There was a time in our history when leprosy was believed to be a highly contagious disease鈥攕o contagious that patients were moved into forced isolation from the general population. About 450 of them lived in a facility in Carville, Louisiana. Residents referred to themselves as the 鈥渟ecret people.鈥� Durham-based podcast 鈥�s latest episode features the story of the "secret people," and the short period in which they shared their home with 500 white collar criminals.
Host traveled to Louisiana to visit with some of the people who called Carville home. There, she met a man named Mr. Pete who had lived in Carville for more than 60 years.
鈥淗e was diagnosed with leprosy when he was six years old living in the Virgin Islands," Judge said. 鈥淚t was a time when people didn鈥檛 know much about the disease and so people were so terrified of it that they would just put little children away and separate them from their parents.鈥�
Judge said Mr. Pete is now 87 years old, and is missing most of his fingers and part of his ear from the disease. Mr. Pete recalled to Judge when they brought him to Carville as a child. He said even his mother couldn鈥檛 touch him when she came to visit.
"It was confusing. She's on the outside (of the fence) and I'm in the inside. I didn鈥檛 know what was going on,鈥� Mr. Pete said.
For almost 100 years, Carville was home to people like Mr. Pete. Judge said people were brought there around the turn of the century, sometimes against their will. The patients of Carville were eventually offered release. However, some people, including Mr. Pete, decided to stay.
鈥淪omeone made the point to me that it鈥檚 like a prisoner. We hear these stories about people who have been in prison for so long that when they get out they don鈥檛 know what to do. So they immediately commit a crime so they go back in,鈥� Judge said.
鈥淢any of these patients had been there for decades, some of them entering their 7th or 8th decade at Carville. The disease had such remarkable effects on physical appearance, it was easier to stay in a place that they had known.鈥�
Judge said Mr. Pete told her at Carville no one asked him questions about his leprosy. The facility provided a place for him to somewhat live in peace.
But, just this past year, the residents of Carville were forced to move to a nursing facility. Nevertheless, Mr. Pete plans to be buried at the place he called home for so long.
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