The Tourist Guy

Internet Celebrity / Fraud

The Tourist Guy appeared in a faked photo spread by e-mail shortly after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. In the photo the unsuspecting tourist, in a stocking cap and backpack, appears to be standing on a World Trade Center observation deck as a jetliner crashes into the building. The photo was quickly debunked, but just as quickly became an Internet fad: other doctored photos appeared showing the Tourist Guy at the explosion of the Hindenberg, the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald and other famous events. In November of 2001 a Brazilian businessman, José Roberto Penteado, announced that he was the Tourist Guy, saying friends had inserted his face into the photo. Shortly after that a Hungarian man also posted photos online, claiming to be the "real" Tourist Guy.

The Tourist Guy appears with Nostradamus and Susan Lucci in our loop on Legends of E-Mail.