I am not sure, but hope I've made it clear, that from a more detatched perspective, I'm still able to see the humor in all this, even though I'm the asshole that lots of folks are laughing at. I totally see your point(s).
OMGWTFLLAMAS!!!! indeed. (by the by, the Llama School song by Sifl & Olly is one of my favorites, so that should add to the hilarity)
My point being, when entrenched in the middle of such a duplicitous crazyquilt, it's sometimes hard to see the big picture.
I'd even read The Night Listener years before, and loved it, I was a Maupin fan anyway. And sure, I'd heard of people doing the things that Janna St. James has done on the internet, and even before that, through chain letters. But The Night Listener, well, okay, that was done to a FAMOUS dude. And I'm a fuckin' nobody. I questioned it, hells yeah, talked about it with a few of my skeptical friends, and even not-so-skeptical friends. Mentioned it to "Jesse," who was mortally offended by that, asking WHY would someone do that? To what gain? Indeed.
Plus, I had "Jesse's" cellphone number, and "Alice's." The photos I did see before "Jesse's" death, I didn't spend a huge amount of time perusing them, I was getting dozens and dozens of emails from "Jesse" daily, and IMing when I could. The emails with the photos just got shunted into a folder with the other thousands of emails I got from him. I had a PO box address, sent things to J.J. James in Colorado. Don'tcha need ID to open a PO Box? And since Janna was in Chicago, who was picking up the stuff at the PO Box in Denver? But the main thing was, why would someone fake all that shit? Who has the time for that kind of thing, especially a deception so elaborate, opening a dozen email accounts, mailing things from different cities, wherever "Jesse" happened to be at the time?
This is the other reason I don't believe Janna Saint James is crazy. I find it hard to believe she acted alone. I can't see her flying to Ohio, New Hampshire, Alaska, Australia, to mail things to me. Someone in Spain got the gifts and postcards I mailed to "Jesse's" son, because Janna described the cards and contents of the packages to me. She has one or more accomplices, possibly also obese lonely fiftysomethings with too much time on their hands, perhaps her brother, who I believe might possibly be "Cakey."
Most likely, we'll never know. Most likely, Janna St. James has already snared someone else in her interweb, as Jane goddamned Doe. Most likely, this will all roll over her like water off a duck's back. But maybe not. And I'm willing to risk my good name, which I know is out there, for that maybe, however minuscule it may be.
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Hmm.. I don't know about your theory that she wasn't working alone? Why couldn't she be working alone? The mailings, for example... I know there are mail drop & forward services. Maybe Janna was setting up PO accounts with forwarding? If scam artists can use that kind of stuff for their mail scams, why couldn't Janna use it to cover her tracks?
I skimmed through some of her "blogs" you posted. She's nuttier than a squirrel's shack. She's got hallmarks of sociopathy all over her writing there.
I did not know that. Even internationally?
I've never heard the "nuttier than a squirrel's shack" before. (insert winky emoticon here)
I don't know about internationally, but I know about N. America. I once got mail scammed. I did go to the RCMP and they had already received other complaints. The scammers had a US address. I thought I was doing a "good thing" by keeping the addresses for correspondence, but they told me that these scam artists routinely use forward services and fake business names for PO boxes. I never did get my money back, but damn did I ever learn a hard lesson!
If you never heard phrases like "nuttier than a squirrel's shack" you need to travel in the Deep South more. Oh, the richness of language abounds there. :-)
I'm a fan of travelling, so I may just have to do that. I'll just have to pull the leftist bumper stickers off my car.
Have also heard the phrase 'nuttier than ratsh*t in a pistachio factory' and thought that was worth a share.
--choke--
No asterisks needed here, bindy, unless it makes ya feel better.
I'm enamored of "crazier than a shithouse rat," and in fact I believe I've used that descriptive on Janna.
Thank you. I don't like asterisks anyway. Nasty little things that take away people's fun!! :-P
Yes, earlier while reading, especially the card from Alaska-- I thought a mail forwarding service had to have been involved. It was all too convenient. I know-- nothing not already obvious but I concur.
Came here via boing-boing. Just wanted to add a couple of thoughts.
1) Yeah you got taken. But you know we all have weakness: I've been taken in my life too. I don't think most people are laughing at you. Someone else with a different weakness might have been taken by someone who fed their ego and made them feel superior. It sounds you were victimized by somebody who took advantage of your empathy. It says something about you as a person that your main weakness is a virtue rather than a vice.
2) In terms of the article getting stuff wrong: I have never read an article by a journalist on a subject where I had personal knowledge where they did not screw something up - something not essential if they were good but something. And then I got a chance to write some articles under a deadline. And I swore I'd be different from all the other journalists I'd read. And I screwed something minor up....
amber - you learn something new every day. Janna is a total scumbag who obviously had done this before. But wouldn't she have had to go to Denver to open the PO Box in the first place? Oy, I don't think I wanna know. Her mother lives somewhere near there anyway I think, so she could've done it on a visit. gar - I know, I'm aware of that, and for the most part understand the pressure that writers are under, which is why I haven't hit Joshy over the head with a frying pan. But thanks for the sentiments. I really don't like being seen as a victim, but my therapist says I have to get over that.
gar- it's true, even with the be4st of them, which is why I never let them quote me any more.
On the p.o. box- it may be possible she opened it on a visit and then simply put in a change of address? I know it seems farfetched but I've seen people go to greater lengths over lesser. I've always wondered what thewse people did with their time before the internet days...
Only on the Internet, eh, could love stories like this occur. Makes me think exercise and getting daily fresh air should be enforced by law.
I'm not sure I understand what the "snare" was, exactly, that this woman trapped you in. Did she want money? Sex? Did she threaten you?
It sounds like you had a hole to fill and she filled it, in the narrow, self-centered way that you'd allow to be satisfied. You needed a hero that was larger than life, she delivered. In Thailand you'd pay for this experience.
But in the end it's really a sweet story. Makes me think of PT Anderson or Todd Solondz movies. Losers.... who need... losers...
Thanks for the laugh. I'm forwarding this to all my friends, under the title, "OMG a real life Flannery O'Connor story!!"
tofupunk.com
aabra, learn to read without moving your lips. Yeah, she probably wanted money, and free stuff, and got a shitload of that from me. She probably wanted love too, and got that from me as well, both as "Jesse" and as herself.
So, I may be a loser, but at least I'm not you. Cunt.
Ephemerina, I have been reading your story with fascination (sorry) and horror. It's amazing that someone would invent a cast of characters to scam one person in such a cruel and heartless way.
However, I am actually more shocked though by comments like the above by Aabra. Seriously? WTF. It upsets me that people would show no compassion for another human who has been put through the emotional wringer. Instead just leaving a equally hateful comment.
Cunt indeed.
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