The Disturbing Criminal Trial That Inspired ‘Split’

The big picture

• M. Night Shyamalan's
  Split
  was inspired by the real-life court case of Billy Milligan.
• Milligan's historic not guilty verdict based on dissociative identity disorder still captures public interest today.
• Shyamalan's depiction of DID in Split is based on Milligan's case, but takes many creative liberties.

while M. Night Shyamalanthe monstrous and supernatural portrayal of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in its second installment of the unbreakable trilogy, Split, is a point of contention, when you look at the real-life trial that inspired her character and story, her decisions make more sense. After the kidnapping of three teenagers, Split explores DID through the haunting character of Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) to the end of gender inflection. Parallels between Kevin's character details and the court case of Billy Milligan are confirmed by Shyamalan, who had been inspired by a novel, The Minds of Billy Milligansince the 90s.

Milligan committed horrific crimes of robbery, kidnapping and rape and was acquitted by the justice system in the late 1980s. He is the first person to use insanity on the basis of DID as a defense, and the first person to receive a not guilty verdict for it. While in today's world it is much more difficult to be acquitted on mental health issues, the premise of this court case still captures public attention to this day. Split is one of many mediums inspired by Milligan's case. However, this is in no way a retelling of true events, but rather a fictional story that contains remnants of the actual case and is brought to life by McAvoy's wide acting range and idiosyncratic style full of Shyamalan twists.

M. Night Shyamalan has always been inspired by DID

Shyamalan's film features James McAvoy as Kevin, a man divided by 23 alters, with a final 24 itching to come out. Split it starts out as a traditional kidnapping movie, then veers into the scientific realm, and finally ends on a supernatural note. While maintaining the overall psychological horror, Split's The most grounded exploration of DID occurs halfway through the filmwhere the alters' unique characteristics influence their personality and physique.

Although the strange ending is perceived as exploiting the negative stigma surrounding DID, it turns out that Shyamalan has been intrigued by the condition since the 90s. At a time when most people didn't believe it existed , Shyamalan was a firm believer in disordermaking more a The times of the strait this: “Those who have it constantly cover it up; they don't want to be singled out because they know you don't see them for who they are, so it's super fascinating and touching.” I was particularly interested in the physical effects of DID, where one tall might have diabetes and require insulin injections and another might be perfectly healthy. an idea that was translated into the film through the individual health conditions of each of Kevin's alters.

From learning Titanic director James Cameron was planning to film an adaptation of The Minds of Billy Milligan, which didn't pan out, Shyamalan promised himself he'd make the film one day. In accordance with The times of the straitstarted writing the script in 2001 but he would not produce the film until 15 years later. With years of meticulous research, refinement and carefully considered casting choices, Shyamalan finally released his dream project in 2016 while, of course, adding his own unorthodox flair.

What were the real events that inspired “Split?”

The character of Kevin is fictional, but his creation was inspired by a very real person who created a milestone in the courtroom by getting a not guilty verdict due to DID. Milligan was initially arrested in 1977 on multiple counts of robbery, kidnapping and rape of three women. However, during a psychiatric evaluation, he revealed that he had DID, and that it was one of his 24 disorders that had committed the crimes. After a year, went through rigorous evaluations by 9 different mental health professionalsincluding the notorious Cornelia Wilbur who wrote a novel, Sibyl, which chronicled the life of someone with DID who later confessed to making it up. In 1978, Milligan was acquitted of his crimes and institutionalized in a mental hospital.

There were many factors that contributed to Milligan's diagnosis, from witness statements to her history of trauma. Police officers who had interacted with him would note that he appeared to sometimes “switch personalities” and Behavioral evidence often pointed to discrepancies in his personality, where one victim claimed Milligan was soft-spoken while another said he had a rough accent. In addition, Milligan had a history of alleged sexual abuse by his stepfather, which he always denied, and had been hospitalized in a psychiatric facility when he was younger. He was diagnosed with what was said “hysterical neurosis” that involved many dissociative symptoms that lined up with DID.

After 8 years of hospitalization, Milligan escaped from the Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital, but was brought back after a year. However, soon after, in 1988, he was deemed not to be a danger to society and was released. Milligan died in 2014 of cancer at the age of 59. During all these years, the media gave great publicity to the case, especially The Columbus Monthly, The New York Times, i The Los Angeles Times. To this day, Milligan remains in the public domain through documentaries, novels, films and television shows.

Would Billy Milligan be innocent today?

Although Milligan's court case was the first of its kind, forensic psychologist Johnston believes that it has not set a precedent for future attempts to use DID as a defense in the courtroom. He explains that the “route of insanity” is generally much harder to take these days, as there is now a distinction between sanity and character. Attorneys and psychiatric evaluators must now do this demonstrate a direct link between the perpetrator's mental health and his actions. There must be evidence that their actions are because of the symptoms of his mental condition, otherwise it's simply a case of “this person has committed a violent crime, and he has a mental illness.” This happened in the cases of Tom Bonney, who shot his daughter 27 times and tried to use his DID as a defense but failed, or Kenneth Bianchi, dubbed the “Hillside Strangler,” who lied about have DID.

As such, while there is controversy surrounding Shyamalan's choice of source material, this odd case has firmly held the attention of audiences for over 50 years. Milligan's case has been featured in the novel that inspired Shyamalan in the first place, the Netflix docuseries, Monsters Inside: The 24 faces of Billy Milligan, and now The room full of people in 2023 where Tom Holland plays Milligan. Since it is unlikely that a defendant would plead not guilty in this way these days, the case is continually being revived by the media. As such, the peculiarities of this landmark case seem to stand the test of time.

How accurate is “Division” to real history?

The details of Milligan's case are directly reflected in the characterization of Kevin a split, But Shyamalan clearly took some creative liberties with them. Both abducted three youths. However, Kevin never sexually assaulted them and instead killed two of the women, leaving Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) the sole survivor. Through Casey's own backstory about his abusive uncle, we learn that Kevin was also traumatized and haunted by his childhood just like Milligan. Although the causes of DID are largely less understood or known, it is associated with being a coping mechanism in reaction to trauma. However, the most prominent similarity is that they both have 24 alterations. This also comes with the biggest divergence from the Milligan case, while both have violent disturbances, Kevin also has a secret that he possesses supernatural abilities.

While actual details were used to embellish the narrative of Split, Shyamalan still had a tough casting to do. As such, his casting of McAvoy completely sold the film. McAvoy's captivating performance was a masterclass in versatility as he embodied characters of different ages, genders and personalities and, most importantly, moves between them seamlessly. From the joy of the young Hedwig, to the anguished Kevin, through the savagery of the Beast, McAvoy keeps us on our toes at every point of the film. While there is something to be said for the controversial final portrayal of DID in Shyamalan's film, Milligan's case continues to capture the public imagination today.

Split is available to stream now on Netflix in the US

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