You know, it's because of this film I (and a lot of other people too) came across this whole story. I guess this movie is doing a good job on spreading the word about the scum that is Janna St. James. Hope the legal proceedings are going well! She deserves to be brought down a peg or two! That video on YouTube is crazy, she could have point blank said "Jesse is real, what are you talking about?" but her reaction says it all. You have great friends btw!
a 'pseudologica fantastica' diagnosis is possible without a psychopathy diagnosis,but don't think that's the case with JSJ - she seems to display the prerequisite lack of empathy.
Hello, What a weird trip this has been! I first saw an unspoilerific blurb about the movie "Catfish" in EW, which led me to IMDB, because I hate secrets, then to Josh's article, and now here. This is the craziest story, and I feel for you! You should really get this made into a "Dateline" episode. Plus, it might gain more exposure and prevent others from being hurt. Really, someone should stop this woman!
I came across this blog after seeing the trailer for Catfish, then running across Josh's article in the LA weekly, then googling "Janna St James" - I wish you all the luck! That person is completely insane!
Like all others, I saw a trailer for Catfish, carried on to IMDb, Josh's article and now here. What a terrible and horrific ordeal for you. This woman needs to be institutionalized. I find it appalling that someone has this much time and imagination on her hands to concoct such an elaborate tale. I wish she had funneled that energy into charity work or community service instead of torturing you and others with her lies. She could have done a lot of good instead of all of her evil, I reckon.
20/20 Catfish interviews,including the crazy woman herself. Seems she created as many characters as you know who has been known to. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/
Wow! Ended up here after watching the 20/20 interview and doing a little googling about Catfish.
I have to admit I was skeptical about that movie and after reading your story I'm just as skeptical if you were this completely vulnerable victim. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has respnded this way.
Before even meetng this Jessee James "character" on line you met someone who would have been very easy to google to see if tney existed and if they worked for who they said they worked for. I would have wanted to read their interview with Ted Bundy.
I get the impression that maybe your common sense went right out the door and you opted for a fantasy life filled full of characters that you knew probably weren't all real but hoped they were and if they weren't it would never be your fault for falling for it. Your Author friend who wrote the L.A. piece about your situation lays out your frame of mind and how justified dwelling in a loveless marriage. It does make a person go hmmmm... Not exactly the most emotionally put together individual which would be a fair evaluation.
I'm puzzled why anyone would send expensive gifts to people they've never met face to face. You were even sending a mythical child a gift. Do you place the onus on your own shoulder over any of this?
It's really strange but after seeing the video of her being evicted from your home you can't help but have a moment like some did watching the movie Precious where you are feeling some confusing sympathy for the so called villian in all of this.
What she did was wrong but you helped it along. I believe way down deep inside you question many things but again opted for the fantasy and no one but you and God or whatever you believe see's and knows all will know that truth. Your actions thought do speak loud. You fell for a bipolar suicicidal headcase? Geez what was so exciting about all of that?
You had the power to stop communicating with these characters. Even now a few years later you have the ability to end it all by moving past the fact you fell for a fake person and admitting you fell for it hook line and sinker.
You may have the money to exhaust every legal avenue in trying to get at her but the truth is she's going to still do her thing. You've done all you can do. You've exposed her.
Your story, although a bit more dramatic then some because you went with it rather than doing some easy checking, is no more different then the thousands who have fallen for fake profiles in the past. You took it to a level that was ridiculous and now you want her to pay dearly.
The real question it appears is just what exactly do you really want out of her? There are hints of cyberbullying being displayed here on your part because I think when you see her posting at all you want her to be miserable. Chances are her mind just won't allow that and the only one who ends up staying miserable is yourself.
The bottom line? You've got to let it all go. You got played. You did some very foolish things.
Right from the beginning you entered into a fantasy world fostering a relationship with a mythical man on line while in reality you were a married woman void of the love you desired. You made the choice to engage. Yes you were the victim of a strange woman who lives vicariously through the internet and fake characters she creates but you weren't incapable of checking things out. You were also a victim of your ownself and continue to be that victim of your own self by regurgitating the past with this woamn. I'm sure your therapist is going to make a mint off of you. JMO. Best of luck to you.
Anon, the problem here is that the information is piecemeal, and Josh gets some stuff wrong, because he didn't run the piece past me before it was published.
Janna told me Jesse wrote for AP under his grandmother's maiden name because "Jesse James" sounded like a fake name. She was his editor a decade back at an AP bureau. Editors don't have bylines. She didn't mention the Ted Bundy thing till after Jesse's death, when we were in Colorado. She said she'd dig a copy of the article up for me.
As for Googling Jesse, you try Googling Jesse James sometime.
As for verifying their identities, I'd met other people online, and they really existed, until this happened to me, I assumed that everyone was innocent until proven guilty. Besides, 20 other online people had actually met Jesse and Janna. And Janna was real. She's good at mixing fantasy with reality.
A couple of friends threw the possiblity that Jesse wasn't all he said, and we worked it over, why would someone go to such lengths, to what end? It didn't make sense.
I had just started a very demanding and stressful job, coming off a three month stint of nursing my old dog through a horrible surgery and post-op recovery, and my marriage was fragile. I've certainly never said that I was emotionally put together at that time. That doesn't give Janna justification for swooping in and feeding on me. Under normal circumstances, perhaps I would have been less vulnerable. I don't know. That's not what happened. But I can assure you that at no time did I even suspect for a moment that Jesse wasn't real, that any of the 20+ characters that Janna invented weren't real.
I sent expensive gifts because I thought Jesse and Janna were my friends. It's just what I do. I sent gifts to the child of someone I'd grown close to because we wrote each other constantly and spoke on the phone frequently. Same with his family. He spoke often of his friends and family, I'd communicated with some of them myself, so when I sent holiday presents, I didn't want to leave someone out.
You may feel sorry for Janna, but I don't. I imagine if you ever come across someone like her, you won't feel much sympathy.
I have explained very clearly why I am suing her. I keep this blog going because other people she's done this to come here to cross-check and find out how to reach my lawyer. I have moved on, believe me. I have a good life and a job that I love. If you think that "moving on" means forgetting this happened, well, that ain't gonna happen, whether or not I write in this blog. I've got a lawyer who is good at setting precedents. If suing Janna won't stop her from impersonating others to suck time, love and money out of her victims, perhaps a court ruling confining her to a psych ward will.
As for the rest of it, opinions are like assholes.
anon@3:15 - you're taking the piss aren't you? you are not SERIOUS??? OMG, you ARE!!!??? hahahahaha. Wait, just wait, oh forget it, hhhhhaaaaahahaahaahahaahaaaaha...couldn't be....
It's interesting that someone would think Janna is somehow the victim in all of this. I'm certain if the LA Times had discovered Jesse or anyone who could have remotely been him, they would not have published their story. News papers and magazines don't just publish things on a whim. They aren't like the modern-day bloggers who just type whatever comes to mind. It's also interesting because Janna mind-fucked another person for 1.5-2.0 years and yet still stands by her convictions that she was protecting someone's identity. That. Doesn't. Make. Sense! You don't expose yourself while protecting another person's identity!
Even at the end of the Kaycee Nicole hoax, Debbie said she was sorry.
Speaking of that, I have come across several blogs I assumed to be Debbie's. When I questioned the people, many of them closed without another word. Even though that happened nearly a decade ago, I still carry it with me because what these liars do cheapens real life things making those who are telling the truth about their lives *that much harder* to believe.
Janna was in the wrong. Janna was the ultimate liar and manipulator in all of this. Janna doesn't deserve sympathy or pity. Personally, I don't google every person I come across online. Google will only regurgitate what people put into it. Unless Jesse James was a celebrity, the web could only produce what others put into it.
Well, yes, newspapers are generally bound by that boring old "ethics" thing. Not to mention the "libel" thing.
It's astonishing how many times Janna has had to "protect" "someone else's" "identity." And, again, it wouldn't surprise me if that were partially true. It could be that the real-life friends she's had through one con after another know exactly what she's up to, and might, in fact, be aiding and abetting her scams. I do know that one of the people Janna befriended from the Deadwood boards told me post-revelation that she'd always suspected that Jesse was a fake that Janna had created, but she didn't much care, because she was lonely and Janna talked to her. So, there you go. There are obviously people out there who can remain friends with a gonif.
The damage that people like Janna do isn't just making trusting people less so - it's that by pretending to be a victim of abuse, whether it be child molestation or rape, she draws attention away from the real people who need help.
It wouldn't just be libel and ethics - though that's what it boils down to. But the press has access to many things that common people don't. We think we're powerful with our access to the web and search engines, but what can that really tell us? Simple: What someone else has already put on the web!
I could see her maybe protecting one or two people, but when the police and detectives can't find the people she knows, it really makes one wonder if she's excellent at hiding people, or if they just live in her mind. I think in the case of Jesse, he never existed. I've had others pretend to be someone else online, and they usually screw up by mentioning something I have told to the other person. When confronted, they claimed they were "listening in" on the phone call or had access to that person's email, archived IMs, and so fourth. It's all excuses, and eventually the excuses don't sell anymore.
I don't understand why any normal person would want to be friends with someone like Janna, knowing what she does. The things she pretends to have survived are horrific, traumatizing events that one wouldn't wish on their worst enemies, let alone someone they loved.
23 comments:
Nice one!
People have a hard time comprehending the stories she concocts. That is, unless they have lived it.
I won first prize for weirdest online meet with mine. Oh, yay me.
You know, it's because of this film I (and a lot of other people too) came across this whole story. I guess this movie is doing a good job on spreading the word about the scum that is Janna St. James. Hope the legal proceedings are going well! She deserves to be brought down a peg or two! That video on YouTube is crazy, she could have point blank said "Jesse is real, what are you talking about?" but her reaction says it all. You have great friends btw!
Sigh. Yeah. I know.
Well, if Janna ain't right about herself being extra special!
http://pathwhisperer.wordpress.com/2010/06/13/search-pseudologia-fantastica%C2%A0treatment/
a 'pseudologica fantastica' diagnosis is possible without a psychopathy diagnosis,but don't think that's the case with JSJ - she seems to display the prerequisite lack of empathy.
white wolf
Hello,
What a weird trip this has been! I first saw an unspoilerific blurb about the movie "Catfish" in EW, which led me to IMDB, because I hate secrets, then to Josh's article, and now here. This is the craziest story, and I feel for you! You should really get this made into a "Dateline" episode. Plus, it might gain more exposure and prevent others from being hurt. Really, someone should stop this woman!
Welcome. And yeah, someone should stop her.
I came across this blog after seeing the trailer for Catfish, then running across Josh's article in the LA weekly, then googling "Janna St James" - I wish you all the luck! That person is completely insane!
Crazy like a fox.
Like all others, I saw a trailer for Catfish, carried on to IMDb, Josh's article and now here. What a terrible and horrific ordeal for you. This woman needs to be institutionalized. I find it appalling that someone has this much time and imagination on her hands to concoct such an elaborate tale. I wish she had funneled that energy into charity work or community service instead of torturing you and others with her lies. She could have done a lot of good instead of all of her evil, I reckon.
Please. I know. At the very least, if she'd spent all that energy online promoting the little trinkets she makes, she'd be a fucking zillionaire.
Man, even with a LOT of energy spent on her 'trinkets' she'd never be a zillionaire. I have seen her stuff online. She's got NO talent.
Guess that's why she's always pretending to be artists and singers, and ripping off the lives of TRULY talented people. Must suck to be her.
People keep saying she's 'crazy.' She's crazy if you spell crazy, p-s-y-c-h-o-p-a-t-h.
Anon, a magnolia by any other name...
20/20 Catfish interviews,including the crazy woman herself. Seems she created as many characters as you know who has been known to.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/
Wow! Ended up here after watching the 20/20 interview and doing a little googling about Catfish.
I have to admit I was skeptical about that movie and after reading your story I'm just as skeptical if you were this completely vulnerable victim. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has respnded this way.
Before even meetng this Jessee James "character" on line you met someone who would have been very easy to google to see if tney existed and if they worked for who they said they worked for. I would have wanted to read their interview with Ted Bundy.
I get the impression that maybe your common sense went right out the door and you opted for a fantasy life filled full of characters that you knew probably weren't all real but hoped they were and if they weren't it would never be your fault for falling for it. Your Author friend who wrote the L.A. piece about your situation lays out your frame of mind and how justified dwelling in a loveless marriage. It does make a person go hmmmm... Not exactly the most emotionally put together individual which would be a fair evaluation.
I'm puzzled why anyone would send expensive gifts to people they've never met face to face. You were even sending a mythical child a gift. Do you place the onus on your own shoulder over any of this?
It's really strange but after seeing the video of her being evicted from your home you can't help but have a moment like some did watching the movie Precious where you are feeling some confusing sympathy for the so called villian in all of this.
What she did was wrong but you helped it along. I believe way down deep inside you question many things but again opted for the fantasy and no one but you and God or whatever you believe see's and knows all will know that truth. Your actions thought do speak loud. You fell for a bipolar suicicidal headcase? Geez what was so exciting about all of that?
You had the power to stop communicating with these characters. Even now a few years later you have the ability to end it all by moving past the fact you fell for a fake person and admitting you fell for it hook line and sinker.
You may have the money to exhaust every legal avenue in trying to get at her but the truth is she's going to still do her thing. You've done all you can do. You've exposed her.
Your story, although a bit more dramatic then some because you went with it rather than doing some easy checking, is no more different then the thousands who have fallen for fake profiles in the past. You took it to a level that was ridiculous and now you want her to pay dearly.
The real question it appears is just what exactly do you really want out of her? There are hints of cyberbullying being displayed here on your part because I think when you see her posting at all you want her to be miserable. Chances are her mind just won't allow that and the only one who ends up staying miserable is yourself.
The bottom line? You've got to let it all go. You got played. You did some very foolish things.
Right from the beginning you entered into a fantasy world fostering a relationship with a mythical man on line while in reality you were a married woman void of the love you desired. You made the choice to engage. Yes you were the victim of a strange woman who lives vicariously through the internet and fake characters she creates but you weren't incapable of checking things out. You were also a victim of your ownself and continue to be that victim of your own self by regurgitating the past with this woamn. I'm sure your therapist is going to make a mint off of you. JMO. Best of luck to you.
Anon, the problem here is that the information is piecemeal, and Josh gets some stuff wrong, because he didn't run the piece past me before it was published.
Janna told me Jesse wrote for AP under his grandmother's maiden name because "Jesse James" sounded like a fake name. She was his editor a decade back at an AP bureau. Editors don't have bylines. She didn't mention the Ted Bundy thing till after Jesse's death, when we were in Colorado. She said she'd dig a copy of the article up for me.
As for Googling Jesse, you try Googling Jesse James sometime.
As for verifying their identities, I'd met other people online, and they really existed, until this happened to me, I assumed that everyone was innocent until proven guilty. Besides, 20 other online people had actually met Jesse and Janna. And Janna was real. She's good at mixing fantasy with reality.
A couple of friends threw the possiblity that Jesse wasn't all he said, and we worked it over, why would someone go to such lengths, to what end? It didn't make sense.
I had just started a very demanding and stressful job, coming off a three month stint of nursing my old dog through a horrible surgery and post-op recovery, and my marriage was fragile. I've certainly never said that I was emotionally put together at that time. That doesn't give Janna justification for swooping in and feeding on me. Under normal circumstances, perhaps I would have been less vulnerable. I don't know. That's not what happened. But I can assure you that at no time did I even suspect for a moment that Jesse wasn't real, that any of the 20+ characters that Janna invented weren't real.
I sent expensive gifts because I thought Jesse and Janna were my friends. It's just what I do. I sent gifts to the child of someone I'd grown close to because we wrote each other constantly and spoke on the phone frequently. Same with his family. He spoke often of his friends and family, I'd communicated with some of them myself, so when I sent holiday presents, I didn't want to leave someone out.
You may feel sorry for Janna, but I don't. I imagine if you ever come across someone like her, you won't feel much sympathy.
I have explained very clearly why I am suing her. I keep this blog going because other people she's done this to come here to cross-check and find out how to reach my lawyer. I have moved on, believe me. I have a good life and a job that I love. If you think that "moving on" means forgetting this happened, well, that ain't gonna happen, whether or not I write in this blog. I've got a lawyer who is good at setting precedents. If suing Janna won't stop her from impersonating others to suck time, love and money out of her victims, perhaps a court ruling confining her to a psych ward will.
As for the rest of it, opinions are like assholes.
Thanks for playing.
anon@3:15 - you're taking the piss aren't you? you are not SERIOUS??? OMG, you ARE!!!??? hahahahaha. Wait, just wait, oh forget it, hhhhhaaaaahahaahaahahaahaaaaha...couldn't be....
It's interesting that someone would think Janna is somehow the victim in all of this. I'm certain if the LA Times had discovered Jesse or anyone who could have remotely been him, they would not have published their story. News papers and magazines don't just publish things on a whim. They aren't like the modern-day bloggers who just type whatever comes to mind. It's also interesting because Janna mind-fucked another person for 1.5-2.0 years and yet still stands by her convictions that she was protecting someone's identity. That. Doesn't. Make. Sense! You don't expose yourself while protecting another person's identity!
Even at the end of the Kaycee Nicole hoax, Debbie said she was sorry.
Speaking of that, I have come across several blogs I assumed to be Debbie's. When I questioned the people, many of them closed without another word. Even though that happened nearly a decade ago, I still carry it with me because what these liars do cheapens real life things making those who are telling the truth about their lives *that much harder* to believe.
Janna was in the wrong. Janna was the ultimate liar and manipulator in all of this. Janna doesn't deserve sympathy or pity. Personally, I don't google every person I come across online. Google will only regurgitate what people put into it. Unless Jesse James was a celebrity, the web could only produce what others put into it.
Well, yes, newspapers are generally bound by that boring old "ethics" thing. Not to mention the "libel" thing.
It's astonishing how many times Janna has had to "protect" "someone else's" "identity." And, again, it wouldn't surprise me if that were partially true. It could be that the real-life friends she's had through one con after another know exactly what she's up to, and might, in fact, be aiding and abetting her scams. I do know that one of the people Janna befriended from the Deadwood boards told me post-revelation that she'd always suspected that Jesse was a fake that Janna had created, but she didn't much care, because she was lonely and Janna talked to her. So, there you go. There are obviously people out there who can remain friends with a gonif.
The damage that people like Janna do isn't just making trusting people less so - it's that by pretending to be a victim of abuse, whether it be child molestation or rape, she draws attention away from the real people who need help.
...and the 'real' people who need love.
It wouldn't just be libel and ethics - though that's what it boils down to. But the press has access to many things that common people don't. We think we're powerful with our access to the web and search engines, but what can that really tell us? Simple: What someone else has already put on the web!
I could see her maybe protecting one or two people, but when the police and detectives can't find the people she knows, it really makes one wonder if she's excellent at hiding people, or if they just live in her mind. I think in the case of Jesse, he never existed. I've had others pretend to be someone else online, and they usually screw up by mentioning something I have told to the other person. When confronted, they claimed they were "listening in" on the phone call or had access to that person's email, archived IMs, and so fourth. It's all excuses, and eventually the excuses don't sell anymore.
I don't understand why any normal person would want to be friends with someone like Janna, knowing what she does. The things she pretends to have survived are horrific, traumatizing events that one wouldn't wish on their worst enemies, let alone someone they loved.
Anon, I think you just answered your own question. I don't think Janna even likes herself.
All pathological liars are not sociopaths, but ALL pathological liars ARE predatory.
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