Lonewacko, Art Bell taken for ride through Chernobyl

Remember the previous post about plucky Ukrainian 'Elena' and her site featuring pictures supposedly taken when riding her motorcycle through Chernobyl?

Via our giant antenna, we've just learned that her site was a hoax:

PRIPYAT, Ukraine - Kate Brown began thinking about visiting this high-rise ghost town in the mid-1990s, when she was researching a book about the region before it was evacuated after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Then she saw a website about a young woman's lone motorcycle rides through Chernobyl's exclusion zone. The site, http://www.kiddofspeed.com , attracted tens of millions of viewers and became the most-visited site on Angelfire.com, a Web page hosting service...

"Elena," whom several Internet sources identified as Lena Filatova of Kiev, has been described as "fearless," "heroic" and "seriously whacked" in the virtual chatter the website generated...

"That story is not true! She did not ride a motorcycle alone in the zone! She came with her husband and a friend on a regular tour," insisted Rimma Kyselytsia, who was the group's official guide. She identified the woman in the images on the website as Filatova and has the documents to show that Filatova's tour was organized by a Kiev travel agency and that her party traveled in a car provided by Chernobylinterinform, the agency that ushers all visitors to the exclusion zone...

On behalf of myself, Art Bell, George Noory, John Lear, Richard C. Hoagland, and all the ships in deep space, dwelling beneath the earth's crust, and on either side of the Rockies, I apologize for any confusion. And, remember, if you don't read it in a quality news source like the L.A. Times, it might be false. Especially those things you find on that Internet thing.

In my defense, you'll note that in the previous post I raised a quibble about one of the photos having something smudged out.

Miscellania · Wed, 07/07/2004 - 19:33 · · Importance: 1

Comments

Government officials are trying to discredit her. Story is not a hoax. The official death toll is 30 people and Elena showed a human side of Chernobyl tragedy. No one need this true on her part of the world. Better take a look at her new story, very good read if you love history
www.serpentswall.com

Michael Parker

Hardly a hoax. The photographs are real, the facts are real, the places are real, the issues are real - she just made a facinating story to string them together.

Doug

Posted by: Michael Parker at Sep 28, 2004 5:28 AM

the site is not a hoax. the government has been trying to discredit her for some time.

Posted by: mr. bell at Jul 19, 2004 11:40 PM

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