Buzz
For the majority of us, memory is an essential part of who we are. Our past experiences shape us and influence both our present selves and who we will evolve into. Many of us intentionally create memories that we can treasure in the future.
It is widely understood that as we age, memories tend to fade, and conditions like dementia can strip individuals of parts of their identity. However, for those suffering from neurological disorders such as amnesia, memory loss can be completely crippling, often leaving them unaware of who they are.
10. Henry Molaison
Henry Molaison, born in 1926, known as H.M. in medical records, experienced epileptic seizures starting at age ten, possibly due to being hit by a bicycle when he was seven. His seizures worsened, and by the time he reached 16, he had severe daily seizures. These continued until 1953, when he underwent an experimental procedure to remove parts of his left temporal lobe. Although the surgery successfully managed the epilepsy, it left Molaison with profound memory loss.
Molaison could recall his early childhood, his name, and the names of his family members. He even remembered the Wall Street Crash of 1929. However, he struggled to remember events from about ten years before the surgery. Additionally, he lost the ability to form new memories, waking up each day with no recollection of the previous one.
Henry Molaison gave neuroscientists access to his brain for more than five decades, until his death in 2008. His case led to critical insights into how memories are created and stored. He even generously donated his brain to science after passing away.
9. Ansel Bourne
Ansel Bourne was a preacher of the evangelical faith. In 1887, he mysteriously 'awoke' to find himself operating a general store with no memory of how he had gotten there. The last event he recalled was from two months before arriving in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
It is believed that Bourne experienced a dissociative fugue, a condition that causes a person to forget their identity. Those in this state often assume a new identity and may travel long distances. Triggered typically by trauma, this fugue state has no known treatment, though it is usually temporary. Bourne’s case is considered one of the most famous instances of dissociative fugue and may have influenced Robert Ludlum when naming his character in The Bourne Identity.
While many people questioned the validity of Bourne’s account of his 'lost weekends,' there is little evidence suggesting that he behaved inappropriately during his time away. In reality, he spent most of his time selling candy and attending church. His adventure didn’t yield much profit. In fact, his fugue-state life seems to have been rather uneventful.
8. W.O.
A patient known only as 'W.O.' or 'William' visited his dentist in March 2005 for a root canal. Before the procedure, W.O. had a normal memory, just like anyone else. However, after the procedure, he was only able to retain memories for 90 minutes before they were completely erased. Neuroscientists are still puzzled by the cause of this rare condition.
W.O., believed to be suffering from anterograde amnesia, can remember the moment he sat in the chair and was injected with a local anesthetic, but nothing beyond that. Every morning, he wakes up thinking it is still 2005. His wife has created a file, labeled 'First Thing—Read This,' filled with notes about significant events to help him navigate his memory loss.
Neuroscientists are baffled by the reason why the anesthetic may have triggered such severe memory loss. Since 2005, W.O. has been able to remember only one new event: his father's death. It is believed that his overwhelming grief etched itself into his brain, while all other memories faded. His doctors are hopeful that this could be the key to helping him form new, positive memories.
7. Clive Wearing
Clive Wearing, a gifted classical musician, contracted herpesviral encephalitis in 1985. The virus attacked his central nervous system, severely impairing his ability to create new memories. His memory loss is so severe that he can only retain new information for about 30 seconds.
This condition has left him perpetually disoriented. He cannot grasp what has happened to him, and by the time others try to explain, he has already forgotten the question. Wearing also has only vague recollections of his life before 1985, aside from his deep love for his wife. Over the years, he has kept a diary filled with variations of the same entry: 'Now I am awake.'
Incredibly, Wearing’s ability to play the piano remains unaffected. He can still read and perform music. However, whenever the sheet music instructs him to repeat a section, he does so repeatedly, forgetting each time that he has already played it.
6. Anthelme Mangin
Anthelme Mangin was a French soldier who served in World War I. In 1918, he returned home suffering from amnesia, alongside 65 other casualties, all of whom had essentially lost their minds. Unlike the others, Mangin had no form of identification. He introduced himself as 'Anthelme Mangin' and was diagnosed with a type of dementia, leading to his placement in a French asylum.
In 1920, a newspaper published a feature showcasing photographs of several unidentified patients. About 300 families, desperate to find their missing relatives, claimed Mangin as one of their own. He met with each family in an attempt to trigger recognition, but without success.
Eventually, in 1930, Mangin was identified as Octave Monjoin, a man who had been captured on the Western Front in 1914. What happened to him between his capture and discovery in 1918 remains a mystery. Mangin was taken back to his hometown, where he was left at the train station. His caregivers watched from afar as he walked directly toward his father’s house. While he recognized the town, including the local cafe and the church’s lightning-struck tower, he did not recognize his father or brother.
Although it seemed the mystery was resolved, other individuals claiming to be the relatives of 'the ghost man' rejected the idea that Mangin wasn’t their missing son. As a result, he remained in the psychiatric hospital until a court case could be settled. By the time the case concluded and Mangin was officially recognized as Octave Monjoin, both his father and brother had passed away.
In a tragic twist to the unknown soldier’s tale, Anthelme Mangin spent the rest of his life in the asylum, where he died in 1942 from malnutrition and neglect.
5. Michael Boatwright
In 2013, a man was found unconscious in a motel room in Southern California and was promptly taken to the hospital. His identification revealed him to be Michael Boatwright, a former US Navy aircraft engineer from Florida. However, when he regained consciousness, Michael Boatwright remembered nothing about his life in Florida, his military background, or even his own name. He was unable to recognize his nationality or language.
Michael Boatwright believed he was Johan Ek, and was convinced that he was Swedish.
Despite being shown photographs from his past life, Michael Boatwright couldn’t relate to them in any meaningful way. His previous life seemed to be rather complicated. When he was discovered, there were five tennis rackets in his room, but he had no recollection of why they were there. Investigators later uncovered that Boatwright had once been married to a Japanese woman, had a son, taught English in China, and even ran a consultancy firm with a Swedish name.
Boatwright appeared to be in a fugue state, which is typically triggered by trauma or an accident. He could only speak Swedish, seemingly having forgotten the English language. He stayed in the hospital for five months while social workers worked to piece together his past. Despite locating a sister in Louisiana, Boatwright moved to Sweden, convinced it was his true home. Sadly, his life took another eerie turn when he was found dead in his new apartment, believed to have taken his own life.
4. Kent Cochrane
In 1981, Kent Cochrane, known as Patient K.C., was involved in a motorcycle accident that caused him to lose parts of his memory. Although he could recall factual information, he was unable to remember personal experiences.
Cochrane was unable to form new memories and could not recall events that occurred just before his accident. He knew facts about his life, but those facts didn’t trigger any memories. For example, he could look at a photograph, recognize the people in it, and even remember the occasion it was taken, but the image wouldn’t help him recall anything beyond what was in the photo.
Despite his memory impairment, Cochrane’s intellect seemed unaffected, allowing him to learn with considerable repetition. For instance, he learned to check the refrigerator door for messages from his family and how to organize books in the library where he worked.
Kent Cochrane became the subject of over 30 scientific studies, with neuroscientists worldwide examining his brain. He passed away in 2014.
3. Giulio Canella
In 1927, Mrs. Giulia Concetta Canella came across a newspaper article showing a man who had been found wandering a cemetery in Turin late at night. The man had attempted to steal a copper vase, but when confronted, he broke down in tears, confessing that he had no recollection of his identity.
Mrs. Canella identified the man she believed to be her husband, Professor Giulio Canella, a philosophy scholar missing since World War I. After visiting the hospital and convinced it was him, she took him home. However, not long after, an anonymous letter suggested that the man was actually Mario Bruneri, an anarchist and petty criminal.
Bruneri's family was tracked down, and his wife, son, brother, two sisters, and mistress all immediately recognized him. It's said that Canella/Bruneri fainted when confronted by them, likely overwhelmed by both the trauma and the shame of the situation.
Mrs. Canella, still believing the man was her husband returned from the dead, refused to let go of her belief. When it was discovered that the fingerprints of the amnesiac matched those of Bruneri, she brought the case to court. After years of legal battles, the court ruled that the amnesiac was indeed Bruneri. Despite the ruling, Mrs. Canella, her supposed husband, and their three children moved to Brazil.
Professor Canella/Bruneri passed away in Brazil in 1941, and his wife spent the remainder of her life seeking to prove that the man she loved had not been an imposter.
2. Susie McKinnon
Susie McKinnon doesn’t suffer from amnesia, yet she has no recollection of her childhood or any age other than the one she is currently. She cannot remember herself as a child or from any other period of time.
Having lived with this condition since birth, it wasn’t until much later that McKinnon realized that when others shared stories about their pasts, they weren’t just fabricating details. It wasn’t until a friend studying medicine asked her to participate in a memory test that McKinnon discovered her memory functioned differently from others. She can recall past events but cannot recall the emotional experience of those events.
McKinnon suffers from Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (SDAM). She is unable to remember how she felt during events such as her school days, nor can she anticipate how she will feel in the future, like when going on vacation. She is also unable to remember any fond memories. On a positive note, however, she is free from self-doubt and incapable of holding grudges, as she forgets the reasons behind any anger. Her condition also means that emotions like grief do not affect her as deeply as they do others.
So far, researchers have been unable to identify any disease or injury that could explain McKinnon’s condition. In addition, McKinnon also experiences aphantasia, the inability to visualize things in her mind. Scientists are currently exploring whether there is a connection between her lack of autobiographical memory and her “blind mind.”
1. Michelle Philpots
In 1994, Michelle Philpots developed epilepsy following two car accidents that both resulted in head injuries. As her seizures worsened, Michelle began experiencing increasing forgetfulness. Eventually, she lost her job after repeatedly photocopying the same document, forgetting each time that she had already done so.
Eventually, Michelle’s memory stopped functioning entirely. Now, she is forever trapped in 1994, waking up every day as the person she was in that year. Her rare form of anterograde amnesia causes her to awaken beside a husband who, to her, has aged 25 years overnight. She cannot even recall her own wedding, relying on photographs to convince herself it actually occurred.
To remind herself of her identity, Michelle leaves notes scattered around her home. She rarely ventures out alone and needs GPS assistance just to walk to her local store. In 2005, damaged brain cells were removed during surgery, which successfully controlled her seizures. However, the operation couldn’t repair the brain damage or restore her memory.
Michelle Philpots is destined to live in 1994 for the rest of her life.
