Gary Stollman Chronology

I've been reading alt.alien.visitors off and on since it was created. For some reason I've always found Gary Stollman's articles to be among the most entertaining and interesting.

About a year ago I started saving all of Gary's longer posts. In these Gary describes events in his life, but often the prose jumps around in time. I finally got around to organizing all these events into a short chronology, which follows.

I was hoping that this exercise would give me some insight into Gary's situation. Maybe I was hoping to find inconsistencies that would let me write off Gary as joker. But what I found is that the various descriptions of different events are remarkably similar.

I'm convinced that Gary believes every word of what he says. Imagine what it must be like! Imagine truly believing that every time a phone rings it's due to some huge conspiracy, that every tiny noise on a telephone line means the phone is tapped. Imagine being convinced that every time someone speaks in a slightly different tone of voice that they have been replaced with a clone. It's easy to laugh at, but try to imagine honestly believing it.

Gary is an intelligent, computer-literate psychotic who is willing to post his experiences to the net. I used to be entertained by his articles, but now I can see them as nothing less than terrifying.

Here's the chronology if anyone is interested:

• ???? At age 10, Gary moves from New Jersey to California.
• ???? At age 16, Gary's mother sends him on a bus trip around the country. In Williamsburg, Virginia, he is beaten up in a motel room.
• 1973 San Diego. Gary believes he is being followed by the people who beat him up. Gary is attending Grossmont Community College.
• 1977 Summer. Gary's first exposure to computers at the USC computer fair. As the weeks pass he learns Basic, TOPS-10, Adventure, and Zork. As the years pass, he learns about ARPAnet.
• 1979 ???? Gary's accounts are deleted. He's convinced it's the work of the CIA or FBI. Gary makes another trip around the country.
• 1980 Gary writes love letters to Carrie Fisher of Star Wars. Gary meets Carrie at the Beverly Hills Library.
• 1981 Summer: Tallahassee, Florida. It all begins. Gary starts receiving strange phone calls.
• 1981 September: Gary starts classes at Tallahassee Community College. Gary suspects fellow students and faculty of spying on him, for some unspecified reason.
• 1981 ????: As a condition of graduation, Gary signs into a local mental hospital, named PATH. Gary suspects the hospital is a front for the CIA.
• 1981 ????: Gary is sent to a larger mental hospital, named Goodwood. He is discharged after several days.
• 1981 December: Gary goes to West Palm Beach with grandparents for Christmas vacation.
• 1982 January: Gary goes to Atlanta for New Years. The clone of his mother visits him when he returns (to Tallahassee?). He throws her out of his apartment, fends off police wanting to take him back to the local mental hospital and, panicked, drives to Atlanta in the snow.
• Gary decides to drive to Washington, DC. He stops in Cinncinati, Ohio. (Is that even on the way?) The police wind up taking him to the Cinncinati General Hospital, then to a locked ward in a mental hospital for four weeks.
• 1982 February: Gary's real father drives him back to Tallahasse. Gary moves into an apartment near FSU (Florida State University?). Gary panics again, starts driving to Los Angeles, loses his car at Houston International Airport. He spends another four weeks in another mental hospital.
• 1982 Spring in Los Angeles. Gary is on Prolixin, an anti-psychotic drug. He vacations in Hawaii with his parents.
• 1982 Summer. Gary returns to Tallahassee and attends two uneventful semesters at FSU.
• 1983 August. Gary is back in the local mental hospital.
• 1983 September. Back at school, but things deteriorate. Gary winds up in the hospital after an automobile accident. He undergoes plastic surgery to repair damage caused by the accident. Afterwards he is put in the mental hospital again.
• 1983 November. Back in classes at FSU.
• 1983 December. Back in the mental hospital.
• In and out of mental hospitals, back and forth between LA and Florida.
• 1984 Spring. Late for FSU registration, Gary explores the computer system called Plato and learns some computer languages.
• 1984 Summer. Gary enrolls at Lively Vo-Tech, taking Electronics Technology. All the people he gets to know are replaced with clones. Gary learns about Hangar 18.
• 1985 January? Gary tries to meet Allen J. Hynek, a UFO expert, but somehow misses him after driving to Chicago.
• 1985 December. Gary's mother puts him back in a mental hospital for two weeks. Two more weeks in the psychiatric ward of the UCLA Medical Center.
• 1986 Spring. Gary takes a computer class at Santa Monica College.
• 1986 Summer. Back to Tallahassee. Gary tries to obtain his records from the various mental hospitals. He decides he has to get back into one to see if there are still clones and CIA people there.
• 1987 January. Gary checks himself into the UCLA Medical Center for several weeks.
• Gary takes another computer class at Santa Monica College. He meets Joan McCaughey
• 1987 June. Gary purchases the fake gun.
• 1987 August 19. Gary forces his way into the KNBC studios, holds the gun on David Horowitz, forcing him to read Gary's statement. As a result, Gary spends an unknown amount of time in prison.
• 1992 ????. Gary suffers a nervous breakdown, partially as a result of his mother's stroke. At the Tallahassee Memorial Emergency Room a doctor makes two deep incisions in Gary's penis. Gary is then sent to the Tallahassee Psychiatric Hospital.
• 1992 April. Earliest alt.alien.visitors article from Gary that I saved. Posted from bluemoon.rn.com.
• 1992 August. Gary gets an account on netcom.com. Originally posted by Steve Belczyk (steve1@genesis.nred.ma.us)

  ---

  FAIR USE COPYRIGHT NOTICE

  This article contains copyrighted material that has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. MCF is offering this article available to our readers for the general purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching and/or research. We believe that our use of this material falls under the "fair use" provision of Title 17, Section 107 of the United States Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes other than that provided by law, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

  ---

  Back to MFC Index

  Back to Hambones Index