Weird. This statement on HMS Blog notes that "In the old days, the well-to-do would take an afternoon of pleasure by visiting the madhouses and laughing at the inmates." O.O. and I were just talking about the fact that my family used to do this 40 years ago (they were by no means well-to-do - living on a preacher's salary.) I need to ask my mom about this again - the family keeps hedging on it now that the younger generation has heard about it and criticizes them for it. I think they justified it as visiting lonely people - and my family certainly wouldn't have laughed at them to their faces. It's still creepy though.