ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

James Tilly Matthews

Okay, so James Tilly Matthews was a man who lived a very long time ago. He was born in 1770 in England. When he was older, he started to think things that other people thought were crazy. He believed that there were people who were trying to control his thoughts and make him do things. He thought they were using a thing called "air loom" to control him.

Now, air loom is not a real thing. But James Tilly Matthews really believed it was. He thought it was a machine that could control people's thoughts and make them do things. He even had conversations with the people that he believed were controlling the air loom. But to other people, it just looked like he was talking to himself.

Because of these strange beliefs, James Tilly Matthews was put into a mental hospital. This was a long time ago, and mental hospitals were not like they are today. People were not always treated very well in them. But James Tilly Matthews was able to make the best of his situation. He spent a lot of time writing about his beliefs and trying to get people to understand them.

Eventually, James Tilly Matthews died in the mental hospital. But his ideas have lived on for a long time. Some people even believe that he was onto something with his ideas about the air loom. But we may never know for sure. The important thing is that James Tilly Matthews tried to make sense of his world, even when it was confusing and scary.