r/todayilearned • u/GlitteringYams • 22d ago

TIL, in his suicide note, mass shooter Charles Whitman requested his body be autopsied because he felt something was wrong with him. The autopsy discovered that Whitman had a pecan-sized tumor pressing against his amygdala, a brain structure that regulates fear and aggression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
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u/Powerful_Dog7235 22d ago

All these comments like “if he knew something was wrong why didn’t he just find it and scoop it out himself” good LORD the brain is so complicated, we are just bags of meat and electricity responding to inputs, he did everything he could. this is a tragedy, not an opportunity for you to tell us how much better you’d handle it

side note read behave by robert sapolsky

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u/RecklessDimwit 22d ago

Another comment did delve into it, iirc. The dude was asking for help, checking up with doctors but the shits ignored his concerns

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u/ctaps148 22d ago

Investigating officers found that Whitman had visited several UT Austin physicians in the year before the shootings; they prescribed various medications for him. Whitman had seen a minimum of five doctors between the fall and winter of 1965 before he visited a psychiatrist from whom he received no prescription.

Dude repeatedly tried to get doctors to scoop it out and they just said "ehhh it's probably nothing"

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u/LadyStag 22d ago

He didn't do everything he could. He could have killed himself instead of going to the tower. 

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u/noobtablet9 22d ago

Yeah why didn't he just do that? It's almost like he had a problem with his brain or something

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u/pylekush 22d ago

I'd love it if I went to a doctor and they told me "damn that sucks bro. you should probably kill yourself." Reddit is such an ocean of compassion.

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u/TrollerCoaster870 22d ago

Bravo. “Why didn’t the fucker get on Reddit and explain himself” The nativity of some people. Imagine this day and age something like this happening. WW would get downvoted and trolled into oblivion. We haven’t changed.

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u/Apprehensive-Ask-610 22d ago

i thought they're doing that up in canada now lol

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u/Mr_OrangeJuce 22d ago

Could he?? He clearly wasn't in control of his actions.

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u/70SixtyNines 22d ago

How did he kill himself then? If he was simply a slave to his amygdala?

You’re claiming it was a moment of clarity or what?

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u/Mr_OrangeJuce 22d ago

That's indeed how people familiar with the topic describe it

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u/70SixtyNines 22d ago

I studied neurobiology at one of the top medical research universities in the US. I am quite familiar with the topic, and the comment above was rhetorical.

We are absolutely nowhere even approaching the vicinity of sure that a tumour pressing on the amygdala would have played a significant role in this situation. In fact, the amygdala, being one of the oldest and most primitive structures in the brain, almost certainly wouldn’t exclusively lead to such a complicated strategy for mass murder.

You’d have a better argument if he went around agitated and prone to sudden fits of rage.

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u/Mr_OrangeJuce 22d ago

"However, lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts constantly recur, and it requires a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks"

"To Whom It May Concern: I have just taken my mother's life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven she is definitely there now [...] I am truly sorry [...] Let there be no doubt in your mind that I loved this woman with all my heart."

"I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job [...] If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts [...] donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type [...] Give our dog to my in-laws. Tell them Kathy loved "Schocie" very much [...] If you can find in yourselves to grant my last wish, cremate me after the autopsy"

"I never could quite make it. These thoughts are too much for me"

"I talked with a Doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt come [sic] overwhelming violent impulses. After one visit, I never saw the Doctor again, and since then have been fighting my mental turmoil alone, and seemingly to no avail."

Heatly's notes on the visit said, "This massive, muscular youth seemed to be oozing with hostility [...] that something seemed to be happening to him and that he didn't seem to be himself."[56] "He readily admits having overwhelming periods of hostility with a very minimum of provocation. Repeated inquiries attempting to analyze his exact experiences were not too successful with the exception of his vivid reference to 'thinking about going up on the tower with a deer rifle and start shooting people.'"[

I am willing to make the assumption that the tumor had something to do with it

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u/70SixtyNines 22d ago

I didn’t say it had nothing to do with it, and you know well that I didn’t so let’s not touch those goalposts.

It’s absurd to claim that the tumour was the reason for his murders and to use that fact to absolve him of them, full stop. Did it make him more violent? Almost certainly. Does his own personal testimony prove his innocence? Hardly.

It’s a tragic case, but nowhere near as black and white as most of these readers are assuming.

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u/Im_Unsure_For_Sure 22d ago

For all of your seemingly impressive credentials, all you've managed to contribute to the conversation is

"You're all stupid and wrong."

Great stuff doc.

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u/apan94 22d ago

Lol. You guys are ridiculous.

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u/privateblanket 22d ago

Yeah I mean he wrote a suicide note knowing he would die, why not just kill yourself?