From suffering traumatic car accidents to getting struck by lightning, here are 8 people
who became geniuses by accident.
8: Jason Padgett Jason Padgett was well-known for hanging out
with his friends at the bar and for being a college dropout.
That all changed after one fateful night in 2002, at a karaoke bar when he was attacked
by two men just outside.
Left with crippling PTSD and a severe concussion, Jason soon discovered he also had a newfound
gift.
He could instinctively picture complicated mathematical formulas in his mind and saw
shapes and angles everywhere he went.
From the intricate lines of a rainbow to the complexity of geometrical circles, Padgett
could see it all.
In normal vision, the eyes take multiple images which the brain smooths into one constant
stream of video.
Padgetts ability however, allows him to perceive every frame individually and see the connections
between them.
This makes him able to see every angle of every shape, and to perceive a beautiful world
of fractals and geometry that most brains instinctively ignore.
His injury seems to have triggered some modifications in the area of his brain that deals with geometry,
but it has come with a high cost.
He has developed a number of social anxieties as a result of the attack, but Jason says
he wouldn't change his newfound beautiful world for anything.
Scientists have shown that his abilities may have stemmed from the brain's ability to adapt
to injury by signalling brain growth when suffering brain damage.
He seems to have also developed a blending of senses that adds to his perspective.
Scientists hope to use Jason Padgett as another example to possibly signal the same brain
growth in others and change science forever.
He currently lives in Washington and sells beautiful, geometric artwork.
7: Leigh Erceg This next accidental genius is NASCAR enthusiast
Leigh Erceg who suffered a devastating brain injury at her ranch in Colorado.
She suddenly became a mathematical and artistic genius.
One day when working on the ranch feeding chickens, Leigh fell into a ravine and suffered
spine and brain injuries.
Unsure if she would walk again, Erceg found she no longer had any memory of her childhood
or anything taking place before the accident.
She didn’t even recognize her own mother.
She also can no longer feel emotions, and doesn’t really understand them.
She simply mimics them in order to better fit in with society.
Though in return for her immense sacrifice came a new understanding of mathematics and
art.
She also now experiences blended senses, such as the ability to see sounds or hear colors.
She designs her home with various geometrical drawings and mathematical formulas that she
creates.
She says her new gifts have left her feeling lonely but she has learned to love the new
world she sees.
6.
Ben McMahon In 2012, Australian Ben McMahon was in a horrific
car crash and went into a coma for a week.
Doctors and his family were afraid he would never wake up.
When he did, McMahon was unable to speak English, but he could speak fluent Mandarin!
This was something completely new to him and everyone was confused when he woke up and
could not communicate with anyone.
He had been interested in Mandarin and had taken some classes in high school but he was
nowhere near fluent.
I mean, how well are you getting along with your high school Spanish?
When he recovered from his coma, he moved to Shanghai and even appeared on a Chinese
dating show called If You Are The One and has found love with Sydney lawyer Feng Guo.
He earns a living as a Chinese-speaking tour guide in Australia and as a host on Chinese-language
television.
5: Alonzo Clemens When Alonzo Clemens was only a child, all
it took was a head injury to reshape his future.
Unable to tie his shoes or eat on his own, Clemens suffered developmental disabilities.
For everything that this injury took however, it still gave Alonzo an amazing gift.
He can sculpt amazingly accurate 3D creations of animals that he might only see for a few
seconds on TV.
The sculptures are perfectly anatomically correct and he can often create them in incredibly
short amounts of time.
He started his talent in school, where he would often sit in the back of the class,
creating things with clay.
When his teacher took his clay away, he would even scrape tar off the pavement to make the
animals he would see in his head.
Often creating horses or antelope, Clemens can see an image of an animal and within half
an hour create a complete 3D sculpture.
His genius allows him to hold on to images that our brains normally won´t.
His works of art have become famous within the art community, with some sculptures fetching
close to $45,000.
He creates large, beautiful bronze sculptures in Boulder, Colorado.
Alonzo in recent years has also become well-known for his participation in several special olympics
and his skill in powerlifting.
4: Tony Cicoria Not everyone that gets new talents has to
be severely hit in the head.
Orthopedic surgeon and Chief of Medical Staff and Orthopedics in Norwich, New York, Anthony
Cicoria’s career took a new turn after he was struck with accidental genius.
While on a pay phone, back when those were everywhere, he hung up the phone and turned
to leave when he was hit by a lightning bolt.
It entered his head and left through his foot, stopping his heart and leaving him with severe
burns.
Tony remembers having an out of body experience, seeing himself from above laying on the ground.
It wasn’t his time to die though because luckily enough there was an ICU nurse waiting
in line to use the phone behind him.
She saved his life.
Tony went to a brain specialist after he started having memory problems.
The neurologist gave him the all clear and soon his problems began to fade.
Weeks later, he felt this irresistible desire to hear classical piano music.
Almost as if the lightning bolt had woken up a part of his brain, Tony travelled over
an hour to the nearest music store in order to buy a piano CD.
He purchased his own piano and turned into a musical genius.
Though prior to the accident he was never really interested in classical music, he was
now hooked and started composing non-stop.
He describes the urge as hearing the music in his head that won't go away until he writes
it down.
Eventually he released his own CD, and now has his own fan following, who admire the
haunting melodies he now creates.The subject of many documentaries, Cicoria now performs
his compositions to sold out venues and looks to one day completely focus his career on
music.
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3: Tommy McHugh A stroke turned one man from street tough
into one of Britain's premier poets and artists.
After two blood vessels burst on each side of his brain, he started to bleed internally
and Tommy was in a coma for a week.
After intense surgery, a new man awoke.
The hardened criminal now saw the beauty in all things and had a compulsive urge paint
and speak in rhyme.
And he couldn’t even hurt a fly.
The former prisoner admits that he never cared much for art before he suddenly saw it everywhere
he went.
He started to write poetry to express hisidentity crisis after so drastically changing who he
was.
After speaking with neuroscientists following the accident it seems that he could perceive
what most brains filter out.
He saw everything and spent hours everyday painting and drawing to try and capture the
experiences that he was now able to see.
His outlook on life seemed to change drastically as well, as he focused on the positive and
the beauty he could see in all things.
His new perception seems to be caused by irregular frontal lobe activity that causes his brain
to endlessly associate things and see all the little details.
In fact, by using electromagnets to inhibit this part of the brain, many standard people
can show genius or savant-like skills though sometimes at a cost.
Though now more artistically inclined and with a normal IQ, McHugh had trouble switching
between different tasks and has a weaker verbal filter.
Still, McHugh loved his new gift and the beauty and perspective it provided him.
He would paint and draw so much that he would run out of canvases and start to use his wallpaper
instead.
Tommy McHugh died of cancer in 2012, but he left behind his legacy and appreciation of
his gift of joy and love that had resulted from his stroke.
2: Jon Sarkin Another brain injury turned a mild mannered
chiropractor into a highly revered artist.
After a simple game of golf with a friend, he had an explosive brain hemorrhage and the
new father was rushed to the hospital.
He survived, even though his heart stopped twice and parts of his brain were actually
removed during surgery.
The man who woke up from the stroke was not the same golf-playing, chiropractor that he
was before.
Suddenly Jon Sarkin was overcome with the intense urge to start creating art.
Whereas before the accident, he only made comedic doodles, his new drawings featured
overlapping words and images.
He still kept a cartoonish style though it was now warped and distorted.
He has been described as constantly seeing the world as though he is seeing it for the
first time.
He creates interesting drawings, paintings and collages that often sell for high prices
on the art market.
As one of the few accidental geniuses to truly remember who he was before the accident, he
has a unique view of identity that he channels into his work.
He considers the experience bittersweet in the huge changes it has had on his life.
Now fully working on his art he also gives talks on his injury and the effect it has
had on his art.
In fact, Tom Cruise's production company has bought the rights to film a movie based on
his life, so we may see this accidental genius´story on the big screen before we know it!
1: Orlando Serrell A simple game of baseball was all it took
to change the life of one accidental genius forever.
Orlando Serrell, was only 10 years old when he decided to play a game of baseball with
his friends.
Totally normal, right?
While running to first base, he was struck in the head with a baseball on the left side
of his head.
He was knocked out cold for a few moments.
Without telling his parents about it, or going to a doctor of course, a young Orlando endured
the massive headache that followed.
This could have been extremely dangerous and he could have been severely injured.
While the headache would later fade, Orlando now had a newfound ability to remember almost
every moment of his life.
His new calender-brain gave him the power to remember where he was and even what the
weather was like for every single day since the accident.
A simple incident that should have caused damage with a concussion, somehow turned a
normal child into a memory genius.
As one of the few humans who are known to have what is now known as acquired savant
syndrome, Orlando is being studied by scientists to understand his condition.
The hope is that one day we all might be able to access our inner genius, by learning and
developing these skills without the riskiness of a brain injury of course.
Everybody be careful and protect your head!
Thanks for watching and see you all next time!
Byeeee!!