Helen Keller: The Great Lie

               The following article was published in The New York Times in June 1962. Fearful of public outrage, the federal government allowed the CIA to sweep the story under the rug. The journalist mysteriously disappeared, and the New York Times issue was recalled. The public quickly forgot, and soon, everything was back to normal. Nobody would know about Helen Keller’s deceit… until now.

Perhaps it was curiosity that first had me look into the world of Helen Keller. I only heard about the woman over a cup of coffee with an associate of mine. For the purpose of keeping this individual safe, I will use a pseudonym, Pasty. Pasty told me the story of a woman, Helen Keller, from Alabama, who was blind, deaf, and mute. He iterated that even though she could not hear, speak, or see, she learned to read, write, and went on to accomplish great things. I thought to myself what a remarkable story as I finished the last drop of coffee in my mug. I knew I would have to tell her story to the entire world. However, as I poured through documentation, letters, birth records, and secret government files, I began to uncover a great secret. That’s when everything changed.

Helen Keller, allegedly born with 3 amazing disabilities, had no record anywhere of her blindness, deafness, or muteness. In fact, her birth records reflect a perfectly normal child. I wondered if maybe she just developed these ailments in her early adulthood, and lied about their origin, but the truth is far more disappointing.

Helen Keller’s father was a remarkable business man. When she was born, though, her father’s iron mining company had gone bankrupt. The family were broke, and on the verge on becoming beggars. At the time, he had heard of this remarkable young woman who was born without legs and arms, but still grew up to become an Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter butterfly. It turns out that this woman’s father faked the entire thing. It was a ploy so that he could rake in millions off public sympathy. The woman was just a patsy, a pawn. She had legs and arms the entire time; people just didn’t notice. Helen Keller’s father, with his connections to the government, figured he could do it without getting caught. He convinced Helen to pretend to be deaf, blind, and mute, so that that she and he could take over the world together.

When I discovered this, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. But I knew right there that the public had a right to know. I had no official evidence though. I needed photos. So, I snuck into the Keller estate and stayed for a week collecting sufficient photo evidence proving once and for all that Helen Keller was faking it the entire time. If you are skeptical of me, I don’t blame you, but see the evidence for yourself and tell me you don’t feel the betrayal as I do.

This was the first evidence I was able to collect. Helen Keller is a highly gifted individual, but that is not a product of heightened senses from the lack of others. I caught Helen being tutored in her studies at school. Now she’s clearly writing with a pencil and looking at words on a page. Helen and her father claims that she learned literacy through the teachings of Brail. This is no brail that I’ve ever seen, but perhaps this is not sufficient enough to convict her of her lies. Perhaps we need more.

The next photograph was an incident that startled me as much as it did her. Books are not for the blind, unless they are specifically for the blind. I never heard of a blind woman reading words on a page.

I believe this photograph of Helen reading a book will provide enough to convince you of her debauchery. She did not see my face, but she knew at the flash of my camera that she had been caught, and her secret uncovered.

Perhaps she was just feeling the book. Wondering what it was like to be regular. I’ll give her the benefit of doubt that maybe she had other intentions than to let her guard down and drop the charade.

I kept myself a skeptic, until I caught her in her in the boat with what I think puts the nail in the coffin for Ms. Keller.

Here she is. Helen Keller standing next to all of them Tuna she caught that day. It’s remarkable that someone who can’t hear a fish, let alone not even know what a fish looks like, could catch so many.

Maybe she is just that remarkable. I’ve heard of other disabled individuals who have caught sharks in the ocean, and wrestled bears in the woods. So, although I don’t buy it, especially seeing this, I will still provide her the courtesy of doubt. That being said, what you see next will shock you as it shocked me.

Helen Keller is walking a fucking tightrope! This alone proves that she is a god damn liar! She drove herself here in her Roles Royce classic, under the impression she was all alone. I knew she was up to no good! I knew it! She saw me with my camera and I snapped that photo. Ain’t no way in hell she is blind.  And if she is faking her blindness, then why not also fake her deafness, and muteness? But maybe I am wrong still. Maybe she is the first blind woman to walk a tight rope over the Grand Canyon. But this next photo is the strongest evidence I have.

Here she is. The last photo I was able to capture. Once she had found out I knew the truth, she was determined to take me down. As she sat by her window with a sniper rifle, awaiting me to make my presence known to all, I snuck behind her to make sure the world knew how much of a sharpshooter she really is.

It’s always disappointing to learn that someone so significant to history, someone I had at first admired, could also be so deceptive. Now I must warn you all that this information does not come at no cost. As I write this there are people banging on my door. I worry that I may not be here for much longer, perhaps by the end of the week I will be just a memory to the world. I only hope that my message lives on. If Helen Keller remains a significant figure of history, well then that is just a testament to how gullible society really is. Even if this is merely filed away, perhaps others will be curious enough to do their own due diligence.