Billy Milligan

William Stanley Milligan (born 1955) was the subject of a highly publicised court case in the state of Ohio in the late 1970s. After having committed several felonies including armed robbery, he was arrested for a series of rapes on the Ohio State University campus. In the course of preparing his defense, public defenders discovered that Milligan had multiple personalities and that two of his 24 selves had committed the crimes without the others becoming aware of it. Milligan pleaded an insanity defense, the first multiple to do so. He was sent to a series of state-run mental hospitals, where he received very little help.

Finally the group received treatment from Dr. David Caul and discovered that they could voluntarily integrate at will. However, when they kept this up for any protracted length of time, they discovered that talents they possessed as individuals seemed to lose their edge. Milligan still refers to this situation with the words "The whole was less than the sum of the parts." The most important thing Caul could teach them was how to communicate with one another. Caul's famous quote on treating multiples is "It seems to me that after treatment you want a functional unit, be it a corporation, a partnership, or a one-owner business."

Released in 1988 after a decade in mental hospitals, Milligan now lives in California where he owns Stormy Life Productions and makes films. He is still multiple. He is supervising a film about his life, The Crowded Room. As of 2004, this film is still in development.

The Minds of Billy Milligan Best-selling book by Daniel Keyes.

Daniel Keyes Homepage of the author of Minds of Billy Milligan and Milligan Wars.

A Statement by Billy Milligan in 1996.

Another book by Keyes, The Milligan Wars, has been published in Japan, but not in the United States, at first due to Milligan's ongoing lawsuit against the State of Ohio for the inadequate treatment he received in their facilities. The book will be published when the film is released.