# "Disappointment Room" - did such a thing really exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointment-room-did-such-a-thing-really-exist/602502 "2011-11-10T13:33:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointment-room-did-such-a-thing-really-exist/602502/21 "2011-11-16T05:34:29Z")
Not exactly what you are talking about, but in Romania during the time of Ceaușescu, any kind of ‘different’ was shameful. I go to Romania every year, where I work with adults and children with developmental disabilities. Some of the children were found locked in rooms like you describe. Sort of. I have heard the most heartbreaking stories (I wasn’t there when they were taken to the children’s home). Some children would be kept in cellars, where parents would just throw in food without ever going in. It’s terrible when a society decides some people are worth more than others. Thankfully, the attitudes in Romania are rapidly changing & I have noticed such a huge difference in the years I have been going there 🙂 ETA: ah, sorry: obviously this would not go by that name, nor would it be purpose built. I thought you were asking about the locking up… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointment-room-did-such-a-thing-really-exist/602502/22 "2011-11-16T16:51:43Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > …Ironically, two direct descendants of his parents, Katherine Bowes-Lyon and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon (first cousins to Queen Elizabeth II, to whom they bore a distinct family resemblance) actually were locked up in an institution for their whole lives and their existence was concealed. There were even fake death reports for them in Burke’s Peerage. But because they lived in the 20th century, they were quietly confined to a mental hospital instead of a secret room. IIRC both had Downs Syndrome and Burkes never even bothered trying to confirm there deaths (because they couldn’t concieve of the Queen Mother lying to them). ---
**Author:** ![AlexK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@AlexK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlexK)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointment-room-did-such-a-thing-really-exist/602502/23 "2011-11-23T21:03:49Z")
It’s my understanding that a “disappointment room” was a small space, generally located on the top floor of the house, where “mentally ill” family members (usually children) were kept during the 1800-1900s so that they would remain well out of the public eye. I’ve come across that term several times and been struck by its poignancy. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointment-room-did-such-a-thing-really-exist/602502/24 "2011-11-24T01:54:20Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > “Is this the disappointment room?” > > “No.” > > “…oh ☹ … Hey, hang on!”\ Threadwinner. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointment-room-did-such-a-thing-really-exist/602502/25 "2011-11-24T02:13:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Anyone else thinking of [_Born Of Man And Woman_](http://incolor.inebraska.com/tgannon/pubhtml/txts/born.txt) by Richard Matheson? At first blush, I’m thinking The Goonies. I guess that’s generational though. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointment-room-did-such-a-thing-really-exist/602502/26 "2011-11-24T02:21:40Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Does [the basement apartment Patrick Henry kept his wife in](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry#Sarah.27s_illness)count? > > I’d love to read a book about this, BTW. Do we know what disease she actually had? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointment-room-did-such-a-thing-really-exist/602502.md?page=1)