The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether

The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether is a satirical and darkly humorous short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story follows an unnamed narrator who visits a private insane asylum in southern France to observe a new treatment system for mental illness called the “soothing system,” supposedly developed by Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether. The director of the asylum explains that patients are no longer restrained but are instead allowed complete freedom as part of a progressive reform. As the narrator spends time in the asylum, he notices increasingly strange and chaotic behavior among the staff and residents. The attendants behave in bizarre and unprofessional ways, while the supposed “patients” seem relatively calm and rational. Eventually, a shocking reversal is revealed: the inmates have taken over the asylum, imprisoning the staff and impersonating them.