In order for James Fetzer’s totally absurd theory that Sandy Hook Elementary School was closed in 2008 and used for a mock shooting in 2012 to work, you’d have to accept his claim that the school – previously used as “storage” in his alternate reality – was staged for the sake of highly redacted crime scene photos. Not surprisingly, Fetzer never stops to contemplate how elaborate the alleged staging would have had to have been. The photos contain so many small details and clues as to the state of the school that even those who have looked over them numerous times have probably missed them. If they were on Fetzer’s radar, he omitted them from his book for the likely reason that they didn’t bode well for his fairy tale.
In my first look at some of those overlooked details, I’m going to start with the school’s lobby (with a quick stop in the school’s kitchen), where Adam Lanza bypassed the school’s strikeplate security system by shooting his way into the school.
The Magazine Rack:
The school’s lobby had a small waiting area and much like every other waiting area on the planet, it contained a number of magazines for people to flip through in order to pass the time. With the sole exception of one magazine from November, 2011, the magazines in Sandy Hook’s waiting room were all from 2012 with the most recent one being published no more than a couple of weeks before the shooting. These magazines are really barely visible in the crime scene photos, so James Fetzer and his crew of dimwitted sycophants expect their readers to believe authorities did such a shitty job of staging the school that they forgot to make holes in the windows of classroom 10 as well as shatter the window at the entrance of the school (which of course is not true), yet they spent time filling the magazine rack in the lobby with the most recent issues of Scholastic’s “Parent & Child”. A rack most people aren’t going to spend any attention to whatsoever. These are the incredible leaps in logic that make up the bulk of this awful book.
Here are the two pictures of the magazine rack that I used as reference combined with pictures of the relevant magazine covers, as they would appear in the rack:
I couldn’t make out what was under the issue of “Family Fun” from December, 2012 on the left side of the rack, but just below that mystery magazine is the same issue of “Parent & Child” that you’ll see fourth from the top on the right side (which is the November, 2011 issue).
The magazines on the right, from top to bottom, are as follows (click on any magazine to view the full cover with the date fully visible):
“Parent & Child” November, 2012
“Parent & Child” August/September, 2012
“Parent & Child” March, 2012
“Parent & Child” November, 2011
“Parent & Child” June/July, 2012
“Parent & Child” December, 2012
“Parent & Child” August/September, 2012
The Table:
And on the table in that same waiting area was yet another magazine from December, 2012:
The covers look a little different, but that’s because the company that produces these free magazines (“Connecticut Parent Magazine” and “Fairfield County Parent Magazine”) will switch them up a bit for each region. In this particular case, they used a different photo of the same girl (you can make out the same hat and coat in both), but they reused the same orange “Season’s Greetings” and blue “Winter Family Fun” fonts. This is something that they do every month, as confirmed by their online archive.
Sadly, I was unable to make out the other magazine on the table, but you can see that the woman on the cover is wearing a scarf, so it’s safe to assume that it was from November or December.
The Lunch Board:
There’s a whiteboard in the lobby area, resting on the wall in between the kitchen and cafetorium. The board lists the day’s date – Friday, December 14th, 2012 – as well as the staff and student lunch options. The staff lunch for the day includes “veggie pizza” while the main entree for students is “homemade cheese pizza” with “mixed vegetables”:
While the crime scene photos do not reveal the kitchen, “Indoor Scene Processing” video 4 does, and it shows that these pizzas were being prepared by the kitchen staff at the time of the shooting:
“Choice B” on the student menu is “Bagel Fun Lunch”, and those bagels can be seen in “Indoor Scene Processing” video 5:
In photographs taken between May, 2011, and December 14th, 2012, we can see the contents of glass display case in the lobby change multiple times, clearing indicating an open and active school:
May, 2011:
Just behind this board welcoming author Barbara McClintock to the school, what looks like children’s watercolor paintings (sorry, I’m not much of an artist!) line the display built into the lobby wall. As we’ll see, these displays often featured artwork created by the school’s students.
November, 2011:
Taken at Sandy Hook’s 2011 Veterans Day breakfast, this photograph shows victim Jesse Lewis and his grandfather standing in front of the lobby’s built-in display, which features games, books, and other items available in the school’s holiday shop. One of the items shown is the Highlights “Puzzles & Games” 2012 wall calendar, which certainly would not be available in 2008:
December, 2011:
While it’s a difficult to make out, I believe the white sign in the middle reads “Getting In Shape”; a play on the art’s geometric nature.
January, 2012:
Behind Shelly the turtle’s original home are pieces of origami made by the school’s students as well as pictures of them creating it.
December, 2012:
“Celebration of World Arts”
For more in the “Sandy Hook Elementary Was Open” series, please read:
Part One: The Lobby
Part Two: The Obstinate Pen
Part Three: Holiday Decorations And Calendars
Part Four: SMART Technologies
Part Five: Dawn Hochsprung’s Twitter Feed
Part Six: The 2011-2012 Scrapbook
Part Seven: Children’s Authors Visit Sandy Hook
Part Eight: Charitable Causes
Part Nine: The Library
Part Ten: 92 More Photos From Sandy Hook School
Part Eleven: Over 195 Articles Referencing Sandy Hook School, Written Between 2008-2012
Part Twelve: The Glass Display Cases
Part Thirteen: Google Earth
Part Fourteen: The November 2012 Scholastic Book Fair
Part Fifteen: Sandy Hook School Enrollment For 2008-2017
Part Sixteen: School Documents From 2008-2012
You can’t be serious in claiming that because there were magazines dated from 2012 in the lobby that this helps proves the school was operational. Someone can easily contact a magazine publisher and order a set of backdated issues. How can you claim that this proves anything? This is absurd.
Keep in mind I have not completely decided whether I think the massacre was legitimate or not, so I am always happy to hear both sides of the story. Which leads me to be interested in your comments on the following:
These photos, taken just after the alleged massacre took place:
http://imgur.com/a/sBfhz#HnhZkk9
Observe the dirty, dilapidated look of this school. There is water damage, wood rot and mold. This was at the time of the events, allegedly a highly sought after school by parents, situated in a very affluent area. It looks abandoned for years.
Please let me know why the school looks like this if it was open and should have been held to a high standard of repairs and upkeep, to adhere to the school’s great reputation.
Thanks
Hi John,
You’ve left a number of comments already and I’m going to try and address them all here rather than in 3-4 separate replies.
So I have to level with you, and I truly mean no offense by this, but I’m having a difficult time believing you’re being sincere when you say that you are “not completely decided” on the issue (or non-issue, as far as I’m concerned). I say this because much of what you’ve written here comes directly from common denier talking points, most of which originated with discredited cranks like “Dr. Eowyn” (Maria Chang), Wolfgang Halbig, and James Fetzer. I believe you’ve already made up your mind and in this case “I have not completely decided” may as well be “I’m just asking questions”. So I don’t think you’re here to have a real conversation, and I believe that dismissing any and all evidence that threatens your beliefs as having been planted without any real proof of such is intellectually lazy, but I’ll bite anyway.
As I’ve documented here on this site, I’ve read every last word of this stupid book, so I can assure you that I understand the often conflicting theories from deniers, many of which have been abandoned over the years as they collapsed under the slightest bit of scrutiny. For example, do they still believe David Wheeler “played” an FBI agent? Do they still believe Sally Cox was never a registered nurse? The list goes on and on.
In regards to the magazines (as well as the book), remember that these are crime scene photos – and there are hundreds and hundreds of them – the large majority of which have never been featured anywhere in the mainstream media. I don’t believe the magazine rack has ever been “featured prominently” anywhere, but then again I haven’t seen every single article ever written on the subject. If you have an example of this, please send it my way. Anyway, if “they” returned to the school a week or two before the shooting (and they would have had to as the most recent issue in the rack is from December of 2012) in order to plant the magazines, then they did an absolutely miserable job as there are only two or three photographs in which they are readable enough (after you’ve zoomed in quite a bit) for someone like me to even begin identifying them. Keep in mind that I only had the blurry top quarter of the covers to work with, so the whole process took me quite some time. Most people looking at the relevant crime scene photographs aren’t even going to notice those magazines let alone do the amount of work required to accurately date them. Why not take at least one close-up? It’s the same issue with the SMART projectors and table: why go through the trouble of planting tens of thousands of dollars worth of electronics equipment (all unavailable in 2008) throughout the school for the benefit of a few crime scene photos most people aren’t going to look at, only to let them blend into the background? Why make it so difficult? Remember most people do not doubt that on December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza killed twenty-six people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, so why would all of this even be necessary? Who is this for? This isn’t a Marvel movie; these aren’t Easter Eggs tucked away for attentive fans.
As for the book, do you believe its location – just outside of a classroom, on the floor – also represents an equally “important part of the school”? Obviously there’s a degree of importance to every photographed location (otherwise they wouldn’t have been photographed), but why plant a relatively unknown book in a bin by a classroom? If you want to talk about absurd, this is the kind of stuff that I believe is truly absurd.
And you’d have to believe that they did all of this – essentially sprinkling evidence here and there for an unknown audience – while simultaneously photographing and disseminating a large number of photographs displaying what you describe as a “dilapidated” school. Which brings me to your next claim: why is there mold on the back of an elementary school? Or rusty hinges on an outdoor-facing, emergency exit door? Because, quite frankly, who gives a shit? It was a 56 year-old school! If it were pristine, deniers would say that was proof it was staged. As for the mold, it’s on the back of the school. Maybe they were planning on power washing it once the weather improved (remember it was the middle of December). Who knows? Obviously no one knew that the condition of the school would be under the microscope. But the mold presented no harm to the children, who wouldn’t be back there anyway under nearly every circumstance, and there’s nothing anywhere that says a public school cannot exist with a little mold on the outside. Shit, one of the elementary schools in my area – which is only a few years old at this point – has some mold on the brick exterior. I’d go take some photos of it, but I’m an adult male, and I don’t want to end up on some list. Anyway, you’d have to believe that they allowed the rear of the school to fall into such disrepair that some blinds are bent (the horror!), or that they neglected to plant enough blood or bullets to make the scene believable (which is another claim made in this gem of a book), all while maintaining the school’s landscaping and placing up-to-date magazines in a magazine rack no one is going to look at. It just doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Let me wrap up by asking you some questions: what do you consider to be acceptable evidence? What would make your beliefs falsifiable? Do you also consider the mountain of documents (including PTA minutes, newsletters, etc) presented by Sandy Hook: Focus on Facts to also be fraudulent? What proof do you have that the school was closed? Do you have anything beyond some pictures of a 56 year-old elementary school showing its age and James Fetzer’s total inability to understand the Internet?
SM
Thanks for replying in a logical manner. I understand what you are saying. I will still have to consider more points from both sides and will look at the links you posted.
It would be fantastic if there was some way to organize a phone debate between what I consider an articulate person from one side – Wolfgang Halbig and an articulate person from the other side – such as yourself, where each person was given a few minutes to address a point that claims the massacre was real/fake, then the other person could respond, without interruption. If this was on youtube it would allow the people to hear two intelligent representatives from both sides discuss the disputed points of 14/12/12.
Sorry if this isn’t the right section, but if I can just get your comments for one more aspect that is brought up a lot – the perpetrator, I’m sure you’ve probably heard this many times before. Adam Lanza was 112 lbs at 6ft, which is classified as anorexic and malnourished. Some anorexic people are so weak they require walking sticks or even wheelchairs just to move. We can reasonably surmise that at that extremely low weight he would have been quite weak. To carry the large Bushmaster rifle, along with hundreds of rounds of ammo and at least one handgun on his person (I have read differing reports about the handguns), along with moving very quickly in the vicinity of the school. Do you think this was possible for an individual in his physical condition?
In the following video a man who says he is 200 pound, in shape, with weapons training is discussing his view of this, from 2.16 to 4.10 of this video (although we know adam wasn’t wearing body armor now I believe).
https://youtu.be/TzibL8UN0vo?t=136
He also had Asperger’s Syndrome, one of the symptoms of this is poor motor skills and physical clumsiness. He had an extremely high kill ratio, 27 killed and only 2 injured, many of which were small targets, the children – in a very short space of time. He also had no formal arms training but his accuracy would maybe suggest he would have had to.
If it’s possible to address these two questions that would be much appreciated.
I truly hope I can reach the conclusion that this event did occur, as do a lot of other people I think.
Thanks
Hi John,
The biggest problem with debating deniers is that they regularly make new, unsubstantiated claims and it’s up to people like me to sort them all out, and that can of course be a very time consuming process. It’s easy to make claims, far more difficult to actually fact-check them.
In regards to Adam’s weight, I did address this in Chapter Five, Part One. I’ll re-print it here for you:
“The truth is Adam was carrying ~10.87 lbs worth of weapons and ~19.62 lbs worth of ammunition for a grand total of ~30.47 lbs. And even though he only needed to carry that weight around for somewhere between 5-10 minutes, it may still seem like a little much for a young man who only weighed 112 lbs, even one who was known to spend four to ten hours playing ‘Dance Dance Revolution’ at a time. But that weight was very evenly distributed.
According to the final report, Adam carried four rifle and six pistol magazines in his vest pockets. That comes out to about ~8.75 lbs right there. His pants — which were held up with a belt and suspenders — carried four rifle and four pistol magazines, for a total of ~7.27 lbs, as well as his Sig Sauer (2.15 lbs). His Glock (~1.72 lbs) was holstered.
Also taking into consideration how little ground was physically covered during this incredibly short assault, it’s quite obvious that Adam would have had no problem with the amount of gear he was carrying.”
To elaborate a bit further on his physical abilities, Adam was an avid DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) fan and was notorious for marathon sessions at the local movie theater. There’s a YouTube video of him in action. I’ve tried to play DDR myself and it requires quite a bit of stamina and coordination, especially at the higher levels Adam would be playing at.
Adam was also an experienced shooter. Both of his parents began taking him to shooting ranges at an early age and he has documented experience on the Bushmaster, according to an eyewitness statement. Nancy had actually asked the eyewitness to give Adam some “pointers” on it. So while I don’t believe Adam took any “formal” classes (like Nancy), he certainly knew his way around firearms. His parents – and especially his mother – made sure of that.
I think it’s also important to keep in mind that over half of Adam’s victims had attempted to hide from him by cramming themselves into a very, very small bathroom. Unfortunately that didn’t work, and they become sitting ducks. It’s sad, but they couldn’t have made it any easier for him. So there wasn’t a great deal of skill involved here.
Something you have to ask yourself is: if this were a staged event, why would they choose such a ridiculous character as their perpetrator? Why would they choose someone that made people wonder whether it was even physically impossible for them to commit this crime? Surely they could have accomplished the same goal with someone fifty pounds heavier.
Anyway, I hope that answers your questions. Obviously I can’t speak for everyone, but I like to think that most of us would love to believe that Sandy Hook never happened and that those kids were still alive. Even if it meant holding the government accountable as well as coming to grips with the idea that they were capable of something like this.
SM
“Asperger’s Syndrome, one of the symptoms of this is poor motor skills and physical clumsiness”
It’s hilarious how this claim, straight from Halbig’s mind, is repeated word for word by his minions, who don’t think to “just ask questions” about his claims.
High-functioning autism/HFA (fka Aspergers Syndrome) is a social and cognitive disorder, not a physical disability. The motor issues in people with HFA usually present as an odd gait, or walking on tiptoes.
Most people with HFA function well, have jobs and families, and can often “pass” as neurotypical* While Lanza’s social deficits hampered his interactions with the world, he appeared to have no issues with motor control, aside from his odd gait.
He had hobbies which required excellent coordination, and both general and fine motor skills. He was a DDA fanatic, a firearms enthusiast who enjoyed gun ranges, he liked to build/repair/upgrade PCs, something which requires a steady hand and purposeful, focused movements
Wolfy is thinking of dyspraxia, which is often mistaken for an ASD, albeit usually LFA, rather that HFA..
Dyspraxics have poor muscle tone, difficulty with both gross and fine motor skills, cognitive processing issues, speech impairments, lack of coordination, unsteadiness and clumsiness, as well as certain cognitive and social impairments.
They may have difficulty reading
body language, trouble forming attachments, and modelling behaviours.
I do not recall seeing a DX of dyspraxia in Lanza but, regardless, your secondhand parroted info about HFA shows that you should research everything you hear from ~truthers~
*Boo! We’re everywhere.
In this article: “yet they spent time filling the magazine rack in the lobby with the most recent issues of Scholastic’s “Parent & Child”. A rack most people aren’t going to spend any attention to whatsoever. ”
The lobby is an important part of the school and the area where Adam Lanza allegedly entered, meaning everyone involved knew photos of this room would be featured prominently in the media in America and around the world.
Given it was going to be one of the more common photos of the event, it is very reasonable to think they would put effort into making it look convincing, down to details such as the correctly dated magazines. This is not an unrealistic assumption at all, as people were likely payed to make this school look active and they then completed their task in a professional manner, including attention to detail.
So again this evidence you have provided is not evidence at all. Please provide something more substantial to state that the school was active.
And if you can also comment on why there was no internet activity from the Sandy Hook website for the years 2008 – 2012? (2008 is the year that the school was reportedly closed due to asbestos content).
Seems strange in this day and age to not maintain a school website, especially when the school has a great reputation and was reportedly well known in the state.
https://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/shes-on-wayback-machine.jpg
Thanks
John, I’ve already explained the “no Internet activity” lie in Chapter Two.
Ok I will read that post.
About 10 years ago, there was a student who had Aspergers who fatally stabbed a fellow student in a high school outside of Boston.
I also know someone with Aspergers who is a world record holding powerlifter. He can deadlift about 600 pounds at a bodyweight of 185 or so.
I personally know someone with Asperger’s who is successful in combat sports. The idea that Adam Lanza could not have possibly pulled this off, from a physical perspective, is flat-out wrong. There are multiple witnesses who provided statements to police saying that they watched him play “Dance Dance Revolution” for hours on end. Plus there is plenty of evidence that he had plenty of experience using firearms, including an AR-15. And not only does it fall apart factually, but also logically: why would “they” choose someone who appears to be so frail and weak? If the ultimate goal is to confiscate everyone’s guns (still waiting on that one), there’s no tactical reason to use someone as diminutive as Adam.
In reply to schminkles & others;
I happen to have a family member with HFA & can say beyond any doubt in my mind that they would definitely not be able to pull off anything even close to this crime. Something you’ve all failed to mention that is very common among most with HFA is sensitivity to loud noises. There’s no way you can convince me that someone with HFA could tolerate the loud sound of gun shots! Loud noise is nearly crippling to my family member. Additionally, my family member is not able to hold down a job, have a family, much less live on their own. They have twitches, quirks, are obsessive and easily distracted. They are often so shaky and uncoordinated that they struggle to complete simple tasks within a short amounts of time, such as, paying for a transaction at the store. That combined with the obvious signs of disturbing thought that Adam displayed lead be to believe that there were other undiagnosed problems or that the diagnosis he received was incorrect
Hi, Jane. I think it’s important to keep in mind that just because something is “very common” in individuals with Asperger’s, that does not mean that everyone experiences it uniformly. I’m not going to pretend to be particularly well-versed in the subject, but as stated in an earlier comment, I have spent a lot of time alongside someone with Asperger’s, and I can assure you that they are able to deal with loud noises, even shooting guns at a range on a number of occasions. Of course it goes without saying that both of our experiences are entirely anecdotal, so they don’t hold a whole lot of weight.
So did Adam Lanza actually have Asperger’s? He certainly seems like a likely candidate, but again, I’m no expert. If I remember correctly, there seemed to be competing diagnoses contained within the report from the Office of the Child Advocate. Regardless, we know that Adam repeatedly, willingly exposed himself to loud noises. There are multiple parties who witnessed him shooting firearms and he was known around town to play the Dance Dance Revolution machine at the local movie theater for hours on end. Anyone who has been within earshot of one of those things knows how loud they can be.
Finally, it’s also worth reiterating that Adam was wearing earplugs during the massacre.
I wish that the fact that the school was still open, and in use was enough to prove that the other anomalies are insignificant. I’ve been reading things that disprove some of the far reaching theories about Sandy Hook since 2013, and when I compare the evidence from “happened” and “hoax”, the false flags win every time. There is too much evidence that supports the theory that this incident happened in a manner that is completely inconsistent with the official reports. Either the responders, professionals, politicians and media are hiding something beyond most people’s comprehension, or they are inept to the point of being criminal. 4 people were responsible for pronouncing 26 people dead within less time than it took a skeleton of a kid to fire 156 shots and yet hundreds of officials were recognized for their efforts. Never mind the billions of dollars that have changed hands since it happened. My faith in humanity is not waivered by the fact that a kid could act out this heinous scenario, but more so by the fact that people are so quick to believe everything they are told when the evidence is accessible enough to get the facts and form their own opinions.
There isn’t, though. “Anomalies” are not evidence.
What are you talking about?
Why wouldn’t they be?
Your opinion is wrong, and based on absolute nonsense. But at least you aren’t so dumb as to believe that the school was closed, so… credit where credit is due!
John, you clearly lack experience because anyone who knows New England knows that most of our buildings are dilapidated. Yes, even here in Fairfield, County.
Your All Fucking Retarded
You can’t buy irony this rich.
It’s “you’re”, sweetheart. As in “you are”. It’s a contraction.
Keep up the good work Shill Murray
Thanks, Peter. I appreciate it.
I want to know why magazine rack was moved that way prior to the shooting… It makes no sense because it is out of place…. If glass was shot out prior to entry then broken out why is there no signs of stand disturbing glass fragments… The magazine rack was moved before shots were fired. Lifepak 15 left in hallway after EMS personnel were restricted access… Duh… Spare equipment used for training exercises provided by FEMA maybe…. I have reviewed original reports and to many questions are unanswered for me to except without more information….
It wasn’t moved prior to the shooting. I’m not sure where you would’ve gotten that idea, but Adam Lanza moved it in order to enter the school through the large hole he had shot out. This is discussed in the final report:
You can (just barely) see the magazine rack in its normal position, with the back of it up against the glass, in the following photo:
Why in the world would anyone need to move it later? What sense does that make?
I honestly don’t understand the question. There’s plenty of glass visible inside the lobby as well as outside of the school. Also, “why ARE there no signs”. I don’t normally pick on spelling and grammar issues, but my dude, if you’re going to show up and post using the e-mail address IQOVERLORD, you gotta get it together and rise above the level of “pre-teen taking ESL classes” or you’re gonna catch shit.
Again, no idea what you’re getting at here. Are you suggesting access to the school was not restricted because… photos were being taken? Or because there was a Lifepak in the hallway? I really don’t know.
“TOO many questions”… “for me to ACCEPT”. Come on, man!
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