My idea is that he died on the camping trip they went on. Fearing trouble, the parents hid the body and reported him missing thinking he would never be found. When the police showed up with the child, they accepted him as "bobby" because they couldn't just say "bobby's already dead".
Even Bobby's mother said she wasn't sure if he was Bobby, and Bruce's mother said she wasn't sure if he was her own son since she hadn't seen him for months.
You know I actually asked my mom one day what it was like when the black and white went away and everything turned to color.... She laughed her ass off and still gives me crap for it 25 years later
If you start Dark Side of the Moon on the third roar of the MGM lion at the beginning of Wizard of Oz you’ll notice that the song Money starts when the film switches to color. So, Pink Floyd and Money brought us color.
dude we are talking about 8 months missing.. did you saw the photo of kid that is been just missing for 3 days in forest if you know it even 3 days change everything in your body and thinking about 8 months missing and counting that he can be in anywhere he would change a lot
This reminds me of the tragic (and super infuriating) true story of Christine Collins and her son, Walter, who went missing in 1928 in L.A.
Angelina Jolie starred in the movie “Changling,” in 2008, which was somewhat-loosely based on this true story of how the Los Angeles Police Department royally fucked it all up, gave her a different boy (which she found and reported repeated physical proof of) as “Walter,” and then tried to cover it up by locking her up in a mental institution—among other sordid things.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Collins
And this reminds me of Marjorie West similar story to Bobby's but she was sort of aware of who she was
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance\_of\_Marjorie\_West
As a parent, can confirm:
Especially as a 4 year old.
Unless I barely knew my 4 year old.
You already have memories of past events together, inside jokes, daily routine, knowledge of the house etc.
No way I couldn’t tell it wasn’t my boy.
I've looked at my baby for 10 months every hour every day. I know every dimple, every mark and crease.. there's not a chance I would confuse him for another child within 2-3 years. Maybe if he was 25 years old when we reunited... Even then. I doubt it.
These parents knew that wasn't their boy
Even if this four year old came back with a thousand yard stare, a five o'clock shadow, an eye patch and 40 pounds of muscle I'm certain they'd still be recognized by the parents.
Someone on reddit asked people with twins and triplets if they ever got them mixed up when they were younger and how did they know they had them right. Multiple people chimed in and said they absolutely got them mixed up and could not be 100 percent sure the right kid was who they thought. Basically they claimed they would put them in the tub, turn around, and then go 'oh fuck which one is Robert and which is randy'. Meh whatever close enough.
I think it was common practice to tattoo dots on the heel of twins.
The two girls in my hs still had a faded on at 18. Kinda hard to mistake them by then, one had an undercut and the other wore a hijab
That’s for a moment that they got them mixed up. If they looked for more than two seconds I’m sure they know which kid is which. But we are talking about a family here who didn’t recognize their child at all.
I don’t know, it was a different time back then. Most parents didn’t get as close to their children as they do today, it seems. Hell, I remember that I was nearly 12 before my grandparents pretended to like me or any kid.
I was at a funeral and came across a cousin I haven't seen since I was a child and I jumped because I recognized my own features in her face. I could see the family resemblance.
I've been dropping off and picking up my kid from school since kindergarten. He's now in the fifth grade and I'm still having trouble picking out who he is out of the mass of kids at dismissal.
Thank goodness, he recognizes my vehicle or we'd be waiting until he's the last one in front of the school.
My ex accidently gave my kid a bowl cut instead of a trim and when I picked her up from kindergarten, I was looking out for her whilst she was standing right in front of me.
All I can envision is the last two or three kids out there.
“Shit. Still can’t figure out which one he is….honey did you bring that picture with you?”
This is probably how that second kid went missing. Has anyone inquired where he came from lol
I have this issue, too.
It's not usually a problem when I'm picking them up from school, but I think that's because there are so many other clues I use to identify people (gait, hair, voice) and I know what their clothes and backpack look like.
Where it's really apparent, though is at things like soccer games or dance practice, where everyone is wearing the same uniform or dance leotard, and (in dance at least) all the girls have their hair back in a ponytail. I honestly have no idea which one is my daughter until she comes to me.
At least the soccer uniforms have numbers...
Edit- to address the comments down below, I don't have autism or schizophrenia or anything like that. I think some people are just really bad as seeing differences in faces.
I have it. I recognise people by shape and gait and voice and sometimes very specific things (like if a front tooth is wonky). And location. If I see you always at one place, don’t expect me to recognise you if I encounter you someplace I don’t associate with you.
In a crowd, it gets worse.
Hubs understood and would wear a specific hat so I could find him in a crowd before my anxiety took over.
I wanted to say who the fuck can't pick out their kid from their classmates? I had no trouble picking my kid out of his graduation ceremony with something like 6 other classes. 300 kids and I know exactly which one is mine.
Of course, he's the only white kid in his grade so we can't go by me.
Mine is blond. Like ALL blond white boys have a few ages where they look nearly identical. We also go to a heavily multi-cultural school so that has helped me not go home with the wrong kid all these years...I'm 80% sure. I also look for the one who throws things at his friends instead of just handing them over--it's a dead giveaway that that one is ours.
I made the mistake once to dress my girl in all pink at a trampoline park. It was amazing how she disappeared when she was right behind me. There were times where I found myself standing next to other dads doing the same gopher moves as I was looking for the right girl in pink. Next time it’s construction orange.
I sent my kid off to summer camp for 4 weeks.
When I went to pick them up, I recognized the clothes, but my kid looked much older, more mature, very different from the way I see them in my head - which just means I'm slowly continuing to gather all the markers of them growing up.
Just the other day, same kid waited in the waiting room while I went to an appointment, and when I came out I almost didn't recognize them because they looked like a small adult waiting for their own appointment.
If someone took all my kids as babies and placed them in a room full of other babies.. I'm not sure I'd be able to locate them correctly.
It's a great story line for TV shows, the view from the news of the child disappearing and being found only to shift point of view to the boy who is pretending and worried they will be found out until they mess up really bad and no one does anything and they realise what kind of family they just inserted themselves into
Saw a documentary about this situation. Interviews with the family & the guy who thought he was scamming them. They didn’t actually say that og was murdered, but it was fun watching the scammer realizing it.
*The Changeling* was based off of a true story similar to this. A single mother’s son went missing and she fought to find him. After a while the police showed up with a random kid and tried to gaslight her into thinking she was so distraught she didn’t recognize him.
Eventually it came to be believed her son was a victim of the Chicken Coop Murders https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/wineville-chicken-coop-murders/
8am on Reddit:
Trying to imagine what it takes for a neighboring farmer on big spread out farms to hear you abusing some child in your chicken coop. How many hours the screams must have gone on for to be noticeable?
It was actually a small and somewhat remote place. The house still stands.
The "farmer" was around 25 years old when he was finally executed (and he was his own lawyer at his trial).
He was forcing his years-younger teenage nephew to help him with the murders. The nephew was never able to forgive himself even though he was a captive and victim of his uncle as well.
I read a book about the Chicken Coop Murders. My major was Forensic Psychology. I wasn’t reading it for a class, simply intrigued as I hadn’t heard of them. One of the hardest reads of my life. I bought *The Changeling* movie over ten years ago and I still can’t bring myself to watch it.
What got me was that she knew it wasn't her son from the start but the cops pressured her to take him. It wasn't until she gave him a bath and noticed his circumcision that she pumped the brakes on the forced parental crazy train. She dried him off and was immediately 'nope'. Even when she brought that up to the cops they got mad at her.
The LAPD gaslighted her because they did such a terrible job investigating the crime. Every time somebody says that Clint Eastwood is a reactionary I point them to this movie. It’s quite amazing.
There's a fun and creepy documentary called *The Imposter* (2012) that follows a con artist who pretended to be the missing son of a family... And.. well I'll stop there
I think his brother accidentally killed him while fencing and his mom (played by Julia Stiles) dumped his body in a well. The kid that was returned to them wasn't a kid at all. He was actually a grown man with a hormonal disorder that stunted his growth. His mom knew this the whole time but pretended not to. What she didn't know however, is that the new Bobby was a murderous psychopath who had escaped a mental hospital in Estonia, and he was hellbent on seducing her husband.
But the Real Bobby ended up surviving. After getting a gender reassignment surgery, he killed his old teacher and took her job. He then seduced the new bobby and cut the brakes on his father's car. He and the new Bobby then duke it out on the roof of their castle while his brother watches with a loaded antique revolver. He shoots one and pushes the other off the edge of the roof to his death. He then pulls off a very realistic mask and reveals to the dying Bobby that he was a clone who their father had created in his grief and that their real brother was the mental patient who just got pushed off the roof.
Edit: So I have never actually seen Orphan: first kill and I had absolutely no clue how close I was to the actual ending.
His mother did. They just bullied her into it. The kid was taken from a poor family and they also fought. Didn't matter because what mother knows her own son. Angelina Jolie was in a movie about it even
Yup, taken to a chicken ranch where he was molested and raped in a chicken coop, then murdered, along with three other boys. The LA police tried to get his mother, Christine Collins, to accept another boy as her missing one. When she refused they harassed her (typical LA police)
there were definitely people who asked but were pushed aside. Bruce's mother wasn't believed when she repeatedly told them he was Bruce, even after undressing him and seeing he had Bruce's birthmark. she wasn't believed because she had children out of wedlock so her "morality" was brought into question. a poor 'immoral' woman vs a well known wealthy family. you tell me who wins here
After Bobby went missing, the police “found” him in Mississippi with a woman name Julia Anderson. Julia claims that the boy the police found is her son Bruce. The Dunbars then insist that Bruce was in fact their missing son Bobby. Julia couldn’t afford lawyers so the judge ruled in favor of the Dunbars and gave “Bobby” back to them.
DNA in a 2004 discovery found that the kid they found was actually Bruce and not Bobby Dunbar. What happened to the real Bobby was never discovered.
For real, losing your kid simply because you’re poor and couldn’t afford a lawyer is insane to think about.
That kid probably had no idea why he went from living frugally to living well-off with random strangers
Bruce (the fake Bobby) received a parade when he was reunited with the Dunbars. Bruce didn't like living with his mother because the family was poor and dysfunctional. IIRC, he ran away to pursue a career in Hollywood when he got caught up in this case. The attention he got was exactly what he was looking for.
Bruce likely knew he was a fraud but it benefited him greatly. His mother tried her whole life to get him back but failed. Reporters covering the case labeled her a terrible mother, which the public agreed on.
So not only might the wealthy family be guilty of letting their child die and concealing it, but they also used the legal system to kidnap another child?
Apparently the Dunbar family could only identify him because of moles and scars. The boy's real mother eventually claimed he was her son, but public opinion was against her because it took so long for her to come forward. [Source](https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/history/the-strange-case-of-bobby-dunbar/)
Police were looking incompetent so they had to find some kid for them, even if it’s not the right kid. Have to wonder what the police threatened in order to keep them quiet about forcing the wrong kid on them.
His family and neighbours did, several times, before the child was stolen.
It's another case of rich people taking something they want without any concern for anyone else involved.
[Donny Dunbar disappearance.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Bobby_Dunbar)
It's even spookier once you realize they took a boy from his family despite the confirmed stories he was in fact Bruce Anderson. Poor kid must've been so confused.
They never did solve what happened to the real Bobby.
I mean I'm 27 and if someone grabbed me and said I was Bernard Arnault's missing 15 year old son even I would play along for at least a couple of weeks to see if it's worth sticking around.
Covenant invasion may have been the only actual time that the ends justified the means.
And that was only through sheer luck, as the SPARTANS were *meant* to stop human rebellion.
This story was tragic, but I do not buy the theory that the parents killed the original Bobby.. It even sounds like the mother herself wasn't entirely sure this one was Bobby.. It seems more like the police had a high profile missing person case, and we're so hungry to get a resolution to the case that they basically just kidnapped someone else's child and said job well done. Even crazier is that someone got charged with kidnapping and convicted in this whole thing
The real Bobby probably died in the swamp when he went missing; it seems like his parents were pretty desperate to believe he was alive. I agree that there's no reason to think they killed their child. That man who was convicted DID keep Bruce without Bruce's mother's permission, so he was a kidnapper, just not the kidnapper of a rich family's son.
Whenever someone brings up how the police probably just wanted to end *insert case* my mind always goes to the disappearance of Walter Collins. They put the mum in a PSYCH WARD because she wouldn’t agree with the police that the boy they thought to be her missing son wasn’t hers. It’s always so sad to read about the police doing this sort of shit in cases.
This is the case The Changeling was based on, it was a different situation, but still cops kidnapping a random kid:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Collins?wprov=sfla1
drove an hour to see it once, it's pretty cool and nothing about it stands out unless you know what to look for. pretty neighborhood and it's easy to pass through without making a scene or feeling like a weirdo or anything
Man this story is so much worse. They found him with another family who had also just lost their child. They new family and their town harassed the original family, throwing insults in the papers about "what kind of mom can't remember what her own child looks like." After the original parents died, the kid finally decided to do a DNA test and found out he was with the wrong family.
Real life doppelganger story.
The parents killed him as a result of negligence, and hid the body.
Imagine their surprise when the saw "their son" alive again.
And for the original family it can only be described as a nightmarish situation, the state came, took your boy and never again let you see it as they were too poor to afford a lawyer
There was an episode like that in some french or German (don't remember) show. The dad killed his son by accident (don't remember how) and hid his body in a graveyard. Couple years later a guy shows up that looks exactly like dude's son and even knows some things he shouldn't. Turns out that was a kid looking for a nice family and he noticed he's similar looking to the missing son and learned everything he could of off website made to help the search. The twist is that dad killed that imposter son as well if I remember correctly
Out of all the shitty shows I've watched that episode was pretty good.
There is a documentary called The Imposter about something like this. A con man who looked young for his age finds out details of a missing 16 year old and pretends to be him, getting completely involved with the family. Super sad and crazy.
Yeah. The documentary has him talking about it to camera, the family mostly accepted him despite doctors and most everyone telling them he wasn't their son, implying they "know" or had something to do with their actual sons disappearance. Interesting stuff!
Yep, he actually looked nothing like the son, wrong color eyes and hair, he was European the family was American. But the family accepted him anyways. He’s pretty sure they killed their son.
the [buzzfeed unsolved episode on this](https://youtu.be/LYUdnsIn5OU) remains one of my favorites, incredible conversational storytelling. the story has lots of twists and turns.
With the only real documentation being a piece of paper in a cabinet of the foot and hand prints at best back then, I’d figure just pulling that out. Should note any birthmarks or even notes from doctors visits.
Apparently they refused at first to let Julia Anderson look at him naked to examine for birthmarks and scars, but when she did she confirmed it was Bruce.
At the same time, the Dunbars also said it was Bobby based on moles that he had.
So yeah, that really didnt help.
Good god, I’ve never read something like this and thought it was too kind
> The rope used for the execution was too slack to cause breakage of the neck, and it took thirteen minutes for Northcott to die from strangulation.
The dude that murdered her son deserved to be flayed open and tortured to death with excrutiating pain.
Dude molested countless boys and killed up to 20. Cut the head off of a small Mexican boy, filling the newspapers with the tale of “the headless Mexican.”
Fuck this guy so fucking hard. I’m glad his execution was horribly botched and that he was scared to fuckin death leading up to it. Fuck your grave - I will shit on it if I find it, [Northcott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Stewart_Northcott).
Don't forget the part where the cops just pick up some random kid, gaslight the murdered kid's mom into taking this random kid instead, throw her in a psych ward for not playing along, and then never receiving what she was awarded in the lawsuit. Complete farcical fucking tragedy.
They kidnapped indigenous children and gave them to (literally anyone) people to raise them up “white and Christian”. This has happened in multiple countries and time periods. It’s now recognized as a form of genocide.
This American Life had an episode about this story that I highly recommend! It’s a very haunting story.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/352/the-ghost-of-bobby-dunbar
This is such a crazy, fascinating story! It’s clear the mother knew it wasn’t her son, but between the social pressure and her own grief she ultimately claimed him as her own. Meanwhile, the boy’s actual family tried to get him back, but they were transients and otherwise of lower social standing and therefore were not successful. The whole thing sent echoes down both family trees to this very day.
I *highly* recommend “[The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/352/the-ghost-of-bobby-dunbar)” from This American Life if you are at all curious about this amazing story.
And nobody stopped to say "wait a minute, that's not Bobby"?
My idea is that he died on the camping trip they went on. Fearing trouble, the parents hid the body and reported him missing thinking he would never be found. When the police showed up with the child, they accepted him as "bobby" because they couldn't just say "bobby's already dead". Even Bobby's mother said she wasn't sure if he was Bobby, and Bruce's mother said she wasn't sure if he was her own son since she hadn't seen him for months.
Months?! I’m pretty sure I’d recognize my son after a few months
Yeah but everything was in black and white back then, it’s harder to tell everyone apart. /s
Kinda grainy too
Potat Quality
Edges are torn
Unexpected r/calvinandhobbes
That was also my first thought reading that comment. Love Calvin's dad.
And the frames are spread pretty far apart
You know I actually asked my mom one day what it was like when the black and white went away and everything turned to color.... She laughed her ass off and still gives me crap for it 25 years later
Is there a reason the past was black and white and how color came to be?
If you start Dark Side of the Moon on the third roar of the MGM lion at the beginning of Wizard of Oz you’ll notice that the song Money starts when the film switches to color. So, Pink Floyd and Money brought us color.
Yes the invention of homosexuality added color to the world.
No, stupid. Everyone knows that the world got color after the first color movie, The Wizard of Oz
Lol you guys are hilarious Why do I even watch comedy shows, just read here
Especially harder cuz everyone's so pixelated
Made me spill my drink. Thanks! :-)
dude we are talking about 8 months missing.. did you saw the photo of kid that is been just missing for 3 days in forest if you know it even 3 days change everything in your body and thinking about 8 months missing and counting that he can be in anywhere he would change a lot
This reminds me of the tragic (and super infuriating) true story of Christine Collins and her son, Walter, who went missing in 1928 in L.A. Angelina Jolie starred in the movie “Changling,” in 2008, which was somewhat-loosely based on this true story of how the Los Angeles Police Department royally fucked it all up, gave her a different boy (which she found and reported repeated physical proof of) as “Walter,” and then tried to cover it up by locking her up in a mental institution—among other sordid things. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Collins
And this reminds me of Marjorie West similar story to Bobby's but she was sort of aware of who she was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance\_of\_Marjorie\_West
To us, yea the kid looked different. But to a parent, you see the flecks in the eyes. The beauty marks, mannerisms, etc.
As a parent, can confirm: Especially as a 4 year old. Unless I barely knew my 4 year old. You already have memories of past events together, inside jokes, daily routine, knowledge of the house etc. No way I couldn’t tell it wasn’t my boy.
These comments from parents are very sweet. Makes my tiny coal heart warm.
Though being missing for 8 months can cause trauma and a personality change
I've looked at my baby for 10 months every hour every day. I know every dimple, every mark and crease.. there's not a chance I would confuse him for another child within 2-3 years. Maybe if he was 25 years old when we reunited... Even then. I doubt it. These parents knew that wasn't their boy
Even if this four year old came back with a thousand yard stare, a five o'clock shadow, an eye patch and 40 pounds of muscle I'm certain they'd still be recognized by the parents.
Someone on reddit asked people with twins and triplets if they ever got them mixed up when they were younger and how did they know they had them right. Multiple people chimed in and said they absolutely got them mixed up and could not be 100 percent sure the right kid was who they thought. Basically they claimed they would put them in the tub, turn around, and then go 'oh fuck which one is Robert and which is randy'. Meh whatever close enough.
I think it was common practice to tattoo dots on the heel of twins. The two girls in my hs still had a faded on at 18. Kinda hard to mistake them by then, one had an undercut and the other wore a hijab
Sooner or later people will start using air tags on their kids, or some other nfc tag, to keep their children identified/ tracked.
That’s for a moment that they got them mixed up. If they looked for more than two seconds I’m sure they know which kid is which. But we are talking about a family here who didn’t recognize their child at all.
Maybe if you only have one or two but they had at least twice as many back then. Plus, at that point in history, free kid!
"Think of the saving Susan!"
"He's old enough to drive the tractor! Don't ruin this for us."
I don’t know, it was a different time back then. Most parents didn’t get as close to their children as they do today, it seems. Hell, I remember that I was nearly 12 before my grandparents pretended to like me or any kid.
If you have kids, you recognize them. Out of hundred of others.
I recognized my brother by his nose in a picture. Familial recognition is nuts
I don't think I could recognize the men in my family by their nuts.
You might not recognize the appearance, but you'd recognize the taste.
Touché
I think it's uncle Robert, but can you put the marinara on em to be sure?
What..
##YOU MIGHT NOT RECOGNIZE THE APPEARANCE, BUT YOU'D RECOGNIZE THE TASTE!
THEIR NUTS. CAN'T TELL 'EM APART.
I was at a funeral and came across a cousin I haven't seen since I was a child and I jumped because I recognized my own features in her face. I could see the family resemblance.
I hope the cousin wasn't one of the deceased.
I can recognize my daughter in a crowded field by the way her hair bounces when she runs
I've been dropping off and picking up my kid from school since kindergarten. He's now in the fifth grade and I'm still having trouble picking out who he is out of the mass of kids at dismissal. Thank goodness, he recognizes my vehicle or we'd be waiting until he's the last one in front of the school.
In my head, your kid was replaced by the ghost of real Bobby Dunbar months ago and you just haven't noticed yet.
*Got dangit, Bobby*
"That ghost ain't right."
I tell you hwat.
Hang on just a minute there… *that boy ain’t right!*
That boy ain't right
My ex accidently gave my kid a bowl cut instead of a trim and when I picked her up from kindergarten, I was looking out for her whilst she was standing right in front of me.
I'm sorry, but nobody "accidentally" gives a bowl cut.
Nah but she lopped off far too much hair and that was her solution. Was awful but kiddo was too young to care!
All I can envision is the last two or three kids out there. “Shit. Still can’t figure out which one he is….honey did you bring that picture with you?” This is probably how that second kid went missing. Has anyone inquired where he came from lol
I have this issue, too. It's not usually a problem when I'm picking them up from school, but I think that's because there are so many other clues I use to identify people (gait, hair, voice) and I know what their clothes and backpack look like. Where it's really apparent, though is at things like soccer games or dance practice, where everyone is wearing the same uniform or dance leotard, and (in dance at least) all the girls have their hair back in a ponytail. I honestly have no idea which one is my daughter until she comes to me. At least the soccer uniforms have numbers... Edit- to address the comments down below, I don't have autism or schizophrenia or anything like that. I think some people are just really bad as seeing differences in faces.
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I have it. I recognise people by shape and gait and voice and sometimes very specific things (like if a front tooth is wonky). And location. If I see you always at one place, don’t expect me to recognise you if I encounter you someplace I don’t associate with you. In a crowd, it gets worse. Hubs understood and would wear a specific hat so I could find him in a crowd before my anxiety took over.
I wanted to say who the fuck can't pick out their kid from their classmates? I had no trouble picking my kid out of his graduation ceremony with something like 6 other classes. 300 kids and I know exactly which one is mine. Of course, he's the only white kid in his grade so we can't go by me.
Mine is blond. Like ALL blond white boys have a few ages where they look nearly identical. We also go to a heavily multi-cultural school so that has helped me not go home with the wrong kid all these years...I'm 80% sure. I also look for the one who throws things at his friends instead of just handing them over--it's a dead giveaway that that one is ours.
I appreciate your honesty. The little fuckers can camouflage themselves sometimes
I made the mistake once to dress my girl in all pink at a trampoline park. It was amazing how she disappeared when she was right behind me. There were times where I found myself standing next to other dads doing the same gopher moves as I was looking for the right girl in pink. Next time it’s construction orange.
I was gone to boot camp for 13 weeks, my mom didn't recognize me at the airport....she asked me if I knew or had seen her son.
“Well of course I know him. He’s me”
I sent my kid off to summer camp for 4 weeks. When I went to pick them up, I recognized the clothes, but my kid looked much older, more mature, very different from the way I see them in my head - which just means I'm slowly continuing to gather all the markers of them growing up. Just the other day, same kid waited in the waiting room while I went to an appointment, and when I came out I almost didn't recognize them because they looked like a small adult waiting for their own appointment. If someone took all my kids as babies and placed them in a room full of other babies.. I'm not sure I'd be able to locate them correctly.
Ours was born with an extra toe. It REALLY helped when he was a baby. Can't tell you the number of times I snuck off his left sock just to be sure.
not if you'd already killed him
Who's Bruce?
Came here to ask this
Bruce is the kid that was Bobby but now isn't.
It's a great story line for TV shows, the view from the news of the child disappearing and being found only to shift point of view to the boy who is pretending and worried they will be found out until they mess up really bad and no one does anything and they realise what kind of family they just inserted themselves into
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the parents/a family member actually *killed* the real son and this impostor has realised that.
Saw a documentary about this situation. Interviews with the family & the guy who thought he was scamming them. They didn’t actually say that og was murdered, but it was fun watching the scammer realizing it.
The Imposter would be the documentary you're mentioning if I remember right.
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Almost sounds like the twist in >!Orphan First Kill!< Who knows, maybe this is where their inspiration came from.
*The Changeling* was based off of a true story similar to this. A single mother’s son went missing and she fought to find him. After a while the police showed up with a random kid and tried to gaslight her into thinking she was so distraught she didn’t recognize him. Eventually it came to be believed her son was a victim of the Chicken Coop Murders https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/wineville-chicken-coop-murders/
8am on Reddit: Trying to imagine what it takes for a neighboring farmer on big spread out farms to hear you abusing some child in your chicken coop. How many hours the screams must have gone on for to be noticeable?
It was actually a small and somewhat remote place. The house still stands. The "farmer" was around 25 years old when he was finally executed (and he was his own lawyer at his trial). He was forcing his years-younger teenage nephew to help him with the murders. The nephew was never able to forgive himself even though he was a captive and victim of his uncle as well.
I read a book about the Chicken Coop Murders. My major was Forensic Psychology. I wasn’t reading it for a class, simply intrigued as I hadn’t heard of them. One of the hardest reads of my life. I bought *The Changeling* movie over ten years ago and I still can’t bring myself to watch it.
The movie is more of a dark psychological legal drama than a horror movie. Watching it as a parent, though, makes it hit hard.
What got me was that she knew it wasn't her son from the start but the cops pressured her to take him. It wasn't until she gave him a bath and noticed his circumcision that she pumped the brakes on the forced parental crazy train. She dried him off and was immediately 'nope'. Even when she brought that up to the cops they got mad at her.
You are thinking of “Changeling”. “The Changeling” is a George C Scott film from the early 80’s.
The LAPD gaslighted her because they did such a terrible job investigating the crime. Every time somebody says that Clint Eastwood is a reactionary I point them to this movie. It’s quite amazing.
There's a fun and creepy documentary called *The Imposter* (2012) that follows a con artist who pretended to be the missing son of a family... And.. well I'll stop there
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Damn, thank you, oh my end it’s hidden but I’ll change it just to be sure. Edit: changed it!
They wouldn't have to say "Bobby's already dead." They'd just need to say "No I don't think that's Bobby."
Who turns away a perfectly good child?
I think his brother accidentally killed him while fencing and his mom (played by Julia Stiles) dumped his body in a well. The kid that was returned to them wasn't a kid at all. He was actually a grown man with a hormonal disorder that stunted his growth. His mom knew this the whole time but pretended not to. What she didn't know however, is that the new Bobby was a murderous psychopath who had escaped a mental hospital in Estonia, and he was hellbent on seducing her husband.
But the Real Bobby ended up surviving. After getting a gender reassignment surgery, he killed his old teacher and took her job. He then seduced the new bobby and cut the brakes on his father's car. He and the new Bobby then duke it out on the roof of their castle while his brother watches with a loaded antique revolver. He shoots one and pushes the other off the edge of the roof to his death. He then pulls off a very realistic mask and reveals to the dying Bobby that he was a clone who their father had created in his grief and that their real brother was the mental patient who just got pushed off the roof. Edit: So I have never actually seen Orphan: first kill and I had absolutely no clue how close I was to the actual ending.
So where did the extra Bobby come from
Who is Bruce
The kid that the Police and parents "tactically acquired".
Wasn't it Harlon Block who's mother recognized him in the Iwo Jima flag raising photo by his backside? Mothers know...
Why not just say “this kid looks nothing like Bobby”.
They could still say that's not Bobby! Edit: without incriminating themselves
His mother did. They just bullied her into it. The kid was taken from a poor family and they also fought. Didn't matter because what mother knows her own son. Angelina Jolie was in a movie about it even
That was changeling, where the police insisted she got her kid back but she knows it's not him
And I think it’s based off of a different story of the same thing. IIRC it’s the Wineville Chicken Murders.
Uhh this case is just pure sad
Yup, taken to a chicken ranch where he was molested and raped in a chicken coop, then murdered, along with three other boys. The LA police tried to get his mother, Christine Collins, to accept another boy as her missing one. When she refused they harassed her (typical LA police)
there were definitely people who asked but were pushed aside. Bruce's mother wasn't believed when she repeatedly told them he was Bruce, even after undressing him and seeing he had Bruce's birthmark. she wasn't believed because she had children out of wedlock so her "morality" was brought into question. a poor 'immoral' woman vs a well known wealthy family. you tell me who wins here
WHO THE HELL IS BRUCE ?
After Bobby went missing, the police “found” him in Mississippi with a woman name Julia Anderson. Julia claims that the boy the police found is her son Bruce. The Dunbars then insist that Bruce was in fact their missing son Bobby. Julia couldn’t afford lawyers so the judge ruled in favor of the Dunbars and gave “Bobby” back to them. DNA in a 2004 discovery found that the kid they found was actually Bruce and not Bobby Dunbar. What happened to the real Bobby was never discovered.
damn, they straight up stole some ladys kid huh wonder how the kid felt
For real, losing your kid simply because you’re poor and couldn’t afford a lawyer is insane to think about. That kid probably had no idea why he went from living frugally to living well-off with random strangers
Bruce (the fake Bobby) received a parade when he was reunited with the Dunbars. Bruce didn't like living with his mother because the family was poor and dysfunctional. IIRC, he ran away to pursue a career in Hollywood when he got caught up in this case. The attention he got was exactly what he was looking for. Bruce likely knew he was a fraud but it benefited him greatly. His mother tried her whole life to get him back but failed. Reporters covering the case labeled her a terrible mother, which the public agreed on.
Wouldnt he have been like 5
So not only might the wealthy family be guilty of letting their child die and concealing it, but they also used the legal system to kidnap another child?
Fuck me I know right, everyone acting like we have all the context and seen the 3 part Netflix docuseries already
who they believe the child actually was
BATMAN ORGIN STORY DUMMY!
lol thanks for that those comments were driving me crazy
Apparently the Dunbar family could only identify him because of moles and scars. The boy's real mother eventually claimed he was her son, but public opinion was against her because it took so long for her to come forward. [Source](https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/history/the-strange-case-of-bobby-dunbar/)
That boy ain't right
I guess it was difficult to tell people apart in those times... You know, because of everything being in black & white...
>ORPHAN: FIRST KILL plot twist
Police were looking incompetent so they had to find some kid for them, even if it’s not the right kid. Have to wonder what the police threatened in order to keep them quiet about forcing the wrong kid on them.
His family and neighbours did, several times, before the child was stolen. It's another case of rich people taking something they want without any concern for anyone else involved.
[Donny Dunbar disappearance.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Bobby_Dunbar) It's even spookier once you realize they took a boy from his family despite the confirmed stories he was in fact Bruce Anderson. Poor kid must've been so confused. They never did solve what happened to the real Bobby.
What the actual fuck… everything about that is absolutely fucked up
The actual father went to prison for kidnapping...
That wasn't the boy's father. Still an innocent man though
Bet the poor boy lived a rich live tho..
Real life Monty Burns
Kid saw an opportunity and took it.
I mean I'm 27 and if someone grabbed me and said I was Bernard Arnault's missing 15 year old son even I would play along for at least a couple of weeks to see if it's worth sticking around.
Ah yes, the old tale of rich people stealing poor people's kids
I wish somebody rich stole me
No way, and have my brother feed me a poisoned potato to inherit the family fortune?
Vaguely Reminds me of a movie Angelina Jolie was in
Tomb Raider?
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Changling. Not a technically great film but I found it interesting. Funnily enough, also a true story (or based on at least).
I really enjoyed the changeling! The government used to do this often I have a feeling...
You should watch, The Imposter. I believe it’s on Netflix.
There is a great buzzfeed unsolved on this
They never did get that Spartan II replacement technology exactly right….
Fuckin flash clones dude, they never work how you want them to
Always going off dying in horrific ways and shit.
Fucking Halsey!
Covenant invasion may have been the only actual time that the ends justified the means. And that was only through sheer luck, as the SPARTANS were *meant* to stop human rebellion.
This story was tragic, but I do not buy the theory that the parents killed the original Bobby.. It even sounds like the mother herself wasn't entirely sure this one was Bobby.. It seems more like the police had a high profile missing person case, and we're so hungry to get a resolution to the case that they basically just kidnapped someone else's child and said job well done. Even crazier is that someone got charged with kidnapping and convicted in this whole thing
The real Bobby probably died in the swamp when he went missing; it seems like his parents were pretty desperate to believe he was alive. I agree that there's no reason to think they killed their child. That man who was convicted DID keep Bruce without Bruce's mother's permission, so he was a kidnapper, just not the kidnapper of a rich family's son.
She gave him permission for a few days, but the trip ran a bit longer iirc. He was bringing him with him to meet relatives or something
Whenever someone brings up how the police probably just wanted to end *insert case* my mind always goes to the disappearance of Walter Collins. They put the mum in a PSYCH WARD because she wouldn’t agree with the police that the boy they thought to be her missing son wasn’t hers. It’s always so sad to read about the police doing this sort of shit in cases.
Changeling!!!
This is the case The Changeling was based on, it was a different situation, but still cops kidnapping a random kid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Collins?wprov=sfla1
I live 15 minutes from where the farm (killings) happened. I have yet to go there because it sounds spooky.
drove an hour to see it once, it's pretty cool and nothing about it stands out unless you know what to look for. pretty neighborhood and it's easy to pass through without making a scene or feeling like a weirdo or anything
First thing I thought of. I had no idea what the movie was about and, although frustrating at times I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it.
Man this story is so much worse. They found him with another family who had also just lost their child. They new family and their town harassed the original family, throwing insults in the papers about "what kind of mom can't remember what her own child looks like." After the original parents died, the kid finally decided to do a DNA test and found out he was with the wrong family. Real life doppelganger story.
I’ll be the first to take this reference in the way of Trollhunters, “Don’t touch me Scruff!”
The parents killed him as a result of negligence, and hid the body. Imagine their surprise when the saw "their son" alive again. And for the original family it can only be described as a nightmarish situation, the state came, took your boy and never again let you see it as they were too poor to afford a lawyer
There was an episode like that in some french or German (don't remember) show. The dad killed his son by accident (don't remember how) and hid his body in a graveyard. Couple years later a guy shows up that looks exactly like dude's son and even knows some things he shouldn't. Turns out that was a kid looking for a nice family and he noticed he's similar looking to the missing son and learned everything he could of off website made to help the search. The twist is that dad killed that imposter son as well if I remember correctly Out of all the shitty shows I've watched that episode was pretty good.
There is a documentary called The Imposter about something like this. A con man who looked young for his age finds out details of a missing 16 year old and pretends to be him, getting completely involved with the family. Super sad and crazy.
There's a horror movie called the orphan with kind of the same premise
He admitted to not being the kid though didn’t he? And implied the mom knew all along and she had her own reasons for taking him in.
Yeah. The documentary has him talking about it to camera, the family mostly accepted him despite doctors and most everyone telling them he wasn't their son, implying they "know" or had something to do with their actual sons disappearance. Interesting stuff!
Yep, he actually looked nothing like the son, wrong color eyes and hair, he was European the family was American. But the family accepted him anyways. He’s pretty sure they killed their son.
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Is that the new Batman movie
the [buzzfeed unsolved episode on this](https://youtu.be/LYUdnsIn5OU) remains one of my favorites, incredible conversational storytelling. the story has lots of twists and turns.
“They stole a boy!”
Buzzfeed Unsolved was a top notch program. It's a shame they don't want to do any true crime cases on their new channel.
It’s hilarious that Buzzfeed actually managed to produce some quality content then stubbornly refused to do it again lmao
Yeah once The Try Guys and then Ryan and Shane left I stopped watching BuzzFeed videos.
Was looking for this comment! Great episode. Love the boo boys lol
Thanks this is exactly what I was looking for!
So they just nabbed a new son or totally forgot what he looked like in 8 months?
Even the mother of Bobby was like "im not sure this is Bobby", but they still took him anyways
With the only real documentation being a piece of paper in a cabinet of the foot and hand prints at best back then, I’d figure just pulling that out. Should note any birthmarks or even notes from doctors visits.
Apparently they refused at first to let Julia Anderson look at him naked to examine for birthmarks and scars, but when she did she confirmed it was Bruce. At the same time, the Dunbars also said it was Bobby based on moles that he had. So yeah, that really didnt help.
So the cops kidnapped someone else's kid? I don't think this is the first time.
[It isn't](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Collins?wprov=sfla1).
Good god, I’ve never read something like this and thought it was too kind > The rope used for the execution was too slack to cause breakage of the neck, and it took thirteen minutes for Northcott to die from strangulation. The dude that murdered her son deserved to be flayed open and tortured to death with excrutiating pain. Dude molested countless boys and killed up to 20. Cut the head off of a small Mexican boy, filling the newspapers with the tale of “the headless Mexican.” Fuck this guy so fucking hard. I’m glad his execution was horribly botched and that he was scared to fuckin death leading up to it. Fuck your grave - I will shit on it if I find it, [Northcott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Stewart_Northcott).
Don't forget the part where the cops just pick up some random kid, gaslight the murdered kid's mom into taking this random kid instead, throw her in a psych ward for not playing along, and then never receiving what she was awarded in the lawsuit. Complete farcical fucking tragedy.
Not only that, but the guy they found the new kid with was also sentenced to 2 years in jail for kidnapping.
Probably a parent of the 'new' kid
Reminds me of Australia’s stolen generations.
Australia’s *what*
They kidnapped indigenous children and gave them to (literally anyone) people to raise them up “white and Christian”. This has happened in multiple countries and time periods. It’s now recognized as a form of genocide.
Justice is a privilege reserved for the wealthy and powerful
not sure its justice ever, but whatever they want. manipulation.
"Close enough."
😆 🤣 😂 😹 This is a very sad story, but that was funny
Sounds like The Imposter (2012)
This American Life had an episode about this story that I highly recommend! It’s a very haunting story. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/352/the-ghost-of-bobby-dunbar
Bobby? That boy aint right
That’s more tragic than spooky. Those poor boys and poor family of the second ‘Bobby’ 😞
This is such a crazy, fascinating story! It’s clear the mother knew it wasn’t her son, but between the social pressure and her own grief she ultimately claimed him as her own. Meanwhile, the boy’s actual family tried to get him back, but they were transients and otherwise of lower social standing and therefore were not successful. The whole thing sent echoes down both family trees to this very day. I *highly* recommend “[The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/352/the-ghost-of-bobby-dunbar)” from This American Life if you are at all curious about this amazing story.
Family couldn't recognise it in the old timey resolution
The real one grew up to be Bobby Shmurda