Somewhere in the vast hallways of the University of Texas at Austin, there is a storage closet filled with the maladjusted brains of roughly one hundred former patients of the Texas State Mental Hospital.
The brains in this collection all suffer from abnormalities, and were preserved to aid studies into mental illness. Labeled and assigned case numbers, they could serve to advance the study of brain abnormality and function, yet they have sat mostly ignored for 30 years.
Unfortunately the University of Texas at Austin suffered an unspeakable tragedy directly related to the subject of mental illness - it was their clock tower that Charles Whitman climbed the day his brain finally snapped.
After killing his wife and mother, Whitman went to the university prepared for war. Carrying with him an arsenal of weapons as well as rations, survival gear, first aid and basic toiletries, Whitman climbed to the 27th floor of the university clock tower and from this vantage point, began picking off helpless victims on the ground, one by one.
It was 96 minutes of unimpeded terror before Whitman was killed by one of the officers who had managed to reach his perch in the tower. A nation new to the senseless horror of random sniper violence was left shocked - It was hard to fathom why the clean-cut engineering student and former marine would commit such a heinous act. 17 people died that day, and 32 other were wounded, and everyone wanted to know why. It turned out that one of the likely causes was something that Whitman had suspected himself, and had tried in vain to get help for - something was terribly wrong with his brain.
In suicide notes that Whitman left behind, he requested an autopsy, convinced that a physical ailment was the root of his pain and suffering. As his story unfolded, it was clear that he had known something was wrong, and had begged doctors to help him control exceedingly overwhelming violent urges, as well as his tremendous headaches. He felt that an autopsy would reveal the cause of his hostility and suffering - and while there were other factors to take into account (including the likelihood that he was popping Dexadrine like candy) it seemed Whitman was right.
The original autopsy performed revealed a pecan-sized brain tumor, which the doctor concluded had nothing to do with Whitman's actions. However, a commission of experts were brought in, and in a three-hour hearing concluded that the tumor could very well have affected his emotional state, and was applying pressure to his amygdalae region, which likely caused distress to his fight/flight response.
While Whitman's brain does not belong to the collection kept on campus, (it was returned to his body cavity and buried) the university knows firsthand the importance of studying the most complex organ we possess, and learning how to keep it healthy. With federal funding for brain research becoming a priority, hopefully the valuable collection locked away in the halls of the university will be put to use, and help unlock the secrets they keep.