72 Days, 6 Hours, 11 Minutes — Nellie Bly's Trip Around the World (1889)
In 1889, a 25-year-old journalist named Nellie Bly set off alone to circle the globe. Her goal: beat the fictional record of 80 days. She came back in 72.
Undercover in an Asylum
- Nellie Bly. Age 23.
Reporter at the New York World. Women journalists were handed cooking assignments.
She pitched her editor: let me go undercover as a patient in an insane asylum.
Ten days inside. Violence. Rotten food. Forced cold-water baths.
When the story ran, New York City dramatically increased the asylum's budget.
Around the World in 80 Days
- Her editor came with a new assignment.
Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days — could it actually be done?
November 14, 9:40 a.m. Nellie Bly left New York.
Alone. One bag.
72 Days
England, France, Italy, the Suez Canal, Colombo, Hong Kong, Japan.
Jules Verne himself met her in France.
Her ship hit storms. Her train ran late.
January 25, 1890, 3:51 p.m. She arrived in New York.
72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, 14 seconds.
The Nation Went Wild
The New York World held a contest — readers guessed her arrival time. One million entries.
The day she arrived, cannons fired. Crowds filled the station.
A telegram went to Jules Verne. "72 days."
Verne replied. "Bravo."
After
Nellie Bly kept going. More undercover work.
Factory labor abuses. Corrupt politicians. Women's prison conditions.
She became a pioneer of investigative journalism.
Departed: November 14, 1889 | Arrived: January 25, 1890 | Record: 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, 14 seconds | Fiction: 80 days
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