1
- 3 months ago
- #universityoftexas
- #clocktower
- #texas
August 1, 1966 Charles Whitman shot and killed 16 and injured 31 on the University of Texas clock tower. He was a 25 year old college student and ex-marine.
#Universityoftexas #clocktower #Texas
#Universityoftexas #clocktower #Texas
Category
đź“š
LearningTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the Dark Mystery Lounge. Today we're going to talk about Charles Whitman.
00:06He's known as the Texas Tower Sniper. He's also regarded as the grandfather of American school
00:11shooters. When you think of school shootings, normally you would think of Columbine or Virginia
00:17Tech, and even some of the most recent events. But everything has an origin to it, so we will
00:22look at how this horrible event came to be.
00:30Charles Joseph Whitman was born June 24, 1941, in Lake Worth, Florida, to Charles A. Whitman,
00:37Jr. and Margaret Whitman, the oldest of three sons. Charlie's father was raised as an orphan
00:42in Savannah, Georgia, and described himself as a self-made man. He pulled himself out of poverty
00:48through determination and hard work alone. He's a self-employed plumbing contractor. He married
00:53Margaret, who was 17 at the time, and it wasn't long after when she got pregnant with Charlie.
00:59They settled down in the suburbs of Lake Worth. Charles Sr. ran a tight ship in his house.
01:04Everything had to be perfect. And if anyone made a mistake, well, it would be dealt with with violence.
01:10Margaret wasn't spared from this kind of treatment. She was basically the main punching bag for any
01:16of his frustrations. But to everyone in the neighborhood, the Whitmans were the perfect family.
01:21They had no idea what was going on behind closed doors. They had the biggest house,
01:26and Margaret wore the latest fashion at the time. Charles left most of the child-rearing to his wife
01:32as a strong believer in traditional family roles. But it never bothered Margaret. Soon,
01:37Patrick and John were born years after Charlie. Charlie was a polite boy, and running around
01:43his neighborhood all day, filling those who saw him with delight at his antics. He didn't have a mean
01:49bone in his body. He was very courteous with the neighbors. Since he was too young to play outside on
01:54his own, all the neighbors would keep a watchful eye on him. Charles took Charlie out for target
02:00shooting as soon as he was old enough and found out that the boy was a natural shot. So they would
02:05go out on regular hunting trips whenever possible. It was the only father-son bonding time they would
02:10have. He learned how to play piano at a very young age as well. Before Charlie started school,
02:15he was administered an IQ test. He tested out at 139. He was in the top percentile of intelligence,
02:23a genius. He excelled in school and kept himself busy with all sorts of activities. He was a star
02:29pitcher on his baseball team. He played football, and at age 12, he became the youngest Eagle Scout
02:35in history. He was even an altar boy at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church every Sunday. Later,
02:41he got a newspaper route. Whenever it was raining or cold out, his mother would drive Charlie around
02:46his route. It was the only time the two of them got together without a list of tasks to complete,
02:52and was the only time Charlie and his mother could talk without anyone listening in. He learned for
02:57the first time what real parental love is. It's not an endless struggle for approval, or that every
03:02disagreement ended with physical pain and fury. Real parental love was actual and unconditional.
03:09Having this revelation about his father's behavior, realizing that this is not normal,
03:15now that he learned about love, he began to learn about hate. All the hatred and anger Charlie
03:20felt for his father was redirected towards his sharpshooting skills. He became so good that he
03:26could shoot the eye out of a squirrel by the time he was 16. He bought a motorcycle with his paper route
03:31money. In high school, Charlie was popular and well liked by his peers, and lots of girls wanted to
03:37date him. Graduation time was rolling around, and with that came lots of parties. One night, he came home
03:43from a party with the football team, drunk as a skunk. He was an hour past his curfew. Charlie thought his
03:49dad would be asleep by this time, so he tried to creep through the backyard and enter through the
03:54kitchen door. When he spotted his father sitting by the side of the pool on a deck chair, staring up at
04:00the stars, he smelled a beer on his son's breath and seeing the sway in his step. He began to punch
04:06Charlie, beating so bad that he blacked out after the first few punches. Once he was on his knees, he thought
04:12it would be over, but no. His father started kicking him in the rib, knocking what air he had left in his
04:18lungs. With a nasty sneer on his face, he kicked him one good time that Charlie fell into the pool. He sank
04:25to the bottom, almost drowning, but while drifting in and out of consciousness, he felt something cold and metal
04:32bump him. It was the metal pool ladder. He pulled himself up and out of the pool, coughing up a lung
04:38full of water. Once he gained awareness of his surroundings, expecting his father to still be
04:43there. Nope, that wasn't the case. His father had walked back into the house, not caring whether his
04:48son was going to drown. The old man thought he finally knocked some scents into his eldest child,
04:54and that his household was going to run smoothly from now on. It did until one day, Charles came home
05:00to find Charlie was gone.
05:06What old man Whitman didn't know was that Charlie had enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
05:11one month after his graduation from high school in June 1969, where he graduated seventh in a class
05:18of 72 students. On July 6, 1959, with all of his papers signed and filed, Charlie took the train to
05:26the recruitment depot at Paris Island. The moment Charles found out, he started calling his network
05:31of contacts until he got an executive power in the federal government. He tried to convince them that
05:37Charlie was an unsuitable recruit because of his behavior at home, and that his enlistment has to be
05:43canceled. But for the first time in Charles' life, he had encountered an entity that he couldn't bully
05:49and lambast into compliance. They had Charlie's signature, and there was no turning back unless
05:54the boy had discharged his duty to his country. He had traded one dictator for another. The only
06:00difference was that the U.S. Marine Corps gave a damn. Once he arrived, they protected him and
06:06sheltered him from the man he was trying to run from. Training for Charlie was a breeze compared to the
06:12life he had left behind. Exercise, having to get up early, keeping his bunk and issue gear clean and
06:18orderly. It was like Charlie was on vacation. He excelled at every aspect of training. They sent him
06:24to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he took a marksmanship course. He scored 215 out of 250. It was enough to
06:31give him the title of sharpshooter. He wanted to advance his career more, so he wanted to go into the
06:37officer's training. He would need to apply for a scholarship to the Naval Enlistment Science and
06:43Education Program, an initiative designed to send enlisted personnel to college to train as engineers
06:50and, after graduation, be commissioned as officer. Charlie earned high scores on the required examination,
06:57and the selection committee approved his enrollment at a preparatory school in Maryland, where he
07:04completed courses in mathematics and physics before being approved to transfer to the University of
07:10Texas at Austin to study mechanical engineering.
07:20College life was like a whole new world for him. There was music playing that he had never heard
07:25before, more styles and genres that he never knew existed. It was more relaxed and no one was barking
07:30orders at him. This is what he was craving, and he ate up every bit of it. There were buildings,
07:35swimming pools, football fields, baseball fields. There were more than 50,000 students and faculty
07:41spread out on this 40-acre campus. His classes were engaging and his peers were fun, and his life,
07:48for the very first time, was his own, like a kid in a candy store. The one thing that caught his eye
07:54the most was on his first day on campus in September 1961, when he saw the 307-foot Gothic Victorian style
08:03tower of the main building and gawked at it. He got into hunting with a group of friends, but when they
08:09were caught poaching a deer and tried to clean it and skin it in the shower at Charlie's dormitory,
08:15they were arrested and fined $100. He also took up karate, scuba diving, and gambling. He became a known
08:22prankster, but his friends also noted he made some morbid and chilling statements. A person could
08:27stand up in an army atop of that clock tower before they got him. In February 1962, Charlie met Kathleen
08:35Leisner, who was a trainee school teacher and a couple of years younger than him. She had brown hair
08:40and green eyes and a soft smile that made him melt. She was what people would describe as the girl next
08:46door. It was love at first sight and also Charlie's first serious relationship. It wasn't long before
08:52Charlie met Kathy's father and liked him right away. Her father was impressed with his seriousness
08:57about Kathy and his career. On August 17, 1962, Charlie and Kathy were married. The wedding was
09:04held in Kathy's hometown of Needsville, Texas. Lots of family and friends showed up. Even Charlie's
09:09younger brother, Patrick, was the best man. But even though the wedding went off perfectly,
09:14Charlie couldn't help but notice that his mother didn't look well. She lost weight and was always on the
09:19verge of flinching. No one else saw it, but he did, and it broke his heart. The Whitmans left early
09:24after the wedding. Back at school, they moved out of the dorms and got an apartment off campus. Things
09:29were looking good until Charlie's grades began to slip. He was maintaining a B average only because he
09:36was working twice as hard. But then they slipped so far that the Marines noticed. He was ordered to active
09:42duty in February 1963 and went to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for the remainder of his five-year enlistment.
09:53Charlie returned to the Marine Corps in disgrace, his promising career as an officer forgotten,
09:58and his will to excel broken. Cuba was an old fond memory to him, but life on Camp Lejeune in North
10:05Carolina was a very different experience. The routine that had once been a comfort was now like
10:11a forced march with a heavy pack. He missed his wife and his college life. He struggled to even
10:17be average, everything reminding him of his father. But upon his arrival back, he was promoted to the
10:23rank of Lance Corporal. One day while on patrol in a Jeep, the Marine who was driving misjudged a corner
10:30and went over the edge of a ditch, clipping their vehicle. Both men were injured in the crash. Both
10:36were bleeding, bruised, and had a few broken bones apiece. Charlie somehow got the strength to rescue
10:41the driver, freeing him from under the Jeep in which he was pinned. They were both hospitalized for four
10:47days. The only real escape from life on base was gambling. He would occasionally loan money out to his
10:54fellow Marines, but expected it back in a timely manner. One particular guy owed him $30 for
11:00over a month, and every attempt fell on deaf ears. So finally, Charlie had enough and confronted the guy
11:06with a flash of his pistol tucked under his belt, and he would charge him $15 interest in the loan.
11:12While that guy went and told on him for the gun that was smuggled in, he was court-martialed in November
11:181963 for gambling, usury, possession of a personal firearm on base. While he was confined and awaiting trial,
11:28he had little to do to fill his time. He began keeping a journal of his thoughts that were titled
11:33The Daily Records of C.J. Whitman. Page after page of this book was filled with praise of his wife,
11:40Kathy. The rest of it was occupied with a recounting of daily actions and seemingly more and more
11:46contempt that he held for the Marine Corps, preying on young men when they are at their most vulnerable,
11:52and treating them like he'd been treated. He was starting to grow a distaste for authority. At trial,
11:57he pled not guilty for making threats, but was found guilty. He even admitted to possessing an
12:03unauthorized pistol and admitted to lending out money with interest on no less than 10 occasions.
12:09He was sentenced to 30 days of confinement and 90 days of hard labor. He was demoted from Lance
12:16Corporal to private, and by the later half of 1964, he received his honorable discharge. He took the first
12:23train back to Texas. Charlie slipped back into college life with ease and switched his major from
12:33mechanical engineering to architectural engineering. His wife waited patiently for him to come home,
12:39but while he was gone, she became a substitute teacher and eventually got a full-time teaching
12:44position at Lanier High School teaching biology. They rented a cottage with a lovely pecan tree out front.
12:51But now that he was out of the Marines, Charlie had to pay for tuition and books himself.
12:57So he took on a series of jobs, first as a bill collector for the Standard Finance Company,
13:02then worked as a bank teller at Austin National Bank. Later, he took on a temporary job with Central Freight Lines
13:09as a traffic surveyor for the Texas Highway Department. During the summer,
13:14Kathy took a job as a telephone operator at Southwestern Bell Telephone. He also volunteered
13:20with the scouts as well. So once again, they both had a pretty tight schedule and an even smaller budget.
13:26They struggled to make ends meet, so he called upon the one person he hated to ask for money from,
13:31his father. When he called him, Charles was more than happy to cover Charlie's school expenses,
13:36to his surprise. But at the same time, this call sparked communication with his mother more. They would
13:42talk on the phone from time to time, but because they feared their conversation would be overheard,
13:47Charlie switched to writing his mother's letter. Until one day in February 1966, the phone rang.
13:54Charlie's mother called to ask him to come get her. She wanted out of the marriage and needed to get
13:59away quickly. So he dropped everything and drove down to Lake Worth from Austin. Normally it takes about
14:06two days to get there, but Charlie managed to get there in a little over a day. He stopped by
14:11a pay phone and called the local sheriff asking for them to have someone outside the Whitman residence
14:18while Margaret packed. He managed to get his mom out of there while his father wasn't at home,
14:23and they drove like a bat out of hell to get away from there. Once back in Austin, she stayed with the
14:29couple for a day or so. Then Charlie managed to get her a job at a cafeteria and got her an apartment
14:35not far from him, but she didn't know that he was paying half of the rent for her. Soon the phone
14:41started ringing non-stop, day and night. Charlie stared at the phone, knowing exactly who it was,
14:47and he would pick it up anyways. It was Charles, begging and pleading to know where his wife is and
14:52wants her to come back home to him. But Charlie never gave out her location at all. His mother is safe,
14:58and he's going to keep it that way. But things were starting to change in Charlie. He started
15:02getting more tension headaches. He was always exhausted, not able to eat or sleep properly,
15:08and it was taking a toll on him. So he went to the campus doctor and he was prescribed dexedrine
15:14and amphetamine. Now he felt like with a sudden burst of energy he could do anything. One day a friend
15:20of his came by to check on Charlie and found him in a very bad state. He found him with a suitcase full
15:26of clothes and wanted to run away and become homeless. His friend managed to sit him down and
15:32calmly talk him out of it and put everything back. It was clear that the medication he was given put
15:38Charlie in a manic state. At some point in another manic state he hit his wife. Realizing what he had
15:44done, he broke down in tears. He didn't want to become like his father, but here he was doing this
15:50one thing he swore he would never do after seeing what happened to his mother. He promised her that
15:56he would treat her better. She stuck by him. So to keep himself on the right path, he would write notes
16:02to himself on a daily basis, reminding himself to be patient and gentle with his wife. But then he would
16:08write more and more and more until he wrote notes down on any spare scrap of paper. He developed a new
16:15disorder, hypergraphia, or graphomania. It's an obsessive, uncontrollable impulse to write. He finally
16:22went back to the campus doctor and he was prescribed Valium to bring his stress level down. So here he was
16:29taking dexedrine during the day and Valium at night. But he was also prescribed one more thing,
16:34talk to a psychiatrist. Even though he wasn't a big fan of psychiatry, he went anyway. He talked with
16:40Dr. Maurice Heatley for two hours, but he didn't prescribe him anything. His daily life continued.
16:46Taking medication he was given only made things worse and worse. But every time he was going to class,
16:53he kept staring at that clock tower. A plan was already cooking in his brain.
16:58Charlie began to form a plan, a solution to all of his problems. He just had to prepare for it. During
17:11his planning, a wave of calm came over him. It's as if he changed to a totally relaxed and pleasant
17:17person. He began to pick up and drop off his wife at work, and his mother received extra attention,
17:23picking her up from work to go to the movies. But after dropping his wife off at work on July 31st
17:30and did some shopping, he bought a new hunting knife and some tins of spam. Afterwards, he picked
17:35up his mother from work and took her to the movies. Once he dropped her off, he went home and at 6.45
17:43p.m. he began to type. I don't quite understand what compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to
17:49leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I don't really understand
17:55myself these days. I'm supposed to be an average, reasonable, and intelligent young man. However,
18:01lately, I can't recall when it started. I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts.
18:08These thoughts constantly recur, and it takes a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful
18:15or progressive tasks. He barely started to write his confession when there was a knock on the door
18:20and his friend Larry and his wife dropped in for a chat. They paused at the entrance to the kitchen
18:26when they saw that Charlie was working and asked what he was writing. He said just some letters to old
18:33friends as he covered up what he was writing. After a brief chat, they left and he continued to type.
18:38In March, when my parents made a physical break, I noticed a great deal of stress. I consulted with
18:44a doctor and asked him to recommend someone that I can consult about some psychiatric disorder I felt
18:51I had. I talked with a doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt
18:58some overwhelming violent impulses. After one session, I never saw that doctor again, and since then,
19:05I have been fighting my mental turmoil alone and seemingly to no avail. After my death,
19:10I wished that an autopsy would be performed on me to see if there is any visible physical disorder.
19:17I have had some tremendous headaches in the past and consumed two large bottles of Excedrin in the
19:23past three months. It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife Kathy tonight after I pick
19:28her up from work at the telephone company. I love her dearly and she has been a fine wife to me
19:34as any man could ever hope to have. I cannot rationally pinpoint any specific reason for doing
19:40this. I don't know whether it is selfishness or if I don't want her to face the embarrassment that
19:46my actions would surely cause her. At this time though, the prominent reason in my mind is that I
19:52truly do not consider this world worth living in and am prepared to die and do not want to leave her
19:59to suffer alone in it. I intend to kill her as painless as possible. With his suicide letter almost
20:06done, it was 8 45 pm. Time to pick up Kathy. He picks her up and after a full day of work,
20:12she's exhausted. Yet even as tired as she was, her face lit up when she saw Charlie pull up. She hopped
20:19in and they headed home. He helped her out of her clothes and into bed, tucking her in, giving her a
20:24gentle kiss on her forehead. He then left and headed to his mother's apartment. He woke her up out of a
20:29sound sleep. It was midnight. He hardly said a word as she let him in. He then attacked her. When she
20:36brought up her arms to block a hit she knew was coming, he broke her fingers in one punch, then
20:42took the hunting knife and plunged it straight into her chest. As she was laying on the floor, she didn't
20:48die instantly. So he shot her once in the back of the head. Charlie then gently picked up his mother and
20:53laid her on the bed and pulled the covers over her chest. He then went to the bathroom to clean
20:58himself up. It was half past midnight on August 1st when he sat down in his mother's living room and
21:05wrote this note. To whom it may concern, I have taken my mother's life. I am very upset about having
21:11done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven, then she is definitely there now. And if there is not
21:17a life after, I have relieved her of her suffering here on earth. The intense hatred I feel for my
21:23father is beyond description. My mother gave that man the 25 best years of her life, and she finally
21:30took enough of his beatings, humiliation, degradation, and tribulation that I am sure that nobody but she
21:37and he will ever know. He has chose to treat her like a slut that you would bed down with, accept her
21:43favors, then throw her penance in return. I am truly sorry that this is the only way I could see to
21:49relieve her suffering, but I think it was the best. Let there be no doubt in your mind that I
21:54love that woman with all my heart. If there exists a God, let him understand my actions and judge me
22:00accordingly. He placed the note on his mother and went home. Once home, he crept quietly to where
22:06Kathy was sleeping, not making a sound. He pulled back the sheet ever so gently, looking at her one last
22:12time. He then plunged the knife into her chest as hard as he could. Her final breath exploded out from
22:19between her lips, but her eyes never opened. He pulled out the knife, cleaned it again, then took a
22:25shower. Once clean, he picked up where he left off on a suicide letter. Similar reasons provoked me to
22:31take my mother's life, also. I don't think the poor woman ever enjoyed life, as she's entitled to. She was a
22:38simple young woman who married a possessive and dominating man all my life until I ran away from
22:44home to join the Marine Corps. The ink ribbon gave out. He ripped the paper out from the typewriter and
22:50got a pen and continued. I was a witness to her being beaten at least once a month, and when she took
22:56enough, my father wanted to fight to keep her below her usual standard of living. I imagine it appears that
23:03I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I am only trying to do a quick and thorough job. If my life
23:09insurance policy is valid, please see that all the worthless checks I wrote this weekend are made good.
23:16Please pay off all my debts. I am 25 years old and have never been financially independent. Donate the
23:23rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this
23:29type. Give our dog to my in-laws. Tell them that Kathy loves Scozy very much. R. W. Leisner,
23:37Needville, Texas. He signed it with his name. After writing letters to his brothers, he called at 545 to
23:43Kathy's supervisor at work to inform him that she is unwell and wouldn't be into work today. He then
23:51started packing up his supplies. Sandwiches, an extension cord, a flashlight, spare batteries, a roll of
23:58tape, an ammunition box, a gun cleaning kit, transistor radio, a blank notebook, and pens, a towel,
24:05a white sweatband, a three gallon jug of water, three gallon jug of gasoline, ropes, and clothesline,
24:12a compass, an alarm clock, a pipe wrench, spare clothes, and sunglasses. Anything he thought might
24:18be useful. He then put all of these items into an old trunk. He went out for his last bit of shopping.
24:25He got a dolly to help transport the trunk, rebar, a machete, and pocket knife. He got four rifles
24:32with scopes and two other handguns and a whole lot of ammo. He got back home, packed up everything,
24:39and before leaving, he called his mother's work to say that she's unwell and won't be coming in for
24:44work. He got to the campus and was waved through security because he's a student. He made his way to
24:50the tower at 11 30 a.m. It's august 1st and it's brutally hot out and not a cloud in the sky as he
24:57made his way up to the elevator and onto the 27th floor. He then took the stairs to the observation
25:03deck on the 28th floor. There he encountered receptionist Edna Townsley. Charlie knocked
25:08Townsley on the floor and split the back of her skull with his rifle butt and then struck her above the
25:14left eye before dragging her behind a couch. He then made a barricade at the top of the steps.
25:20Michael and Mary Gabor with their sons Mike and Mark and were in Austin visiting Michael's sister
25:27Marguerite Lamport and her husband William. Around 11 45 they were climbing the stairs from the 27th
25:34floor when they encountered the desk Charlie had placed at the entrance to the reception area.
25:40As Mike and Mark squeezed past he came forward and fired his shotgun killing Mark and hitting
25:46Mike in the shoulder. He shot again down the stairs striking Marguerite and Mary. He then set up all of
25:52his supplies at all four points so it would appear as if there were more than one shooter. He looked
25:58through his scope at 18 year old Claire Wilson and her boyfriend Thomas Eckman. Claire was eight months
26:05pregnant. He fired a shot into Claire's abdomen and another shot rang out killing her boyfriend.
26:11Robert Boyer was a mathematic professor who had a teaching job lined up for him in Liverpool England
26:17and his wife and children were waiting for him there when he was shot and killed just outside the
26:23lecture hall. Thomas Ashton was mortally wounded in the chest. Karen Griffin, a high school student,
26:29was shot in the shoulder and chest and her right lung was pierced. She died several days later.
26:34Thomas Carr who came to Karen's aid was also shot and died approximately one hour later.
26:40Everyone was in a state of confusion. This had never happened before. As police showed up to the scene
26:46there were also targets for this shooter as well. Patrolman Billy Speed and another officer were hiding
26:53behind decorative bolsters on the south mall when he was shot through a gap in the masonry. He died soon
26:59after at the hospital. People were trying to help the wounded any way they could but they had to be
27:04careful as to not get shot. Even the helicopter that flew too close wasn't safe. Charlie shot at it
27:10before it flew away. News reporters on the radio and television were covering this event live and
27:16because he had a radio Charlie knew exactly what was going on. Someone needed to come up with a plan to
27:22stop him once and for all. Charlie's plan of attack worked out well but now he began to face opposition.
27:36Police and locals turned up with their guns firing back at him trying to get a hit. Charlie was pinned
27:42down. Little did he know that police were gathering up a small team to put a stop to all this madness.
27:49Officer Houston McCoy, Officer Ray Martinez, and Officer Jerry Day and Alan Crum who is a retired
27:56Air Force tail gunner decided on their own to go up to face the sniper. They didn't know how many people
28:02they were dealing with. They deputized Alan Crum because he was bound and determined to get this guy.
28:08As they carefully made their way to the 27th floor they noticed the carnage that had already happened.
28:13Officer Day went to get help for the wounded. Martinez, McCoy, and Crum made their way past the barricade.
28:20The two officers told Crum to stay on the southwest corner of the observation deck and fire at anything
28:27that comes his way. They went the opposite direction carefully checking each corner. They heard Crum
28:32misfire his rifle which was the perfect distraction for the sniper who was sitting on the south side of the deck.
28:39Both officers sprang into action and opened fire on Charlie hitting him twice in the face and chest.
28:45McCoy stared in horror as Charlie's arms continued to move despite being shot in the skull. But somehow
28:52with a dozen bullet holes in him he kept trying to move. Martinez grabbed McCoy's rifle and at point-blank
28:59range shot Charlie right in the face. No one on that deck had ever heard a death rattle before but the
29:05sound of the air escaping from his lungs as he stomped lifelessly to the ground was more like a
29:12sigh of relief than anything else. They checked him for a pulse. Nothing. But the gunfire hasn't stopped
29:17below. They don't know what had just happened. Crum knew what to do. He took Charlie's towel and waved it
29:23like a flag. After 96 minutes of terror with 16 dead and 31 wounded the battle was over. The gunman was dead. It was 1 24 p.m.
29:38Now that Charlie was dead everyone wanted to know why did he do it. An autopsy was performed on him with the permission of his father.
29:45They found a brain tumor the size of a walnut. It was glioblastoma multiforme with widespread areas of necrosis. A very
29:53malignant tumor. It was pressing on his amygdala a part of the brain related to anxiety and fight-or-flight
30:00responses. It can also explain why he had headache, hypergraphia, and loss of impulse control. The necrosis around the tumor means that it might have been a result of a brain injury.
30:11Possibly when he was beaten by his father or when he had that accident in the marines. They also found dexedrine in his bloodstream
30:19and small amounts of volume as well. But ultimately no one wanted to blame this solely on the fact that he had a brain tumor
30:27and that's what caused the massacre to happen. Charlie and his mother were laid to rest in Florida's Hillcrest Memorial Park.
30:33Since he was a military veteran, Charlie was buried with military honors. His casket was draped with an American flag.
30:39There was no mention of his wife's funeral.
30:45Claire Wilson was taken to the hospital where she gave birth to the remains of her child.
30:51Despite extensive surgery, her uterus couldn't be repaired and she was rendered infertile.
30:57After her recovery, she lived a different life. She joined the commune of Seventh-day Adventists.
31:03She took care of the children there acting as a teacher. She left the commune and always surrounded herself with children,
31:11becoming a foster mother and even adopting a boy from Ethiopia.
31:15Mike Gabor couldn't continue in the Air Force because of his injury.
31:19He devotes his time to caring for his mother Mary who had been paralyzed from the neck down and blinded by the shotgun blast.
31:27Following the shootings, the tower observation deck was closed.
31:31The various bullet holes were repaired and the tower was reopened in 1968.
31:35It was closed again in 1975 following four suicides.
31:39There was no police present at the time.
31:42After the shooting, there was a widespread acknowledgement that security measures in place were inadequate to address campus-wide issues on this scale.
31:51As a result of the outcry following the shooting, progress towards cohesive campus police force began shortly after.
31:59In 2006, a memorial garden was dedicated to those who died or were otherwise affected.
32:06A monument listing the names of the victims was added in 2016 on the shooting's 50th anniversary.
32:14The tower's clock was stopped for 24 hours beginning at 11.48 a.m.
32:19The day was declared by the City of Austin as Ramiro Martinez Day.
32:24This school shooting is one of those that is just heartbreaking.
32:32I mean, all shootings are.
32:34But this one struck out to me.
32:36I wanted to know how this all came to be.
32:38This horrific norm of school shooting, as we know it, to be all too common.
32:43I know there was the Bat School bombing, but that is a whole other category of horror.
32:48And of all things that could cause this guy to do what he did was a brain tumor.
32:53Something nowadays you could spot on a CT or an MRI scan.
32:58Hell, I'm sure a simpler x-ray, you could have seen it.
33:00Plain as day.
33:01But no one wanted to blame it on the tumor.
33:03I'm pretty sure if he didn't have that brain tumor, he wouldn't have displayed the behaviors he was exhibiting.
33:10Now, he would have probably experienced burnout from all the activities and work.
33:15Now, if you're one of those morbidly curious types, yes, there are pictures of what Whitman looked like when he was shot dead and his wife and his mother's bodies.
33:25I was not going to show that on here because I would be flagged every way to Sunday.
33:30And I don't need that.
33:31So if you're curious, look it up on Google.
33:33It's there.
33:34But I do have a book recommendation that dives deeper into this case.
33:38It's called The Texas Tower Sniper by Ryan Green.
33:41It's jam packed with info and the whole book is about 150 pages.
33:46It's a short read but nothing short of fascinating.
33:49So what did you think of this case?
33:50If you made it this far into the video, thank you.
33:53And if you enjoyed this video, please smash the like button and don't forget to subscribe and tickle that little bell icon so you don't miss the next episode.
34:02You never know who I will cover next.
34:04Thank you for hanging out with me in the Dark Mystery Lounge.
34:07This is Phoenix signing out.
34:09Have a good evening and stay safe.
Comments