Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
loathar wrote: challenger3980 wrote: Hi Guys,(and Gals too) I guess Zeke or whoever it really is must still be reading the forums, I just saw something interesting, the ebay auction for the Porter, had been ended early by the seller, due to a mistake in the listing. Must have realized that the wheel wear would be a give away that the engine was not unrun. Also, Zeke's new forum ID is Tubularguy, after he recvd it, he sent me an email through the forum ( which unfortunately doesn't give the true email address of the sender) Thanking Me and saying how much he liked it. DougWOW! Are you saying he sent you a PM laughing at you for sending a scam artist like him the loco?? Or am I misinterpreting your post here?
challenger3980 wrote: Hi Guys,(and Gals too) I guess Zeke or whoever it really is must still be reading the forums, I just saw something interesting, the ebay auction for the Porter, had been ended early by the seller, due to a mistake in the listing. Must have realized that the wheel wear would be a give away that the engine was not unrun. Also, Zeke's new forum ID is Tubularguy, after he recvd it, he sent me an email through the forum ( which unfortunately doesn't give the true email address of the sender) Thanking Me and saying how much he liked it. Doug
Hi Guys,(and Gals too)
I guess Zeke or whoever it really is must still be reading the forums, I just saw something interesting, the ebay auction for the Porter, had been ended early by the seller, due to a mistake in the listing. Must have realized that the wheel wear would be a give away that the engine was not unrun.
Also, Zeke's new forum ID is Tubularguy, after he recvd it, he sent me an email through the forum ( which unfortunately doesn't give the true email address of the sender) Thanking Me and saying how much he liked it.
Doug
WOW! Are you saying he sent you a PM laughing at you for sending a scam artist like him the loco?? Or am I misinterpreting your post here?
Hi Again Loathar,
That was a cut and paste of the actual PM Zeke sent.
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
Dave, that is HILARIOUS. Our neighbors accross the road could pull that one off, he really is a Detective. And his dad who lives behind him is our towns retired sherriff who now runs the feed & tack store in town. Our valley is actually spotted with law enforcement. Oh, across the creek is a sudo-gun club which some weekends sounds like a Civil War battle field.LOL Anyway, I'm rambling again...thanks for the chuckles!
Rob
Never claimed to have thought it up by myself. Thanks for the link to the whole thing though! And I agree, there is no such thing as a new joke and there will always be someone who feels the need to try to deflate others fun :P
On the note of deflating fun, this whole zeke thing makes me ill.
Dave Loman
My site: The Rusty Spike
"It's a penny for your thoughts, but you have to put your 2 cents in.... hey, someone's making a penny!"
CPRail modeler wrote:Y'know what? I just thought of something. Zeke could be this guy that I heard about from a friend. Does anyone know Al Mayo? I'm not trying to reignite a flame war but this may be right. This guy could also be a UPChuck impersonater/reincarnation. Think about it...
I don't think that Zeke and Union Pacific Chuck are the same people, the writing style is too much different, and I don't know if UP Chuck's home location was ever figured out, but I do know that Zeke's address is in Redding, CA.
challenger3980 wrote: CPRail modeler wrote:Y'know what? I just thought of something. Zeke could be this guy that I heard about from a friend. Does anyone know Al Mayo? I'm not trying to reignite a flame war but this may be right. This guy could also be a UPChuck impersonater/reincarnation. Think about it...I don't think that Zeke and Union Pacific Chuck are the same people, the writing style is too much different, and I don't know if UP Chuck's home location was ever figured out, but I do know that Zeke's address is in Redding, CA. Doug
Oh...well there is still the possibility of Zeke=Al Mayo, right?
CPRail modeler wrote: challenger3980 wrote: CPRail modeler wrote:Y'know what? I just thought of something. Zeke could be this guy that I heard about from a friend. Does anyone know Al Mayo? I'm not trying to reignite a flame war but this may be right. This guy could also be a UPChuck impersonater/reincarnation. Think about it...I don't think that Zeke and Union Pacific Chuck are the same people, the writing style is too much different, and I don't know if UP Chuck's home location was ever figured out, but I do know that Zeke's address is in Redding, CA. DougOh...well there is still the possibility of Zeke=Al Mayo, right?
Well CP, I wont say that it's not possible, because I am not familiar with the Forum ID Al Mayo, anything is possible, and often Truth is stranger than Fiction
challenger3980 wrote: CPRail modeler wrote: challenger3980 wrote: CPRail modeler wrote:Y'know what? I just thought of something. Zeke could be this guy that I heard about from a friend. Does anyone know Al Mayo? I'm not trying to reignite a flame war but this may be right. This guy could also be a UPChuck impersonater/reincarnation. Think about it...I don't think that Zeke and Union Pacific Chuck are the same people, the writing style is too much different, and I don't know if UP Chuck's home location was ever figured out, but I do know that Zeke's address is in Redding, CA. DougOh...well there is still the possibility of Zeke=Al Mayo, right? Well CP, I wont say that it's not possible, because I am not familiar with the Forum ID Al Mayo, anything is possible, and often Truth is stranger than Fiction Doug
Okay...how about the SN Shuttheh**lup? Monster railroad? These were some of his former SN's. He also did an A-Z insult list. Ring any bells?
actually I think zeke's new username is: newusername
He just posted a topic about HO scale figures.
Smoke wrote: CPRail modeler wrote: challenger3980 wrote: CPRail modeler wrote:Y'know what? I just thought of something. Zeke could be this guy that I heard about from a friend. Does anyone know Al Mayo? I'm not trying to reignite a flame war but this may be right. This guy could also be a UPChuck impersonater/reincarnation. Think about it...I don't think that Zeke and Union Pacific Chuck are the same people, the writing style is too much different, and I don't know if UP Chuck's home location was ever figured out, but I do know that Zeke's address is in Redding, CA. DougOh...well there is still the possibility of Zeke=Al Mayo, right?actually I think zeke's new username is: newusernameHe just posted a topic about HO scale figures.
I checked that SN and it has been around for the last YEAR. The thread was about finding HO scale figurines that were "mooning". Can someone say INAPPROPRIATE?
CPRail modeler wrote:Oh...well there is still the possibility of Zeke=Al Mayo, right?
I think we're at a point where we're willing to associate all known ills in the world to Zeke, often based on nothing but gut assumptions about other posters, based on behaviors that we do not approve of. Let's take a step back and deal with facts.
If you remember what happened last time somebody brought him up, then don't bring him up!
Can we finally move on?...Please?
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
After reading a lot of the comments in this thread, I've come to the conclusion that a LOT of people were suspicious of this now-revealed scam, right from the get-go, but were just too polite to question it while it was unfolding. As a Canadian, I have to say that our American friends are known worldwide for their collective generosity, but unfortunately, there are some of their own brethren who are more than willing to take advantage of that reputation, as there are here in Canada and probably most places in the world. OF COURSE we feel sorry for those who have had incredible hardships, but I'm wondering if this forum is the place for anybody even personally reporting such tragedy or hardship such as has happened a couple of times in the past. If they do choose to do so, maybe just a simple "our deepest sympathy, or our thoughts are with you" would suffice, instead of sending gifts to or sharing personal information with people we don't even really know. I know I'll get slammed for appearing to be heartless or uncaring, but that isn't so. Maybe it's my Canadian upbringing, (we are supposed to be notorious for being conservative). I just think that careful consideration should be given to any of these so-called "tragic" stories to make sure that they are factual. I hope that I haven't offended anyone with this input, it's the way I see the situation.
Speaking of writing style, regaurdless of the outlandish death bed/recovery/death bed/recovery story didnt anyone notice the writing/grammar/capitalization/puncunation was identical for both the zeke character/girlfriend? I just skimmed the orginal thread, but it was apparent to me. I was unaware of this 'person' asking for money or 'gifts', but I avoid all the 'click/club' threads like the plague so I knew nothing of this 'zeke' or asking for gifts.
Not to say everyone should be a cynic, but the internet provides many bored/bi-polar/cronic liars/attention deprived individuals a platform.
PFS wrote:Speaking of writing style, regaurdless of the outlandish death bed/recovery/death bed/recovery story didnt anyone notice the writing/grammar/capitalization/puncunation was identical for both the zeke character/girlfriend? I just skimmed the orginal thread, but it was apparent to me.
Speaking of writing style, regaurdless of the outlandish death bed/recovery/death bed/recovery story didnt anyone notice the writing/grammar/capitalization/puncunation was identical for both the zeke character/girlfriend? I just skimmed the orginal thread, but it was apparent to me.
I noticed that too, but I figured that Zeke had lost so many vital body parts that they were probably taking spare components out of Jenny, thus accounting for the similarities.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
SteamFreak wrote: PFS wrote: Speaking of writing style, regaurdless of the outlandish death bed/recovery/death bed/recovery story didnt anyone notice the writing/grammar/capitalization/puncunation was identical for both the zeke character/girlfriend? I just skimmed the orginal thread, but it was apparent to me. I noticed that too, but I figured that Zeke had lost so many vital body parts that they were probably taking spare components out of Jenny, thus accounting for the similarities.
PFS wrote: Speaking of writing style, regaurdless of the outlandish death bed/recovery/death bed/recovery story didnt anyone notice the writing/grammar/capitalization/puncunation was identical for both the zeke character/girlfriend? I just skimmed the orginal thread, but it was apparent to me.
hahaha ....and they became one....oh wait, they were all along.
So he was selling his HO stuff too? He told us O scalers he was getting out of O and staying in HO.
A bunch of the stuff we O scalers sent him ended up on eBay. But most of the listings are gone now, including the ZW. I think he said the ZW was given to him, but not by a forum member. A Lionel ZW, if you're not familiar with it, is a high-end 275 watt transformer. They sell for anywhere from $150 to $300 today, depending on physical condition and how well they operate.
Search Craigslist in Redding (http://redding.craigslist.org) for "Lionel" and you'll see postings where he's trying to sell the stuff too. There are also some postings on Craigslist written in the same writing style we saw here, claiming to be a veteran and such, looking for odd jobs mostly involving manual labor. It's consistent with what we saw here, except he told us he was disabled.
I did punch the address into Google Maps, flipped to hybrid view, and zoomed in. It's a residential area, with lots of pools and what appear to be pretty nice-sized houses. Interesting.
I have actually corresponded with him recently. I asked why the locomotive I sent him was on eBay. He said he offered to give back anything people wanted, but I was the only one who asked. I'll let everyone know if my locomotive shows back up.
I gave him a locomotive and some track because he appeared to be a disabled vet looking for a hobby and having a hard time getting his used trains running. What I sent him was bottom of the line stuff, hoping it would give him something to do until he could get one or more of his engines running. I guess other people were sending him much more extravagent stuff.
I'm not overly attached to the locomotive I sent him (I had another one just like it). But I used to be a journalist, so I really want to know the rest of the story.
Susan K. Anderson (reallywickedsue) lives on E. Bonnyville Rd., Redding, CA 96001. Her husband, Logan S. Anderson, died in 2002. His last residence was in Fremont, CA. According to her Myspace page, she has a 33-year-old daughter, Jenn (Jenny?). Susan's English is far better than Zeke's. Jenn lives with "My Family" and has a 30-year-old boyfriend, Brian (another familiar name). Jenn's writing resembles Zeke's; but neither of the words "through" nor "threw" appears. Both Susan and Jenn claim to have a 15-year-old son, Joshua, who recently had brain surgery for Cushing's disease.
Bob Nelson
initagain wrote: As a Canadian, I have to say that our American friends are known worldwide for their collective generosity,
As a Canadian, I have to say that our American friends are known worldwide for their collective generosity,
Thank You initagain!! It's nice to hear a kind word directed at us instead of the usual bashing we get from the rest of the world. We are definatly not all but it's seems our bad apples get most of the press!
challenger3980 wrote: Hi Tom, You are right I missed a digit, it should be item # 270144876788, I missed the 7 third digit from the end. but you will also find it by checking sellers other items list. Another forum member posted maybe he is selling it to pay other expenses ( such as medical) and it was a gift, so even if not accepted in the spirit given, he is free to do as he pleases with them, but admittedly it was sent to cheer him up, and did feel like a slap in the face, like the scam warnings( which I read after having sent it) maybe had some validity. Doug
Hi Tom,
You are right I missed a digit, it should be item # 270144876788, I missed the 7 third digit from the end. but you will also find it by checking sellers other items list.
Another forum member posted maybe he is selling it to pay other expenses ( such as medical) and it was a gift, so even if not accepted in the spirit given, he is free to do as he pleases with them, but admittedly it was sent to cheer him up, and did feel like a slap in the face, like the scam warnings( which I read after having sent it) maybe had some validity.
Dong- He probably did enjoy the gifts you sent him, but need the money to help pay the medical expenses, and besides none of us know wether he even sold some or almost all of his own rolling stock, locos, even maybe his entire layout, but hey we don't know that.
ModelTrainLover wrote: challenger3980 wrote: Hi Tom, You are right I missed a digit, it should be item # 270144876788, I missed the 7 third digit from the end. but you will also find it by checking sellers other items list. Another forum member posted maybe he is selling it to pay other expenses ( such as medical) and it was a gift, so even if not accepted in the spirit given, he is free to do as he pleases with them, but admittedly it was sent to cheer him up, and did feel like a slap in the face, like the scam warnings( which I read after having sent it) maybe had some validity. DougDong- He probably did enjoy the gifts you sent him, but need the money to help pay the medical expenses, and besides none of us know wether he even sold some or almost all of his own rolling stock, locos, even maybe his entire layout, but hey we don't know that.
Model Train Lover,
This idea is easy to debunk, if you look at the ebay sellers feedback there have been purchases for model railroad equipment since. That makes it rather doubtful, in my opinion, that it was to pay medical bills, Bottom line, I was STUPID and got suckered as did at least one other forum member. The purpose of this thread was to help other forum members avoid making the same mistake that I did.
Well, if any of you are interested, in the Toy trains section, the "Zeke" thread, A guy posted a response from Zeke from another forum stating he was planning on returning the items sent to him. Of course this is after he/she/whoever got busted trying to selling them on EBay. Zeke claims he never wanted or asked for the stuff, so instead of sending it back first with a big 'thank you, though", he/she/ they(?) sells them on EBay? That to me justifies it was a scam. That's what thye do when they get caught, put the guilt back on those kind soles that tried to do something special to help them or cheer them up with the whole "I never asked you to this" bit, knowing all the while they were pulling at your strings hoping you will.
Anyway, I'm of my box. thought that anyone here who sent him something who hasn't seen it might want to know.
Good day, ya'll, and good luck on getting your stuff back.
As a regular from the Classic Toy Trains forum, I think that the reason so many of us were duped by Zeke, myself included (although I didn't send him anything), was that long before the tale of woe delivered by "Jenny", he was a frequent and very enthusiastic contributer to the forum. He first came on asking for advice about a Lionel engine he purchased at a garage sale that needed repair work done to it. This was perfectly acceptable and everyone was happy to help out this person on their start in the O gauge three-rail hobby. As time went on, he was asking questions about how to properly go about building the O gauge layout he was starting. In no time at all, he was basically "one of the guys" at the CTT forum. He even started a topic encouraging everyone to post pictures of themselves, in which he included his own pictures (although who they were actually of is anyone's guess). All of this combined made most of us believe that this guy was legit. My first impression of him was that he certainly wasn't very smart, but there are no I.Q. tests that need to be passed to qualify as a member of the model train hobby and he seemed to make up for his intelligence with enthusiasm.
He was actively posting for a couple months and well-established in the forum community before "Jenny" ever came onto the scene. I'm sure that if he had joined the forum and only a couple of weeks later posted Jenny's saga, none of us would have believed him.
One post of his that is interesting to look back on now is one in which he told the story of meeting an elderly gentleman who had a large train collection and out of kindness gave him a Lionel ZW transformer, a Lionel Lackawanna 4-8-4 and some track (all of which ended up on ebay). In this story, he mentioned his politeness with the man and his wife (calling them "sir" and "ma'am") and of the bond that formed between the two because of them both being veterans. Certainly if a simmilar experience happened to me, I wouldn't tell it with such self-effacing frankness. Unfortunately, I assumed that he was simply naiive and didn't have the tact or brains for modesty. Not long after, Zeke posted that the elderly gentleman died without mentioning anything about a funeral or the fate of his trains. I thought this rather odd at the time, but really didn't give it any more thought.
My theory is that he probably just wanted attention. This certainly explains his extreme keenness before all of this. Simply posting on the forum got him some attention, telling his heartwarming story about the old man giving him trains got him more attention and having a heart attack and brain tumor got him a lot of attention. It also got him some trains, which he may or may not have planned on, but certainlly didn't mind I'm sure. Actually, if he really is a fifteen-year-old who needs to pull a stunt like this in order to get attention, I can't help but feel sorrry for him.
It will be interesting to see if he actually ends up sending back the trains he got...
Here's the post from Modeltrainjournal by Zeke referencing sending the trains back. It has since been pulled. This was where he said people would be getting their trains back.
well im not 15 And thats not my mom. But anyways. I would like to tell all of you that i am returning each and every train i recieved. not because i didnt deserve it, cuz i did. I am returning them because i have no interest left in the hobby and so why not return them. These were gifts i never asked for anything. I cant post this on ctt but i know it will make its way there. I was gonna ebay them but thought it threw and it just wasnt the right thing to do. Im not trying to save myself, not tryin to get in anyones good graces cuz were past that, Im returning them soley because i dont want them. I hear constantly how i lied but yet have not seen one relevant thing about what the lie was over. Doesnt matter. I fear nobody and have not broke any laws. they were all gifts , and will be returned. Dont know who is feeding you all info but its wrong but whatever. You wont hear from me again as i am taking leave for a bit. Tired of the phone calls threatining my life. That isnt even gonna happen just tired of hearing it. And well i wish you all the best of luck. I never meant for any of this to happen
He was referring to the theory that Zeke is actually reallywickedsue's 15-year-old son. I've heard three theories as to Zeke's true identity: 1. He is a 30-something with a girlfriend named Jenny whose mother is named Susan, like he says. 2. He is reallywickedsue's 15-year-old son. 3. He's reallywickedsue.
Having read Zeke's posts in various places, his postings on Craigslist, and reallywickedsue's eBay and Myspace pages, I don't believe Zeke and reallywickedsue are the same person. Their writing styles are too different. I've been told reallywickedsue's Myspace page mentions a 33-year-old daughter Jenny with a boyfriend named Brian Watkins. That supports the theory that Brian "Zeke" Watkins is a 30-something male.
I can't speak for anyone else who gave to him. I can say that I gave him a Marx locomotive back in May because he was having trouble getting his Lionels working. I had an extra locomotive in the basement that I wasn't using, so I spent a couple of hours one night fixing it up and checking it out and I sent it to him, along with a loop of track, so he'd have something to do, because he said he was a bored veteran looking for a hobby.
Zeke never came out and asked for anything to my knowledge, but soon after I sent him that Marx locomotive, he changed his signature line to read something like, "Do something nice for someone you normally wouldn't. You'll like it!" That's not directly asking someone for trains, but it sure sounds like an indirect request to me. A few weeks later, after he posted a story about an experienced train collector inviting him into his basement and showering him with gifts, he changed his signature line again, in reference to that story. Again, not a direct request for gifts. But some would interpret that as an indirect request.
Now one thing that bothers me about this post is that he says he's been getting phone calls and death threats. That's crossing a line. That's not cool. I know on another forum he said something to DennisB (a user on MTJ and CTT's forum) that Dennis interpreted as a death threat. Something like, "I've killed people for less." I saw the message and I can see how Dennis interpreted it as a death threat. But I can also see how that could have been unintentional. Zeke was mad when he wrote it and sometimes the things he wrote weren't very clear even when he wasn't mad.
There's no need for anyone else to give Zeke death threats. Dennis says he reported that to the FBI, so let them handle it. And there's no point in giving a death threat over a $300 (or $25) train. There is a procedure for handling that. Ask for the train back, and if you don't get it back, visit http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm and fill out a complaint.
I haven't addressed the lies. I don't know that anyone has ever publicly caught him in a lie. But there were inconsistencies in his stories. He went from near death to being home again in three days. Questionable. People who have had heart surgery said his stories about heart surgery weren't consistent. (I wouldn't know.) When Jenny was posting about Zeke using his account, she had the same writing style as Zeke. I'm a professional writer (in the sense that I've been paid to publish articles and a book), and it's my opinion that the postings by Zeke and Jenny were written by the same person, because they both made the same spelling, punctuation, grammatical, and capitalization errors.
None of these is a huge deal. But the combination of these, and other things other people have observed, call the whole story into question. The result is that some people call the whole story into question, up to and including the true identity of Brian "Zeke" Watkins himself, and question whether he might actually be 15. It's ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than the other elements of the story.
It really bothers me that the stuff turned up on eBay while all of this was still going down. He told me he offered to give the trains back before he put them up. That may be true. I didn't see it. But he didn't wait very long before the time he made his offer, and the time they got posted for sale. The trains were on eBay and Craigslist on Wednesday, and while the implosion was going on then, it didn't reach its peak until Thursday.
If Zeke makes good on things, returning the trains, and the guy in Canada gets his package, then that's one thing. That proves he has some character.
I guess the lesson in all this is to make sure you have a really good idea who you're giving gifts to online, and if you give something away, ask yourself first if it would bother you if it showed up on eBay soon after its arrival.