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Phineas Gage is legendary for two reasons: surviving a tamping iron through the head before the age of modern medicine (There wasn't even anesthetic in 1848 when he suffered the accident while laying train track.); and sustaining a drastic change in personality as a result of the brain injury. Despite all the medical and psychological studies inspired by this marvel, Gage, himself, has remained an elusive historical figure. All that remains is the spike and his skull, displayed in the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard Medical School.



That is, until recently, when Jack and Beverly Wilgus posted a photo, titled "One Eyed Man with Harpoon" to their Flickr page. The image, which they discovered in 1968, was posted roughly a year ago, at which point the story began to slowly unfold online. Commenters, and whaling experts, pointed out that the metal instrument was not a harpoon. Eventually, one commenter named Michael Spurlock wondered, "maybe you found a photo of Phineas Gage?" (via)