On Substack: The PR Campaign Behind Those James Dean Conspiracy Theories

9/12/2022

Given my particular interest in conspiracy theories and the supernatural, I naturally have been fascinated by the various conspiracy theories that swirled around James Dean, who is the subject of the book I have been writing. One of these conspiracies alleged that Warner Bros. intentionally fabricated an urban legend that Dean had not died in the Sept. 1955 crash that killed him but instead lived on disfigured in some secret sanitarium. For nearly seven decades, writers have shrugged and passed it off as another tabloid craze. The claim of Dean’s continued life is, of course, false, and likely originated as a spontaneously generated bit teenager mythology, but it turns out there is a compelling story about how and why the media got hold of these rumors.

Read the full story of the publicity campaign that fed conspiracy and supernatural legends in my Substack newsletter.

1 Comment

Anthony G.

10/16/2022 03:47:41 pm

"Given my particular interest in conspiracy theories and the supernatural, I naturally have been fascinated by the various conspiracy theories that swirled around James Dean, who is the subject of the book I have been writing."

This statement helps better understand your fascination with the dead actor. Most of your statements would lend a casual reader to believe it was about something else. As often as you've mentioned Dean, I realized what I must have sounded like going through a similar Hank Williams phase back in college. There were certain things about the man I could identify with and the whole world believed he had died of a drug overdose. I discovered the drugs were a contributing factor but, in all actuality, he had been beaten within an inch of his life by someone. Both of his testicles were ruptured from the beating he took. I don't care what gender someone identifies with, if you're born with a set of testicles and someone smashes them, it's going to hurt.

Even more interesting was the aftermath of his apparent homicide. His newly born daughter was adopted by his mother. Once Hank's mother passed away the rest of the family put her up for adoption to get rid of an heir. When you're talking about the royalties to Hank Williams music, you're talking about some serious money. One of these heirs was a woman he'd been married to for about a week or so. She got to claim one third, which later became HALF. She went on to become the widow of Johnny Horton. Not only was this woman heir to the estate of Hank Williams she was also heir to the estate of Johnny Horton. A certain Kanye West song comes to mind.

The daughter coming back into the picture and discovering her identity is yet another layer. This leads to court battles over the royalties which I believe were 100 million at the time. People started questioning the legitimacy of Randal Hank Williams Jr. Things got really nasty.

The strangeness around Dean you've pointed out is very interesting. I had no idea so much bizarrass surrounded the man once he passed away. I first learned of the gay angle from a show about his co-star Sal. I was hooked up to a Demerol drip and five machines with nowhere to go. Sal explained in the interview how he supported himself by fulfilling people's fantasies about "Rebel Without a Cause". A movie I've never seen. When you first began posting about Dean, you made it seem like "Metrosexual Without A Team" would have been a more appropriate title. Certainly brought to mind a new interpretation of the three people on the boat when Natalie Wood died. Why was Christopher there???

My predominant interest in your blog stems from the North American Baptistry. You have covered nearly all of the theories regarding the structure. You have repeatedly demonstrated how these theories are flawed or false. This has helped in narrowing down reliable sources. There are a lot of people who have just made stuff up. Strangely, a couple of the more bizarre sounding claims may indeed be true. I appreciate the links and free translations provided on your blog. Especially Carl Rafn. He was actually right in declaring the Newport Tower a medieval baptistry. He was just wrong about the construction date and builder. The builders were most certainly not Vikings.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

On Substack: The PR Campaign Behind Those James Dean Conspiracy Theories

Leave a Reply.

Author

Newsletters

Categories

Terms & Conditions

Archives