By comparing the book “Ten Days in a Mad-House” and the television show “American Horror Story: Asylum” we can see that the treatment of people with mental illness was often horrific. The first story “Mad-House” was originally a newspaper article about a reporter’s actual treatment in a mental health institution and was intended to educate the public about the treatment of the mentally ill. The second story “AHS: Asylum” was a fictional horror show intended to scare its audience. Both works however have striking similarities. In both of works a female journalist goes undercover in an insane asylum by pretending to be insane. Also in both stories the mentally ill patients were treated horribly. It is very sad, but the only major difference between the nonfictional account of a woman’s time in a mental health institution and a fictional horror show that was created to scare its audience is that the fictional one involves aliens.