Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Deathbed Confessions from the Fringe
Transcript
- 0:03from the unexplained to the mundane. Come join
- 0:06us on a Journey to the Fringe. Hello and welcome
- 0:33to Journey to the Fringe. You know what? I'm
- 0:35just going to leave it that way. We are your
- 0:37host, Taylor and Chelsea. I worked hard and it's
- 0:41gone and I don't know where it went. I don't
- 0:43want to look. We are your hosts, Taylor and Chelsea.
- 0:47And Chelsea, I think you're going to like the
- 0:49way this episode goes, so I'm just going to go
- 0:51right into it. I believe you. Deathbed confessions
- 0:54have always carried a special weight. In their
- 0:57final moments, people are taught to shed. pretenses
- 1:00unburden themselves of secrets and speak truths
- 1:03they've carried for a lifetime. In the everyday
- 1:05world, these confessions often involve hidden
- 1:08affairs, family revelations, or long suppressed
- 1:11regrets and deeply human admissions meant to
- 1:14bring closure. And we have covered this in another
- 1:16episode. Not surprising to you. We have. It was
- 1:19my... This was season four, episode 93, deathbed
- 1:23confessions to die for. Wow. Thank you to the
- 1:26spreadsheet. You keep impressing me. In the world
- 1:29of the fringe. Deathbed Confessions take on a
- 1:32very different character. Instead of revealing
- 1:35personal indiscretions, they claim to expose
- 1:38hidden histories and suppressed encounters. UFO
- 1:40crashes covered up by the governments, giants
- 1:43slain on battlefields, cryptids photographed
- 1:45with staged trickery, or aliens being glimpsed
- 1:49in secret facilities. These stories are not just
- 1:52about personal guilt or reconciliation. They
- 1:54are framed as revelations of cosmic importance
- 1:58whispered at the edge of life. The difference
- 2:00lies in scales and consequences. General deathbed
- 2:03confessions resolve private lives. Fringe deathbed
- 2:07confessions attempt to rewrite public history.
- 2:10They blur the line between folklore and testimony,
- 2:12between myth and memory, and whether true or
- 2:14not, they endure because they combine three years
- 2:17as the well, authority figures, secrecy, and
- 2:20the emotional gravity of a final revelation.
- 2:23Tonight we'll explore some of the most famous
- 2:25of these fringe deathbed confessions. From the
- 2:28Loch Ness Monster to anonymous insiders claiming
- 2:31UFO recoveries, each story reminds us that the
- 2:34truth people choose to tell at the end of their
- 2:37lives can be as strange and as contested as the
- 2:40mysteries themselves. So Chelsea, are deathbed
- 2:43confessions the ultimate truth serum or just
- 2:46stories amplified by the drama of finality? And
- 2:49that wasn't a question posed to you. That was
- 2:52just nothing to mention. But I think that came
- 2:54up on our last episode that we were talking about.
- 2:59Kind of what's going on behind the deathbed confession.
- 3:03And all I can think about right now is whether
- 3:06or not somebody's going to confess to Skinny
- 3:08Bob on this episode itself. But to answer your
- 3:12question, I don't know. Well, that's fair. And
- 3:16I will spoil it right now. Skinny Bob does not
- 3:18come up. However, There are quite a few episodes
- 3:22that we have done that will come up and I just...
- 3:26especially people that are watching listening
- 3:28to this right now should go back and listen to
- 3:30the deathbed confession episode originally because
- 3:33I think it's a very interesting contrast of a
- 3:37general deathbed confession to a fringe topic
- 3:40deathbed confession and you can see the differences
- 3:43as we go I see what you did because I didn't
- 3:45have a direction when I did mine I just kind
- 3:48of take what I could get we somewhat have to
- 3:51deal with the whole topic of whether or not a
- 3:53written confession is a deathbed confession but
- 3:56I find it really interesting the way deathbed
- 3:59confession is taken in Fringe Topic. I'm curious
- 4:02what you think as we get going. Now we're gonna
- 4:04start off with a former CIA operative, the given
- 4:08name, Agent Cooper. Agent Cooper pops up on the
- 4:12scene, long known as the Anonymous, and he's
- 4:15first entered the UFO lore in 1998 when he gave
- 4:18journalist Linda Moulton Howe over 11 hours of
- 4:21interviews. In those sessions, he described being
- 4:24taken to a secret facility as S4 near Area 51,
- 4:28where he claimed to have seen alien spacecraft
- 4:30stored in hangar. He spoke of examining artifacts
- 4:33himself, describing the Roswell crash craft as
- 4:36looking like heavy aluminum foil, yet weighing
- 4:39only a few hundred pounds. He also said that
- 4:41he was shown autopsy footage and told the officials
- 4:44were interviewing a living great alien. However,
- 4:46years later, in 2013, at the age of 77, and in
- 4:50failing health, he agreed to film what he called
- 4:52deathbed confession, with UFO researcher Richard
- 4:55Dolan and filmmaker Jeremy Corbell. That was
- 4:58so close to being Richard Dolan. Richard Dolan
- 5:01is kind of screwed by that. It scared me. In
- 5:06this interview, he declares, quote, I saw extraterrestrial
- 5:09spacecrafts inside the base. Several alien vehicles
- 5:12were stored there and there was a living alien
- 5:15and I was able to give a description of the creature,
- 5:18end quote. He also adds, quote, I'm telling you
- 5:20this because I don't have much time left. I want
- 5:22the people to know the truth, end quote. But
- 5:25he already gave like a statement about this.
- 5:27In 1998, yes. I wouldn't consider it still a
- 5:31deathbed confession if he's just reiterating.
- 5:33For years. His identity remained hidden, fueling
- 5:36speculation about who Andrew - Oh, did he say
- 5:38his name? People spent a lot of time trying to
- 5:41figure it out. Apparently, at his death in 2015,
- 5:45people connected him to Oscar Wayne Wolf, who
- 5:48was born in Minnesota in 1935, and he served
- 5:51in the U .S. Army Signal Corps and later worked
- 5:53with the CIA. Oh! His obituary confirmed his
- 5:56passing at Green Pine Acres Nursing Home in Minahoga,
- 6:00Minnesota on March 18, 2015. And I just want
- 6:03to note, No, he gave the deathbed confession
- 6:05in 2013. But he didn't confess his name still.
- 6:09He still remained anonymous. No, he still remained
- 6:12anonymous. No, I don't accept it. See, because
- 6:14he already came out and said this stuff, now
- 6:17the deathbed confession would be like, this stuff
- 6:19all happened to me, here's my name, now I'm dead.
- 6:21In theory, yes. That is what we think of as a
- 6:23deathbed confession, except that one guy who
- 6:24actually miraculously recovered and had to go
- 6:27to jail. Right. Okay, but like these things are
- 6:31things you're getting all... your conscience
- 6:33before you die, right? How is that any different
- 6:35than what he said? You're not clearing anything,
- 6:38you're not getting it off your conscience, you're
- 6:41still technically going to the grave with it
- 6:43because your identifying person is not saying
- 6:45it. Hey Chelsea, I think you should hold some
- 6:47of these comments until the end because I think
- 6:49you might notice a pattern that happens in fringe
- 6:52communities. The revelation that Agent Cooper
- 6:54was Oscar Wayne Wolf had profound effects on
- 6:56the story. Knowing his real name allowed researchers
- 6:59to actually check his background while he did
- 7:01have military intelligence ties, skeptics noted
- 7:03gaps in his records that made parts of his testimony
- 7:06harder to verify. The anonymous mystique gave
- 7:08his confessions an aura of mystery. Once reeled
- 7:11as Wolf, a real person with a traceable life,
- 7:13the story became more grounded but also more
- 7:15open to scrutiny. For UFO enthusiasts, the reveal
- 7:19strengthened the narrative. Here was a man with
- 7:22genuine intelligence connections risking his
- 7:24final years to tell the truth. For critics, the
- 7:27reveal weakened the myth. Without anonymity,
- 7:30inconsistencies in in his background could be
- 7:32examined and some argue his claims were exaggerated
- 7:35or fabricated. However, the shift from the anonymous
- 7:38to Oscar Wolfe transformed the confession from
- 7:40a shadowy legend into a human story. One of an
- 7:43aging man, perhaps haunted by secrets, choosing
- 7:45to speak out before death. So Chelsea, that's
- 7:48probably the most famous you're going to see
- 7:50in the UFO community is Agent Cooper. Okay. Okay.
- 7:53I like his name. It's pretty cute. Yeah. And
- 7:55he made it up. He got to pick his cute name.
- 7:58Next up we got Void. Now, Boyd Bushman was a
- 8:02retired senior scientist at Lockheed Martin and
- 8:04gave a filmed, death -fed confession in 2014
- 8:08in which he claimed to have first -hand knowledge
- 8:09of UFOs, alien beings, and reverse -engineered
- 8:12spacecrafts. Boyd Bushman spent much of his career
- 8:15as a senior research engineer at Lockheed Martin
- 8:17working on advanced aerospace projects. He was
- 8:20known for patents related to aircraft detection
- 8:22systems, radiation measurement devices, and propulsion
- 8:25concepts. In June 2014, just weeks before his
- 8:28death, he said, sat down for a filmed interview
- 8:30at his home in Tucson, Arizona. This recording,
- 8:33later released online, became known as his deathbed
- 8:37confession. In the interview, Bushman claimed
- 8:39that during his time at Lockheed Martin, he had
- 8:42access to information about extraterrestrial
- 8:44technology and aliens being housed at Area 51.
- 8:47He presented photographs of beings he described
- 8:49as extraterrestrials saying, quote, they're about
- 8:52five feet tall and they have one or two different
- 8:54races. Some are friendly and some are not, end
- 8:56quote. He also asserted that the U .S. government
- 8:58was actively engaged in reverse engineering alien
- 9:01spacecrafts, including crafts uncovered from
- 9:04the Roswell crash. He described propulsion systems
- 9:06that could travel vast distances and claimed,
- 9:10quote, they can travel faster than the speed
- 9:11of light. That's how they get here, end quote.
- 9:14Bushman's testimony was striking because it came
- 9:16from someone with a long career in aerospace
- 9:18engineering. His words carried the aura of technical
- 9:21authority and his willingness to speak openly
- 9:23at the end of his life gave the confession a
- 9:25dramatic weight. He insisted, quote, I wanted
- 9:27to tell the truth, I don't have much time left."
- 9:30End quote. Unlike the anonymous whistleblower,
- 9:33Bushman was a verifiable figure with a long career
- 9:35at Lockheed Martin. His identity gave his claims
- 9:38more initial credibility. Once revealed, skeptics
- 9:41examined his photos and statements closely. Some
- 9:44argue the aliens' images he presented were actually
- 9:47toys or props undermined in the testimony. We'll
- 9:49post these up with the episode so people can
- 9:51see them. For UFO enthusiasts, Bushman's confessions
- 9:54were powerful. A respected scientist confirming
- 9:57government secrecy about extraterrestrials. However,
- 10:00his story remains one of the most cited deathbed
- 10:02confessions in UFO lore, blending aerospace authority
- 10:05with dramatic claims of alien contact. I don't
- 10:09really think it's fair that the government was
- 10:11putting alien grays up when, you know, there's
- 10:13a cost of living crisis going on. It's not that
- 10:16nice. Oh, that was in the... When was this? This
- 10:19was the mid -2000s? Sorry, 2014. So it's not
- 10:22really a cost of living. It still was, but not
- 10:25quite where it's at these days. And to be fair,
- 10:27maybe they were part of the military. Maybe they
- 10:29signed up. He does seem really old. I don't know.
- 10:34Okay, it gives his deathbed some credence. Yeah.
- 10:37He was definitely old. I don't know what to think
- 10:40about that one. Next up is Walter Hout. It's
- 10:43spelled H -A -U -T. So I'm gonna say Hout. It
- 10:45could be hot. I don't know for sure. First Lieutenant
- 10:48Walter Hout. the public information officer at
- 10:51Roswell in 1947. For real? Yeah. Okay, keep talking.
- 10:54He was the public information officer of the
- 10:56509th Bomb Group at Roswell on July 8th, 1947.
- 11:01He issued the now famous press release stating
- 11:03that the Army had recovered a quote, flying disc,
- 11:06unquote. No. Within hours, a second release retracted
- 11:10the claim saying it was only a weather balloon.
- 11:12Now, After the whole Roswell incident, which
- 11:14we've covered in multiple occasions, I can't
- 11:17quite remember the second one which is better
- 11:19and I don't want to quote the first one which
- 11:21is far worse, so we're just going to avoid that.
- 11:23Just, you know Roswell. Hout remained in Roswell
- 11:26for decades, co -founding the International UFO
- 11:29Museum in 1991. He was often interviewed about
- 11:32the incident, but usually stuck to the official
- 11:35line that he had only been following orders.
- 11:37In UFO crash at Roswell, Pout appears as a witness,
- 11:42though not to any actual debris. During a March
- 11:451989 interview, he said he knew nothing about
- 11:48what was recovered. He described being asked
- 11:50by Blanchard to write the press release, quote,
- 11:53I didn't hear about it until I guess Jess, who
- 11:56was Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer who
- 11:58initially investigated and recovered some of
- 12:00the debris, was on his way to the flight line.
- 12:03He did however describe what Marcel told him,
- 12:05quote, it was something he had never seen and
- 12:08didn't believe it was a this planet, I trusted
- 12:10him on his knowledge." He further stated, quote,
- 12:13I think there was a giant cover up on this thing,
- 12:16end quote. In an affidavit signed May 14th, 1993,
- 12:20he repeated the above claim sequence of events
- 12:22and added, quote, I believe Colonel Blanchard
- 12:25saw the material because he sounded positive
- 12:27about what the material was. There's no chance
- 12:30he would have mistaken it for a weather balloon.
- 12:33Now, is there any chance that Major Marcel would
- 12:35have been mistaken, end quote. By this time,
- 12:38how with Max Little and Glenn Dennis had opened
- 12:42the International UFO Museum and Research Center.
- 12:44Prior to Hout's death, Ufologist Donald Schmidt
- 12:47conducted interviews with Hout covering material
- 12:49that Schmidt says Hout requested to be kept confidential
- 12:52during his life. Schmidt composed and emailed
- 12:55an affidavit to Hout's family which Hout signed
- 12:58at his International UFO Museum and Research
- 13:01Center in front of his daughter Julie Schuster,
- 13:04staff notary Beverly Morgan and a museum guest.
- 13:07Schmidt and the family agreed not to release
- 13:09this 2002 document until after Hout's death.
- 13:12Hout died in 2005 and in 2007 Donald Schmidt
- 13:15and Tom Carey published the book Witness to Roswell
- 13:18which prominently featured the document presented
- 13:21as the sealed affidavit of Walter G Hout. The
- 13:24book was criticized for lack of evidence inconsistencies
- 13:27and with previous accounts and presenting the
- 13:302002 document as Hout's affidavit. That's his
- 13:33statement basically stated that he didn't believe
- 13:35the official story of Roswell. Yeah, but he had
- 13:38no evidence otherwise. Yeah, I know and that's
- 13:42the annoying part of it. I like him. I think
- 13:45the best so far. He didn't believe it and then
- 13:48he opened a UFO museum. Yeah, I think importantly
- 13:51so far he's the truest deathbed confession in
- 13:54that it's at least around or after when he dies
- 13:59and he's not really like given any info really
- 14:02he's just like i don't know what it was i was
- 14:05following orders and some guy told me that it
- 14:07wasn't it was alien yeah i like it i like walter
- 14:11hout next one up an episode you did one on shake
- 14:16harbor oh i thought you were just gonna cover
- 14:18someone i did in my deathbed confession no So
- 14:23we covered Shake Harbor in season two episode
- 14:2616 a heritage minute the Shake Harbor incident
- 14:28Wow, look at us not getting you guys to do the
- 14:31work to find out what episode it's on But anyhow,
- 14:34you're still gonna get a vague idea of this deathbed
- 14:37confession because trying to contrast What deathbed
- 14:40confession means in the fringe community and
- 14:42I don't think I can find a better Exemplary piece
- 14:45then this article titled anonymous witness of
- 14:49Shake Harbor UFO shares quote deathbed confession
- 14:52hangar quote by TK Randolph on December 30th,
- 14:562023. What the hell? This comes from the website
- 14:59Unexplained Mysteries beneath the wave. Despite
- 15:27extensive efforts by Canadian Navy divers to
- 15:30locate the object on the seafloor, no trace of
- 15:32it was ever found, and the incident was ultimately
- 15:35dismissed as unexplained. Now, more than 56 years
- 15:38later, a witness who had observed the object
- 15:41at the time has contacted unexplained mysteries
- 15:44via email to describe his experience. Your deathbed
- 15:47confession is a witness to Shaye Kerber? Yes!
- 15:51What a son -of -a -bitch! Gives it on his deathbed?
- 15:55No, Chelsea, re -listen to this sentence. Now,
- 15:58more than 56 years later, a witness who had observed
- 16:01the object at the time has contacted Unexplained
- 16:04Mysteries via email to describe his experience.
- 16:08Nah, okay, I'll begrudgingly listen to this.
- 16:12A photograph that he presumably captured of the
- 16:15object was also included, see below. I'll include
- 16:18a link to this. Why, of all people, are you contacting...
- 16:23Unexplained Mysteries, yes. What's his name?
- 16:26That's probably his website, the guy who used
- 16:28to do Unexplained Mysteries. Unsolved Mysteries.
- 16:31Never mind, he would be too pure. Rippin' it
- 16:34up! quote from the email this is a large brilliantly
- 16:38lit rectangular shaped object and came out of
- 16:41the water and ascended into the sky and quickly
- 16:44disappeared this photograph was taken roughly
- 16:4630 miles away from shea harbor about a week after
- 16:49the incident that started end quote he wrote
- 16:52quote as far as I'm aware to the best of my knowledge
- 16:55no man -made aircraft or submarine possessing
- 16:59such technologies exist question mark one can
- 17:02clearly see from the photo enlargement that this
- 17:05object has no visible means of propulsion wings
- 17:07engines etc quite extraordinary and remarkable
- 17:10as to how this object moved and traveled around
- 17:13end quote quote I have carried this burden for
- 17:16over 50 years and it is now time to set this
- 17:18free end quote some burden and then he brought
- 17:21a picture of it. So Chelsea, those are the UFO
- 17:24deathbed confessions. Okay, can I get my phone
- 17:27or hold them to the end? You know what? Overall,
- 17:30fringe. I actually find there's a distinct difference
- 17:33between cryptid deathbed confessions and - Oh,
- 17:36there's cryptid. UFO deathbed confessions? So
- 17:39I would like to see what your viewpoint is on
- 17:41UFO deathbed confessions. Overall, it's very
- 17:45reminiscent of the entire UFO community as a
- 17:48whole, I feel like. It's a little bit flaky,
- 17:52kinda doesn't hold any real substance. Walter
- 17:56Houtt, I like that guy. He seems to the sharpest
- 18:00shooter of the bunch. He just encountered something.
- 18:03He thought, oh, there's maybe a little bit more
- 18:06to this. I'm gonna open a UFO museum and I will
- 18:09sign an affidavit that I don't know what it was
- 18:12and I'm suspicious. And one of my friends told
- 18:15me that he's suspicious as well. I like him.
- 18:18But at the same time, he was pushed to do it
- 18:20by a UFO investigator. Who was the UFO, the guy
- 18:24who wrote the book? Smith, yeah. He asked him
- 18:27to do it. But he seems like a guy that wouldn't
- 18:30do it unless that's what he thought because he
- 18:32did open a UFO. Maybe he just... I don't know
- 18:34if he would have done it if a UFO investigator
- 18:37hadn't asked him. You're right. I'm not loving
- 18:39it. I'm not loving it. I mean the first guy,
- 18:42we've come a long way since the first guy, who...
- 18:46What did he do again? Cuper? There's definitely
- 18:49aliens at Area 51. Oh yeah, the guy who didn't
- 18:52give his name. Not a fan of that. Nope, not a
- 18:55fan that he didn't give his name. And he just
- 18:57put out another statement saying the same thing.
- 19:00Also, it's great that um... His claim to fame
- 19:02for his first interview was Lindum Alton Howe
- 19:05too. I don't want to even think about Lindum
- 19:07Alton Howe. And then Jeremy Corbell. It seems
- 19:10flaky, like the usual stuff that we see with
- 19:12assholes, unfortunately. Yeah. I don't think
- 19:15there's any substance to it. And I have thoughts
- 19:17on it too, but I'm going to keep that till the
- 19:19end. We're going to move on now to some cryptid
- 19:21deathbed confessions, Chelsea. And who's on the
- 19:24deathbed? The cryptids? No, the people. How they're
- 19:28associated with the cryptids, we will see as
- 19:30the people say things. And actually, the first
- 19:33one I'm going to cover is Roger Patterson. Aha,
- 19:36yes. Yes, Chelsea knows who this is, of the Patterson
- 19:40-Gimblin film from 1967. I didn't know he had
- 19:43a... I'm already more intrigued. Well, here's
- 19:47the thing, Chelsea. I do like Walter Hout. I'm
- 19:50going to put it on record multiple times. Okay.
- 19:52You're gonna learn some things about deathbed
- 19:54confessions in the cryptic community now. Roger
- 19:57Patterson was one of the co -creators of the
- 19:591967 very famous Patterson -Gimlin film that
- 20:02allegedly depicts Bigfoot. Just so we're clear,
- 20:05this is the Bigfoot video that you're thinking
- 20:09of. Yeah. It is the most famous Bigfoot video.
- 20:12Yeah, it's a pretty good video. He did not have
- 20:15a deathbed confession admitting that the footage
- 20:18was a hoax. Here's the thing, it came out and
- 20:21it's very prominent out there that Roger Patterson
- 20:25admitted that the film was a hoax. That is not
- 20:28true. Oh, I thought you just said that he did.
- 20:30I was like, no news to me. It is absolutely out
- 20:34there in the zeitgeist, if you're in the bigfoot
- 20:37community, that Roger Patterson came out and
- 20:39said that the film was a hoax on his deathbed.
- 20:41He did not. The Patterson -Gimlin film shot on
- 20:43October 20, 1967 at Bluff Creek in Northern California
- 20:47shows a large ape -like figure striding across
- 20:49a clearing before glancing back at the camera.
- 20:52Patterson and his partner Bob Gimlin claimed
- 20:55they were investigating reports of large footprints
- 20:57when they encountered the creature. The film
- 20:59quickly became the most iconic piece of alleged
- 21:01put evidence, analyzed for decades by scientists,
- 21:04skeptics, and enthusiasts. Supporters point to
- 21:06anatomical details in the gait and muscle movement
- 21:09as evidence of authenticity, while skeptics argue
- 21:12it could have been a man in a costume. However,
- 21:15there's a deathbed confession rumor that emerges
- 21:17well later. Oh, I'm so excited. Patterson says
- 21:21this was all a scam, but it's a mix -up. But
- 21:24he didn't. There's another man that admits to
- 21:27a deathbed cryptid faking, and we're going to
- 21:30cover him later. hitter, but he dies in 1993.
- 21:34Over time, his confession is mistakenly attributed
- 21:37to Roger Patterson, who fuels the myth that he
- 21:41admitted to hoaxing the Bigfoot film. But in
- 21:43reality, Patterson dies of cancer in 1972 at
- 21:46the age of 38, not that much after he filmed
- 21:49it, five years. Oh, with no deathbed confession.
- 21:52No, and those close to him, including Gimlin,
- 21:55have consistently stated that he never recanted
- 21:57his story. Gimlin himself has maintained for
- 22:00decades that the encounter was genuine. The controversy
- 22:03surrounding the film remains unsolved and believers
- 22:06argue that the most compelling visual evidence
- 22:08of Bigfoot, citing biomechanical analyses of
- 22:11the figure's proportions but skeptics counter.
- 22:13The Patterson had a history of interest in Bigfoot
- 22:16and may have staged the film. But you can't take
- 22:19his deathbed confession into account because
- 22:22it's not real. whether or not it's real. Nor
- 22:31do we have the skills to actually tell anyone
- 22:33whether or not it's real or not. It's true because
- 22:35you know maybe if it was filmed today we would
- 22:38be able to debunk it or something like that.
- 22:40Also I know we talked about this on our Bigfoot
- 22:43episode but there is a local connection for us
- 22:47kind of between here and where you are Robert
- 22:51Gimlin has connections to Harrison Hot Springs.
- 22:54Yes we have talked about that before I believe
- 22:56it's in the Harrison Hot Springs episode. We
- 22:58didn't do it. episode on Harrison Hot Springs.
- 23:01Well, we talked about Harrison Hot Springs a
- 23:03lot in one episode. Yeah, we did. In the Bigfoot
- 23:06episode. This is in... Why does it say it's all
- 23:10bunny -ups from here? It's in there. I don't
- 23:12know. Sometime a long time ago. I have one more
- 23:15Bigfoot confession, and man, I cannot ground
- 23:19this one, so I'm just going to preface that right
- 23:22from the start here. This story originates. I
- 23:25can't find it before anywhere else on the internet.
- 23:28Okay. From Sasquatch Chronicles, the pod - and
- 23:33they don't cite any links in their sources. Oh
- 23:36no, okay. I'm still open to it. And we don't
- 23:39even need to worry because it's a listener who
- 23:41did this. He recounts a former law enforcement
- 23:44officer's death -fed confession. According to
- 23:47this account, the officer claimed that in the
- 23:50Dakotas, government officials and law enforcement
- 23:52shot Sasquatch from helicopters. He described
- 23:55seeing photographs and audio recordings from
- 23:58the operation, which allegedly showed multiple
- 24:01creatures being killed. The officer said he had
- 24:03carried the burden of secrecy for years, but
- 24:06wanted to clear his conscience before passing
- 24:08away. You take with that what you will. I can't
- 24:11find that corroborated anywhere. I can't find
- 24:14it stated anywhere else. I don't even know what
- 24:17to think about what you just told me. I mean,
- 24:20they're just hunting them in the Dakotas, where
- 24:22Bigfoot are plentiful, for there are no forests.
- 24:25Apparently, they're just flying in helicopters
- 24:28just picking them off, eh? Hmm. Yeah. My last
- 24:32cryptid death by confession is Christian Sperling.
- 24:34In April 1934, the Daily Mail published what
- 24:37quickly became the most famous image of the Loch
- 24:40Ness Monster, a grey, black and white photograph
- 24:42showing a long necked small head rising from
- 24:44still waters of the loch. If you think of a picture
- 24:47of the Loch Ness Monster, this is the picture.
- 24:49This picture is credited to Colonel Robert Kenneth
- 24:52Wilson, a London surgeon who claimed he had taken
- 24:55the photo while driving along the lock with friends.
- 24:58According to Wilson's account, he stopped when
- 25:00he saw something moving in the water, pulled
- 25:02out his camera, and captured the creature before
- 25:04it slipped beneath the surface. Because Wilson
- 25:07was respected professional and reluctant to be
- 25:09publicly associated with the image, the press
- 25:11dubbed it the surgeon's photograph. For decades,
- 25:14the photo was treated as the strongest visual
- 25:16evidence of Nessie's existence, appearing in
- 25:18books, documentaries, and tours and brochures
- 25:20worldwide. The truth, however, came out much
- 25:23later in in 1994. Christian Sperling, then 90
- 25:26years old and near death, confessed that the
- 25:29photograph was a hoax. Sperling was the stepson
- 25:31of Marmaduke Weatherall, which is not a name
- 25:34I thought I would ever come across outside of
- 25:37Sunday comics. A big game hunter hired by the
- 25:42Daily Mail in 1933 to investigate Loch Ness.
- 25:45Wetherill had been humiliated when monster tracks
- 25:48he reported turned out to be made with a hippo
- 25:51slip. Seeking revenge on the newspaper, Wetherill
- 25:53enlisted Sperling to build a fake monster and
- 25:56Sperling constructed a model head and neck from
- 25:59plastic wood and attached it to a toy submarine.
- 26:02The stage photo was then passed to Wilson who
- 26:04agreed to lend his name to the story giving it
- 26:06credibility. Sperling admitted It was just a
- 26:09practical joke that went too far, end quote.
- 26:12His confession... A hippo foot? Yeah! I don't
- 26:15know how that works, but yeah. It's okay, I just
- 26:18wanted to make sure I understood properly. His
- 26:20confession to span decades of belief in the photo's
- 26:23authenticity, vindicating skeptics who had long
- 26:26suspected trickery. Yet, even after the hoax
- 26:28was exposed, the image remains iconic, a reminder
- 26:31of how myth, media, and human mischief can create
- 26:34legends that endure long after the truth is revealed.
- 26:37And Chelsea, that is my last deathbed confession.
- 26:40I tried so hard to go to Reddit for a story of,
- 26:45hey, my uncle claimed that he killed a Bigfoot,
- 26:48or saw a UFO, or anything with a deathbed confession
- 26:51relating to the Fringe. Nothing. There is zero.
- 26:55And I find it very interesting because if anything
- 26:59I feel like that's something you're going to
- 27:00keep until the grave. But also the fact that
- 27:03the other stories that even come up around this
- 27:06have nothing to do with actual deathbeds. I find
- 27:09interesting. Yeah that is actually very interesting
- 27:13and... It's almost as if it can be a buzzword
- 27:16to lend credence. to your story as evidence.
- 27:20You're right. And even the Patterson Gimlin one,
- 27:24it's connected to something that's not a deathbed
- 27:26confession, even though it was said that it was
- 27:30Patterson's deathbed confession. It's weird how
- 27:34often people try to claim deathbed confession
- 27:36as evidence or add the word to make the evidence
- 27:39seem stronger. Yeah, it is almost like they're
- 27:43using it as evidence, isn't it? Because not one
- 27:46of these was somebody saying on their deathbed
- 27:48this thing despite the fact that's what I started
- 27:52out looking for and not one of these would make
- 27:55me believe in anything that they were talking
- 27:58about no but would it point me to believe it
- 28:02any more than what they're saying and Chelsea
- 28:04I should say sorry before we get too far away
- 28:06from it this Loch Ness monster confession is
- 28:09the one that's often misconstrued as the Patterson
- 28:13deathbed confession which is basically saying
- 28:15in the 90s Loch Ness monster was debunked on
- 28:17the deathbed so they move it to Patterson oh
- 28:21okay that was great i don't think i i can't remember
- 28:25my deathbed confession but i don't think i talked
- 28:27about anything like this it was just straight
- 28:30up deathbed confession somebody mistakenly found
- 28:33out that they didn't like owls and they just
- 28:36collected owls yeah i like that one I really
- 28:41like the guy who talked about murdering somebody
- 28:45and then had to go to jail for it because he
- 28:47survived. Very different episodes. I do always
- 28:52enjoy stuff like this because I always end up
- 28:55disappointed. And it's not that I don't like
- 28:58listening to these things, it's just that in
- 29:01the end it just always comes up lackadaisical
- 29:04for me, unfortunately. Unless it doesn't, but
- 29:08this one did a little bit. because other than
- 29:11Walter Hout, I really enjoyed him, but he didn't
- 29:14really do much, and I think it's just because
- 29:18he had a UFO museum. And I didn't mind spurling,
- 29:20but the whole thing, especially with cryptids,
- 29:22I find if there's going to be a cryptid deathbed
- 29:24confession, it's going to be debunking something
- 29:27as opposed to actually like claiming something
- 29:30fantastic. That's true, because why on your deathbed
- 29:33would you be like, that was real, if that's what
- 29:36you've been talking about the whole time, right?
- 29:38It's just like the first guy. Exactly. And when
- 29:41we look closely at fringe deathbed confessions,
- 29:43a pattern emerges. Unlike traditional deathbed
- 29:45confessions, which often involve deeply personal
- 29:48secrets revealed in the final hours of life,
- 29:50these stories are harder to pin down. They frequently
- 29:53come from anonymous sources or from individuals
- 29:55who were elderly but not actually dying. And
- 29:58the details are almost always impossible to corroborate.
- 30:01The term deathbed confession itself has become
- 30:03something of a buzzword in paranormal encrypted
- 30:06circles. It lends drama and gravity to acclaim.
- 30:10suggesting that the speaker had nothing left
- 30:12to lose and therefore must be telling the truth.
- 30:14But in practice, many of these so -called confessions
- 30:18are simply late -life testimonies retold without
- 30:21evidence and stretched to fit the narrative of
- 30:24secrecy and revelation. And here's a key distinction,
- 30:28encrypted lore Death -fed confessions often refute
- 30:31the story rather than support it. In Christian
- 30:34Sperling Admitted the Loch Ness Monster's Surgeon
- 30:36photograph was a hoax. These confessions don't
- 30:39confirm the existence of monsters, they dismantle
- 30:41the most famous pieces of evidence. By contrast,
- 30:43in UFO lore, death -fed confessions tend to support
- 30:46the mystery, with insiders claiming to have seen
- 30:49crash -craft, recovered bodies, or government
- 30:51cover -ups. That doesn't mean these stories are
- 30:53powerful. The emotional weight of a final admission,
- 30:57whether it's exposed a hoax or whispering about
- 31:01hidden truths ensures they endure. They thrive
- 31:04because they combine authority, mystery, and
- 31:07the urgency of last words. Yet we must remember
- 31:10without names, documents, or corroboration they
- 31:14remain legends rather than proof. And perhaps
- 31:16that's the real lesson here. Fringe deathbed
- 31:19confessions aren't about closure in the way ordinary
- 31:21ones are. They're about keeping mysteries alive,
- 31:24whether by tearing down the myths we thought
- 31:27we knew, or by adding new layers of secrecy to
- 31:30the unknown. And with that, I have been Taylor,
- 31:34here with Chelsea. We are Journey to the Fringe.
- 31:36Thank you all for listening and we'll see you
- 31:37next week. Thank you for listening to Journey
- 31:44to the Fringe. If you have liked what you have
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- 32:18For now, I'll see you in the next episode.