I have recently become obssessed with lobotomies. I have been searching the Web for videos of lobotomized patients being interviewed. So far the only thing I’ve found are some old footage of Dr. Walter Freeman performing lobotomies and a brief interview with Howard Dully, the recepient of a transorbital lombotomy (courtesy of Dr. Freeman) and author of My Lobotomy. All of this is quite interesting–Howard Dully’s story is amazing–but I still have a morbid desire to see some footage of a really negatively affected lobotomy patient. So far I haven’t even found many still images of lobotomized patients. Anyone know where I could find video footage of this sort of thing?
The mods are going to spank you for the non-GQ aside in the thread title, but I thought I’d just duck in here before that to link you to A. E. Bennett’s Prefrontal Lobotomy in Chronic Schizophrenia. It’s even earlier than the Freeman videos, AFAICT, but it seems to be along the lines of what you’re looking for:
I haven’t gone to look myself, but are there videos online of Rosemary Kennedy post-lobotomy? She’s the only lobotomized person I can think of without looking it up.
[Moderating]
I have changed the name of the thread from “Videos of lobotomized people (other than Ann Coulter)” to “Videos of lobotomized people.”
Pandoranoid, the General Questions forum is for specific questions–like the one you asked–not for random political potshots. Please keep your titles on-point in the future.
[/Moderating]
Is your name Igor? 
Wouldn’t Igor be more interested in lobectomies than lobotomies?
Whose brain is that?
Abby … something.
Listen to this interview on NPR:
It’s fascinating. Howard got a lobotomy as a child in late 1960.
I was astounded by his interview - He certainly sounds a bit flat, but he’s entirely intelligible.
This isn’t much help but I’ve seen a show on lobotomies that included Dully’s story. It had to be on Discovery, History, or the BBC because that’s pretty much all I watch. I saw it in the past year or two and it seemed new then. It included a profile of Freeman and history of lobotomies but I don’t recall what type of footage it had.
American Experience: The Lobotomist
I didn’t see this mentioned, but it was a very interesting program and I think there was some video footage IIRC.
Articulate and thoughtful, even. Honestly, I’d never have suspected he had even minor brain damage to listen to him - he sounds completely normal.
The bit where his father says that he did what he thought was best is hard to listen to, though. I wanted to yell at the radio, “you let a quack rip apart your kid’s brain, you ass!”
:smack: I am really sorry!! I did look over the posting rules but I obviously forgot half of it when I started typing. Not a first for me. I’ll try to do an impersonation of someone with a little common sense from now on. Sorry again.
Thank you! This looks like it will be really interesting. Thanks for the warning about my thread title, too.
You’d think, wouldn’t you? I googled her every way I could think of (snicker:rolleyes:) and I couldn’t even find more than two still shots of her post-lobotomy, and both of those were taken decades after the fact and didn’t really provide a clear view of her face. I guess the Kennedys tried to keep the whole affair as out-of-sight as possible.
I was actually looking for a link with this specific interview as well, thank you so much! I read about this particular episode of ‘All Things Considered’ at several sites in the interwebs, but none of 'em linked to it and my computer wouldn’t go the the npr homepage for some reason. I’ve only heard a brief chat with him so far but it was interesting enough that I already ordered his book.
I’ve already seen it, but thank you! It is a gripping program, isn’t it? This is actually what started me on my Igoresque quest for mutilated brain trivia. Freeman is such an engrossingly tragic figure. The part at the end about him going on a road trip near the end of his life, searching for reassurance about what he had done to all those people–I had so many different reactions to him. Pity, disgust, even an uneasy sort of admiration–and fear. A very Shakespearean tale, altogether.
What about when Dully asks Frank Freeman if he’s proud of his dad and the son replies, ‘Oh yes…I *wish he could’ve gotten farther?
*’??!? Not that I don’t understand how a son could have an oddly biased emotional view of what his father did with lobotomies. It’s really such a twisted story in so many ways.
And jeezus, the instructional video for lobotomies!! ‘[paraphrasingHere we have a boy of nineteen who’s into that devil be-bop music…’ with the help of the handy-dandy lobotomy, Freeman has him all fixed in a jiffy, according to this recording’s claim. And he’s not making up the case!! He really did lobotomize that kid!
…and after hearing the talk between Howard Dully and his son…holy s***. Unbelievable.
Mr. Walter Freeman,
I too am trying to get information about transorbital lobotomies. My grandmother was a patient at Agnews Insane Asylum and was given a lobotomy by Dr. Walter Freeman. I am doing research for an article I am writing about her experience. Do you know I could contact Howard Duffy? His lobotomy was performed around the same time as my grandmother’s. I am also trying to find photographs or video of the procedure and will pass any information regarding that on to you.
Sincerely,
Laurie Batterton
My grandmother had lobotomy performed by Dr. Walter Freeman at agnews Insane Asylum in the 1930’s. She was around 40 years years old. I am doing research for an article on this subject. Would love to get any information or comments regarding this subject.