Charles Whitman and the UT Tower
August 1, 2006 9:34 AM Subscribe
96 Minutes... 40 years later. Texas Monthly has an article that, through eyewitness accounts, tells the tale of Charles Whitman. Forty years ago today--before 9/11, Columbine, Oklahoma City, "going postal"--Whitman perpetrated an act of public terror that impacted the national conscience. It all began when he killed his mother. Then he started typing a letter that, after he killed his wife, he finished hand-writing. Then he went to the Tower with a small arsenal and began the slaughter. Over 96 minutes he killed 13 more people and wounded 34 others until off-duty Officer Ray Martinez made it to the top of the tower and killed Whitman. (more inside)
Penmanship is really a lost art, sadly.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:41 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:41 AM on August 1, 2006
I never once looked at tower the entire time I was on campus without at least briefly thinking about him.
Kinky Friedman wrote a song about him, too.
posted by pax digita at 9:45 AM on August 1, 2006
Kinky Friedman wrote a song about him, too.
posted by pax digita at 9:45 AM on August 1, 2006
Thanks for all this info!
Having taken the tour of UT several times, I gather that the tower has only two interesting things associated with it: the sniper and that the tower was designed by a graduate of rival school Rice to look like Rice's mascot. While it does look like a big owl from the corner view, this is not true.
posted by cubby at 9:53 AM on August 1, 2006
Having taken the tour of UT several times, I gather that the tower has only two interesting things associated with it: the sniper and that the tower was designed by a graduate of rival school Rice to look like Rice's mascot. While it does look like a big owl from the corner view, this is not true.
posted by cubby at 9:53 AM on August 1, 2006
Nice post; the Texas Monthly article with the first-person accounts is especially good.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:54 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:54 AM on August 1, 2006
The Statesman has an article about the man who may have been the one who actually killed Whitman.
posted by jefbla at 9:57 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by jefbla at 9:57 AM on August 1, 2006
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Do any of you people know where these individuals learned how to shoot?... Private Joker.
Private Joker: Sir. In the Marines, Sir.
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: In the Marines. Outstanding. Those individuals showed what one motivated Marine and his rifle can do. And before you ladies leave my Island, you will all be able to do the same thing.
posted by jellicle at 9:59 AM on August 1, 2006
Private Joker: Sir. In the Marines, Sir.
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: In the Marines. Outstanding. Those individuals showed what one motivated Marine and his rifle can do. And before you ladies leave my Island, you will all be able to do the same thing.
posted by jellicle at 9:59 AM on August 1, 2006
Kurt Russell was excellent in Deadly Tower, the film adaptation of the event.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:06 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:06 AM on August 1, 2006
This is a great FPP. But I am distracted and slightly disturbed by the fact that my boss's handwriting is indistinguishable from Whitman's.
posted by peep at 10:13 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by peep at 10:13 AM on August 1, 2006
Isn't the character Bartlett in The Frighteners based on Whitman?
(Excellent post.)
posted by grabbingsand at 10:19 AM on August 1, 2006
(Excellent post.)
posted by grabbingsand at 10:19 AM on August 1, 2006
Any links to the Life magzine cover shot?
posted by gottabefunky at 10:32 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by gottabefunky at 10:32 AM on August 1, 2006
Kurt Russell was excellent in ...the film adaptation of the event
Did we see the same film, or was there more than one? I remember a TV movie where an actor portrayed Whitman as some kind of scuzzbag crazed-Vietnam-vet type; Whitman was pretty clean-cut. And naturally enough, they did NOT film it at UT, either.
I gather that the tower has only two interesting things associated with it
Those of us who lived on or near campus appreciated the carillon. It chimed on the quarter-hour and tolled the hour, and at lunchtime it'd play whatever...the UT fight song, a Bach prelude, "Happy Birthday" (but I never found out for whom); I vaguely remember hearing a Dead or Alive tune played on it, of all things...
posted by pax digita at 10:34 AM on August 1, 2006
Did we see the same film, or was there more than one? I remember a TV movie where an actor portrayed Whitman as some kind of scuzzbag crazed-Vietnam-vet type; Whitman was pretty clean-cut. And naturally enough, they did NOT film it at UT, either.
I gather that the tower has only two interesting things associated with it
Those of us who lived on or near campus appreciated the carillon. It chimed on the quarter-hour and tolled the hour, and at lunchtime it'd play whatever...the UT fight song, a Bach prelude, "Happy Birthday" (but I never found out for whom); I vaguely remember hearing a Dead or Alive tune played on it, of all things...
posted by pax digita at 10:34 AM on August 1, 2006
The second night after I moved to Texas, I was sitting in my hotel room watching TV (this was in San Antonio, temporarily before I found a place in Austin). On TV was a documentary about the tower shootings.
I thought "Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?"
I'd never heard of Whitman before that.
posted by mrbill at 10:36 AM on August 1, 2006
I thought "Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?"
I'd never heard of Whitman before that.
posted by mrbill at 10:36 AM on August 1, 2006
Jonmc:
Interestingly, when Whitman’s body was autopsied, doctors did indeed discover a small tumour in his brain, as he had feared, but experts concluded that this was unlikely to have caused his subsequent actions. Given that brain science was not as advanced in the mid-sixties, it would be interesting to know if today’s specialists would have drawn the same conclusions.
From deep within the Crime and Investigation story. I went to UT in the mid 80's and like pax digita thought about the incident whenever I looked at the tower. Great post.
posted by TedW at 10:38 AM on August 1, 2006
Interestingly, when Whitman’s body was autopsied, doctors did indeed discover a small tumour in his brain, as he had feared, but experts concluded that this was unlikely to have caused his subsequent actions. Given that brain science was not as advanced in the mid-sixties, it would be interesting to know if today’s specialists would have drawn the same conclusions.
From deep within the Crime and Investigation story. I went to UT in the mid 80's and like pax digita thought about the incident whenever I looked at the tower. Great post.
posted by TedW at 10:38 AM on August 1, 2006
The dissonance between growing up in material comfort while being brutally beaten by his father and witnessing his father's beatings of his mother, then the Marines training, no therapy, the relentless self criticism, plus the brain tumor...all combined to make one awful human volcano. What a horror story.
posted by nickyskye at 10:47 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by nickyskye at 10:47 AM on August 1, 2006
He was proving he wasn't gay.
posted by Smedleyman at 10:48 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by Smedleyman at 10:48 AM on August 1, 2006
TedW, we may well have crossed paths on or off campus at some point, in which case, my condolences!
posted by pax digita at 10:59 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by pax digita at 10:59 AM on August 1, 2006
grabbingsand: As I recall, the character in The Frighteners was actually a spin on that other charming Charles, Starkweather. Or was it that the guy saw Starkweather as competition?
Another good Whitman-related flick is Slacker, of course.
posted by stinkycheese at 11:04 AM on August 1, 2006
Another good Whitman-related flick is Slacker, of course.
posted by stinkycheese at 11:04 AM on August 1, 2006
I remember a TV movie where an actor portrayed Whitman as some kind of scuzzbag crazed-Vietnam-vet type; Whitman was pretty clean-cut. And naturally enough, they did NOT film it at UT, either.
The Deadly Tower was the Kurt Russell TV movie. It was was filmed at the Louisiana State Capitol, which looks nothing like a college campus.
posted by turbodog at 11:19 AM on August 1, 2006
The Deadly Tower was the Kurt Russell TV movie. It was was filmed at the Louisiana State Capitol, which looks nothing like a college campus.
posted by turbodog at 11:19 AM on August 1, 2006
"One shot on the way down eliminates the Gribble problem. Then the Cuban robot soldiers have only Steve Wynn standing between them and Wichita."—King of the Hill, Dog Dale Afternoon
posted by staggernation at 11:32 AM on August 1, 2006
The sad part is, he had told the school psychiatrist exactly what he intended to do. If only the doctor had realized how serious he was...
posted by vorfeed at 11:38 AM on August 1, 2006
posted by vorfeed at 11:38 AM on August 1, 2006
The thing that I find most interesting is the link above to his Journal.
It reads like every other self-help book. It contains lists of things that I know I have read before as good advice. Hell, it looks like an AskMe response:
Thoughts to Start the Day
Read and Thought about Every Day
1. Stop procrastinating (grasp the nettle).
2. Control your anger (Don't let it prove you a fool).
3. Smile Contagious.
4. Don't be belligerent.
5. Stop cursing, improve your vocabulary.
6. Approach a pot of gold with exceptional caution.
7. Pay that compliment
8. Listen more than you speak; think before you speak.
9. Control your passion; Don't let it lead you--Don't let desire make you regret your present actions later.
10. If you want to be better than average, you have to (something) much harder than the average.
11. Never forget, when the going gets rough, the rough get going.
Such normal and good advice. And the man who would engage in that act tried to committ himself to it. However, on the day he committed the massacre, he hand wrote at the top: "I never could quite make it. These thoughts are too much for me."
And then I get sick to my stomach when I read his thoughts on things to remember with respect to his wife:
Good Points to Remember with Kathy
1. Don't nag.
2. Don't try to make your partner over.
3. Don't criticize.
4. Give honest appreciation.
5. Pay little attentions.
6. Be courteous.
7. Be gentle.
This is excellent advice for a husband. Advice I should follow with my wife.
And this perfectly normal, sound advice was contemplated by a man who murdered his own wife.
posted by dios at 11:44 AM on August 1, 2006
It reads like every other self-help book. It contains lists of things that I know I have read before as good advice. Hell, it looks like an AskMe response:
Thoughts to Start the Day
Read and Thought about Every Day
1. Stop procrastinating (grasp the nettle).
2. Control your anger (Don't let it prove you a fool).
3. Smile Contagious.
4. Don't be belligerent.
5. Stop cursing, improve your vocabulary.
6. Approach a pot of gold with exceptional caution.
7. Pay that compliment
8. Listen more than you speak; think before you speak.
9. Control your passion; Don't let it lead you--Don't let desire make you regret your present actions later.
10. If you want to be better than average, you have to (something) much harder than the average.
11. Never forget, when the going gets rough, the rough get going.
Such normal and good advice. And the man who would engage in that act tried to committ himself to it. However, on the day he committed the massacre, he hand wrote at the top: "I never could quite make it. These thoughts are too much for me."
And then I get sick to my stomach when I read his thoughts on things to remember with respect to his wife:
Good Points to Remember with Kathy
1. Don't nag.
2. Don't try to make your partner over.
3. Don't criticize.
4. Give honest appreciation.
5. Pay little attentions.
6. Be courteous.
7. Be gentle.
This is excellent advice for a husband. Advice I should follow with my wife.
And this perfectly normal, sound advice was contemplated by a man who murdered his own wife.
posted by dios at 11:44 AM on August 1, 2006
Interestingly, after just googling that list about advice for how to treat his wife, I found out that the advice come from Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. But not exactly. The first 6 appear to be straight from Carnegie. But the 7th one in Carnegie's estimation was not "Be gentle" but "7: Read a good book on the sexual side of marriage." It appears that Whitman decided that Carnegie's last commant wasn't as important as "Be gentle." Interesting to me. I wonder if it means something that he discredited that last piece.
(I actually learned something from my own post.)
posted by dios at 11:50 AM on August 1, 2006
(I actually learned something from my own post.)
posted by dios at 11:50 AM on August 1, 2006
I thought the exact same thing when I read that, dios. Who among us hasn't written a to-do list of things to do to get their life "back on track?" I guess the moral of the story is don't try to overextend, take things one step at a time. Maybe this list was so out-of-reach and overwhelming that he couldn't handle it.
Or maybe, he was just nuts.
posted by anomie at 11:50 AM on August 1, 2006
Or maybe, he was just nuts.
posted by anomie at 11:50 AM on August 1, 2006
J. M. COETZEE was a Ph.D. candidate in English literature and linguistics. A novelist who won the 2003 Nobel Prize for literature, he lives in Adelaide, Australia. "I hadn’t fully comprehended that lots of people around me in Austin not only owned guns but had them close at hand and regarded themselves as free to use them."
posted by anticlock at 12:00 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by anticlock at 12:00 PM on August 1, 2006
"I just didn't speak up," McCoy said. "A policeman just does his job, and I wasn't looking for any rewards. I didn't know we'd still be talking about this 40 years later.
"I just pulled over on the way home and cried my eyes out for five minutes but wiped them before I got home," he said.
I thought the article on the guy who shot Whitman was the best and most moving of the lot. Thanks, jefbla.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:06 PM on August 1, 2006
"I just pulled over on the way home and cried my eyes out for five minutes but wiped them before I got home," he said.
I thought the article on the guy who shot Whitman was the best and most moving of the lot. Thanks, jefbla.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:06 PM on August 1, 2006
Audio history by Houston McCoy.
I don't hardly believe in the word 'hero.' Superman's a hero and he's just a funny-book character.posted by kirkaracha at 12:29 PM on August 1, 2006
In a dorm-room bull session, I surmised about that tumor, "Maybe it didn't make Whitman flip out and commit multiple murders so much as it let him."
posted by pax digita at 12:54 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by pax digita at 12:54 PM on August 1, 2006
His "small arsenal" is smaller than what I have in the trunk of my taurus.
He wasn't all that well armed, he just picked the perfect time and place for his actions.
no police helicopters, no tear gas or flashbangs, no taller buildings in town, Nowadays in the age of the meth lab any rural county sheriff's SWAT team could eat a guy like him for breakfast and still have room for nachos.
posted by Megafly at 1:09 PM on August 1, 2006
He wasn't all that well armed, he just picked the perfect time and place for his actions.
no police helicopters, no tear gas or flashbangs, no taller buildings in town, Nowadays in the age of the meth lab any rural county sheriff's SWAT team could eat a guy like him for breakfast and still have room for nachos.
posted by Megafly at 1:09 PM on August 1, 2006
In a dorm-room bull session, I surmised about that tumor, "Maybe it didn't make Whitman flip out and commit multiple murders so much as it let him."
Eh, brain tumors can definitely cause emotions that have no basis in anything at all. For example he might feel fear and anger towards his wife, or the world that he simply wouldn't feel without the tumor.
posted by delmoi at 1:10 PM on August 1, 2006
Eh, brain tumors can definitely cause emotions that have no basis in anything at all. For example he might feel fear and anger towards his wife, or the world that he simply wouldn't feel without the tumor.
posted by delmoi at 1:10 PM on August 1, 2006
Wikipedia says he did have a tumor which may have pressed against his amygala, which controls aggression. His suicide note seems genuinely confused. He appears to have been very suprised by his agressive actions and he left all of his money to a mental health foundation to prevent what happened to him happening to others. Weird.
posted by Ironmouth at 1:12 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by Ironmouth at 1:12 PM on August 1, 2006
Also of note: this event is responsible for most cities forming SWAT teams. The Austin police who first arrived had only sidearms and no rifles available to shoot back. Rifles quickly arrived on the scene, though from UT students who had their hunting rifles in their trucks.
posted by ColdChef at 1:25 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by ColdChef at 1:25 PM on August 1, 2006
As an Aggie, I believe I am required to snark about how Whitman is representative of the caliber of texas university's students.
[/college rivalry derail]
In all seriousness, I find the brain tumor aspect of this situation very intriguing. Whitman's actions did seem to be very incongruent for the kind of person he appeared to be. Rather, he sounds like he began having anger problems, tried to deal with them in a rational, reasonable manner, and then simply lost control all at once, something I would see as indicative of something beyond his control. All other indications seemed to have him as a more-than-decent individual.
On a side note, I always found it odd that for the longest time, texas university had no sort of memorial to the shooting--not even a single plaque tucked away somewhere. Was it denial? Or just an attempt to forget about a blemish on texas university's history?
And another side note--in Texas (or at least this part of it), it is not uncommon to hear someone who is frustrated or angry about something say "this is the sort of thing that puts people in clock towers with high-powered rifles"--a clear reference to Whitman's assault.
posted by internet!Hannah at 1:30 PM on August 1, 2006
[/college rivalry derail]
In all seriousness, I find the brain tumor aspect of this situation very intriguing. Whitman's actions did seem to be very incongruent for the kind of person he appeared to be. Rather, he sounds like he began having anger problems, tried to deal with them in a rational, reasonable manner, and then simply lost control all at once, something I would see as indicative of something beyond his control. All other indications seemed to have him as a more-than-decent individual.
On a side note, I always found it odd that for the longest time, texas university had no sort of memorial to the shooting--not even a single plaque tucked away somewhere. Was it denial? Or just an attempt to forget about a blemish on texas university's history?
And another side note--in Texas (or at least this part of it), it is not uncommon to hear someone who is frustrated or angry about something say "this is the sort of thing that puts people in clock towers with high-powered rifles"--a clear reference to Whitman's assault.
posted by internet!Hannah at 1:30 PM on August 1, 2006
Kinky Friedman wrote a song about him, too.
True, but before that Harry Chapin wrote a song and titled an album ("The Sniper and Other Love Songs") after the incident.
posted by soyjoy at 1:32 PM on August 1, 2006
True, but before that Harry Chapin wrote a song and titled an album ("The Sniper and Other Love Songs") after the incident.
posted by soyjoy at 1:32 PM on August 1, 2006
On a side note, I always found it odd that for the longest time, texas university had no sort of memorial to the shooting--not even a single plaque tucked away somewhere. Was it denial? Or just an attempt to forget about a blemish on texas university's history?
posted by internet!Hannah at 3:30 PM CST on August 1
I think it was one of those things: "If we don't talk about it, then it didn't happen."
In 1999 they put a memorial in after they re-opened the observation deck. (The best I can recall is that the deck was closed for two years after Whitman, reopened, then reclosed after suicides becamse a problem, and finally reopened in 1999).
His "small arsenal" is smaller than what I have in the trunk of my taurus.
He wasn't all that well armed, he just picked the perfect time and place for his actions.
posted by Megafly at 3:09 PM CST on August 1
In 1966, that was a small arsenal. By today's standards it would look rather weak. But multiple guns and knives would be a small arsenal back in Austin in 1966.
The Austin police who first arrived had only sidearms and no rifles available to shoot back. Rifles quickly arrived on the scene, though from UT students who had their hunting rifles in their trucks.
posted by ColdChef at 3:25 PM CST on August 1
Yeah, before that the police just carried handguns and shotguns.
But a part of my always loved the aspect of the story of the citizens showing up with their rifles and trying to take out Whitman. I always recall the stories about how plaster was getting shot-off all around Whitman as he fired out of drainage ditches as the citizens tried to take him out with their deer rifles. That is greatness.
posted by dios at 1:40 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by internet!Hannah at 3:30 PM CST on August 1
I think it was one of those things: "If we don't talk about it, then it didn't happen."
In 1999 they put a memorial in after they re-opened the observation deck. (The best I can recall is that the deck was closed for two years after Whitman, reopened, then reclosed after suicides becamse a problem, and finally reopened in 1999).
His "small arsenal" is smaller than what I have in the trunk of my taurus.
He wasn't all that well armed, he just picked the perfect time and place for his actions.
posted by Megafly at 3:09 PM CST on August 1
In 1966, that was a small arsenal. By today's standards it would look rather weak. But multiple guns and knives would be a small arsenal back in Austin in 1966.
The Austin police who first arrived had only sidearms and no rifles available to shoot back. Rifles quickly arrived on the scene, though from UT students who had their hunting rifles in their trucks.
posted by ColdChef at 3:25 PM CST on August 1
Yeah, before that the police just carried handguns and shotguns.
But a part of my always loved the aspect of the story of the citizens showing up with their rifles and trying to take out Whitman. I always recall the stories about how plaster was getting shot-off all around Whitman as he fired out of drainage ditches as the citizens tried to take him out with their deer rifles. That is greatness.
posted by dios at 1:40 PM on August 1, 2006
CLAIRE JAMES: A really lovely young woman with red hair ran up to me and said, “Please, let me help you.” I told her to get down so she wouldn’t attract attention, and she lay down next to me. It was a beautiful, selfless act. I told her my name and my blood type, and she made sure to keep me talking so I wouldn’t lose consciousness. She stayed with me for at least an hour, until people came and carried me away.
Great. And now I'm crying.
posted by ColdChef at 1:45 PM on August 1, 2006
Great. And now I'm crying.
posted by ColdChef at 1:45 PM on August 1, 2006
Yeah, before that the police just carried handguns and shotguns
heh. the Ohio National Guard said that a sniper had fired on them at Kent State. maybe it was good ole Charlie on a field trip, who knows.
but then, the Guard was better armed than Texas cops I suppose
those who find the Whitman story interesting should check out, if they haven't already, the Charlie Simpson shooting. an excellent, excellent, National Book Award nominated book was written about it by Joe Eszterhas, who, funnily enough, used to be a great reporter before he figured out that writing movies about lesbian icepick murderers and psycho strippers gives you a much fatter paycheck
posted by matteo at 1:57 PM on August 1, 2006
heh. the Ohio National Guard said that a sniper had fired on them at Kent State. maybe it was good ole Charlie on a field trip, who knows.
but then, the Guard was better armed than Texas cops I suppose
those who find the Whitman story interesting should check out, if they haven't already, the Charlie Simpson shooting. an excellent, excellent, National Book Award nominated book was written about it by Joe Eszterhas, who, funnily enough, used to be a great reporter before he figured out that writing movies about lesbian icepick murderers and psycho strippers gives you a much fatter paycheck
posted by matteo at 1:57 PM on August 1, 2006
The movie Targets from 1968 was loosely based on Charles Whitman's shooting spree. It was Peter Bogdanovich's directorial debut and Boris Karloff's last film appearance.
The Whitman shooting spree, as well as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, also probably had a lot to do with the eventual passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the ensuing "culture war" over gun control.
posted by jonp72 at 2:06 PM on August 1, 2006 [1 favorite]
The Whitman shooting spree, as well as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, also probably had a lot to do with the eventual passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the ensuing "culture war" over gun control.
posted by jonp72 at 2:06 PM on August 1, 2006 [1 favorite]
I work in the tower, and have for several years now. When I first started the job, I thought that making a joke about the Whitman shootings would be a good ice breaker (I sometimes have a really inappropriate sense of humor). Obviously, I was mistaken. I was really shocked by how raw a wound that still was for a lot of people here.
The other day I saw one of the documentaries on TV about the shooting -- they showed the same view that I see out my window, bodies being carried across the same tile in the main hallway, people cowering for shelter behind landings and plantings that I walk past every day. It really brought it home for me somehow. It really happened, and it happened here, in a place that I have lived, studied, and worked for 10 years.
It would be shocking -- devastating -- for me to be walking up the west mall from lunch someday and be shot at. To cower in fear in a place that has always been a sanctuary for me. It must be like what you feel when your house is broken into, tenfold. It took years for some people to feel safe here, and I know people who had to leave and never came back. God I was an insensitive ass for making that joke.
posted by macmac at 2:19 PM on August 1, 2006 [1 favorite]
The other day I saw one of the documentaries on TV about the shooting -- they showed the same view that I see out my window, bodies being carried across the same tile in the main hallway, people cowering for shelter behind landings and plantings that I walk past every day. It really brought it home for me somehow. It really happened, and it happened here, in a place that I have lived, studied, and worked for 10 years.
It would be shocking -- devastating -- for me to be walking up the west mall from lunch someday and be shot at. To cower in fear in a place that has always been a sanctuary for me. It must be like what you feel when your house is broken into, tenfold. It took years for some people to feel safe here, and I know people who had to leave and never came back. God I was an insensitive ass for making that joke.
posted by macmac at 2:19 PM on August 1, 2006 [1 favorite]
My mom was actually there, on campus. She heard some weird pops and screams, and basically ignored it. She then walked right through the far south end of campus near Dobie Mall now, past the West mall and all the way through West Campus to her sorority house, got into the house and found out what was going on around her. She was completely oblivious.
posted by pomegranate at 2:26 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by pomegranate at 2:26 PM on August 1, 2006
From Whitman's suicide note:
Similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. I don't think the poor woman has ever enjoyed life as she is entitled to. She was a simple young woman who married a very possessive and dominating man. All my life as a boy until I ran away from home to join the Marine Corps.
I was a witness to her being beaten at least one a month. Then when she took enough my father wanted to fight to keep her below her usual standard of living.
Watching his mother get beaten was probably a contributing factor to Whitman's final murder spree. Lonnie Athens, the criminologist profiled in the Richard Rhodes book Why They Kill, would have called this an example of "personal horrification." The fact that he had to join the not-so-peaceful environment of the Marines to escape this domestic violence was probably another factor.
Another personal theory of mine is that some of these mass shootings are facilitated by (but not necessarily caused by) people with manic depression or other mood disorders who get medicated with some antidepressant drug, but are not given a proper mood stabilizer. For example, Eric Harris was on Luvox at the time of the Columbine shootings, and Kip Kinkel had recently discontinued using Prozac before shooting to death two students at his Oregon high school. An antidepressant can lift a mood-disordered person into a manic state where they feel intense emotions (especially anger), but the manic state gives them the energy to act on that anger, which they didn't have when they were depressed. In hindsight, Whitman's doctor-prescribed use of Valium and Dexedrine before the shooting should have been recognized as the prescription for disaster it was.
posted by jonp72 at 2:37 PM on August 1, 2006
Similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. I don't think the poor woman has ever enjoyed life as she is entitled to. She was a simple young woman who married a very possessive and dominating man. All my life as a boy until I ran away from home to join the Marine Corps.
I was a witness to her being beaten at least one a month. Then when she took enough my father wanted to fight to keep her below her usual standard of living.
Watching his mother get beaten was probably a contributing factor to Whitman's final murder spree. Lonnie Athens, the criminologist profiled in the Richard Rhodes book Why They Kill, would have called this an example of "personal horrification." The fact that he had to join the not-so-peaceful environment of the Marines to escape this domestic violence was probably another factor.
Another personal theory of mine is that some of these mass shootings are facilitated by (but not necessarily caused by) people with manic depression or other mood disorders who get medicated with some antidepressant drug, but are not given a proper mood stabilizer. For example, Eric Harris was on Luvox at the time of the Columbine shootings, and Kip Kinkel had recently discontinued using Prozac before shooting to death two students at his Oregon high school. An antidepressant can lift a mood-disordered person into a manic state where they feel intense emotions (especially anger), but the manic state gives them the energy to act on that anger, which they didn't have when they were depressed. In hindsight, Whitman's doctor-prescribed use of Valium and Dexedrine before the shooting should have been recognized as the prescription for disaster it was.
posted by jonp72 at 2:37 PM on August 1, 2006
I found Targets a very curious film. Made quickly in difficult circumstances, and with a low budget, but a well handled meditation on the matter. Worth watching if you can get hold of it.
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:38 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:38 PM on August 1, 2006
I found Targets a very curious film. Made quickly in difficult circumstances, and with a low budget, but a well handled meditation on the matter. Worth watching if you can get hold of it.
One additional condition that producer Roger Corman placed on Bogdanovich (in addition to the low budget and ultra-brief production schedule) is that his movie had to incorporate footage from Corman's The Terror. I won't spoil it for anybody by saying how Bogdanovich uses the footage, but he passes his debut filmmaking test with flying colors.
posted by jonp72 at 2:45 PM on August 1, 2006
One additional condition that producer Roger Corman placed on Bogdanovich (in addition to the low budget and ultra-brief production schedule) is that his movie had to incorporate footage from Corman's The Terror. I won't spoil it for anybody by saying how Bogdanovich uses the footage, but he passes his debut filmmaking test with flying colors.
posted by jonp72 at 2:45 PM on August 1, 2006
Hmm, on reading the links and digging a little, I see Charlie had a generous prescription for Dexedrine (a type of amphetamine) and sometimes went for days without sleep. He was also on Valium, as well as Dexamyl a barbiturate-amphetamine combo. That's enough to make anyone a little edgy.
I am amazed this angle is not made more of in articles about Whitman, as unchecked amphetamine abuse, especially combined with a repressive, demanding lifestyle seems to be asking for psychosis. I cannot think why his case is not presented as a shining example of the dangers of drug abuse, and the name Charles Whitman is not inexorably linked with drug psychosis.
posted by MetaMonkey at 3:06 PM on August 1, 2006
I am amazed this angle is not made more of in articles about Whitman, as unchecked amphetamine abuse, especially combined with a repressive, demanding lifestyle seems to be asking for psychosis. I cannot think why his case is not presented as a shining example of the dangers of drug abuse, and the name Charles Whitman is not inexorably linked with drug psychosis.
posted by MetaMonkey at 3:06 PM on August 1, 2006
Great post, dios.
posted by you just lost the game at 4:55 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by you just lost the game at 4:55 PM on August 1, 2006
This really was an excellent post, and Dios's comments lately have been fun and friendly. But I'm still taking him into Meta. I just never got the chance so far.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:56 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:56 PM on August 1, 2006
The Delicate Art of the Rifle is a fine movie that while not about Whitman's shooting spree, was very directly inspired by it.
posted by jimw at 7:25 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by jimw at 7:25 PM on August 1, 2006
Interestingly, when Whitman’s body was autopsied, doctors did indeed discover a small tumour in his brain, as he had feared, but experts concluded that this was unlikely to have caused his subsequent actions.
When asked why her son shot George Wallace, Arthur Bremer's Mother said "It must've been something he ate."
posted by octobersurprise at 7:29 PM on August 1, 2006
When asked why her son shot George Wallace, Arthur Bremer's Mother said "It must've been something he ate."
posted by octobersurprise at 7:29 PM on August 1, 2006
Good post, thanks. I remember when the internet was new (to me at least) around 1995 I found a web site that was a clickable map of the UT campus, with little dead body outlines where each person got killed. You could click on the dead body icons, and something would pop up with the victims photo and a little bit about them. I was never able to find that page again.
I remember Neal Adams doing a cool comic story based on Whitman, it was in one of the Warren black and white mags, Creepy or Eerie. I'm too lazy to dig it out of my closet right now.
[Good lord, Neal Adams' web site is atrocious]
posted by marxchivist at 8:01 PM on August 1, 2006
I remember Neal Adams doing a cool comic story based on Whitman, it was in one of the Warren black and white mags, Creepy or Eerie. I'm too lazy to dig it out of my closet right now.
[Good lord, Neal Adams' web site is atrocious]
posted by marxchivist at 8:01 PM on August 1, 2006
suicides were indeed a problem there. my mother worked in the building in the 70s and saw at least one jumper go past her window.
and for the aggie:
This Aggie and his girlfriend are making out in his car. His girlfriend says "I want you to kiss me where it's hot and stinky." So he took her to Beaumont.
posted by jdfan at 8:06 PM on August 1, 2006
and for the aggie:
This Aggie and his girlfriend are making out in his car. His girlfriend says "I want you to kiss me where it's hot and stinky." So he took her to Beaumont.
posted by jdfan at 8:06 PM on August 1, 2006
I sent this article to my old boss who lived in Austin back then and went to work at UT a month after it happened. This was her memory:
My husband and I were having lunch at my parents house in South Austin when the news broke. My dad knew one of the people killed (Roy Dell Schmidt). He was somehow related to my Dad........cousin, second cousin, I don't remember. Austin was a lot smaller then, it seemed like everyone knew someone that was killed, wounded or was on campus at the time.
My boss, Thelma, says that it just didn't seem real. From their windows, you could see people crouched behind cars and trees.. (Our old building was even closer to the tower so they had a front row seat.) It was years before I could look at the tower without thinking of it .
posted by ColdChef at 8:09 PM on August 1, 2006
My husband and I were having lunch at my parents house in South Austin when the news broke. My dad knew one of the people killed (Roy Dell Schmidt). He was somehow related to my Dad........cousin, second cousin, I don't remember. Austin was a lot smaller then, it seemed like everyone knew someone that was killed, wounded or was on campus at the time.
My boss, Thelma, says that it just didn't seem real. From their windows, you could see people crouched behind cars and trees.. (Our old building was even closer to the tower so they had a front row seat.) It was years before I could look at the tower without thinking of it .
posted by ColdChef at 8:09 PM on August 1, 2006
Forty years ago today--before 9/11, Columbine, Oklahoma City, "going postal"--Whitman perpetrated an act of public terror that impacted the national conscience.
For the record, 89 years ago (and a couple of months)--also before Columbine, OKC, etc.--there was the Bath School Bombing (previously on MeFi). Just because it was "olden times" doesn't mean we didn't have our share of crazies with guns and bombs.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:11 PM on August 1, 2006
For the record, 89 years ago (and a couple of months)--also before Columbine, OKC, etc.--there was the Bath School Bombing (previously on MeFi). Just because it was "olden times" doesn't mean we didn't have our share of crazies with guns and bombs.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:11 PM on August 1, 2006
jdfan--I can understand the confusion; Beaumont is the first thing that pops into my mind when I hear "hot and stinky". (And I knew the Aggie jokes were coming--they always do.)
On a more relevant note, were suicides off the tower a problem before the incident? It would be interesting to see if jumping off the tower was only in vogue because of the tragedy associated with the place, or if was it more simply because the tower, as a very tall building with an outdoor deck, was the logical choice.
posted by internet!Hannah at 8:24 PM on August 1, 2006
On a more relevant note, were suicides off the tower a problem before the incident? It would be interesting to see if jumping off the tower was only in vogue because of the tragedy associated with the place, or if was it more simply because the tower, as a very tall building with an outdoor deck, was the logical choice.
posted by internet!Hannah at 8:24 PM on August 1, 2006
When I was in HS in Fla, my psych teacher mentioned that her son and a chem professor (over in Welch, I bet) wound up cowering togeher under one of the lab benches (pretty sturdily built stuff) that afternoon.
posted by pax digita at 8:33 PM on August 1, 2006
posted by pax digita at 8:33 PM on August 1, 2006
Compellingly fascinating. It's as much about weighing up those antecedent life events and behavioural clues as it is about what happened at the tower. The only link through there for me was control. I daresay the majority contribution to his ultimate state of mind occurred in his younger life and it seems obvious that his father's abusive role is central.
Yet there's a sort of inevitability within his writing; not what I'd call cold and calculating; but almost resigned and apologetic (at least regarding his wife and mother). He expresses himself well in an objective, removed and analytical way which I find most curious. His forethoughts became the reality before it even happened. I sense he had such a history of underachieving and with his need to impress his father......ah, could spend a lot of time analyzing.
There are no real answers are there. There seldom are I guess.
He reminds me of a guy I met once in an Emergency room. I told him his elderly, infirmed mother had died. He became officious and began a commentary of the actions he ought to take, along with the reasoning behind each -- 'it would be best now if I go and see her body because that's what one does...the house will need cleaning because no doubt it has become messy while she's been sick......' -- all external and completely rational on the surface, but with just enough oddness that it makes you have a second look at him. I thought he'd go home and dutifully straighten up the house and type a letter and then shoot himself, so a Police Officer went with him.
Thanks dios, great post.
posted by peacay at 3:27 AM on August 2, 2006
Yet there's a sort of inevitability within his writing; not what I'd call cold and calculating; but almost resigned and apologetic (at least regarding his wife and mother). He expresses himself well in an objective, removed and analytical way which I find most curious. His forethoughts became the reality before it even happened. I sense he had such a history of underachieving and with his need to impress his father......ah, could spend a lot of time analyzing.
There are no real answers are there. There seldom are I guess.
He reminds me of a guy I met once in an Emergency room. I told him his elderly, infirmed mother had died. He became officious and began a commentary of the actions he ought to take, along with the reasoning behind each -- 'it would be best now if I go and see her body because that's what one does...the house will need cleaning because no doubt it has become messy while she's been sick......' -- all external and completely rational on the surface, but with just enough oddness that it makes you have a second look at him. I thought he'd go home and dutifully straighten up the house and type a letter and then shoot himself, so a Police Officer went with him.
Thanks dios, great post.
posted by peacay at 3:27 AM on August 2, 2006
Dang, I wish I'd seen this post earlier. My father - then a salesman - was in Austin that day, and had made sales calls at a few stores on Guadalupe Street, adjacent to the University and the location of several of Whitman's victims. Of course, my father had left Austin and was most of the way to San Antonio for further calls when he heard of the shootings on the car radio. I remember watching that Kurt Russell movie The Deadly Tower with him, and how terribly creeped out he was by it.
Later, when I started college at UT, I had a chilly moment myself walking from one class to another and realizing I was standing right where one of the victims had been shot.
posted by John Smallberries at 8:21 PM on August 2, 2006
Later, when I started college at UT, I had a chilly moment myself walking from one class to another and realizing I was standing right where one of the victims had been shot.
posted by John Smallberries at 8:21 PM on August 2, 2006
Also, the Mystery Trend wrote a terrific tune inspired by Whitman's rampage, titled "Johnny Was A Good Boy."
posted by Scram at 1:30 AM on August 3, 2006
posted by Scram at 1:30 AM on August 3, 2006
News 8 Austin has been doing an in-depth series of stories on it as well: UT Tower Shooting.
posted by Orb at 2:07 AM on August 3, 2006
posted by Orb at 2:07 AM on August 3, 2006
I heard he also took mouthwash and deorderant up with him. He didn't mind killing people but he didn't want to offend anyone.
posted by zackdog at 12:51 AM on August 5, 2006
posted by zackdog at 12:51 AM on August 5, 2006
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Account: mefi@mefi.com
PW: mefi
More Information:
the Wikipedia has an excellent entry on Whitman.
Notes from his Journal that show his mental status.
The Austin American-Statemen 40th anniversary story.
A Frank Rich article about Whitman and mass murderers.
Crime and Investigation story about Whitman.
posted by dios at 9:35 AM on August 1, 2006