The Bethlem Museum of the Mind and Jack the Ripper Tour

 Hello!  My name is Lauren Helsel and I am entering my senior year at the University of Kansas, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Applied Behavioral Science. I am also on the Pre-Medicine track.

Before traveling to London, I had never been to Europe. This trip was a perfect way for me to experience life in the United Kingdom and to finish my psychology major. I decided to take this course to experience British culture, and see how it differs from here in the US. Since I did end up getting Covid-19 on the second half of the trip, my blog post was somewhat delayed.

On May 19th, we started the day by taking a train to Beckenham, where the Bethlem Museum of the Mind is located. We walked a couple of miles to get to the Museum, and it had beautiful scenery that was different from being in the city. 

We finally arrived at the Bethlem Museum of the Mind, which was very fascinating. All the buildings on the campus were about mental health, and there was a hospital right next to the museum that was still open and operating. The museum has lots of artwork, which had themes about mental health. There were also many items in the museum being displayed that were used at the mental health hospital, which was nicknamed as the Bedlam Asylum. The museum also displayed patient's artwork, which was their art therapy that was a part of treatment. The other half of the museum had a detailed exhibit about David Parkin, who struggled with bipolar disorder. 

After touring the museum we stopped to eat at a restaurant in Beckenham that served England's classic fish and chips. It was very tasty and they let you decide what type of fish you wanted, I chose cod. Beware if you want ice in your drink because it is rare to find ice in England!

We then took the train back from Beckenham to London and rested a bit before going to the Jack the Ripper tour. Our tour guide Simon was hilarious and very entertaining! He first brought us to the Roman wall and Londinium. Simon shared many facts about who Jack the Ripper killed, where the bodies were found, and other notable clues. But he did reveal that Jack the Ripper was never found or identified, which is horrifying. He also loved to tell us about how Americans say weird things such as "awesome." I found this interesting because I did not realize that British people do not say this, among many other things.  It was a long day, but very memorable.

Pictured is the train station we used to travel from London to Beckenham.

The picture above is the walk we took from the train station in Beckenham to the Bethlem Museum of the Mind. It felt similar to suburbs in the US.

The outside of the Bethlem Museum of the Mind.

Pictured above is one of the many art pieces in the museum. These are called inkblot tests. It is a type of personality test that was widely used until the 1960's, where patients were asked to describe what they saw.

This artwork depicts affluent visitors that would come to observe mentally ill patients. 

Pictured above is the group enjoying England's classic fish and chips in Beckenham.

This picture shows the amazing view of London during the Jack the Ripper tour.