After powering through Chapters Seven and Eight of Nobody Died at Sandy Hook, I decided to reach out directly to Allan Powell, the author of both chapters, to see whether he was willing to clarify a few basic points. Chief among them: if so many photographs were not taken on December 14, 2012—as Powell repeatedly claims—when exactly did he believe they were taken? And did he believe any photographs from Sandy Hook were actually taken that day?
The goal was simple. By forcing Powell to commit to a timeline, I wanted to see whether his claims could survive even minimal scrutiny—or whether, as is so often the case with Sandy Hook denialism, they would collapse under their own contradictions.
Like many figures in this space, Allan Powell is not especially easy to track down. His background is opaque, his online footprint scattered. Still, I eventually located an email address and sent him a brief, polite, and deliberately non-confrontational message.
To my surprise, he responded. To my lack of surprise, his replies revealed a level of confusion and incoherence that exceeded even my low expectations.
What follows is the complete email exchange, presented in chronological order. Read from top to bottom. Powell’s responses appear in brown—because what other color would they be?
From: Me
To: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
Subject: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
Your chapters in James Fetzer’s book reveal that the pictures you included were not taken on December 14th. Are there any photographs or videos that you do believe were taken on December 12th [note: I meant to type the 14th here, but must have typed 12 as I was anticipating writing “Channel 12”. See update below]? That includes the Channel 12 helicopter footage, etc.
From: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
To: Me
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
I do not know.
From: Me
To: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
Thanks for the reply. Do you believe that all the staging was done on one day or do you think it took multiple days? If the latter, do you believe that they were consecutive days? It seems as if the primary staging was done in October or November, correct? I just finished reading your chapters and wanted to follow-up with you.
From: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
To: Me
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
multiple. don’t know but probably. yes.
From: Me
To: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
Thanks. What do you believe was the first phase of staging? And what do you believe was last?
From: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
To: Me
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
who are you
From: Me
To: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
I just read your chapters in James Fetzer’s book and I was hoping to reach out to you to flesh out your ideas a bit. I reached out to a couple of the other contributors for the same reason.
From: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
To: Me
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
And who are you
From: Me
To: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
You certainly wouldn’t know it if I told it to you. I’m just a reader from the US. My name’s Bill.
From: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
To: Me
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
Bill what
From: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
To: Me
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
you are evasive
From: Me
To: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
Bill Heinz. Again, I’m just a reader. I’m not trying to be evasive, I just figured it was worthless information. You wouldn’t know who I am. I just wanted to know more about your research.
And that was it. Allan became a bit paranoid and clammed up, which is a shame. I do find it fascinating that someone could contribute two chapters to a book on an event in spite of clearly never having fleshed out a cohesive narrative. The authors are openly admitting that they have no fucking clue what’s going on. Hopefully this acts as a warning to anyone thinking of giving the preposterous ideas proposed in this book any serious consideration.
Update 02/10/16: Since I had screwed up a bit and typed “December 12th” when I meant “December 14th” in my original e-mail to Allan, I e-mailed him again (even though he had stopped replying to me before) to clear up any potential confusion. I was once again surprised that he replied. Here’s that exchange:
From: Me
To: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
Hi Allan,
I just realized I made a mistake in my original e-mail. I asked if you believed there were any photos or video taken on December 12th when I meant to say December 14th. If you don’t mind clarifying for me, it would help a lot.
From: Dreadnought1955@gmail.com
To: Me
Subject: Re: Allan, a question about Sandy Hook
I don’t know
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