In 1989, a special care building named Villa 39 was completed in the northwestern part of the hospital area. It was designed and furnished to handle Elisabeth, "Sweden's most dangerous woman". The villa had three rooms for the patient and three more rooms for staff and administration. There was a four meter high special fence around the building.
Elisabeth had been nursed at an institution since she was nine because of her aggression and outbursts. Twelve years old, she was moved to Långbro Hospital. She became known to the public in 1977 when a major Swedish newspaper published an article with a picture of her chained to a bed with a plastic bag that barely covered her body.
Photo: Aftonbladet, 20 July 1977
The report on the neglect received a great deal of attention and caused the patient to be moved to S:t Sigfrid's hospital in Växjö. Six years later, despite protests from the parents, she was moved back to Långbro.
She was erratic, aggressive and psychotic but the doctors had not been able to agree on her diagnosis. She was considered a psychological mystery, had to be constantly monitored by several attendants and was herded on a leash in the neighborhood of Långbro. The public was upset and thought it was a spectacle. In 1990, she was finally diagnosed with autism. In 1992 Elisabeth was given a teacher who, with new educational ideas, gave her the opportunity for another life. In 1997 the forced care was abolished and in 2000 she moved to a farm in Sörmland.
Villa 39 was demolished when the area was transformed in the early 2000s and today nothing reminds of its existence.
