Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Hi, Basha;

 

I saw your article in the recent Trail Blazer.  I am glad

that Equus and Outside magazines are also pursuing the

story.  Actually, the largest circulation horse publication

in the country is Western Horseman.  They are the folks

that you should be trying to get interested.

 

Can I make one comment?

 

I believe that the Long Riders Guild is making a mistake

by so intensively demonizing Hopkins.  I think it backfires.

I believe it makes the Guild's case seem less credible than

it otherwise would sound if the same basic case was made

without sounding so, well, fanatical.

 

I believe the most effective tactic is to, as you have done,

disprove Hopkins plausible-sounding historical claims (the

1886 race, the Arabian race, etc.).  In other words, punch

your strongest points hardest.

 

The way these articles, and the articles on the Long Riders'

Guild web page sound--the Long Riders' Guild is not just

trying to discredit Hopkins, they want to pound him into

dust and then burn the ashes and then decompose the molecules!

There's too much hate coming through in the argument.

I believe it backfires and makes editors more wary of the Guilds'

statements, and not more intrigued.  We don't have a

mass-murderer here, just a spinner of tall tales.

 

I'd also leave out trying to accuse Hopkins' wife Gertrude

of fabrication.  The Hidalgo screenwriter has already turned this

theory against the Guild by claiming on his web page that the

core story of Hopkins' long-distance riding accomplishments are

true, and that it's not Frank's fault his wife went nuts-o after

he died and made up all the obviously ludicrous exaggerated

claims in the "biography" she penned for him and sent to the

cowboy museum.

 

Well, good luck.  Do you know for a dead fact why Hidalgo

has not been released yet?  Is Disney taking any more

cognizance of the case the Guild has built and switched its

publicity line to "based on the legends of Frank Hopkins"?

Or is it still sticking to its "based on a true story" guns? 

 

Best wishes,

 

Linda B. Merims

lbm@xxxxxxxxx

Norris, TN

USA

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: The Long Riders' Guild

To: CuChullaine O'Reilly

Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 10:33 AM

Subject: Report on Hopkins from Criminal Psychologist!

Hello

 

We are continuing to work like crazy here!  More amazing revelations about Hopkins are being discovered almost every day.  (www.thelongridersguild.com/hopkins.htm)

 

Equus and Outside magazines both have reporters who are finishing large stories about the Hopkins Hoax, and a respected Native American newspaper, "The Lakota Journal," has already filed a story.

 

This is just a quick note to let you know that Dale Yeager, the criminal psychologist who worked on the Jon Bennet Ramsay case, has sent us a psychological profile of Frank Hopkins.  His conclusion is that Hopkins was "a narcissist with sociopathic tendencies"!  (His complete report is attached, and also on our website.)

 

So we are not imagining it....

 

Kind regards

 

Basha

 

Basha O'Reilly FRGS

The Long Riders' Guild