Charles Whitman and the University of Texas Austin 1966

bradt93 wrote:

You know why didn't his doctor detect a tumor when he would go for his annual checkups or did he ever go and see his doctor?

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See here. Remember he died in the 60s before there was a lot of medical updates. HE did go to the dr for headaches and his attitude was noticed but they never knew he had a brain tumor while he was alive.

Right, we know why he killed his mother and wife, because he wanted the spare them the bad thing he was going to do, but we won't ever know why he wanted to do that in the first place. It seemed to me he had a good life, he was married and had friends. He was in school. How bad was his gambling problem? Could that have also been a symptom of his tumor and I also knew he liked to write a lot.

bradt93 wrote:

Right, we know why he killed his mother and wife, because he wanted the spare them the bad thing he was going to do, but we won't ever know why he wanted to do that in the first place. It seemed to me he had a good life, he was married and had friends. He was in school. How bad was his gambling problem? Could that have also been a symptom of his tumor and I also knew he liked to write a lot.

His father was said to be abusive. Whitman enlisted in the armed forces partly to get away from his home life. His father had beaten him before. Later on his school career was ended because he couldn't keep good enough grades. He also got some mentalities from his father which caused him to be abusive to his wife which he loathed. He def had his own hardships

Well, I hope his father is rotting in hell too. Why didn't Charles report the abuse to the police?

I just graduated from the University of Texas amd was absolutely fascinated by this case; I spent so much time finding the spots where things happened and learning all the little details.

I highly recommend the book "a sniper in the tower" it's definitely the definitive work on the shooting. My friend got me a tower tour as a graduation present and we spent half an hour on the observation deck of the tower. It was insane being in the same spot where Charles commited the crime and died.

There's a university near me that has a big clocktower. Hopefully no one climbs it and starts sniping people.
That clocktower also is what made me interested in Whitman.

It seems true that Whitman had some kind of mental disorder, possibly brought on by his tumor, but he also displays a clear pattern of sadistic behavior and impulses. When he decided to kill his mom, he strangled her before stabbing her. I can't imagine that was a quick death by any means, so Whitman's professed motive of "putting her out of her misery" doesn't add up. More likely, it was a lie he told himself so he wouldn't feel bad about it.

bradt93 wrote:

Well, I hope his father is rotting in hell too. Why didn't Charles report the abuse to the police?

My mom sometimes tells me stories about how grandpa was an abusive alcoholic. In all her stories, not once did she mention CPS or the police getting involved. So it might be because back then, people, including the authorities, didn't care as much, or didn't see it as a reason to contact the police in the first place.

On the other hand, my dad beat me pretty frequently as a kid, and no-one cared even when I told them, so maybe it's just because human being can be real scumbags.

I watched the Charles Whitman documentary on Youtube just hours before Stephen Paddock went on the rampage, and i must admit i found it funny.

bradt93 wrote:

You know why didn't his doctor detect a tumor when he would go for his annual checkups or did he ever go and see his doctor?

could they detect brain tumors in the 60s?