Trapped FOR LIFE in a secret asylum? These women deserved better...

In 1989, my mother who had just turned 20 got pregnant. Her boyfriend at the time told his mother, who basically kidnapped my mother and took her to a laundry. She was luckily only there for a little while before she could find a phone and secretly call granny who came to get her in a blaze of fury. She was very lucky that she got out and could raise my sister and eventually the rest of her children. I appreciate you doing a video to raise awareness of this

As an Irish person, its great to see you covering this. The shameful actions of the church still affect many to this very day. We are still finding their unmarked mass graves. Thank you for shedding some light on a very dark matter.

I'm from Dublin, a few years back I worked a covid wars and one of the patients was an elderly lady- very funny and bubbly but had a faded tattoo of two pigs on her forearm. When I asked what the story behind the pigs were, she said each pig represented the nuns that abused her. She grew up in the asylum as an orphan, eventually got out in her early twenties only to find that 4 other girls in there turned out to be her sisters and they wouldn't figure that out for years to come. Fascinating stuff!

My aunt was blindfolded while in labour and had her daughter taken away. They wouldn't let go of her wrist until she signed the papers and she still blames herself to this day. Forced adoption is the next step from forced birth.

It's crazy to me that it took until 1996 to get these places officially shut down. 🤯

I started learning about and researching the laundry's after Sinead O'Connor ripped up the popes picture on stage because of the coverups. She was stigmatized for calling the pope out and most American news stations still helped support the Church instead of her. It was years before I could access enough info online to figure out what happened.

"Why dont they apologize?" Because that would mean admitting that they were wrong. Most hyper-religious organizations and individuals can't admit that they were wrong, like, ever.

I have lived in Ireland the bulk of my life. I went to a college in Limerick which was formerly named Limerick School of Art and Design. My college building was previously a Magdalene laundries. I remember working late at night in the library and developing such an erie feeling. The orphanage was directly beside the college and was connected by secret tunnels. There was a mass grave infront of my college of almost 200 women and children. I remember asking for documents to learn more from the library but these could only be viewed under supervision and not be removed from the premises. There is still a hush hush culture about this part of history. It truly is a devastating story.

The singer Sinead O'Connor was spent 18 months at a laundry in 1981 in Dublin at age 14. She talked about it. Her laundry was closed in 1996. 😢

Dia dhuit, Bailey! Long time fan.❤ I'm a 26-year-old Irish woman, born and bred. A lot of the time, Irish history is presented very badly; via mainstream TV, history books, etc. You truly did your research on this and did such a fantastic job. The Magdeline Laundries and the like is a piece of history that we learn in primary school (1-6th grade for you). It makes me happy beyond words to see this story told on a very popular platform. The Irish really deserved better. May all of the harmed and tortured souls never be forgotten. suaimhneas síoraí.🖤

Glad you listened to my requests and covered this. Sick of people acting like the church is benign.

As a survivor, I really appreciate your sensitivity and the trigger warnings. 🖤 It may annoy people who don’t get it, but it means so much to me!

I'm Irish, these homes are our biggest shame. My own grandmother gave me mam and her little brother up for adoption because she wasn't married and was terrified she would be sent to one of these homes. There's over 200 babies dead in a septic tanks at one of these home in Galway It was discovered years ago and still they are in this tank. Alot of babies are sold to American couples illegally. And religion is not everything anymore. Not since it was made known what was happening in the homes. And what happens to these babies and their mothers.

There are some parallels here to what happened in residential schools. Both were run by the church, people had their names taken away, their hair cut,, they were humiliated, abused, held hostage and taken there again their will. Wow.

Hey Bailey! I went to college in a Magdalene laundry turned art college. The third floor was closed off as I sign of respect (where the women gave birth) and there was a door up there that was narrow enough to let the girls in when they were newly pregnant but that they wouldn’t be able to get out of once they were heavily pregnant. There was also a balcony in the church that was technically outside the church as the women were considered “sinners” and not allowed in the church and they had to sit there with their babies to “display their sin to the congregation”. Utterly horrific places!

Listening to this made me feel like how I did when I was hearing one of my elders talk about the Native American children being taken away from them to residential schools to be stripped from their cultures, long hair cut off, sexually assaulted, & told to speak English only. They also have mass graves behind A LOT of these places. Hundreds recently found this past year, so I’ve felt that grief too often & now im all emotional over these women who had to experience that horrible trauma to the very end.

There’s a movie called “The Magdalene Sisters”… it’s based upon four women who went through that horrid place. Thank you for covering this, I’d check out the movie if you haven’t already seen it. It’s on YouTube. I purchased it. Edit: I made this comment before she mentioned the movie I just commented about… so don’t come for me please. I sometimes comment during the video or I forget things I want to say. Thank you.

What a terrible thing. And I had no idea the Magdalene Laundries even existed until today. My heart absolutely hurts for the women involved. Thank you for bringing these things to light Bailey.

I may or may not have told my students to use your page [they are juniors/seniors] to review some topics we learned this year. I told them you get to teach about it the way I wish I could. :)

I'm Irish and the writer of " The Magdalene Sisters" lived in my village. She actually only passed away about two years ago.