Charles Whitman’s Descent Into Madness

The TX Clock Tower Massacre

Charles Whitman was born on June 24, 1941, in Lake Worth, Florida, to Charles Adolphus Whitman Sr. and Margaret Whitman. The eldest of three boys, Charles was raised in a strict Roman Catholic household. Margaret was a devout Roman Catholic, and raised her three boys in the faith, often attending Mass. All three boys served as altar boys at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Lake Worth. His father, Charles Sr., was a domineering and abusive figure, while his mother was a loving, yet passive woman who struggled to shield her children from their father’s wrath. Charles Sr. was a self proclaimed authoritarian who expected nothing less than perfection from his sons. He was known to discipline them harshly, often resorting to physical punishment.

Despite his father’s harsh treatment, Charles excelled in various activities as a child. He was an intelligent, curious boy with a natural aptitude for learning. People described him as a very polite, obedient child who seldom lost his temper. By the age of six, he reportedly had a measured IQ of 139, a score that indicated he was gifted. (Typically, a score of this level indicates that someone has superior reasoning, problem solving, and verbal skills. A score this high would put someone in the top 2 % of the population in terms of general intelligence. While IQ is not a complete measure of a person’s overall abilities, it does suggest a high level of intellectual potential and capability.) His academic success and sharp intellect were sources of pride for his father, who saw Charles as a reflection of his own ambitions. However, the pressure to meet his father’s high expectations created significant emotional strain on young Charles.

In addition to excelling academically, Charles also demonstrated an early talent for music, particularly the piano. His mother encouraged this interest, seeing it as a way for Charles to escape the harshness of his father’s discipline. Charles also participated in Boy Scouts, where he quickly advanced to become an Eagle Scout at the age of 12. At the time, he was the youngest to ever achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. This achievement was another source of pride for his father, who saw it as further evidence of Charles’s potential, and he thought that it showed his parenting skills in a positive light.

Charles SR. was an avid firearms collector and enthusiast. From an early age, each of the boys were exposed to guns and taught how to shoot and gun safety. This was something that Charles Sr. really enjoyed, so he enjoyed spending time with his sons, teaching them how to break down their guns and clean / maintain them properly. Charles shined when it came to shooting. He was described as a crack marksman from a young age, his father said that by the time he was 16, he “could plug the eye out of a squirrel.” They would go on hunting trips together, something that they all enjoyed, and this furthered Charles’ love of marksmanship. But, beneath the surface, the young boy was struggling with the weight of his father’s expectations and the instability of his home life.

The Whitman household was characterized by tension and conflict. Charles Sr. was a successful plumbing contractor, but as I mentioned, at home, he demanded strict obedience. His word was the LAW in their household. His volatile temper often led to violent outbursts, particularly toward his wife. Margaret Whitman endured years of abuse at the hands of her husband, but she stayed in the marriage for the sake of her children. The constant turmoil at home took a toll on Charles and his younger brothers, Patrick and John, where fear and anxiety were daily companions.

The impact of this dysfunctional family dynamic on Charles was profound. While he appeared to be a well-adjusted and successful young man to outsiders, he harbored deep-seated anger and resentment toward his father. Charles’s relationship with his mother was more complex. He adored her and often sought to protect her from his father’s abuse, yet he was also frustrated by her inability to leave the toxic marriage. This internal conflict would later manifest in troubling ways as Charles struggled to reconcile his love for his mother with his anger toward his father.

In high school, Charles was seen to be a popular student amongst his peers. He had a paper route, which he had been running since he was 12, and managed to save his money from that to buy himself a Harley Davidson. He graduated in June of 1959, seventh in his class of 72. But, about a month before the graduation, he and some friends went out and celebrated a bit, and Charles came home drunk. He was outside, and his father found him and began to beat him mercilessly. When the beating stopped, the elder Charles grabbed Jr and threw him into the family swimming pool. Whitman told one of his close friends that this incident was the catalyst that sparked his plans for after high school graduation.

At the age of 18, Charles sought to escape the oppressive environment of his home by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. His decision to join the military was motivated by a desire for independence, a need to prove himself outside the shadow of his father, and really just to get away from the abuse of his father. In July 1959, he left home to begin his training at Parris Island, South Carolina. As Charles was traveling to start his military career, his father learned what he had done and actually called a branch of the government to try to have his son’s enlistment canceled; he was not successful. The military provided Charles with the structure and discipline he had known all his life, but it also exposed him to new challenges and stressors.

During Charles’ initial 18 month enlistment, he earned a sharpshooter’s badge and the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal. This medal was established in May of 1919 as the Marine Corps Expeditionary Ribbon. A full-sized medal was authorized in March of 1921. The Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal is therefore one of the oldest medals of the United States military which is still issued to active duty personnel. To be awarded the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, a Marine must have engaged in a landing on foreign territory, participated in combat operations against an opposing force, or participated in a designated operation for which no other service medal is authorized.

One thing that made Whitman immediately stand out from his fellow marines was his ability to shoot. Remember, this was one of the only activities that he, his brothers, and their father enjoyed doing with one another. Whether it was shooting targets or going hunting, it was likely one of the few times when the boys weren’t berated or made to feel like they didn’t stack up to their father’s ideal of what they should be. Records of Whitman’s shooting test in the Marines show that he hit 215 out of a possible 250 targets. They also showed that he excelled at shooting from long distances, and that he seemed to be even more accurate when a target was moving.

Whitman became focused on excelling as a Marine, which he felt would open doors for himself professionally and personally once he was out of the military. While there, Whitman continued to excel academically. He was selected to attend the Naval Enlisted Science Education Program (NESEP), a prestigious program that offered enlisted Marines the opportunity to earn a college degree. It seemed like a tailor made program for Whitman. It was basically a scholarship program that would send enlisted men to study to become an engineer, then go back to the Marines and become an officer. In 1961, he enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin to study mechanical engineering after passing a competitive exam and then going before a committee to be selected. His tuition and books were all paid for by the Marines, and he was given an extra two hundred and fifty dollars a month. However, balancing the demands of his military duties with his academic responsibilities proved difficult. Whitman struggled with his coursework and began to experience bouts of severe anxiety and depression.

At this point, Whitman had been in the regimented life of the Marines for a while, so when he was at the college, he became free to use his time however he wanted. It didn’t take long for him to get into some trouble. He and some friends were arrested for poaching deer. He also started to get into gambling, and racked up huge gambling debts with various bookies around the area. When they came looking for their money, he refused to pay. His grades while in school were unimpressive, but they did improve slightly after he married his girlfriend, Kathy Leissner. But, the Marine Corps wouldn’t stand for his actions while at the school, or his poor grades, and his scholarship was withdrawn. He was returned to active duty in February of 1963.

He was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, but after his year and a half of freedom, he couldn’t reform back to military life. He told people that the constant discipline and structure was oppressive. His wife was back in Texas finishing her degree and he was lonely. He attempted to appeal the withdrawal of his scholarship, but that was denied. Whitman was also informed that because of his actions while at the school, that time would no longer count against his agreed upon enlistment time. This made him resent the Marine Corps even more, and he did little to hide his feelings.

In November 1963, he was court-martialed for gambling, as well as possession and use of a non-military pistol. He had threatened a fellow soldier who owed him a debt of $30 plus interest. He was found guilty and sentenced to 30 days confinement and 90 days hard labor. A promotion he had received upon his return to active duty was stripped from him. Lance Corporal Whitman was once again Private Whitman, and he was desperate to be free of the Marine Corps. He turned to his father for help. Charles Sr. had made connections in his years as a prominent businessman, and he set about trying to pull strings to get his son’s enlistment time reduced. It was reduced by a year, and in December 1964, he was honorably discharged from the Marines.

Whitman’s failure as a Marine and at the school was a massive embarrassment for him, and when he returned to Austin, he was determined to make up for it. He re-enrolled and changed his focus to architectural engineering from mechanical engineering. He had a steady job as a teller with a local bank and in his free time, he volunteered with the local Boy Scouts as a scoutmaster. Whitman kept journals in which he constantly wrote about ways to improve himself. But, he followed in his father’s footsteps early on into his marriage and became violent with his wife, Kathy.

Kathwy was a teacher at Lanier High School in Austin, and she was the main breadwinner in the house, something that was always at the forefront of Whitman’s thoughts. Her salary paid for most of what they needed, and she had health insurance for them through work. But, outwardly, to everyone who interacted with him and his wife, everything seemed great. He was a devoted husband and a hard worker. But inwardly, he was full of self hatred. He despised being a “freeloader,” but constantly accepted expensive gifts from his father. In his eyes, being overweight was a sign of weakness, but he could never get himself back into the same shape he was in while he served in the Marines.

Kathy noticed that Whitman’s outlook was getting bleaker and bleaker and started to gently urge him to talk with a counselor. And while that was going his mom and dad got into another violent fight, and his mom, Margaret, left his father and moved to Austin with one of his brothers. She filed for divorce, and this led to Whitman’s mental health declining even further, but in the Spring of 1966, Kathy finally convinced him to talk with someone.

Whitman was prescribed valium and referred to a psychiatrist, Dr. Heath, who said that he “had something about him that suggested and expressed the all-American boy,” but that he “seemed to be oozing with hostility.” Sometimes, Whitman would say in their sessions that he wanted to go to the top of the tower with a deer rifle and start shooting people. The tower is a 307 foot tall clock tower on the UT Austin Campus. Dr. Heatly wasn’t alarmed by Whitman bringing it up, because several of his patients mention the tower when talking with him. It is an important symbol to the locals; it represents the Texas Pride they have for their community. But while everyone in his life would agree that he was clearly under a lot of self imposed strain, no one noticed that his ramblings and musings were going more and more to the violent side.

On July 31st, 1966 Whitman purchased a Bowie knife and a set of binoculars from a local surplus store. He then picked up Kathy from her summer job and the couple went to a movie and met his mom for a late lunch. After lunch, they stopped by to visit with some friends who said that Whitman seemed unusually quiet, but nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. At 6PM, Whitman dropped Kathy off at Southwestern Bell for an evening shift.

He was home by 6:45 PM, when he sat down and typed out a letter explaining the actions he was about to take. “I don’t quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. 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 thoughts” and that his attempt to get help with his problems had failed. He requested that an autopsy be performed to see if there was anything found that would explain his actions, or the severe headaches he had been suffering from in recent months. As he continued, he outlined his plan for the coming 24 hours. “It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight after I pick her up from work at the telephone company. The prominent reason in my mind is that I 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 provoked me to take my mother’s life also.”

Around 9:30 PM, Whitman picked up Kathy from work and they returned home. Kathy talked on the phone for a while, then Whitman called his mom to see if they could stop by and hang out at her apartment because it had air conditioning and theirs didn’t. She agreed, but Kathy didn’t go and went to bed instead. Whitman left to go to Margarets around midnight.

Margaret greeted Whitman in the lobby of the building and they went up to her apartment. The exact events of what happened aren’t known, but what has been pieced together and believed to be the likely events is the following. Once in the apartment, Whitman attacked his mother, and used a piece of rubber hose to strangle her from behind. When she was rendered unconscious, he stabbed her in the chest with the knife he purchased the day before. There was also damage to the back of her head, but it’s unknown what caused it. He put his mother’s body on her bed and covered it with sheets. He wrote a note and left it beside her bed. “I have just taken my mother’s life. I am very upset over having done it…I am truly sorry that this is the only way I could see to relieve her sufferings but I think it was best.” He then wrote a second note and posted it to her door, with the intention of delaying the discovery of her body. It was to the “houseman” of the apartments (I think this might be a janitor who would go around and collect trash and things like that.) In the note he said “Roy, I don’t have to be to work today and I was up late last night. I would like to get some rest. Please do not disturb me. Thank you. Mrs. Whitman.”

He left around 1:30 AM, but returned shortly after telling the doorman that he needed to get into his mom’s apartment to get a prescription he promised to fill for her. It’s believed that he left a bottle of Dexedrine, something he had been taking himself to keep himself awake. He returned to the lobby about 5 minutes later and left the apartment building around 2AM.

Whitman returned home and quietly crept into the bedroom. He pulled the covers down and quickly stabbed Kathy five times. It’s believed that she never woke up. He returned to the note he typed earlier and wrote “3:00 AM. Both dead.” He continued to explain why he was doing all this. He wrote letters to each of his brothers and his father. He asked that Kathy’s dog be given to her parents. Then, he set about making preparations for the next step in his plan.

Whitman meticulously prepared for a violent event by packing an array of supplies into his old Marine footlocker. He brought a radio, 3 gallons of water, gasoline, a notebook and pen, a compass, a hatchet and hammer, food, two knives, a flashlight and batteries, and various other implements which made it clear he was prepared for a lengthy standoff. On the morning of the incident, he made calls to excuse his wife and mother from work, then gathered more supplies, including additional firearms. After modifying a shotgun by cutting the barrel off, Whitman donned blue coveralls, loaded his footlocker, and headed to a university campus.

Whitman arrived at the campus at 11:30 a.m., using his research assistant ID to obtain a loading zone permit from a security guard. He then parked, unloaded his equipment, and entered the Tower unnoticed, disguised in the blue coveralls, he appeared to belong there. After taking the elevator to the 27th floor, he manually hauled his footlocker up three additional flights of stairs.

Edna Townsley was the receptionist on duty to supervise the 28th floor observation deck that morning. Whitman hit her on the back of the head. He hit her again after she fell, then dragged her across the room and behind a couch. She was still alive at the time, but would die in a few hours from her injuries. At around 11:50 AM, Cheryl Botts and Don Walden entered the reception area from the observation deck and found Whitman leaning over the couch, holding two guns. They greeted him, and though they found him strange and noticed some “stuff” on the floor (Edna’s blood), they were not immediately alarmed. Whitman watched them board the elevator, which took them to safety.

M.J. and Mary Gabour and their sons, Mark and Mike, were on the steps going up towards the observation deck with Marguerite and William Lamport when they encountered a barricaded door. When they moved the desk that was blocking it and leaned in, Whitman suddenly attacked, firing his sawed-off shotgun. Mark Gabour was killed instantly, while Marguerite Lamport was also killed, and Mary Gabour and her son Mike were critically wounded. The survivors, William Lamport and M.J. Gabour fled to get help.

On the lower floors of the tower, panic spread and people began to barricade themselves in rooms. As that was unfolding, Whitman began to unpack his supplies. He wedged the door to the observation deck shut and opened fire.

In quick succession, Whitman fired off shots. The first struck 18 year old Claire Wilson in the abdomen. She was pregnant at the time, and the bullet killed her child. As she lay on the ground, the man she was with, Thomas Eckman turned to see what happened and he was shot in the chest, dying instantly. His body fell on top of Claire. Nearby, a visiting physics professor, Dr. Robert Hamilton Boyer was shot in the lower back and quickly passed away.

To the east of the Tower, Peace Corps trainee Thomas Ashton was shot in the chest and later died at Brackenridge Hospital. As more people around the Tower were shot, those in nearby buildings began to notice. Wounded victims lay helpless in the oppressive 95-degree heat, afraid to move for fear of being shot again. Around noon, University Police arrived at the Tower and reached the 27th floor, where they found the injured Gabour and Lamport families. An order was given to secure the exits and shut off the elevators. Uncertain of how many shooters were involved, authorities feared there might be multiple gunmen based on the flood of calls coming in to both the Austin Police and University Police.

At this time, Whitman was still moving around the observation deck with no one stopping him. He looked west towards a busy street with businesses known as the drag (kinda like Madison St used to be in Shelbyville) and began to fire. Alex Hernandez, a boy delivering newspapers on his bicycle was first shot, followed by Karen Griffen, who died a week later. Thomas Karr was shot in the back, he appeared to be rendering aid to Karen. He died within an hour. People rushed into the businesses that lined the road and moved away from any windows.

Austin Police were arriving on campus and trying to make their way to the Tower. Officers Jerry Culp and Billy Speed were huddled, with others, under a statue south of the Tower, trying to figure out their next move. Whitman shot Billy Speed through a six-inch space between two pillars, which were part of a rail that surrounded the statue. Though Speed’s wound looked superficial initially to those around him, it was in fact grave.

The violence on the Drag persisted as Whitman shot Harry Walchuk, a doctoral student and father of six, who died instantly. Nearby, high school students Paul Sonntag, Claudia Rutt, and Carla Sue Wheeler took cover behind a construction barricade. When Paul looked out to see what was happening, he was shot in the mouth. Claudia was also struck and later died at Brackenridge Hospital.

As word spread about the ongoing shooting, police and armed citizens began firing back at the Tower, attempting to hit Whitman whenever he appeared over the ledge of the tower. Hundreds of shots were fired, but Whitman made himself nearly impossible to target by shooting through the rain spouts and frequently switching guns. Although most of the killing had occurred in the first twenty minutes, Whitman continued shooting. Over 500 yards away, city electricians Solon McCown and Roy Dell Schmidt took cover behind cars with a group of reporters and spectators. Thinking they were out of range, Schmidt stood up and was fatally shot in the abdomen.

As more victims fell, police officers converged on the Tower. Officers Jerry Day, Houston McCoy, Ramiro Martinez, and others, along with civilian Allen Crum, reached the 27th floor, where they found and evacuated the wounded Gabour family. Martinez and Crum then carefully moved up to the observation deck, followed by McCoy and Day. With no clear plan, they improvised as they went. Martinez forced open the barricaded door to the deck, and the men took positions, watching the windows.

Martinez and McCoy crawled toward the northwest corner, where the shots were coming from. As Whitman attempted to change positions, Crum accidentally misfired, forcing Whitman back to the northwest corner. Martinez reached the northeast corner and fired his .38 at Whitman, who tried to return fire but couldn’t react in time. McCoy then shot Whitman twice in the head with a shotgun, knocking him down. Martinez grabbed the shotgun and fired into Whitman’s body at close range, ensuring he was dead by 1:24 p.m.

In just over 90 minutes, Charles Whitman rained down carnage on the area surrounding the Clock Tower. It was immediately broadcast nationally. Kathy’s father heard Charles’ name on the radio and called the police to check on Kathy. When the officers arrived, they looked through a window and saw her body in bed. They made entrance to the house via the window and discovered that Kathy had been dead for some time. They read the note that Whitman left, and immediately went to his mother’s apartment where they found Margaret.

It quickly became known that Whitman had been seeing a psychiatrist, and Dr. Heatly released the recordings of his sessions with Whitman. He was under intense scrutiny when it was discovered that Whitman had made mention of shooting people from the tower, but he was quickly cleared of any responsibility because the general consensus was that he did the best he could have been expected to do with the information Whitman had given. Nothing else about Whitman suggested that he would do what he did, so Heatly did not consider him a threat to himself or others.

Whitman’s father authorized an autopsy to be performed on his body. During the autopsy, a pecan sized tumor was discovered in his brain. Dr. Coleman de Chenar performed the autopsy and concluded that the tumor would not have been the reason for his actions, but then Governor of TX, John Connally, commissioned a task force to investigate further. The commission was composed of neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, pathologists, and psychologists. The commission challenged Chenar’s findings and following a three hour hearing concluded that he errored. They found that the tumor had widespread areas of necrosis. They stated “the relationship between the brain tumor and Whitman’s actions cannot be established with clarity. However, the tumor conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions.” Forensic investigators have theorized that the tumor pressed against Whitman’s amygdala, a part of the brain related to anxiety and fight-or-flight responses among numerous other functions.

Kathy Whitman was laid to rest in her hometown of Needville, TX.

Margaret was laid to rest in Florida, alongside Charles.

In 1967, $5000 was spent to repair all the bullet holes and damage caused by the attack, but the observation deck was closed in 1974. It was declared permanently closed in 1976 but the University of TX Regents.

In 1988, Larry Faulkner, then president of the University announced the observation deck would be reopened. He asked the board of regents to support the opening, which they did. In Sept of 1999, it was reopened. There are security guards stationed in various areas on the tower.

The trauma from this event resonated throughout the country. A memorial was erected to honor those who lost their lives and were injured that day.