Throughout the history of medicine, there have been few surgical practices more barbaric and cruel yet sometimes surprisingly helpful than the lobotomy. Famous lobotomy patients range from children of politicians and English lords to singers who were on their way to stardom before finding themselves waylaid by mental illness. The personality, memory, and IQ of lobotomy patients before and after surgery varies wildly, and doctors were not able to fully understand what was happening and why. These true stories about lobotomy patients are at times emotionally draining, but a few of them also reveal an unexpected beacon of light.