Have you ever heard of DID?
Imagine you wake up in a strange place. You have zero ideas why you are here or how much time has passed. People keep talking about things you didn’t do. Moments later, everything goes black again, and you cannot control your body. The stage is being held by someone in you. That’s creepy, isn’t it?
Apparently, that’s likely what happens with people with a dissociative identity disorder, a rare mental health condition, DID for short. It’s like their character shatter into many different ones. When a personality is living, the others don’t and will not remember things the body controller has done in the meantime. It’s like falling asleep and waiting to be woken up.
In most cases, there will be two personalities living two separate lives. Surprisingly, there could be up to ten or more. Each will have its own personal history traits, likes, and dislikes. Can you imagine that? What a complete mess!
Billy Milligan
It was a typical day at Ohio State University. When William Stanley Milligan was arrested after committing multiple severe crimes like armed robbery and raping other students.
While he was being imprisoned, he was diagnosed as having a DID. Prison officers reported that sometimes Billy drew illustrations in different styles, talked in a foreign accent, or acted like a child.
There are many causes of having the disorder, one of which is sexual or physical abuse during childhood. Scientists believe that those traumas help develop a response, like to distance or dispatch oneself away, that finally causes identity splitting and DID.
In the same way, the younger Billy was abused by his father every day, both sexually and physically. All he thought was he wanted to disappear from all these situations. That was when the first split happened. David was born.
MULTITALENTED.
As he was growing up, many more characters were born and developed. He had many well-known personalities. Those personalities also had many talents that fascinated doctors and scientists. They had no idea how those personalities acquired so many skills. We’ll go over each and every one.
Arthur
He’s an educated, discreet Englishman (and literally speaks in a British accent). He’s an expert in science, especially in medicine and hematology (the scientific study of blood and blood-producing organs, wow). He’s the one who takes control of the body most of the time, and he’ll take the spot when Billy needs thoughtful decision-making.
Ragen Vadascovinich
Ragen (Arthur told us it came from “Rage again”) is a Yugoslavian who speaks in a Slavic accent. He can write and speak in Serbo-Croatian (a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia). He can magically control adrenaline, which means he can use superhuman strength anytime. He once used his bare hands to pull the urinal out, hurt the guard in prison, and attempted suicide. He will take over when he knows that Billy’s in danger or considered unsafe. He admitted to the robberies with reason to support the family but had no idea about the rapes.
Tommy
When Billy’s father tied him up in the barn. Tommy would come out and help him escape. Tommy learned how to control his hand bones to get out of the handcuff. He’s also an electronic expert. So he’s indeed the escape artist. No confinement can stop him.
He also plays tenor sax and does painting, specializing in landscape.
The following characters wouldn’t have incredible talent. However, I still want to include them here to show the detailed and complex relationships inside Billy.
Christopher
He plays harmonica. He’s the older brother of Christene.
Christene
She’s always three years old. She is the one who will stand in the corner in school when Billy gets in trouble. She has dyslexia (a disorder indicated by difficulty reading in a person), but Arthur teaches her to read and write.
David
As I mentioned about him, I have to introduce him. He doesn’t have any talent. But he is also always an eight-year-old boy known as “the keeper of pain” because he takes the spot to take the pain of others, both mentally and physically. What a sacrifice…
Adalana
She’s lesbian. She’s the one who cooks and cleans the place for the others. She also writes poetry. She admits that she is the one who steals the spot and commits the rapes while Ragen is robbing.
Only a few characters play a significant role in Billy’s life. There are still 16 more that I haven’t covered.
A Victim? A Deceiver?
Each character told those stories during the treatment period at the hospital themselves. Even the brain scan confirmed that Billy really has the DID. It was still unimaginable how those characters existed. The public had no idea about the disease before (it was 1970). Plus, he would be free of guilt if he got diagnosed with any serious mental health condition, like DID. That makes most people think that he was just faking it. Which created lots of pressure and obstacles to the treatment. Billy’s life had so many struggles before anyone would notice his disorder. Someone said that “He was either the most pity victim or the greatest deceiver that fools the world.”
The Teacher
As I mentioned, each character has a distorted memory. Billy himself was made to be asleep since he was at the junior high school by Arthur because he was trying to jump out of the building. The best thing doctors can do is merge every character into one person, and they did it. The Teacher was born. He can remember everything from every memory fracture. The Teacher is finally the one who controls everybody in the family. The majority part of the stories we now know come from the Teacher. I would say that theoretically, he should be the most multitalented criminal of all time.
BONUS.
Check this out.
I decided to write about Billy because I was inspired by Netflix’s documentary about him, “Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan.” I recommend you to watch it. And if you have more time, please read “The Mind of Billy Milligan.” by Daniel Keyes. I once read the translated version in Thai. You’ll get the whole detailed story. I’m sure that you’ll love it if you are still with me until this point.
Fun facts:
- Billy used to do business by selling pictures drawn by his characters. Each piece has its unique style, and in my opinion, it is gorgeous.
- There’s another movie that was inspired by the story of Billy Milligan, “Split (2016).” You should also check that out.
From the Writer:
I’ve heard that sometimes, his identities will play chess against each other at the table in their room. That’s wayyyy too far… So if I had a lucky chance to have dinner with the teacher. I would definitely ask him about that!
