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title: 100 Human Brains Went Missing from the University of Texas
description: Whoops
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article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:14:58.380Z
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![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30a57af9dea33587/69876c4f524fc0697fdeb1f3/157283936.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)


# 100 Human Brains Went Missing From the University of Texas

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by 

[Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/)


## Laura Stampler


Dec 3, 2014 4:16 PM UTC

![157283936](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30a57af9dea33587/69876c4f524fc0697fdeb1f3/157283936.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

Brain in a jar with clipping path

Brain in a jar with clipping path Kenneth C. Zirkel—Getty Images

by 

[Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/)


## Laura Stampler


Dec 3, 2014 4:16 PM UTC

Here’s a story you don’t hear every day: Approximately 100 human brains, complete with their formaldehyde storage casing, have gone missing from the University of Texas in Austin.

Psychology professor Tim Schallert told the [_Austin American-Statesman_](http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local/university-of-texas-looks-for-clues-after-100-huma/njKYx/#%5F%5Ffederated=1) Tuesday that while they “think somebody may have taken the brains… we don’t know at all for sure.”

So culprits could include anything from students with strange taste in Christmas tree ornaments (postulates [_Business Insider_](http://www.businessinsider.com/100-human-brains-have-gone-missing-from-the-university-of-texas-2014-12)) to Halloween pranksters (guesses other [UT professors](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/03/the-case-of-100-missing-brains-at-the-university-of-texas/)) to, and we’re just putting this out there, the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. (Beats zombies, am I right?)

The brains came into the university’s collection [30 years ago](http://www.utexas.edu/news/2014/12/03/ut-statement-brain-specimens/), and many were stored in the basement of the school’s Animal Resources Center. One of the brains that is suspected missing belonged to Charles Whitman, a sniper who killed 16 people after firing from the Austin clock tower in 1966\. He had requested his brain be studied for mental illness.

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