The Crowded Room was inspired by Daniel Keyes' 1981 non-fiction novel The Minds of Billy Milligan. While author Keyes claimed that his "book is essentially [Billy's] memories, his dialogue, nothing invented," Billy's sister, Kathy Preston, disagrees. "Dr. Keyes spent a lot of time interviewing the family, interviewing people that were involved with Billy and Billy's case, trying to get the story. I do know that parts of the book [are] fictionalized, but he wanted to believe everything that Billy said, at all times. And that bothered me a little bit because you're interviewing a mentally ill patient, someone that is easily manipulated or can manipulate others. So that leads the reader to have to wonder, 'What is real and what is not?'" -Monsters Inside
No. While conducting The Crowded Room fact-check, we learned that the real-life events that inspired the Apple TV+ series unfolded in the Columbus area, not Manhattan. In the TV show, the events for which the main character stands accused happen in the summer of 1979, not the real-life year of 1977. -The Columbus Dispatch
Yes. The Billy Milligan documentary on Netflix describes the severe physical and sexual abuse that was inflicted on him by his stepfather, a trucker named Chalmer Milligan. Both at his trial and in the Netflix docuseries, Billy's mother, brother and sister all attest to the torment and brutality he endured at the hands of his stepfather. Chalmer, who died in 1988, always denied the allegations.
Billy Milligan, the criminal who inspired Tom Holland's character, Danny Sullivan, committed numerous crimes, including armed robbery and rape. In 1972, he was arrested in Circleville, Ohio for an alleged kidnapping and rape. He was convicted in February 1973 and committed to a juvenile institution. In 1975, he was sent to Ohio's Lebanon Correctional Institution for robbing a drugstore with two other men and was paroled in early 1977.
In researching The Crowded Room true story, we discovered that there is no real Rya Goodwin. Instead, her actions in the series represent an amalgamation of the involvement of the different real-life psychiatrists who analyzed Billy Milligan (the real Danny Sullivan) and determined he was suffering from multiple personality disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder. There were indeed female psychiatrists who evaluated and diagnosed Milligan, including Dr. Dorothy Turner, who spent a considerable about of time with him and was the first to suspect he might be suffering from multiple personality disorder. Later, he was studied by famed psychologist Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, who was known for her analysis of Sybil Dorsett (a pseudonym that was used to protect the privacy of Shirley Ardell Mason), a patient diagnosed with 16 personalities who inspired the 1973 book and the 1976 two-part Sally Field TV movie Sybil. Wilbur claimed that she diagnosed Milligan in 20 minutes.
Yes. In researching how accurate is The Crowded Room, we learned that as his public defenders, Gary Schweickart and Judy Stevenson, prepared for his trial, a psychologist diagnosed Billy Milligan (the inspiration for Tom Holland's Danny Sullivan character) with multiple personality disorder, which was renamed dissociative identity disorder in the 1990s. Several psychologists had examined him. One of the psychologists, Dr. Willis C. Driscoll, diagnosed Billy with acute schizophrenia. Another, Dr. Dorothy Turner, who worked for Southwest Community Mental Health Center in Columbus, Ohio, concluded that Billy Milligan likely suffered from multiple personality disorder. Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, who was famous for her work on the case that inspired the book and TV movie Sybil, confirmed the diagnosis and worked with the defense to prepare for the trial.
The question that was left on the minds of those who were following Billy Milligan's case at the time was whether the multiple personality claim was simply a clever defense strategy or an actual serious psychological condition that was afflicting Billy. Some suggested that Billy's unstable and troubled childhood, including the physical and sexual abuse inflicted on him by his stepfather, Chalmer Milligan, was a possible explanation for his fragmented personality. Others credited his defense team with concocting what was seemingly his only way to stay out of prison.
Yes, and he apparently showed no shame in doing so. While he was housed in the Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital, he collaborated with Daniel Keyes on the author's 1981 book The Minds of Billy Milligan. Another way he cashed in on his notoriety was by selling paintings that he did for high prices. He also teamed up with James Cameron for a biopic about his life that was based on Keyes' book. However, the collaboration went south due to lengthy negotiations and financial changes. Milligan ended up suing Cameron, which contributed to Cameron abandoning the project. "He got in the middle of this whole thing because he wanted his story told," said Cameron. "He was running around creating more chaos, filing lawsuits. It turned into madness."
While housed at the Dayton Forensic Center in Ohio, Billy met a visitor to the facility named Tanda Bartley. She was the sister of his friend and copatient, Don Bartley. After the two got to know each other, a love affair ensued and they were married in December 1981 in the visitors' room at the Forensic Center. A small number of guests attended the ceremony, including Dr. Daniel Keyes, who wrote the book about Billy. However, it wasn't long before Tanda decided that she made a mistake. She ended things with Billy in 1982 after just 51 days of marriage. "She wrote him a nice goodbye letter, 'I can't do this,' took the money that he got from some of the book royalty, and left," says Billy's sister, Kathy Preston. -Monsters Inside
Yes. The Crowded Room fact-check confirms that the real Danny Sullivan, Billy Milligan, escaped from the Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Columbus on July 4, 1986 and relocated to the Pacific Northwest, adopting the alias Christopher Carr. While on the run, he recorded a video, stating, "First, I would like to make it very clear that I'm not a danger or threat to society or anyone else. I left in self-defense. I have a genuine fear for my personal safety, and as all I could do is wait until the legal system works itself out. I'm a victim of their politics." -Monsters Inside
Though never convicted of murder, Billy Milligan is suspected of killing two people and admitted to his niece that he was a murderer. One of the two people he is suspected of killing is the roommate he lived with in an apartment in Washington after he fled from a mental institution in July 1986 and adopted the alias Christopher Carr (he later claimed that he left the institution over concerns for his own wellbeing). His roommate, a 32-year-old Vietnam veteran named Michael Madden, was last seen by their landlord on September 15, 1986. As stated in the Netflix docuseries Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan, Michael and Billy (then using the alias Christopher) were overheard bickering that same day. Two days later, Michael's father filed a missing persons report.
Throughout the decade he spent in psychiatric hospitals, it was determined that Billy Milligan's personalities reached a total of 24 unique identities. At first, he revealed that he had 10 different personalities. Further examination by psychiatrist Dr. David Caul uncovered an additional 14 personalities. Milligan's large number of identities was the inspiration for the title of the four-part Netflix documentary Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan. The documentary includes footage of Milligan's psychiatric sessions during which he changes the accent of his voice depending on which personality he is inhabiting.
The Crowded Room true story reveals that he was released in 1988 and was officially discharged from the Ohio courts and mental health system on August 1, 1991.
Kevin Crumb, the main character in M. Night Shyamalan's 2016 film Split, was based largely on Billy Milligan. Portrayed by James McAvoy, the character nearly quotes Milligan directly when he uses the phrase "taking the light," which was clearly inspired by Milligan's real-life phrase, "taking the spot." Like Milligan, Kevin Crumb has a total of 24 distinct personalities.
While exploring The Crowded Room fact vs. fiction, we learned that the real Danny Sullivan, Billy Milligan, was living in Ohio on his sister's property when he was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma in 2012. He was eventually moved to a nursing home and died of cancer on December 12, 2014 at age 59.
In its opening titles, the Apple TV+ series states that it was inspired by Daniel Keyes' book, The Minds of Billy Milligan. Unlike the Netflix docuseries Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan, which presents a much more even-handed analysis of whether Milligan indeed suffered from dissociative identity disorder or was making it up, The Crowded Room aligns itself with the book's perspective that Milligan (renamed Danny Sullivan in the series) was telling the truth and was in many ways a victim himself. Because the validity of Milligan's condition is unknown to this day, the movie's choice to embrace him as a victim means that its interpretation is either mostly wrong or mostly right.
Perhaps The Daily Beast entertainment critic Nick Schager summed the series up best, stating in his review, "Whereas Milligan was a violent predator who was acquitted due to an intensely controversial reason (and diagnosis), this saga casts its main character as an unsuccessful killer whose actions and motives are justifiable because he's a passive victim of [dissociative identity disorder.]"
When it comes to Billy Milligan's diagnosis and motive, the series puts all of its eggs in one basket. A more haunting take would have been to leave the door open to the possibility that Milligan, and perhaps to some degree his lawyers, were making it all up to get a rapist off the hook for his crimes, which likely later resulted in him committing murder after escaping from a mental hospital. Of course, that take might be too honest for a culture so pervaded by victimhood.