Latest / Weeknight Mysteries Podcast / Ep. 107 | Brain Damage - The Man Who Couldn't Reme & Burglar Signs - Is your home being targe

Transcript

Ep. 107 | Brain Damage - The Man Who Couldn't Reme & Burglar Signs - Is your home being targe · Weeknight Mysteries Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today's episode is about the fun subject of brain damage.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: They say you've got to crack a few eggs to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: make an omelet, or in the case of early neurosurgery,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you've got to crack a few heads to learn how
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the brain works. Even with modern technology brain surgery comes
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: with its risks, but back before we knew which parts
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of the brain did what, the probings of over-infusistic neurosurgeons
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: could have profound and disturbing consequences. Henry Gustave Maleson discovered
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: this the hard way. Henry Millay's son was born in
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Hartford County, Connecticut in 1927. His life was fairly normal
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: up until the age of seven. One day in 1935
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: he was playing outside when he was knocked over by
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: a man on a bicycle, causing him to lose consciousness
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: for about five minutes. After that he started having seizures.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: They were quite mild at first and life carried on
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: as usual for Henry until the age of sixteen. then
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the seizures started to become increasingly severe. On a daily basis,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: sometimes multiple times a day, he would have seizures and blackouts.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: He worked for a while on an assembly line at
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Ace Electric Motor Company, but by the early 1950s he
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: was having about 10 of these seizures a week and
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: he became unable to work. Over the years doctors have
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: tried him on various anticonvulsive medications, but to no avail
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: nothing seemed to stop his seizures. By the age of
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: 27 it has gotten so bad that his quality of
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: life was severely impacted. In desperation he turned to Dr.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: William Beecher Scalvel, the founder and director of the Department
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: of Neurosurgery at Hartford Hospital. Scalvel had pioneered an experimental
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: surgery where he drilled into a patient's brain and removed
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: sections of their temporal lobes, a sort of more advanced lobotomy.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: So far he had only performed the surgery on psychotic patients.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: but when Henry Molaison walked into his office he thought
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the same procedure might be able to cure the seizures.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Scalvel had a hunch about which area of the brain
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: was responsible for the seizures. In the human brain the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: temporal lobe is located towards the bottom of the brain,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: behind the ears. There are two temporal lobes, one on
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: each hemisphere of the brain. Deep within each temporal lobe
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: is the hippocampus, a curved section known as the seahorse
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: of the brain because of its resemblance to a certain
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: aquatic creature. This hippocampus is what Dr. Scalvel thought was
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: causing the seizures and therefore it needed to be removed.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Henry was convinced to have the surgery and so on
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: September 1, 1953 he found himself lying on the operating
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: table at Hartford Hospital. He was wide awake but any
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: thought he would not feel any of the pain as
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: they drilled into his skull. Two holes were made in
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: his forehead just above the eyes, the frontal lobe of
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the brain was pushed upward slightly so that the instruments
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: could be pushed down into the lower part of the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: brain cavity. Using a blade that corturized as it sliced, Dr.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Scalvel cut deep into each temporal lobe, deep enough to
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: sever large sections of it including the hippocampus. A tube
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: was then used to suck the seventh brain tissue out
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: of Henry's head. After the surgery Henry only had about
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: two seizures a week it seems to are. Scalvel's hunch
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: was right, removing the temporal lobes and the hippocampus had
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: done the trick. However, there was one major side effect.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: See back in 1953, obviously they didn't know as much
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: about the brain as we do today. They didn't know
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: for instance that the hippocampus plays an extremely important role
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: in memory formation. After his surgery, Henry Malaysian found himself
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: completely unable to form new memories. A doctor visiting Henry
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: after a surgery described how, although he seemingly had no
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: impairment to his intellectual capabilities, he would forget things almost
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: as soon as they occurred. Within 30 seconds of anything
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: happening to Henry, he would forget all about it. He
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: was cursed to live forever in the present moment. Imagine
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: what that would be like. Never being able to make
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: new friends, never learning which new foods you like or dislike.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: never being able to follow the plot of a TV
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: show or movie, having no concept of how much time
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: has passed in your life, no sense of aging, no
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: way to plan for the future. Every 30 seconds your
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: world resetting and starting afresh. In his own words, Henry
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: described his existence like this. It's like waking from a dream.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Every day is alone in itself. Interestingly, Although his ability
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to make new memories was gone, he still retained some
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: memories from before the surgery. It was actually a pretty
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: big discovery for neuroscience, proving that memories were formed and
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: stored in different areas of the brain. His past memory
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: wasn't completely intact though, he couldn't remember anything that had
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: happened to him in the three years leading up to
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the surgery. It was as if those memories had been
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: sucked right out of his head. Memories from up to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: 11 years before the surgery were hazy. Some things he
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: remembered some he didn't. He remembered all the things he'd
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: learned during his childhood, teenage years and early 20s, however
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: he had no episodic memory from his times. The neuroscience
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: professor Susan Corkin described his early life memory like this.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: He had memories of his personal life with his parents
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and other relatives. He could tell you about roller skating
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: which he loved to do. He could tell you about
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: target practice. He could tell you what kind of guns
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: he had, where he went in the woods to do
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: target practice. He could tell you about neighbors, classmates, and school,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: what schools he went to, but what he couldn't do
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: was tell you what happened at a particular time and place.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: He couldn't tell you, for example, I remember on my
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: 10th birthday I spilled hot chocolate all over my white
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: pants and my mother was furious at me. We tried
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: and tried to get these specific detailed memories, episodic memories
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: from him. He could not give one single episodic memory
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: with one exception. On one of his birthday he remembers
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: going in a small plane and flying around Hartford. This
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: obviously had a huge emotional impact on him, he loved it.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Without the ability to create new memories, Henry Malaysian was
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: basically housebound. He lived with his parents and spent his
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: day doing basic tasks like mowing the lawn or watching television.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Surprisingly one of his favorite past times was doing crosswords.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: He retained most of his memory from his years in
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: school and a lot of what he'd learned helped him
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: fill in the crosswords. He felt that doing the crosswords
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: helped him by forcing him to remember what he'd learned
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: from his early years of life. Despite his setbacks Henry
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: remained fairly upbeat about his situation, people that knew him
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: remarked on his apparent good humor and ability to take
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: things in his stride. For example imagine he had a
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: visitor in his house and they walked out of the
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: room to use the toilet. When they re-entered the room
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: he would have forgotten who they were and why they
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: were there. You might think that he would assume that
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: they were an intruder but he was intelligent enough to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: realize what was happening. He knew that they probably had
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: a reason to be there. He simply accepted these strangers
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: as friends. Interestingly he was able to learn certain things.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: For example he was repeatedly given a test where he
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: had to draw a star shape on a piece of
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: paper whilst looking only at the reflection of the paper
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: in a mirror. After attempting this multiple times he improved
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: at the task but each time he did it he
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: had no memory of ever having done the test before.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: It proved that his brain was still able to learn
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: new motor skills despite not being able to remember doing
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: the task. Again it showed that different parts of the
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: brain were responsible for different processes. Before Henry's surgery it
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: was thought that the entire cerebral cortex was engaged for
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: memory and learning rather than specific areas being used for
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: specific functions. In another example of this he had moved
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: into a new house after his surgery. Some years later
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: he was asked to draw a floor plant of this
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: house and he was able to do so quite accurately.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Although he shouldn't really have been able to remember the
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: house his years of walking around it room to room
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: had somehow imprinted the layout of the building in his
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: mind similar to his ability to learn new motor skills.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Henry died in 2008 he was 82 years old. His
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: life would have become increasingly lonely as he aged. The
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: people from his past that he had memories of passing
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: away and being replaced by new people who would remain
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: strangers no matter how many times he met them. Although
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: his story is tragic his condition provided a unique insight
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: into the formation of memories and it revolutionized our understanding
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: of the brain. Over his lifetime he was studied by
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: hundreds of neuroscientists and his contribution to that field was invaluable.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: He even requested that his brain be donated to science
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: after his death so that it could be further studied.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: What they did with his brain is pretty interesting if
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: a little gruesome. It was taken to the Brain Observatory
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: in San Diego and put into a deep freeze. It
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: was then cut into 2,401 individual slices each 0.07 millimeters thick.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I mean look how thin that is. See that's all
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: surface area and the taste has nowhere to hide. These
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: slices were mounted on glass slides and dyed with a
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: special ink. This enabled scientists to create a 3D image
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: of Henry's brain and see exactly what damage had been
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: done to it. What they found was somewhat surprising. There
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: was much more of Henry's hippocampus intact than they thought
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: but the area that connected the hippocampus to the rest
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: of the brain was removed. It's isolation from the rest
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: of the brain as the reason why Henry couldn't form
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: new memories. So that's the story of Henrymalation and the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: dangers of cutting out random parts of a brain without
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: really knowing what it does. I don't think I'd ever
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: thought about how memories are stored in the brain in
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: a certain place like a memory card. All that damaging
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: it can erase a block of memories from a certain
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: time frame. I've got a bit of a cold coming on.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Here's some more stuff you might like and give them
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a click if you want or I might show up
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: in your recommended recordings in the near future so keep
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: an eye out for that and I'll see you there.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Have you ever been burbled? Get criminals break into your
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: home and take your belongings. Burglars always seem to know
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the right time to attack. The exact time when you'll
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: be at your most vulnerable. This may be due to
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: burglar signs. These are secret symbols drawn by burglar to
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: signal to other thieves about the contents of a house
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and the best ways to rob it. These are usually
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: written in chalk or paint on a pavement upside a
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: house or drawn onto a lamppost or fence. If you
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: take a walk around your neighborhood and look out for
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: these signs, it is surprising how many you will find.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Here are some of the most common burglar signs and
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: the meanings behind them. The most common sign is an X.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: It simply means that the house is a good target
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: for burglary as an X marks the spot. If you
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: see the sign upside your house, it is the first
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: sign that your house is targeted for attack. You may
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: see additional symbols being added to it as neighborhood thieves
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: scope out the property and gather more information. An X
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: with a circle through it means that there is nothing
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: worth stealing within the property. Either it has been recently
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: burgled or it is just deemed unworthy of a robber's time.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Sometimes this is simplified further to just a circle. This
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: simply means don't bother. A group of small circles means
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: that the owner of the house is wealthy or there
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: is a lot of money in the building. A diamond
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: shape means that the house is unoccupied. This symbol looks
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: like a book. It means that the house is occupied
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: by a vulnerable target. Usually someone living alone or an
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: elderly or disabled person who will not put up much
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: of a fight. Sometimes this sign is simplified to a
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: single V. The V stands for vulnerable. This symbol of
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: two interlocking squares means that the occupants of the house
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: are nervous or scared, marking them as an easy target
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: for home invasion. There are signs which tell the burglar
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: when best to attempt the robbery. Morning, afternoon and night
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: can simply be written as M, A or N. This
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: indicates a time of day when the house is easiest
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: to burgle. This triangle symbol also means morning, afternoon or night,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: depending on which direction it faces. This is from 1
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: to 12 in a circle, indicate months in the year
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: when the house is unoccupied. This zigzag design and this
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: long bar both look like a row of teeth and
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: tell thieves that the house is guarded by a dog.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: This angular shape signifies that the house is alarmed. Three
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: short diagonal lines mean that the property has been recently burgled.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Sometimes this is accompanied by an elaborate set of shapes
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: giving detailed information about the contents of the house. These
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: symbols probably meant nothing to Dr. William Petit whose habit
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: of falling asleep on his porch bench and single them
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: out as an easy target. One night, two men walked
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: up and battered him over the head with a baseball
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: bat whilst he slept on the porch. They broke his
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: skull and opened a massive wound on his forehead. They
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: tied him up in his basement, then proceeded to torture
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: and rape his wife and two daughters who were inside
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: the house. When they were finished, they doused his wife
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: and daughters in gasoline and burnt them alive. The whole
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: ordeal lasted seven hours. Perhaps if he had been able
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: to read the burglar signs he would have known that
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: he was being targeted for attack. The thieves code has
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: many variations depending on what part of the world you
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: live in. It is impossible to list every symbol or
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: meaning from all over the world, just look out for
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: any unusual symbols drawn near your property.