Running Charlatan

[erdnasephile]

In this community, when we think of con men, we generally think of people such as card mechanics, faith healers, and those that claim to talk to the dead.

I recently had occasion to read this article from The New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/ ... rathon-man

which details the exploits of a fraud from a completely different set of hobbyists.

The article is rather lengthy, but what I thought was interesting was the determined Internet detective work that exposed this guy, as well as his apparent passion for self-delusion.

[Bill Mullins]

The article was written by Mark Singer, who did the well-known profile of Ricky Jay.

Here is an article he wrote about Norman Beck and his day job.

[Diego]

A late dear friend of mine, co-wrote autobiographies for a number of (then) well-known people.

One of his most successful, was total fiction. He told me how he as they sat with their wives in a restaurant, as he went thru the final draft noting one exciting, heroic exploit after another.
At the end the subject's wife, turned to him and said, "Now Bob, you know none of this ever actually happened!"
Bob turned to this wife, (without skipping a beat) and replied, "But honey, it COULD HAVE!"

It sold over a million copies.

Although Bob's career and celebrity status would fade for other reasons, no one (to my knowledge) has ever challenged the veracity of his best-selling bio. (Everyone was making money because of it, why bother?)