Charles Whitman, the University of Texas Sniper

I just watched a History Channel program about the sniper that went up into the tower on the main quad and started shooting people on August 1,1966. Whitman wounded 31 people, and killed 17. I am not sure if the 17 killed included his wife and mother whom he murdered before heading to the tower to open fire.

At the end of the program, the author of the book upon which the program was based started eulogizing about how terrible it was that the tower is remembered for this horrific event. This brought back memories for me from what seems to be a long past life.

I went to the University of Texas in 1973 and graduated in 1977. When I arrived, you could go up to the observation deck and take in the sights of Austin, which were stunning from that vantage point. It was eerie because of the bullet holes in the wall about 8 feet above the deck. These came from people on the ground firing back at Whitman. What I had never heard before watching the program tonight was that many of the gunshots came from vigilantes that heard about the incident, and packed their weapons up and came to the tower.

I had memories of the Whitman incident but they were not very detailed. I had that sense of connection to history standing there, but the thought of Whitman's deeds were secondary to the main legacy of the tower that we discussed among ourselves, which was suicides. I think there were 3 suicides in both 1973 and 1974 while I was there, and the administration decided to close the tower. I remember that one of the suicides was by a woman who lived a couple of hundred of miles away, and came specifically to the tower to end it all.

After a closing the deck in 1975, the University decided to open it up again a few years later, but the suicides started up again so it is now "permanently" closed.

The main thought that comes to mind about Charles Whitman now, when I reflect on his life history, demeanor, and looks, is....

Freeper.

Thankfully, he did not procreate.

I was born in June of '66, so I was a wee one when Whitman took over the tower. My dad worked at a radio station near downtown, so my mother told me later she was a wreck until it was over and he was able to get home. I also went to UT, graduated in '91. If I remember correctly, the observation deck was reopened while I was there. Never went up to check it out. However, there is definitely a creepy feeling you get walking across the West Mall in front of the tower, in the open plaza area. So much violence there.

Years ago, I read a book about the incident. Whitman was a sicko. And definitely the quintessential freeper.

Hook 'em!

:dem:

RV

There's bars to prevent people from jumping, but it's open.

The Ballad of Charles Whitman

He was sitting up there for more than an hour,
Way up there on the texas tower
Shooting from the twenty-seventh floor. yahoo!
He didn?t choke or slash or slit them,
Not our charles joseph whitman,
He won?t be an architect no more.
Got up that morning calm and cool,
He picked up his guns and walked to school.
All the while he smiled so sweetly
And it blew their minds completely,
They?d never seen an eagle scout so cruel.

Now won?t you think for the shame and degradation
For the school?s administration
He put on such a bold and brassy show.
The chance looked right, it?s adolescent
And of course it?s most unpleasant
But I got to admit it was a lovely way to go.

There was a rumor about a tumor
Nestled at the base of his brain.
He was sitting up there with his .36 magnum
Laughing wildly as he bagged ?em.
Who are we to say the boy?s insane ?

Now charlie was awful disappointed
Else he thought he was anointed
To do a deed so lowdown and so mean.
The students looked up from their classes
Had to stop and rub their glasses,
Who?d believe he?d once been a marine.

Now charlie made the honor roll with ease,
Most all of his grades was a?s and b?s.
A real rip snorting trigger squeezer
Charlie proved a big crowd pleaser
Though he had been known to make a couple c?s.

Some were dying, some were weeping,
Some were studying, some were sleeping,
Some were shouting ¡°texas # 1!¡±
Some were running, some were falling,
Some were screaming, some were balling,
Some thought the revolution had begun.

The doctors tore his poor brain down,
But not a snitch of illness could be found.
Most folks couldn?t figure just-a why he did it
And them that could would not admit it,
There?s still a lot of eagle scouts around.

There was a rumor about a tumor
Nestled at the base of his brain.
He was sitting up there with his .36 magnum
Laughing wildly as he bagged ?em.
Who are we to say the boy?s in
Who are we to say the boy?s in
Who are we to say the boy?s insane

And why does the AGGIE know all this stuff? ;-)

Maybe from live performances, too.

I do believe that was substantiated. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Rumor is just a rhyme.

Greatest town in the world.

the large city problems and none of the benefits.

I'd trade it for Denver in a nanosecond.

attitude. You might want to know that my family is very old time Texas and my husband and daughter were both born in Austin and both think (thought)it is the pits. My husband, who is now deceased, was raised there and always hated the place. My daughter was raised in Houston and just moved back to Texas (Austin) from California. She is having a really hard time because there are no true liberals left or really any old time Texans there or at least there are none where she lives. Austin is really over rated, in my humble opinion. My Mom, who went to school there, but never lived there, really loved the place. My Dad also went to school there but he never expressed any love for the place. Just drove in from there this evening. One of the things I find so icky about the place is its inability to deal with the reality of the fact that it is a city and the city has a big time traffic problem that should have been addressed many, many years ago but since it wasn't, it now takes me twice the amount of time to drive half the amount of distance. Dreaming and clinging to the idea that you are still a nice, small university town does not make it TRUE.

I am a Texas native who lived and went to school in Austin in the 70's when Austin was truly magical. My wife and I still have many good friends there and visit frequently. We have lived in Atlanta, Dallas, Jacksonville, Florida and now Denver and in all of these there are the traffic and urbanity problems you cite. Still, we would love to return to Austin, with all it's new negatives, even though we have a house in East Texas near Cedar Creek Lake where we will spend much of our retirement (if we ever get to retire).

Native Austinite here too. And I went to UT for awhile in 87-88.

I always got chills walking down the drag-- almost as if I could feel eyes on me. And that tower just looms there.

Kathy Whitman actually taught at my old high school, Lanier, before it moved into the current building.

and the tower was open. You could see the bullet hole in the limestone, patched with something. It was reported that Whitmat was going to destroy the way up to the observation deck but did not. If he had could've stayed up there until he died. At least that was my teenage brains thinking. I could not see any way he could've been taken out with ground fire or even from a chopper, because of the parapet.

The day we were there, students were lying all over the lawn studying, napping, and talking. If Whitman had went after them the death toll would've been higher but he tended to target people who were futher away.

I guess this was one of the first school shootings.

but the winds were swirling, and they were afraid that he would down the helicopter, and they didn't want to crash with all the people on the ground that could get hurt.

He packed alot of stuff for an elongated stay, but he didn't pack explosives (unless you consider 2 gallons of gasoline to be explosives), so I don't think his plan was to destroy the way up to the deck. But he certainly planned to stay awhile. He even packed deoderant. Go figure. Smelly mass murderers are so white trash.

Oh, and he did stay up there until he died. It just took a couple of hours instead of a couple of days.

He shot several people before anyone realized what was happening. People who were there told me that people were dropping, and you could not hear the gunshots. The initial reaction was confusion.
Several people were pinned down in the quad because they did not think the could run away without getting shot.

David, it was Greek, but the classical kind.

Called "Sniper."

You have to buy a ticket for a designated day. Then you go through a metal detector. You are not allowed to bring any bags or purses up there. There is also an unofficial rule against talking about Whitman when you are on the deck.