BabaWawa, the final cut

“I get all the news I need from the weather report.” (Paul Simon)

Courson with Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison and Pamela Courson, circa 1970

Prior to going through the evidence regarding the body switch done with Barbara Walters in 1976, I am going to attempt to set the scene and describe the terrain on which such hoaxing takes place. Many readers know that my friend “Straight” and I worked for many months with David McGowan’s (fake death, 11/22/2015) book Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon. I contended that of the seventy or more deaths of rocks stars, actors and hangers-on described in the book, perhaps one or two might be real deaths. My reasoning was that these people were all young, so even if abusing drugs and alcohol (most of that was mere stage-setting for the fake deaths), it is unlikely they would die. Even in war zones, I told Straight, you don’t see that kind of mortality rate. Continue reading “BabaWawa, the final cut” →

Killing Cats for Sport and Profit

On January 11, 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released its “scientific review” of the Canada lynx in the contiguous U.S., which concluded that the species “may no longer warrant protection” under the ESA (Endangered Species Act of 1973).

An estimated 2,000 Canada lynx remain in the wild, its range extends from Maine, to northeastern Minnesota, and westward to western Montana, northeastern Idaho, north-central Washington and western Colorado. Lynx are a long-legged cousin of the bobcat – with tufted ears. Lynx can grow almost 36 inches long and weigh up to 30 pounds. These reclusive, snow-loving cats prefer dense forest habitat and feed primarily on the snowshoe hare, but will take pine squirrels when times are tough.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s own scientist, Megan Kosterman, 50% of each lynx home range must be mature, dense forest to provide optimal habitat for lynx to breed and raise kittens, and no more than 15 percent of each lynx home range should be clearcut. Not a single National Forest is complying with this ecological recommendation – a system failure devastating to population trajectories.  FWS refuses to address this issue. Continue reading “Killing Cats for Sport and Profit” →

About the missing post … also a football discussion thread

Note to readers: After receiving the video from Kevin* today of Barbara Walters’ first appearance on the Today Show in the 1960s, I slowly came to realize I had much of that scam wrong. While Pamela Courson did indeed become Walters, in my view, what I thought were surviving photos of the original Walters were in fact, again, Courson.

*To be clear, though Kevin supplied the video, he does not see what I see in it, and is not on board with my conclusions.

Pam as BarbaraWalters 1989 CSo I have more work to do – it appears at this writing that the entire Internet has been scrubbed of photos of the original Walters, but that is the work that now lies ahead of me – to see if any survived. Just as an example, the photo to the left here, which I took to be the original Walters, is actually Pam Courson in a 60s wig and done in black and white. It was said to have been shot in 1960, but more like 1976. She will end up looking like the Walters we all know, shown on the right.

Original BabaAnd, from Kevin’s video on the right here is the original Barbara Walters. Those with trained eyes should easily see that she looks nothing like the woman pictured above, and my work ahead will be to see if she looks anything at all like the Walters we came to know in the 80s and 90s. I doubt it. This is the woman who disappeared from view in 1976.

Continue reading “About the missing post … also a football discussion thread” →

Cold Blood and Weak Tea

TCM was promoting the 1967 Richard Brooks film, In Cold Blood, last week and it got me to thinking, given the Zal Rule* at Fakeopedia, that the killing of the Clutter family in 1959, the basis for Truman Capote’s book of the same name and subject, would likely be a hoax.

*Zal Rule: If there is a major motion picture of a “real” event, you can be certain the event is a hoax- 

Continue reading “Cold Blood and Weak Tea” →

Gaia gives us Fakeopedia; some future projects, and a joyous new year to all

Like everyone, I am looking forward the future installments of Maarten’s work on music and ear worms.  I remind folks that a mere click above takes you to your favorite author.

Also, we are always on the lookout for fresh blood, new insight. Don’t be shy – first attempts at anything are always difficult, but the four of us here are ordinary men with good hearts who will support efforts by rookies.

Gaia is involved in a project now, working with AB, called “Fakeopedia.” He asked me to write up POM (it still needs more work, links, etc.), which I did, and wants others to chime in too. The idea is a central repository for the major fake events of our time, but done in an open source manner, as with Wikipedia. It’s risky, and also a very large undertaking that is going to require perseverance and lots of work. I hope everyone takes a look, and where possible contributes. And thank you, Gaia, for stepping up.

Continue reading “Gaia gives us Fakeopedia; some future projects, and a joyous new year to all” →

Little Werner Needs to Lie

This began as a response to BMSeattle about ‘Wings of Hope’(1998)*, another, IMO, faux TV documentary from Werner Herzog. It got a little long so I’ll post it here and hopefully give some relief to the comments section for Mark’s post, Grizzly Man.

*The film is about a 17 year old German girl, Juliane Koepcke, being the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Peruvian jungle in 1971. 92 (11) others on the plane died. The plane was hit by lightening and disintegrated. Given that planes are routinely hit by lightening and don’t do that, there is your first howler to judge this “real life” drama by. Continue reading “Little Werner Needs to Lie” →

The good they die young

The above video is offered just for enjoyment. It is blurry but the sound quality is good. It is Michael Landon’s final appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on 5-9-1991. Prior to this appearance he had announced to the public that he had inoperable cancer of the pancreas and liver, and was a short-timer. He died on July 1, 1991. I cannot make anything of those numbers. It is a delightful interview.*

Continue reading “The good they die young” →

Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions …

A few years back I was alive with the excitement of a discovery that changed my outlook, that “Paul McCartney” was actually two men, a set of twins. Once I got a thorough immersion in their faces, they became easily to tell apart, so that I can easily see that today’s Paul McCartney is actually “Mike,” though we do not have the luxury of knowing their real names.

That information in tow, I put together a (in retrospect, sloppy) blog post on the matter, and submitted it to Miles Mathis. He rejected it as not up to standards, which I easily accepted, as I was indeed a newbie. At a certain point in the succeeding conversation he suggested one flaw in my writing: “You make too many assumptions.”

Continue reading “Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions …” →

Grizzly deaths

Comment

Treadwell wavingI was not prepared to accept this comment from XE on first reading. It sat uncomfortably even as I know I can be fooled, and have been time and again.

I watched the movie Grizzly Man in 2005, and we met Timothy Treadwell at a lecture in either Bozeman or Billings, Montana. That created personal interest. What I wrote before was the result of twelve-year-old memories.

Back then I did not watch movies with a discerning eye. I still thought jets flew through  buildings like a knife through butter.  I thought that elections were real, that news was essentially a (distorted) reflection of reality, and that a movie labeled “documentary” by its makers would be an honest enterprise.

I had to watch the movie again, and did yesterday afternoon.

Continue reading “Grizzly deaths” →