How a brain tumor created a killer in America LifestyleHealth | English Manorama – Onmanorama
August 1, 1966. It was an auspicious day. It seemed like an ordinary day as always, but the dark clouds that came from somewhere in the sky darkened the brightness of the day’s serenity. People streamed through the third street of the Austin Tower inside the University of Texas in the United States. A beautiful view from the top of the tower was a diverse gathering of staff, students, teachers, violinists, and magic artists. Then a young white man named Charles Whitman, dressed as a research scholar, walked into the tower. 11.30 was the time He walked up to the painting on the twenty-eighth floor. From there you can see everyone walking to the square. He had a cruel look mixed with sadness on his face. He asks security to open the door to the 28th floor.
Without any hesitation, he turned from his pocket to the sight of the security, watching him, and fired. As if nothing had happened, he took the key that had fallen out of the security pocket and opened the door to watch. Then he ignored the people walking happily, oblivious to the imminent disaster. Then he pulled a machine gun from his pocket and began to fire at them. You could hear the screams everywhere. Those of the gunners who landed by stealth from the tower killed fourteen people and mortally wounded 31. That massive massacre which lasted an hour and 36 minutes ended in the death of Charles Whitman. Houston Police Officer Houston McCoy eventually shot dead the brutal killer with his services. Investigations later revealed that he had stabbed his wife and mother to death before going on the Augustine Tower massacre.
He was a commander of the American fleet. Whitman, who retired from the military at the age of 23, enrolled at Austin University to study engineering. The day before the murder he had bought a knife and binoculars from a shop. On the same day he realized a note in which he wrote ‘I cannot understand myself’. For one who is so wise and sane, I cannot control my mind. He runs the hay. I can’t concentrate on anything and I feel like I’m going crazy. When I die, I check my brain. Something happened to me.’
The leaders of the inquiry also found out that he had consulted a number of doctors in the weeks before the murder. He confides in all his crazy and unruly thoughts. Since the early 1960s, CT Scans or MRIs were not available. Unfortunately, he didn’t require drugs either. Finally, on the postmortem table Neuropathologist Dr. Coleman found a mass in his brain. After a long analysis, the doctors came to the conclusion that a tumor growing in the brain had compressed the man’s amygdala, causing him to lose control of his mind.
This was the reason why he could not control the crazy thoughts rushing into his mind. Now you understand how brain tumors can sometimes turn people into murderers!
What are the main functions of the amygdala?
The amygdala is the most important part of the limbic system, which helps us cope with various situations and memories and emotions. The changes that happen there will send us into a state of paranoid. That’s what made Charles Whitman a brutal killer.
“For a week when I walked outside in the sun, I could feel a black thing jumping out of my eye. I thought it was a cat. I felt a black cat running in front of me and to my side. If I close my eyes, it wasn’t there but I could see it when I opened my eyes.
I just remembered the 60 year old guy sitting next to me in the OP telling me about the evil brain tumors. Tumors that compress the optic nerve in the brain often show the following symptoms: Hence the visual defect, which is called pie in the sky. I was scheduled for an MRI anyway. As expected, the MRI showed a large meningioma tumor growing in the occipital lobe of the brain. He saw a black cat because such tumors affected his vision.
In any case, the tumor is completely removed through open surgery of the skull. The swelling was so thick that I had to cut it out with a knife and scissors. Anyway, when he opened his eyes after the operation, the black cat ran away from his eyes. He held his hand tightly and said, “Doctor… when I close my eyes, I feel like a black cat walking, but I can’t recognize it because of the darkness around me. When I open my eyes, it’s there. No cat and nothing. Everything is normal. Thank you, doctor.”
Rare visions and hallucinations are all prepared by the nerve cells in our brain. Unfortunately, brain tumors can create killers and change your life forever. Accurate diagnosis and treatment can change the lives of not only the patient, but also many others. Think of the many lives that were lost because of the brutal killer ‘Texas Fortress Sniper’s brain tumor’.
