Anthony Godby Johnson

Of course it was a hoax.

Maybe it was Augusten Burrough's first draft for "Running With Scissors"

r1

Based on what? Maybe she changed the story to protect the privacy, that is why the details don't jive. For instance, she could've changed Philadelphia to NYC and so forth.

[quote]Based on what? Maybe she changed the story to protect the privacy, that is why the details don't jive. For instance, she could've changed Philadelphia to NYC and so forth.

For one thing, he disappeared after the woman died.

I don't understand. Why not just write it as fiction?

Paul Monette and Armistead Maupin were suckers!

This is some WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? shit. Didn't they also invent a son in that play/movie?

R3 and the fact that no one but Vicki Johnson had met or seen this kid.

[quote]Paul Monette and Armistead Maupin were suckers!

And Keith Olbermann.

One of the original classic Catfishers ...... not many like this one ended up with a book deal .... and a book/movie based on them (Armistead Maupin's 'The Night Listener')

Criminal Intent did an excellent episode based on this. They changed the little boy to a little girl and the disease from AIDS to Lou Gehrig's disease, but the outline of the story was the same.

[quote] This is some WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? shit. Didn't they also invent a son in that play/movie?

I think the dead son was in the play and movie.

R12 yeah, but he never existed, right? It was just a game between George and Martha.

[quote]yeah, but he [George and Martha's son] never existed, right? It was just a game between George and Martha.

That's the most commonly accepted interpretation, R13 , but the play is slightly ambiguous and a few people have argued otherwise.

Or I;m full of shit, whichever.

I remember the 20/20 episode on this and I read The Night Listener sometime after that. The linked article lists this hoax and other similar hoaxes. I remembered the Joey addict hoax from the 80s.

Bump

I think the mother is still alive.

R17 Yeah. I'm doubting this sick cunt is actually dead too unless we see a death certificate.

I'm always fascinated by these types of hoaxes (and this certainly was one). R5, I think the motivation for these sorts of things is the particular type of attention that the perpetuator of the hoax gets, which wouldn't be the same if they wrote a fictional story.

Interesting idea that the mother may not be dead...

When I watched the documentary on JT Leroy, it struck me how similar the story was in many ways to this one. Of course, it was taken much further.