Billy Milligan: The Campus Rapist Who Escaped Trial

A child that was not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth. 

Who is Billy Milligan?

The Campus Rapist, as he is popularly called, is one of the most unique and notorious criminals in the history of the world. He was arrested in October 1977 for committing the rape of 4 women around the campus of the Ohio State University. All his victims found something unusual about their perpetrator and when Billy Milligan was identified, the case took a shocking turn. 

Billy Milligan was 22 years old at the time of his arrest and already had a record of armed robbery, assaults and grand larceny. However, when the Ohio Police went to arrest Milligan, he did not try to plead his innocence. In fact, Milligan was oblivious about his surroundings and could not fathom his arrest. 

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Billy Millegan Drawings: A Conversation 

After his arrest, Milligan did not speak to anyone in his prison. Instead, he would draw several sketches. Some of his sketches were artistic masterpieces while some were doodles. At one instance, he drew a doll with a rope around her neck, which concerned the prison authorities that he was suicidal. A few days later, he tried to commit suicide. 

The concerned authorities called the prison psychologists who immediately tried to conduct several tests but to no avail. Each time the results would be ambiguous. His IQ tests would vary from showing borderline retardation to a genius. 

They even tried to conduct the Rorschach test where he could identify with the drawings on the paper, but the results seemed amiss. After several psychologists trying to identify with Milligan's mind, Dorothy Turner identified that Millegan may have a disorder termed as multiple personality disorder. 

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Billy Milligan's 24 Personalities

During the several conversations and meetings with the campus rapist, a team of psychologists decided to conduct a formal interview in order to make the world aware about this disorder, that most people called 'a show'.

Dorothy Turner and George Harding record the reactions of Milligan to each of their questions. After several conversations, Milligan finally let his guard down with the other personalities and addressed himself with different names. At one instance he asks, "Why are they calling me Billy? That is not my name. I am Danny". 

Milligan had a knack for accents that he developed at an early stage in his life. He would often change accents with his personalities which was one of the core reasons that made the psychologists believe in the personality disorder. 

The change in his personalities is seen each time he gets uncomfortable with a particular question. He would look around the room, roll his eyes back, change his posture and continue as if nothing had changed. 

He would term this change in personalities as 'sleeping'. He would say, "Billy has gone to sleep" and when he would be questioned why, he would mention that he did not like the questions that were being asked. 

Out of all the 24 faces of Billy Milligan, one of them was an innocent, afraid 3 year old girl he called Christine and another was a sophisticated, commanding British man that he called Arthur. After the several conversations, Milligan was made aware and embraced the fact that he had several other voices commanding him from within his body. 

There were instances when Milligan would coil up in his chair and ask why people are accusing him of doing 'bad things' (Danny). At another, he would confidently sit on his chair and admit to robbing a drug store (Kevin). 

There were even times where he would admit to raping 3 women because he did not like them (Adalana). All these confessions would be expressed when he was a different personality. Each crime he committed, was done by a personality other than Billy Milligan. 

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History of Billy Milligan

One of the fundamental duties of a parent is to raise their children in a safe environment. This was becoming increasingly difficult for the women in the 1960's with the on-going wars and drug habits of the men. 

The mid 90's period was the time for drugs, alcohol, rock and roll. With the fusion of this culture, this unhealthy lifestyle was now a habit of most men. At such tiring times, due to the societal pressures and norms, it was essential for a woman to have a husband. 

After many failed marriages, Dorothy Sands, Billy Milligan's mother, married a man named Chalmer Milligan. They adopted each others children and began to live as one family. This turned into a nightmare soon when Chalmer would torture the children and abuse them. 

It is said that the psychological trauma of this abuse was so permanent in little Billy's mind, that he would often create different versions of himself to escape reality. From an early age Billy had an irregular memory and would fail to recall his actions. 

While some believe that Chalmer was responsible for the mental illness of Milligan, some are of the opinion that Milligan already had a few alternate personalities before Chalmer came along. The torture was simply a trigger for Billy's other personalities to emerge. 

Was Billy Milligan Faking It?

There were not many active patients of multiple personality disorder which stirred many rumors around the world. Billy Milligan's case was gaining worldwide coverage as this disorder was yet being studied. .

Many people were of the opinion that Milligan had managed to put on an extremely good show when he was deemed unfit for trial. There was a large uproar about a rapist being sent to psychiatric wards instead of a prison or a correctional facility. 

A few believed that Milligan's Yugoslavian speaking personality, Ragen, had written letters in Arab. It was later found out that the letters were written by another patient of the hospital. On several occasions, Milligan would normally be his original, friendly self and only showcase his other personalities in front of Dr. Turner and Harding which further raised eyebrows. 

Billy Milligan Today 

After being shifted to various psychiatric wards and hospitals, and successfully running away from one, Milligan was finally released in 1991 into the society. The doctors believed that all his personalities were fused into one which made him fit to rejoin society. There was news of Milligan being suspected of two murders while he was on a run. This remained unsolved. 

Upon being integrated back into society, Billy Milligan lived in California for a while and was working on a short film which was never released. His location thereafter remained undisclosed until his death on December 12, 2014, when it was confirmed that he died of Cancer at a nursing home in Columbus. The truth about Billy Milligan died with his 24 personalities. 

 

Written by Jerusha Patel