Kate Beckinsale steps into the ‘Disappointments Room’

Back in the 19th century, institutions that catered to the mentally or physically impaired were scarce, so affluent families with such kind of individuals resorted to keeping them in a secluded part of the house to avoid being politically or socially ostracized. That particular space was called “disappointments room.”

In recent years, an American TV show featured the story of one disappointments room found in an old home bought by the Dumas family in Rhode Island. The room was up in the attic, it had a metal floor, a doorknob on one side and a deadbolt. The owner concluded that “whoever was in [that] room wasn’t getting out.”