Duclod Man
Encyclopedia
The Duclod Man was the title given to a man, identified only as Richard, who, over two decades generated mystery and speculation by sending out dozens of unusual anonymous letters to college students and posting writings on internet pages. The letters, internet writings, and library bathroom graffiti, included the word "duclod" (ostensibly a portmanteau of dual and closeted, or a bisexual person who hides his or her sexuality from both gay and straight people.) The activity occurred over three decades, until his identity was discovered in 2007 by Sarah Aswell, a journalist writing for The Advocate
. In her investigative articles, she calls the duclod man "Richard".
since at least the mid-1970, often in Burling Library bathrooms.
In the 1980s, the following peculiar graffiti message could be found in one Whately, Massachusetts
restaurant's Men's Room:
Q: What is the difference between?
A: A duclod.
Q: The same as the difference between?
A: Two closets.
and the University of Kansas
. The letters were sent in groups, during school breaks, from different and seemingly-random parts of the country. The letters were sometimes sent to a student's home address, leading to speculation that the sender intended to "out" the recipient to his or her parents. Because of the nature of the content, it was widely speculated that the sender was targeting students based on their sexual orientation, although apparently straight students received letters as well. The envelopes contained letters folded up to resemble a homemade greeting card, with childish drawings (men crawling on the ground, toilets, trash cans, and twin closet doors) and strange jokes or messages ("Q: What would a duclod like about the land of the giants? A: Standing in two closets without touching either knob.", "If you like shaving cats, try shaving crayons. It's a good a way as any to practice shaving.", "It takes two hands to handle a duclod", "Actual tombstone inscription: DUCLODS DIE TWICE"). The letters sometimes defined the duclod as "bisexual, homophobic, heterophobic, confused."
, AOL
, or Angelfire
contained content that appeared similar to Duclod Man's letters. The websites contained original writings - usually musings about the environment
, technology, politics, conspiracy theories, or numerology
. They also contained jokes, drawings similar to those found in the duclod letters, information about organic gardening, or homemade programs written in Visual Basic
. Visiting his pages would often invoke the mailto
: protocol to open the visitor's email client, automatically filling it in with dozens of addresses and nonsensical subjects such as "I used to be the Dancing Bear on Captain Kangaroo
", "Don't you EVER tinkle in a glass again", or "You want a slap in the face?" Additionally, the author of these websites exhibited prolific activity on a large variety of message boards and guest books, with postings similar to that found on his websites. His AOL homepage at members.aol.com/shavescats/ is defunct but can be found using the wayback machine from the Internet Archive
.
, Sarah Aswell wrote that she had received a duclod letter years ago, and had tracked Richard down through his series of webpages and forums to a homepage containing an old resume. Ms. Aswell wrote that she repackaged the duclod letter she had received, along with the message "stop sending letters, Richard." She wrote a follow-up article in the May 2007 issue of The Advocate, claiming that Richard had not stopped sending letters or posting duclod jokes in Internet forums. She wrote in the second article that she decided to find and contact his family, who confronted him and asked him to take down his webpages, which he did.
:
He was also quite reclusive and in failing health. Although Ms. changed the real name of the Duclod Man to the pseudonym "Richard", she left enough correct information in her articles for interested readers to find his correct information, including his name, picture, telephone number, and living address, which were posted on Digg
and Metafilter
. Shortly thereafter, messages such as the following were posted in his website guestbook:
When Richard removed his webpages, he posted an apology, which read, in part:
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
. In her investigative articles, she calls the duclod man "Richard".
Graffiti
Graffiti incorporating the word "duclod" and obscure jokes concerning "two closets" have been seen at Grinnell CollegeGrinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
since at least the mid-1970, often in Burling Library bathrooms.
In the 1980s, the following peculiar graffiti message could be found in one Whately, Massachusetts
Whately, Massachusetts
Whately is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,573 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
restaurant's Men's Room:
Q: What is the difference between?
A: A duclod.
Q: The same as the difference between?
A: Two closets.
Letters
As early as 1992, students at multiple colleges received duclod letters, but most prominently, they were directed towards seniors at Grinnell CollegeGrinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
and the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
. The letters were sent in groups, during school breaks, from different and seemingly-random parts of the country. The letters were sometimes sent to a student's home address, leading to speculation that the sender intended to "out" the recipient to his or her parents. Because of the nature of the content, it was widely speculated that the sender was targeting students based on their sexual orientation, although apparently straight students received letters as well. The envelopes contained letters folded up to resemble a homemade greeting card, with childish drawings (men crawling on the ground, toilets, trash cans, and twin closet doors) and strange jokes or messages ("Q: What would a duclod like about the land of the giants? A: Standing in two closets without touching either knob.", "If you like shaving cats, try shaving crayons. It's a good a way as any to practice shaving.", "It takes two hands to handle a duclod", "Actual tombstone inscription: DUCLODS DIE TWICE"). The letters sometimes defined the duclod as "bisexual, homophobic, heterophobic, confused."
Internet
Several homemade websites hosted on free services such as GeocitiesGeoCities
Yahoo! GeoCities is a web hosting service, currently available only in Japan.GeoCities was originally founded by David Bohnett and John Rezner in late 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet . In its original form, site users selected a "city" in which to place their web pages...
, AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
, or Angelfire
Angelfire
Angelfire is an Internet service offering free space for web sites. It was founded in 1996 and was originally a combination web site building and medical transcription service. Eventually the site dropped the transcription service and focused solely on web site hosting, offering both free and...
contained content that appeared similar to Duclod Man's letters. The websites contained original writings - usually musings about the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, technology, politics, conspiracy theories, or numerology
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
. They also contained jokes, drawings similar to those found in the duclod letters, information about organic gardening, or homemade programs written in Visual Basic
Visual Basic
Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...
. Visiting his pages would often invoke the mailto
Mailto
The mailto URI scheme, as registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority , defines the scheme for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol email addresses...
: protocol to open the visitor's email client, automatically filling it in with dozens of addresses and nonsensical subjects such as "I used to be the Dancing Bear on Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo
Captain Kangaroo is a children's television series which aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running children's television program of its day...
", "Don't you EVER tinkle in a glass again", or "You want a slap in the face?" Additionally, the author of these websites exhibited prolific activity on a large variety of message boards and guest books, with postings similar to that found on his websites. His AOL homepage at members.aol.com/shavescats/ is defunct but can be found using the wayback machine from the Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
.
Internet pseudonyms
Richard used the following pseudonyms on his webpages and forum postings:- Red Kuller
- Pilldown Man
- Chilee Umgum
- Proctor Zhloip
- Chamo Howards
- D. Trapper
- Gordon Craft
Recurring themes
Richard expressed particular interest in the following subjects:- Organic gardening
- TechnologyTechnologyTechnology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
- Time travelTime travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
- NazismNazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
- New World OrderNew World Order (conspiracy)In conspiracy theory, the term New World Order or NWO refers to the emergence of a totalitarian one-world government.The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an...
theory - Hollow EarthHollow EarthThe Hollow Earth hypothesis proposes that the planet Earth is either entirely hollow or otherwise contains a substantial interior space. The hypothesis has been shown to be wrong by observational evidence, as well as by the modern understanding of planet formation; the scientific community has...
theory - Concentration camps
- Polar shift theory
- ChristianityChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
- TransmutationTransmutation of speciesTransmutation of species was a term used by Jean Baptiste Lamarck in 1809 for his theory that described the altering of one species into another, and the term is often used to describe 19th century evolutionary ideas that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection...
s of humans into dogs and half-human half-dog creatures called "garbmuts" - Bears and dogs
- Same-sex marriageSame-sex marriageSame-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
/ BisexualityBisexualityBisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the... - PoliticsPoliticsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
- Domestic violenceDomestic violenceDomestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, especially battered husbands - NumerologyNumerologyNumerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
- NostradamusNostradamusMichel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
- Fads
- Bodily functions
- Nursery rhymes
- TerrorismTerrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
Discovery
In March 2007, writing for The AdvocateThe Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, Sarah Aswell wrote that she had received a duclod letter years ago, and had tracked Richard down through his series of webpages and forums to a homepage containing an old resume. Ms. Aswell wrote that she repackaged the duclod letter she had received, along with the message "stop sending letters, Richard." She wrote a follow-up article in the May 2007 issue of The Advocate, claiming that Richard had not stopped sending letters or posting duclod jokes in Internet forums. She wrote in the second article that she decided to find and contact his family, who confronted him and asked him to take down his webpages, which he did.
Aftermath
It was discovered in the second article that Richard was suspected by his family of having autismAutism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
:
He was also quite reclusive and in failing health. Although Ms. changed the real name of the Duclod Man to the pseudonym "Richard", she left enough correct information in her articles for interested readers to find his correct information, including his name, picture, telephone number, and living address, which were posted on Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
and Metafilter
MetaFilter
MetaFilter, known as MeFi to its members, is a community weblog whose purpose is to share links and discuss content that users have discovered on the web.-Community:MetaFilter was founded by Matthew Haughey in 1999...
. Shortly thereafter, messages such as the following were posted in his website guestbook:
- "I am aware of your location ... I am coming for you"
- "Thousands of people who sort of hate you know exactly where you live ... I hope someone does something with that address "
- "Consider yourself dead, my friend"
- "You will have much time to explore the male part of your bisexuality in prison."
- "Don't forget to bring some chalk to your trial -- so you can mark off the days until you're paroled.
When Richard removed his webpages, he posted an apology, which read, in part:
External links
- Richard's Pages:
- The Advocate: