In the mid-19th century, Thomas Maxey, a patient at the New York Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island, built Fort Maxey, a strange structure complete with cannons, a garden of tall flowers, and mysterious carvings.
The infamous New York Lunatic Asylum has its share of chilling stories. But one odd, forgotten story is the tale of a mysterious man who took it upon himself to build a bizarre, hobbit-hole like “fort,” which included a bridge, a bizarre stone gateway, and a toll for curious visitors.
Thomas Maxey, the “lunatic” who built the structure single-handedly, believed that the government would one day realize how valuable the fort was and purchase it from him. But in the meantime, he lived in the fort himself, surrounding himself with hollyhocks and broken weapons, donning pretty hats, and regaling his guests with stories about mythology and the ancients.
Highlights include:
• An infamous lunatic asylum
• An “insane” man who seems smarter than most sane people
• People being committed to the asylum for no reason
• Nellie Bly’s gutsy investigative reporting
• Some follow-up on the Luxor, and magical triangles
“At the farthest extremity of the Island the ground on which [Fort Maxey] stands has been rescued from the grasp of Neptune by the . . . endeavors only of its proprietor, whose name is given to the structure—Thomas Maxey, Esq., architect, mason, carpenter, civil engineer, philosopher, and philanthropist.”
-from an article in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, from February 1866
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Pictures of Fort Maxey
Within Fort Maxey-Harper’s New Monthly Magazine Volume 126 December 1865 to May 1866
Grand Entrance to Fort Maxey, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. March 24, 1866
Gateway To Fort Maxey, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine Volume 126 December 1865 to May 1866
Unwanted Visitors-Fort Maxey. Frank Leslie’s llustrated_Newspaper. March 24, 1866
Sources consulted RE: Fort Maxey Blackwell’s Island
Books consulted RE: Fort Maxey Blackwell’s Island
Damnation Island : Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York by Stacy Horne
Ten days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly (1887): https://archive.org/details/3304680.med.yale.edu
American Notes for General Circulation by Charles Dickens: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/675/675-h/675-h.htm
Architecture of Madness: https://ia601204.us.archive.org/21/items/ArchitectureOfMadness/ArchitectureOfMadness.pdf
The Great Metropolis: A Mirror of New York by Junius Henri Browne, 1869: https://archive.org/details/greatmetropolism00browuoft/page/8/mode/2up?q=blackwell%27s
Websites RE: Fort Maxey Blackwell’s Island
- Great pics of the asylum: https://www.theruin.org/blog/2016/10/12/the-new-york-city-lunatic-asylum-a-history
- https://quiverquotes.com/2017/05/03/to-be-sane-amongst-the-insane/
- http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php?title=Blackwell%27s_Island_Asylum
- https://rihs.us/2020/03/30/charles-dickens-visit-%E2%80%A2-an-island-in-the-mist-%E2%80%A2-artworks-for-sale/
- https://lisawallerrogers.com/2009/01/03/charles-dickens-visit-to-blackwells-island-asylum-1842/
- https://www.melinadruga.com/blackwellsislandasylum/
- https://forgotten-ny.com/2005/10/roosevelt-island-2005/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwell_Island_Light
- https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2018/06/25/dancing-at-the-lunatics-ball-on-blackwells-island/
- http://www.hauntingdarkness.com/2012/01/ghosts-of-roosevelt-island.html
- “BLACKWELL’S ISLAND LUNATIC ASYLUM.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. Feb1866, Vol. 32 Issue 189, preceding p274-294. 22p. 20 Illustrations:
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine Volume 126 December 1865 to May 1866: https://archive.org/details/harpersnew32various/page/290/mode/2up?q=fort+maxey - Article page 184: https://archive.org/details/harpersweekly00bonn/page/184/mode/2up?q=blackwell%27s
- Article page 91: https://archive.org/details/harpersweeklyv13bonn/page/91/mode/2up?q=blackwell%27s
- https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/roosevelt-island-lighthouse
- http://www.correctionhistory.org/rooseveltisland/html/rooseveltislandtour_lighthouse.html
- https://rihs.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2018-August-Blackwells-Almanac.pdf
- https://www.loc.gov/item/ny0949/
- https://www.loc.gov/item/ny0953/
- https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2007/10/mysteries-of-roosevelt-island-madmans.html
- https://forgotten-ny.com/2005/10/roosevelt-island-2005/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwell_Island_Light
- https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/islands-of-the
- undesirables-roosevelt-island-blackwell-s-island
- https://lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=753
- https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/an-afternoon-at-blackwells-light
- Harper’s Weekly Archives: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=harpersweekly
- HARPER’S WEEKLY. A JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION. / Volume IX, Issue 466:
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/h/harpersweekly/harpersweekly-idx?coll=harpersweekly;type=HTML;rgn=DIV1;id=;byte=10925913
Listen to the Ouija board series:
- Ouija Boards Part 1 – Planchette and Automatic Writing
- Helen Peters and Ouida / Invention (Ouija Boards Part 2)
- William Fuld (Ouija Boards Part 3)
- 19th Century Ouija Board Stories / Early Ouijamania (Ouija Boards Part 4)
- Victorian Egyptomania (Ouija Boards Part 5)
- Ouija after World War I (Ouija Boards Part 6)
- 1920s Ouijamania (Ouija Boards Part 7)
- More 1920s Ouija Board Stories (Ouija Boards Part 8)
- Kill Daddy: The Turley Ouija Board Murder (Ouija Boards Part 9)
Don’t miss our past episodes:
- The Renwick Ruin:
- Playing the Ghost in 19th Century Australia
- Investigating the Hawthorne Hotel:
- Quinta da Regaleira Symbolism: The Occult Mysteries of a Portugese Palace and Garden
- Thomas Edison’s Spirit Telegraph
- The Cult of Santa Muerte, aka Saint Death
- The Haunted Grove Park Inn, Asheville, North Carolina
- Haunted Asheville, North Carolina
- New York City Potter’s Fields
- Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 1)
- Archbishop John Hughes, aka Dagger John: Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York (Part 2)
- Ancient Egyptian Tomb Raider and Wizard Setne
- Se-Osiris, Ancient Egyptian Wizard
- The Book of Thoth and the First Egyptologist
- The Haunted Luxor Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas: Part 1
- The Haunted Luxor Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas: Part 2
