Posted on: Tuesday, December 4, 2001

'Tourist Guy' hoax getting second wind

By Janet Kornblum
USA Today

Who is the Tourist Guy? That has been a burning question ever since a doctored photo showing an unsuspecting tourist standing on an observation deck at the World Trade Center, with a plane headed toward his back, started making its way around the Net shortly after Sept. 11. The picture itself was quickly debunked as a hoax. But, as with so many other things on the Net, that's hardly where the story ends.

Netizens copied the photo and continued doctoring it, placing the mysterious tourist wearing glasses and a black knit cap on the moon with astronaut Neil Armstrong; at the crash of the Hindenburg; even at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Naturally, people wondered who the Tourist Guy really was. Last month, a Brazilian businessman stepped forward to claim he was the Guy and that he had the photos to prove it. According to TouristGuy.com (touristguy.com), one of two sites dedicated to the phenomenon, he has even negotiating TV commercial deals.

But recently, another man claimed to be the Guy. TouristGuy.com said that the man apparently wasn't trying to cash in on fame. In fact, the Hungarian man sent three different pictures containing his image standing on the World Trade Center to the site, with a request that his name and e-mail address be withheld.

The TouristGuy site is convinced that the Hungarian is the real Guy.