Charles Whitman’s brain among 100s in glass jars missing from University of Texas

The University of Texas at Austin said it has lost track of 100 jars of brains stored in formaldehyde that it received under a temporary transfer agreement from a mental institution — including one that may have belonged to Charles Whitman, the former Marine who shot at dozens of people from a watch tower on the campus about five decades ago.

The Animal Resources Center at the campus took control of the organs in 1986 from the Austin State Hospital, formerly known as the Texas State Lunatic Asylum, under a “temporary possession” deal, USA Today reported. The brains were supposed to be used as teaching tool in the school’s psychology program.

But about 100 of the 200 transferred brains were put in the basement because the psychology lab didn’t have room for them, USA Today reported. Since then, students may have swiped the brains as a prank as word of the jars got around, school officials suspect.

It’s not yet confirmed if the brain of Whitman — who killed 16 people before he was shot and killed by police in the 1966 incident — was among the missing. But it’s very likely, said one neuroscientist at the school told the American-Statesman

“It would make sense it would be in this group,” he said. “We can’t find that brain.”