Charles Whitman Massacre

Charlie excelled in the Marines. He spent the first part of his career at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. He work hard at being a good Marine, followin

Charlie had changed his career from mechanical engineering to architectural engineering. He took a job as a bill collector fro the Standard Finance Company, and then moved on to a teller position at Austin National Bank. He worked hard at being a good citizen, yet constantly he was ashamed for not living up to his own expectations. In the early periods of his marriage, he had followed his father example and become violent with his wife. He was determined not to repeat this behavior and reminded himself in his journal of how a kind and caring husband should act. He continued to receive money and gifts from his father. Kathy Whitman notices her husband’s strange behavior and began to gently urge him to seek some sort of counseling. Margaret and C.A. separated and Charlie’s brother Patrick and mother moved to Austin in the spring of 1966. Charlie’s depression and anxiety worsened, and Kathy finally made Charlie see a doctor that spring. Dr. Jan D. Cochrun prescribed Valium for Charlie and referred him to University Health Center Staff Psychiatrist Dr. Maurice Dean Heatly. Heatly found that Charlie “had something about him that suggested and expressed the all- American boy,” but that he “seemed to be oozing with hostility. Charlie spoke mainly of his lack of achievement and his hatred for his father. At one point, he told Heatly that he fantasized about “going up on the Tower with a deer rifle and shooting people.” Heatly was not disconcerted, because many patients had made references to the Tower, and Charlie showed no behavior patterns as of yet that indicated he was serious. Heatly suggested that Charlie return a week later, and told him that he could call at any time. Charlie never returned of called. In the summer of 1966, Charlie dutifully attended to his class work, and his job as a research assistant with the help of the amphetamine Dexedrine. He was taking a very heavy course load, trying harder than ever to excel. But the drug made him inefficient. As the Texas head intensified, Charlie became ever more consumed by his fantasies of killing.

Although many people believe that the Tower is haunted by Charles Whitman it has been declared untrue. People believe it is haunted because the lights flicker on and off when nobody is in the building. The ghost of Charlie Whitman is, for the most part exorcised. So any rumors about ghost in the tower are just that, rumors.

Charlie was finally pushed to plan out his murder on July 31. That morning he bought a Bowie knife and binoculars at a surplus store, and canned meat at 7-11. At, 6:45 p.m. he began typing his letter of explanation and farewell. “I don’t quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter, “he wrote. “Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed.” He went on to say he’d increasingly been a victim of “many unusual and irrational thought” and that his attempt to get help with his problems had failed. He expressed a wish that his body be autopsied after his death to see if there was a physical cause for his mental problem. “It was after much thought that I have decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight after I pick her up from work at the telephone company,” he revealed. “The prominent reason in my is that truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die, and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it…similar reasons provoke me to take my mother’s life also.” Charlie’s farewell was interrupted by a visit from a couple with whom Charlie and Kathy were friends. The friends left about 8:30 p.m., and Charlie left to pick up his wif

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