Mystery of UT’s missing brains


I like blogging, sometimes you learn a lot and it’s always cathartic. Sure, I have to beg readers for money — which is not going well at all this season, hint hint — and deal with a small amount of hate mail directed at atheist-progressives. But when my days are free and time permits, there’s some fun stuff to enjoy mixed into every dismal news cycle. Like this tidbit on missing brains from the nearby University of Texas:

WaPo — About 100 brain specimens are missing, to be more exact, possibly swiped by students over the years from a brain collection stored in formaldehyde.

The brains, used as a teaching tool, belonged to all sorts of people, according to the Austin-American Statesman, most of whom are unknown. One of the known brains, the paper reported, probably belonged to Charles Whitman, the sniper who climbed the 307-foot Texas clock tower in Austin in 1966 and unleashed a barrage of gunfire, taking the lives of 16 people and injuring many others.

One can only imagine the various macabre uses brains might be out to in local student communities. For the rest of you, watch out on eBay for deals on miscellaneous and sniper brains. Like my great auntie always said: If the pickled body part offered up for auction sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Comments

  1. brucegee1962 says

    Zombies or Mad Scientists? Zombies or Mad Scientists? Which could it be?

    Personally, I’m rooting for the Mad Scientists. Damn Zombies have been getting too much press recently. Abominations against Nature don’t just grow neural systems on their own, after all. I’m sure we can all look forward to the new hordes of Hideous Monstrosities.

  2. lorn says

    Your average cannibal or zombie wouldn’t steal them. Formaldehyde ruins the lovely brainy flavor and turns the wonderful toothsome texture into mush … or so I’m told.

  3. magistramarla says

    LOL – I was once on a St. Louis city bus when it screeched to a halt and the bus broke into chaos as a severed head rolled up the aisle. It was a medical student, sneaking his lab work home with him. Police boarded the bus, arrested the poor med student and took statements. The med school at my university clamped down on lab rules and placed a guard at the exit of the lab building.
    Most of the students just had a good laugh over it.

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