By ‘Dave on Wheels’ hit the headlines earlier this week as thousands were touched by witty blog posts and tweets purported to come from a profoundly deaf cerebral palsy sufferer called Dave Rose.
But after suspicious readers did some digging it has been revealed that the character was actually a bizarre hoax begun by an anonymous blogger in 2007. The Dave on Wheels blog has since been removed, along with related Twitter and Facebook accounts. The picture of ‘Dave’ has been identified as Hunter Dunn, a cerebral palsy sufferer living in Virginia.
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The blogger who revealed the deception, Kristi-Anne, wrote a post detailing her investigations on her blog, explaining what made her suspicious. It soon received a comment that appears to be an admission of guilt from the hoaxer.
The comment reads: “No celebrity or fame was intended in this ruse; it all came quite fast and was a total surprise. Yes, David has been online since 2007, so I mean the fame part of it. Up until recently he only had a handful of online friends. The quick and furious fame is actually what brought about the end of it all.
“David was just a character, a part of my psyche, and fame would soon reveal what it has revealed today. So, the character passed. In hindsight it probably would have been better just to shut it all down and have everyone wonder what the hell happened, but the final post was meant to have the effect it did. To inspire people to love and live a better life, and the public knowledge that it came under this false pretense takes it all away. I hope that people who were moved by it still live by it, but it seems unlikely. It's possible that more damage has been done in your reveal than in the original deception.”
Y! Lifestyle was taken in by the hoax and reported the story along with many other international news outlets. All links to the story now report to this article.
