, Milligan's first sentence ended on parole. But a few months later he was again under arrest. He was accused of raping and robbing three female students. The two victims identified the man from a photograph, after which the suspect was taken into custody. Milligan was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation due to a suicide attempt. The dominant personalities let the real Billy into the "spot", and he did not think of anything better than to try to kill himself by smashing his head against the wall.

After the examination, it became clear that the recidivist was not all right with his psyche. The court found Milligan insane, after which the criminal was sent for treatment to a state clinic. This was the first time in the United States that a person diagnosed with multiple personality was exempted from criminal liability.

Billy Milligan is the person who was at the beginning of the beginning. For most of the man's life, she was in a sleeping state. Other individuals isolated her in order to save the life of the common body.

The fact is that Billy, starting from a young age, constantly tried to commit suicide. Arthur Smith, Reigen Vadaskovinich, Allen, Tommy, Danny, David, Christine, Christopher, Adalana and 13 other personalities lived for him.

Daniel Keys and Billy Milligan

In addition to the listed persons, there was a place in Billy's head for one more person. The "Teacher" personality first emerged when Milligan was undergoing treatment. This character had the memories of all the people living in Billy's head. It was "The Teacher" who helped Daniel Keyes with the material for a book about Milligan's life.

Causes of the disease

Psychiatrists believe that the reason for the stratification of the American's personality was the bullying of his stepfather. The rape may not have been isolated, there were other manifestations of violence by Chalmer Milligan against the stepson.

Among William's personalities was a nineteen-year-old April who was obsessed with the idea of ​​killing her stepfather. The girl in Milligan's head was devising a plan for revenge, but was supplanted by Arthur's dominant personality. Then April persuaded Ragen to kill her stepfather, as she could not do it herself. The intellectual Arthur hardly managed to convince Vadaskovinich to let his stepfather live.

Based on information obtained during Billy's treatment, Chalmer Milligan was charged with rape and child abuse.

Personal life

Different people who lived in the body of Billy Milligan had their own personal lives. The most famous episodes of falling in love are sixteen-year-old Tommy and eighteen-year-old Allen. For all of Milligan's male personalities, intimate relationships with women were forbidden, as they could betray his illness. Only the female incarnation of Billy - Adalana did not adhere to celibacy. She was openly lesbian and had intimate relationships with lovers of other Milligan personalities. It was Adalana who committed several rapes of women, for which Billy was arrested in 1977.

Billy Milligan and the depiction of some of his personalities

Daniel Keyes mentioned in his book that at the time of contact with the victims, the mentally ill American was under the influence of drugs. This explains the chaotic change of personalities at the time of the attack and the aggressive behavior of Adalana.

After prison

It should be noted that psychiatry in the seventies was not as well developed as it is now. Doctors decided that Milligan was suffering from acute schizophrenia. There were few cases associated with multiple personality disorder, so additional examinations were required to make an accurate diagnosis.

Modern psychiatry classifies Milligan as a classic example of pathology. His story and photos are included in many textbooks on the therapy and diagnosis of mental illness.

The man spent about ten years in a psychiatric clinic. He was released in 1988. It is believed that the reason for the discharge was healing, but there is evidence that the patient never became a whole person. According to the lawyer, in the former prisoner's house, some walls were covered with mathematical formulas, while others were painted in an artistic manner. Doctors believe that control over the body returned to the personality of William Milligan, however, how things really were is unknown.

For some time, the man lived in California and was engaged in the film business. His business went bankrupt and Billy disappeared from public view. He stopped communicating with his acquaintances and did not even withdraw the money that returned to his account after paying off debts. The last known location of Milligan was a nursing home.

Death

Milligan died in 2014. The announcement of his death appeared in the press on 16 December. Billy's cause of death is cancer. The man died in a nursing home in Ohio, a few months before his 60th birthday.

Milligan Worlds

The story of an American citizen diagnosed with multiple personality has attracted the attention of publicists and filmmakers. Details of Billy's life became the basis for Daniel Keyes' documentary novels The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan and Milligan's Wars.

In 1997, Todd Graf co-wrote the screenplay for the feature film Crowded Room, based on the real life events of a multi-faceted American. The role of the mentally ill protagonist was claimed by many famous actors who even met with Milligan for consultations. The film was eventually produced by Appian Way. The main role went to the Oscar-winning actor. DiCaprio admitted that for about twenty years he dreamed of playing Milligan. The release date of the film is not yet known.

In 2016, the film “Split” appeared in the world film distribution, which tells the story of a person with multiple personality splits. He played the main role in the film. The opinion of the audience about the picture was divided, but there were more positive reviews. As with Milligan, the 2016 Split protagonist has 24 distinct personalities. Some details of the plot of the film echo the facts from Billy's biography, but the picture is not biographical.

In the summer of 2016, the premiere of the play Billy Milligan, based on documentary materials about the life of an American diagnosed with multiple personality, took place on the stage of Such a Theater in St. Petersburg.

Daniel Keyes's book "The Minds of Billy Milligan", which was published in Russia under the titles "The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan" and "The Mysterious Case of Billy Milligan", also inspired the Korean screenwriter Jin Soo Wang, the author of the storyline of the series "Kill Me, Heal Me" . The heroes of the South Korean serial film have something in common with the personalities of Billy Milligan, but adapted to the realities of the melodramatic genre.

A dark room. A beam falls into the center. On this spot, as on the stage, only one comes out. And only he plays this act in an endless play called life.

Billy Milligan suffered from a rare mental disorder in which there is a split personality (dissociative identity disorder). A person with such a disease, being 180 in height, with a short haircut and with a slight unshaven face, may consider that he has beautiful blond hair, small stature and a model figure. At such moments, the brain seems to be reconfiguring to another wave, where all the parameters change - this is physiology, IQ, and even the native language. Each of these personalities is an independent individual with his own name and his own abilities. Where they get their information from is a mystery. Some say that such people have a gene that passed on the experience of past lives, others that the brain can connect to the universal "mind halls" and draw knowledge from there.

Such a split personality comes from severe emotional trauma suffered in childhood. In moments of danger, a person tries to close himself off from the world and out, on the “spot”, another person stands up, who takes all the pain upon himself.

One Actor Theater

Billy Milligan always has a communal apartment in his head. With desirable and undesirable personalities, with the right to occupy the spot, with the attempts of the “chief” to control an uncontrolled society. And all this - for several decades. But who is he?

Daniel Keyes did not hide the personal characteristics of the characters, describing them to the reader in the very first chapter. The most important was Arthur, an English intellectual who decided who would stand on the spot. The second most important, Reigen, a Yugoslav, was well versed in weapons, usually appeared in cases of danger. Billy himself was "sedated" at the age of 16, when he tried to commit suicide.
His personalities can also be classified according to the moment at which they appear. For example, in Milligan's communal head there are so-called "guardians" of pain (David), hatred (Ragen), or even salvation (Tommy). Each of them appears at a certain moment when Billy needs them.

You Are Not You When You Are Billy Milligan / Difficult Childhood

The first "arrival" in the head of Milligan occurred somewhere at the age of four or five years. At first, his father, plunging into depression and alcoholism, committed suicide, and his mother, having three children in her arms, moved to Ohio to her new husband, Chalmer. It was he who served as the last point in the splitting of the boy's personality. The beating of mother and children turned out to be just the tip of a small iceberg. Billy himself also had to endure the sexual harassment of his stepfather. So the world was introduced to Milligan's three new selves - the mute boy Sean, the dyslexic girl Kristin, and the nameless boy.

Time passed, there were more and more personalities, from which the young guy could not find a normal job. In the end, this led him to an attempted armed robbery in 1975, and, after serving until 1977, he was caught again in the same year, but already for rape. His victims described the rapist as if it was done by completely different people. One even described his behavior with the phrase "like a three-year-old girl." Only later did this circumstance acquire a new meaning.

Finding the rapist according to the description of the police was not difficult. They, already familiar with Milligan's description, quickly followed his trail. As a result of a search in the apartment, they found several types of weapons, which violated the conditions for Billy's release from prison. So Milligan was behind bars again.

Artistic representation in the novel by Daniel Keyes

“I think people should know about it. This would help them understand what child abuse can lead to. Daniel Keys

Billy Milligan confided his memories to only one person - Daniel Keyes, telling him about all his alter personalities. The writer was skeptical about this experiment, but the interest that flared up in the author did not allow him to abandon the work he had begun. Although, he admitted, at the very beginning the idea seemed to him a failure: Billy practically did not remember anything, he told everything incoherently and in fragments. But at some point, the Teacher stood on the spot, who had the ability to recall episodes from the lives of other "cohabitants" of Billy's head.

All storylines were recreated in books such as The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan, where Keys told readers about the struggle for a mind meld, and Milligan's Wars, a novel about his difficult childhood. Keyes' most famous book, The Secret History of Billy Milligan, has already been repeatedly translated and published in Russia.

Completion of life

After a long treatment, the doctors managed to combine his personalities into one. In 1991, doctors finally recognized him as a whole person, although the patient himself denied this fact. Billy said that he simply learned to connect his consciousness, thereby controlling his "roommates" in his head. Being not constrained by the walls of the hospital, Milligan began to study physics, mathematics, was fond of cinema and wanted to make his own short film. In 2014, at the age of 59, Billy Milligan died of cancer at an Ohio nursing home.

Reproduction of personality on the big screen

The topic of multiple personality has recently begun to gain popularity. This is the film "Identification", which revealed this phenomenon at the beginning of the 2000s, and "Split", where the story of Billy Milligan served as a prototype, and an attempt to film a decades-long book by Daniel Keyes with the original title "Crowded Room", in which a difficult role with 24 personalities will go to Leonardo Di Caprio.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

William Stanley Milligan was born in 1955 in Miami Beach and after a while got into all the textbooks of psychiatry.

Inside Billy Milligan gathered 24 personalities that were obvious to others. Each individual person lived their own unique life.

It seemed that several separate souls settled in one body.

In the late 1970s, Billy Milligan went through a well-known court case in Ohio, USA, was accused of several robberies and three rapes, but after objective evidence of his mental disorder, was sent under psychiatric supervision.

Of the 24 personalities of Billy Milligan, only 10 could come out into the world, and the rest were severely suppressed for some kind of immoral behavior. Scientists and doctors with great difficulty managed to get acquainted with the inhabitants of the country "Billy Milligan":

The first and main personality is actually Billy himself, 26 years old, constantly striving to commit suicide. Height 183 cm, weight 86 kg. Blue eyes, brown hair. Dropped out of school. At the age of 16, he tried to jump off the roof, but other personalities stopped him and “put him to sleep” for 6 years, only occasionally allowing him to “come out into the light.” Each such awakening was a shock to Billy, because he believed that he was dead; out of fright, he tried to take his own life by any means at hand.

Arthur, 22 years old. A refined, educated, balanced, sensible Englishman. Speaks with a British accent. He spends most of his time in the library. Expert in science and medicine, with a focus on hematology. Fluent in reading and writing Arabic. Found out that he was not alone in the body of Milligan, and identified other personalities. Established rules of conduct for the rest of the "family members". In safe situations, he dominates, deciding which of the "family" to appear in each case and own Milligan's consciousness. Wear glasses.

Reigen Vadaskovinich, 23 years old. Yugoslav, speaks English with a noticeable Slavic accent. Reads and writes in Serbo-Croatian. Weight 95 kg. Very large, strong arms, long black hair, hanging mustache. He draws black and white drawings because he suffers from color blindness. A sharpshooter, a karate specialist, has exceptional strength, restrained by his ability to control the flow of adrenaline in him. 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. When Billy went to jail, Reigen became the leader.

Allen, 18 years old. A fraudster, a manipulator, has excellent eloquence, thanks to Alain, other personalities could get out of any trouble. Plays drums, draws portraits. He is on good terms with Billy's mother. Same height as Billy; weight less (75 kg). She wears her hair parted on the right. He is the only one who smokes cigarettes and is right-handed.

Tommy, 16 - "Escape Artist". Independently figured out electricity, the principles of operation of electrical and mechanical devices, can open any lock. I learned to control muscles and joints, to get rid of handcuffs. Plays the saxophone, paints landscapes. Aggressive and unsociable. Light brown hair, dark amber eyes.

Danny, 14 years old. Fear of people, especially men. He paints only still lifes, because he is afraid of the earth in any form - his stepfather once forced him to dig a grave and buried him in it, leaving only a hole for breathing. Shoulder-length blond hair, blue eyes, short and thin.

David, 8 years old. Takes on the pain and suffering of all individuals. Very sensitive and receptive, but distracted. Most of the time he is confused, because he does not know what he is being punished for. Dark reddish-brown hair, blue eyes, small stature.

Kristin, 3 years old. "Child for the corner". So named because it was she who stood in the corner at school and at home. A bright little Englishwoman who can read and print but suffers from a speech impediment. He likes to draw and color pictures with butterflies and flowers. Shoulder-length blond hair, blue eyes. Family favorite.

Christopher, 13 years old. Brother Christine. Speaks in a British accent. Obedient, and at the same time very mischievous child. Plays harmonica. Her hair is light brown, like Christine's, but the bangs are shorter.

Adalana, 19 years old. lesbian Shy and self-absorbed, she writes poetry, cooks food and does housework for everyone else. Adalana has long straight black hair. Because her brown eyes sometimes move involuntarily from side to side due to nystagmus, she is said to have "dancing eyes."

The other 13 individuals were labeled "undesirable" and were banned from "going out" by Arthur and Ranger.

In 1991, after 10 years of intensive treatment, Billy Milligan was declared "whole" and released. He was interested in programming, physics and mathematics. In 1999, Billy wrote Harsesis, an artificial intelligence program with enhanced communication capabilities, and created about a dozen websites.

Now 58-year-old Billy Milligan works in the council for the protection of the rights of the child, negotiating the claims of injured children to insurance companies. Counsels illiterate prisoners and helps them get an education. Tests dogs for violent tendencies. He is fond of drawing.