"Tumorgate"

When not described with actual dimensions, the size of Whitman's brain tumor can be misunderstood. Yellow clay was used to create a shape that best represents the reported description. Image by K. A. Strube.

Immediately following the UT tragedy, great debate (and confusion) circulated in the media about the tumor found in Whitman's brain during the autopsy. As time and the investigation progressed, the tumor changed malignacy, size, location and impact. Today, it still gets misreported as a mass that was pressing on the amygdala. The final report by commission experts made no such claim.

From Charles Whitman: Up Against All Odds:

In the confidential studies report to the governor, the pathology team stated that deChenar briefed them "concerning the problems of handling the brain incident to severe lacerations by fragments of bone and distortion by extensive fresh hemorrhage." The tumor had even been "torn into two parts by a fragment of bone" from being shot in the head.

As one would expect, the new and now officially reported site of the tumor created another popular theory that morphed into fact. Where the notion of a compressed amygdala came from is unclear, but it seems to be a natural assumption by professionals since it was believed the tumor was nearby and the effects of amygdala dysfunction were widely studied at the time.