Shocking true story behind 'mind-blowing' new docu-series following 'America's most mentally ill family'
Topics: Crime, True Crime, Real Life, Mental Health, Documentaries, TV And Film
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Discovery
Topics: Crime, True Crime, Real Life, Mental Health, Documentaries, TV And Film
If you've spent the last few days desperately searching for a brand new boxset to binge your way through, then the chances are that you've already stumbled across this brand new true crime docuseries.
If you haven't, then allow me to enlighten you because in a matter of days it will undoubtedly become one of the most widely talked-about real life chillers of this year.
And much in the same way that Baby Reindeer viewers became enthralled by the eerie drama, and the reality behind TikTok cult hit Dancing For The Devil left fans utterly mind-blown, watchers of this latest spine-tingling fix simply cannot seem to fathom that it all actually happened.
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Going all the way back to the beginning, Six Schizophrenic Brothers tells the torturous tale of the Galvin family, explained from the point of view of the youngest of 12 children, Mary.
Raised in Colorado to an Irish Catholic family, growing up with so many siblings was delightful in the early days, that was until six of Mary's 10 brothers were diagnosed with schizophrenia later in life.
The first sinister sign that Mary observed in the 1960s, was that that the eldest of the brood, Donald, 'dismembered a dog' in the bathtub of their home when she was just a child.
Whilst attending college, he endured symptoms like hallucinations and delusional thinking.
She recalls her mother also believing there was 'something going on' with second eldest son Jim at the time, and that the youngest boy Peter was prone to 'breaking all the windows' in the family home.
"It was like a snowball effect," she tells viewers. "My parents were just blaming themselves. There was so much despair, so much hopelessness and so much confusion.
"I didn't find out until much later, as an adult."
Over the next 15 years, three more of Mary's brothers would show signs of the condition which - back in those days - wasn't fully recognised as a mental illness.
The family's heartbreaking experience came to blows one day when they discovered that Brian, the fourth eldest, had murdered his own girlfriend before committing suicide.
"Never in [my parents'] worst nightmares did they believe such a thing could happen," Mary recalls. "Their children, young men who were so promising, ended up in a mental hospital."
The Discovery docuseries now aims to draw attention to the horrific impact of this heartbreaking - and formerly misunderstood - condition, whilst debunking stigmas surrounding mental health.
The official synopsis reads: "America's 'most mentally ill family' reveals the terrifying true story of how schizophrenia ripped through their family, affecting six of the 12 siblings."
And since landing earlier this week, many viewers couldn't quite believe the truth behind the tale.
"Y’all need to watch six schizophrenic brothers it was good as hell but sad too," one said on social media.
Another went on: "im watching six schizophrenic brothers on max and every episode s**t gets worst like mind blowing".