FP Series #553 - Kim Peek Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

drives: Um...last found 11 years ago? Okay. Bye Felicia
Baxter out

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Hidden : 3/4/2010
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Five Hundred FiftyThird in the Famous People (FP) Series - Kim Peek
Laurence Kim Peek (November 11, 1951 – December 19, 2009) was known as a "megasavant", he had a photographic or eidetic memory. He was the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt, played by Dustin Hoffman, in the movie Rain Man. Unlike Babbitt, Peek was not autistic, and likely had FG syndrome.

He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah with macrocephaly, damage to the cerebellum, and, perhaps most important, agenesis of the corpus callosum, a condition in which the bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is missing; in Peek's case, secondary connectors such as the anterior commissure were also missing. There is speculation that his neurons made unusual connections due to the absence of a corpus callosum, which results in an increased memory capacity.

Peek was able to memorize things from the age of 16-20 months. He read books, memorized them, and then placed them upside down on the shelf to show that he had finished reading them. His reading technique consisted of reading the left page with his left eye and the right page with his right eye and in this way he could read two pages at a time with a rate of about 8-10 seconds per page.

Peek did not walk until the age of four and walked in a sidelong manner. He could not button up his shirt and had difficulty with other ordinary motor skills. Unlike many savants though, Peek had shown increasing social skills, perhaps due to the attention that had come with being perceived as the "real Rain Man".

In 1984, script writer Barry Morrow met Peek in Arlington, Texas; the result of the meeting was the 1988 movie Rain Man. The character of Raymond Babbitt, although inspired by Peek, was portrayed as having autism. Dustin Hoffman, who played Babbitt, met Peek and other savants to get an understanding of their nature and to play the role accurately and methodically. The movie caused a number of requests for appearances, which increased Peek's self-confidence. Barry Morrow gave Kim his Oscar statuette to carry with him and show at these appearances, it has since been referred to as the "Most Loved Oscar Statue" as it has been held by more people than any other.

Headstones from the Peek family can be found in many cemeteries across Red River county including the one for Henry Peek and his wife Alice here in the the Savannah Cemetery. If you are interested in reading more about this amazing person, click this link on the Wisconsin Medical Society website.

FP cemetery caches are always placed with regards to the location, so please be mindful of your presence here, watch where you step and be respectful of the residents interred here. Please carefully re-hide the container better to maintain the integrity of the cache.
 GPSr Accuracy 9.3'

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