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Amnesia is literally a road to nowhere. When a person loses his short-term or long-term memory, he can no longer use life experience as a guide to action. As a result, the whole existence of a person is a wandering in ignorance at the level of a child unadapted to life.
Someone with the help of hypno- or psychotherapy, special preparations and procedures manages to partially or completely restore memory, to someone it returns on its own and suddenly, and the other remains forever hostage to an unfamiliar human body.
Today we will tell you about 10 people who have lost their memory in amazing and frightening situations, and their lives have changed dramatically.
10 Ansel Born
This man was one of the first recorded cases of amnesia studied, which was reflected in the film about the special agent. Ansel, a preacher from a small town in the United States, disappeared in 1887 while visiting his sister.
After the discovery, the person did not understand that 2 months had passed, did not remember his name. It took several hypnotic experiments to restore the personality.
Dissociative amnesia in his case leads to a temporary oblivion of his own personality, that is, a person gets the opportunity for some period to become different – who his imagination or subconscious will draw him.
9. Clive Wearing
An English musician in the late 80s had been ill with herpetic encephalitis, a viral disease that seriously damages the central nervous system. Complications of the disease were immediately 2 forms of amnesia: anterograde (lack of the ability to create memories) and retrograde (partial oblivion of past events).
The herpes virus affected the cells of the brain’s hippocampus, which provide data transfer from short-term to long-term memory.
So, Vering can record no more than a few seconds of his life. The man’s procedural memory was not damaged, so he could play the piano, although not from notes.
8. Seewald Skade
In 1999, a young man with a broken nose ended up in a Toronto clinic, who did not understand how he ended up in the Canadian city. Doctors diagnosed Skade with post-traumatic global amnesia and passed the information to the media, where he was immediately dubbed “Mr. Nobody.”
A homeless boy with an accent was discharged and sent to an orphanage, and later adopted by his family. Later, the guy chose several new names for himself, eventually settling on Sivalda, obtained Canadian citizenship and even married the daughter of a lawyer.
It is noteworthy that in 2007 Skade admitted to faking the disease. The son of poor parents, he credibly acted out a “performance” in order to freely obtain Canadian citizenship.
7. Jody Roberts
A young American girl in the 80s was working as an intellectual correspondent when she suddenly began to change her habitual behavior. At first, she stopped caring for her appearance and became addicted to alcohol, and then completely disappeared without a trace for 12 years.
In the meantime, the girl was found 5 days later, 1600 km from home, she simply did not remember her name and had no property. Doctors diagnosed Jodie with dissociative fugue, when a person forgets all the basic data about himself when moving.
After leaving the clinic, the girl took the name Jane Dee and got a job in a catering, got married and gave birth to twins. In the end, she nevertheless returned home thanks to an attentive colleague.
6. Raymond Robins
The famous American economist in the 30s did not appear for an audience with the president, as he disappeared without a trace. Of course, rumors about the kidnapping began to arise, however, Robins was found a couple of months later in a mountain settlement, where he lived safely with new data and sincerely believed that he was a miner by vocation.
A nephew came for the man, whom, of course, the amnesiac patient did not recognize. The bearded Raymond met his wife and underwent treatment with a psychiatrist, after which his memory began to gradually recover.
5. Barr Cox
The story of the young priest is no less interesting. In 1984, Barr told his wife that he would visit comrades living in Abilene. The next day, a stolen car was found on a rural road.
For 16 years there was no information about the priest, until the parishioner recognized Dallas Cox in the preacher. According to the latter, during the robbery he was beaten and lost consciousness, and after a 2-week coma he could not remember the past and began a new life.
There is a rumor that Barr deliberately set up amnesia in order to escape from his family and daughter and start a new life as a homosexual.
4. Michelle Philpots
A girl from England in the late 80s received head injuries as a result of two accidents. Two powerful shakes of the brain – and the woman developed epilepsy, as well as anterograde amnesia. The disease progressed – by 1994.
Philpots lost the ability to remember anything. The husband has to show his betrothed wedding photos every day to justify his presence nearby. The woman underwent brain surgery, but so far there has been no improvement.
3. Doug Bruce
In 2003, a man who did not remember his data turned to the US police. Doctors diagnosed him with a special form of retrograde amnesia, and in the future, his story became the subject of the 2011 film Unknown.
People who identified the man claimed that he was a British citizen who worked in a Paris bank. Then, having collected money, Doug Bruce (as the man was called) went to New York to study the art of photography. In his apartment in Manhattan, the man did not recognize a single thing, so the memory did not return.
2. Anthelm beetroot
In 1918, an undocumented soldier was found in a French town with amnesia. In psychiatric hospitals, no one could help him, and Manzhin himself did not recognize people who tried to indicate kinship with him.
Subsequently, it turned out that in 1914 the guy went to the front, where he was captured in military camps. Amnesia, presumably, was caused by severe stress and injuries received during the years of hostilities.
1. Agatha Christie
Our review is completed by a world-famous personality. The English detective writer disappeared from her hometown at the age of 36. Some time later, a woman was found in a hotel under the name of Teresa Neal with gaps in her memory.
Eyewitnesses say that on the day of the disappearance, the writer flaunted on the road in a thin, cold dress that did not suit the weather, very confused. Doctors think that an attack of temporary amnesia could cause a scandal with her husband and the recent death of Agatha’s mother.
Cases of amnesia are always an interesting subject to study and consider, as they can affect the hidden centers of the brain.