Seven Years Insane

Martha Nasch: The Woman Who Never Ate or Drank?

Martha “Hattie” Nasch, patient #20864, spent six and one-half years sentenced to imprisonment (“treatment”) for ongoing sadness and a concurrent loss of appetite. The original source of her depressive symptoms is up for discussion, though there is a strong link to a hormonal imbalance that may have led to abdominal pain and the prevention of bearing more children – something the family has evidence she desired, but could never have. After a mysterious “procedure,” to remedy the situation, her mental health continued to fail and Martha may have presented as delusional and per the context of the times, unfit to remain in proper society.

At some point, Martha claims to have stopped eating or drinking. Believing she was afflicted by supernatural forces or suffering as a consequence of sin present in her life, she began searching for solutions for how to continue living without as much food or drink. Not one person, not even her spouse, child, or the hospital has been able to disprove her claims of nutritional abstinence, despite them being wildly impossible. Still, before his passing in 2019, Martha’s son and only child, Ralph (a future WWII bomber pilot), attested to never seeing his mother eat when he was a child.

Click here to buy Poems from the Asylum on Amazon, today!

Not one person, not even her spouse, child, or the hospital has been able to disprove her claims of nutritional abstinence, despite them being wildly impossible.

– Janelle Molony, family historian/researcher

Silenced in the Asylum?

In 1928, her husband, Louis, coordinated with Martha’s doctor and the police to have her forcibly removed from her St. Paul Minnesota home and committed to the St. Peter State Hospital for the Insane in Minnesota, USA (about a two-hour bus ride from their home). While there, Martha kept a haunting and, yet, touching collection of poems and reflections to be shared with her friends in the outside world when she was permitted to mail or pass them along to visitors.

In Martha’s poems, she reflects on her husband’s infidelity, her inability to have more children, and a longing to be reunited with Ralph. She repeatedly claims she had no mental health issues but that she was suffering from a spiritual affliction – demonic in nature – and dabbles in mystical theories such as the Breatharian Manifesto. Later, her story is used as a “testimony” for how successful the Breatharian lifestyle can be. Her writing is lucid, spiritual, and at times, disturbing. She hardly conceals the unjust violence and human torture that she witnessed while imprisoned. She tried to escape twice, but both attempts failed.

Now, family historians Janelle Molony and Jodi Nasch Decker have officially released her writing from inside the asylum in an anthology, Poems from the Asylum (2021). In addition, the co-authors will be novelizing Martha’s trials and tribulations as a survivor of traumatizing marital discord, medical ignorance, and institutional practices in the upcoming release, Seven Years Insane. For more on both book projects, follow the authors on Facebook at @SevenYearsInsane.

For the nonfiction book containing Martha’s backstory, complete media interviews, and the entire collection of poetry from the asylum, click here.

How Much is Real Vs. Delusion?

It depends on who you ask. Proponents of the Breatharian movement have repeatedly pointed towards Martha Nasch as an example of healthy living and healing through the lifestyle changes outlined in their spiritual practices. A gradual reduction in solid foods reportedly increases one’s dependence on a higher power and energy to sustain their life. In one common example, this food-less (not entirely “foodless”) sanctification is seen in several religious texts as fasting and is recognized as a way to decidedly draw the mind-body-spirit into one accord via the physical discipline. Another consideration for this lifestyle change can be seen in medical studies related to the Gerson diet – an all-liquid diet (juice-based) that has helped numerous participants to heal from physical damage and even reverse the progression of serious diseases and even cancer. So, on one hand, the general and focused reduction of solid food intake for therapeutic purposes can be validated as a way to achieve spiritual, emotional, and even physical healing.

On the other hand, Martha’s exaggerated claims cannot possibly be true as they are stated in her public writings and interviews. Obviously, the cessation of all nutritional intake for any time longer than a few weeks would result in Martha’s death. Historians of the Hospital and eyewitness accounts have also confirmed that patients were force-fed, as necessary. Perhaps Martha’s comments were more metaphorical and emotional than metaphysical. This admission to take her words with a grain of salt does not, however simultaneously support an insanity diagnosis.

In 2014, the Museum of Hoaxes had written a sarcastic piece on the great-grandmother of the project coordinator and author (Janelle Molony) which has since been responded to by multiple descendants to correct misinformation and sensationalized theories. Since then, commenting has been turned off from their article, though the author has captured it in a downloadable PDF for interested readers (including the comments).

Read more on How Martha’s name has been linked to the controversial “Breatharianism” diet-lifestyle.

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Additional articles on Martha Nasch (nee Gruening) can be found in the following:

Video/Audio Discussions on Martha Nasch for Further Research

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Read more from author, Janelle Molony, by visiting her list of Current Publications and following along on social media:

@SevenYearsInsane – (web) Poems From The Asylum: The True Story of Martha Nasch
@AdoptionToLife – (web) Un-Adoptable? Faith Beyond Foster Care
@RousseauProject – (web) From Where I Sat: The Story of Sarah J. Rousseau.