Why the Jim Boumgarten story was bogus - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Robert Stack, Jr. · 09-17-2012, 08:17 PM

I just watched the Jim Boumgarten segment again today. I have seen this story several times, and every time I watch it, I end up yelling at the TV.

Maybe I am flat out crazy, but if everybody who lived in my hometown was confusing me with this doppelganger of a different name, I just might have a simple question for any or all of these people. A very simple question.

"WHO IS THIS MAN??"

Jim, why the frick are you wondering about this "twin" and on national television asking about him when you are in constant contact with people who know who this guy is?!?! Why, in the name of all things visible and invisible, would you be wasting UM's airtime with this story when you could ask anybody who is mistaking you to tell you who this guy is?!?! If the story is true, this is far-and-away the most easily solved mystery in the history of UM.

Because the solution to the unsolved mystery here is so obvious, it leads me to believe the story is bunk. It is my belief that Mr. Boumgarten was pulling a stunt to get on TV and get some attention, OR maybe UM was pulling a prank and goofing on the viewers.

Do you guys agree with me, or am I missing something?

Necco · 09-17-2012, 08:47 PM

There is a third possibility that could still mean the story was bunk. Maybe his friends were gaslighting him.

scc1222 · 09-17-2012, 08:48 PM

I'd have to review the story,but possibly.If there was someone,then maybe it was just someone who looked like him,but not related.I can't imagine one or the other not asking ?'s when they called him by another name,and just walking off and dismissing the whole thing.

RobinW · 09-17-2012, 09:29 PM

I don't necessarily believe the story is bunk, but I think Billy Boumgarden probably knew he had a twin brother all along and for whatever reason, just simply did not want to meet him.

I thought it was a telling sign that whenever someone mixed this guy with Jim, he never questioned them or said "I think you got me confused with someone else". He just simply expressed a look of disgust and walked away without saying anything.

Maybe Jim knew this all along, but thought that making an impassioned plea would make Billy want to reunite with him.

1990 UM fan · 09-17-2012, 11:12 PM

Well, he also had a long-lost sister he never knew about and then later found a year before he died, so I don't think his story is bogus.

WishfulDreamer · 09-18-2012, 03:23 AM

I always wondered why on Earth nobody asked the townspeople. It didn't seem that hard.

RobinW, you might be onto something. Why wouldn't the guy just say, "I'm not Jim" or something? He just seemed really put off. I felt bad for the father who was standing there yelling to him and waving nicely and the guy just looked pissed off and got into his car. It was a little funny in the reenactment, to be honest, but the twin just seemed very...unfriendly. At least in the reenactment.

TheCars1986 · 09-18-2012, 12:57 PM

Seems to me like this mystery could have easily been solved. I don't think Jim is making anything up, I believe UM even had the hospital and date on which he and his twin were born. So I don't think there's any doubt that a twin existed. The easy way to solve this, IMHO, would have been to have gotten the name of the company that his brother-in-law played the softball game against, and found out who the pitcher was that day. I see two possibilities:

-Jim's twin was in fact the man seen around town and at the softball game but simply wanted nothing to do with his biological family and was happy with his life.

-Jim's twin had passed away (either at a young age or before Jim starting looknig for him) and the man seen around town was simply a "dead ringer" for Jim.

I tend to lean towards the man being nothing but a lookalike. IIRC, in an older Jim Boumgarden thread, Jim's daughter posted something about how her father and his twin had some heart condition at birth. So maybe the twin died at a very young age which could account for why no one has found him after all these years.

pardilia · 09-18-2012, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

Seems to me like this mystery could have easily been solved. I don't think Jim is making anything up, I believe UM even had the hospital and date on which he and his twin were born. So I don't think there's any doubt that a twin existed. The easy way to solve this, IMHO, would have been to have gotten the name of the company that his brother-in-law played the softball game against, and found out who the pitcher was that day. I see two possibilities:

-Jim's twin was in fact the man seen around town and at the softball game but simply wanted nothing to do with his biological family and was happy with his life.

-Jim's twin had passed away (either at a young age or before Jim starting looknig for him) and the man seen around town was simply a "dead ringer" for Jim.

I tend to lean towards the man being nothing but a lookalike. IIRC, in an older Jim Boumgarden thread, Jim's daughter posted something about how her father and his twin had some heart condition at birth. So maybe the twin died at a very young age which could account for why no one has found him after all these years.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...d.php?t=122733

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...d.php?t=239565

The twin exists/ed but did not wish to be reunited with this birth family.

TheCars1986 · 09-19-2012, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idyla

The twin exists/ed but did not wish to be reunited with this birth family.

I thought that was only speculation by the posters here. Didn't one of Jim's relatives post here and say he never found his brother?

pardilia · 09-19-2012, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

I thought that was only speculation by the posters here. Didn't one of Jim's relatives post here and say he never found his brother?

That's what his son posted about. (His son's post from the Updates thread is posted in the second link.)

" The update Spike didn't air: A good friend of my fathers, who runs a store in the area, said that he thought he saw a ghost when a man walked into the store. When he confronted him about the case he said he didn't want to have anything to do with the family then walked out of the store and got in his truck and left. My fathers friend tried to stop him but the "twin" wasn't willing to talk.
This also confirms some the other reports my family received saying the same thing, that he didn't even know about.

If the twin doesn't want to be contacted, then their isn't much we can do, hopefully he will change his mind someday and contact me (it isn't hard to find me online) If he has any kids, they would be my cousins and about as close as you can get to being half brother and/or sister."

From the long post, it really sounds like the twin exists/ed and did not wish to be involved with his birth family for whatever reason. I think it's too weird that someone wouldn't just go "Look, I understand your situation but I'm not who you think I am." rather than act secretively/defensively whenever confronted or approached by someone who knew Jim.

I'll also add that when I was in college, I had people approach me and mistake me for someone else and I told them "No, my name is _______. I'm not the person you're looking for." rather than avoid the conversation and run off as the twin was alleged to have done on multiple occasions.

Robert Stack, Jr. · 03-17-2013, 08:29 PM

Sorry, but I think this segment was a prank played by UM. If your remember, it was JIM who was running into people who knew his doppelganger. The ONLY thing he would have had to do was ask who this mystery man was.

Sorry but this seg, if true, seemed like a waste of time to me. Jim didn't have to go on national TV to find this mysterious twin. He merely had to ask anybody that mistook him who they were talking about.

This all-too-obvious solution leads me to believe that the show was playing an April Fools joke of some sort.

TheCars1986 · 03-18-2013, 08:46 AM

If the man truely was his twin, why wouldn't he just meet with Jim? They obviously had to know of each other's existence, and if it's true that the twin didn't want contact with the family, why not just meet with Jim and tell him to his face?

aura · 06-17-2015, 09:56 PM

You would think that someone would have called in recognized jim as the twin. It's sad that jim never got to have a face to face.

LilMissKryssy · 06-17-2015, 10:34 PM

I cant imagine anyone not wanting to meet their identical twin. Id be very overwhelmed by the news but I cant imagine after the shock wore off to not want to meet them. I can understand the choice of not wanting to meet his birth parents especially if he thought they weren't good people but not wanting to meet your twin or your twins children? Just odd. Especially bc Im quite certain the twins adoptive parents have since passed

wiseguy182 · 06-18-2015, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Stack, Jr.

I just watched the Jim Boumgarten segment again today. I have seen this story several times, and every time I watch it, I end up yelling at the TV.

Maybe I am flat out crazy, but if everybody who lived in my hometown was confusing me with this doppelganger of a different name, I just might have a simple question for any or all of these people. A very simple question.

"WHO IS THIS MAN??"

Jim, why the frick are you wondering about this "twin" and on national television asking about him when you are in constant contact with people who know who this guy is?!?! Why, in the name of all things visible and invisible, would you be wasting UM's airtime with this story when you could ask anybody who is mistaking you to tell you who this guy is?!?! If the story is true, this is far-and-away the most easily solved mystery in the history of UM.

Because the solution to the unsolved mystery here is so obvious, it leads me to believe the story is bunk. It is my belief that Mr. Boumgarten was pulling a stunt to get on TV and get some attention, OR maybe UM was pulling a prank and goofing on the viewers.

Do you guys agree with me, or am I missing something?

haha, yes. This case is one of the stupidest, STUPIDEST ever to air.

One of the biggest problems I have with it is the part where Jim says "if you don't call me by my real name, I'm not gonna play basketball with you." Seriously, I would have just been happy at the potential of making 3 new friends and couldn't care less what they called me.

I think Jim invented this "evil twin" because he was rude to people his entire life and wanted everyone to believe it was somebody else.

09-17-2012, 08:17 PM	#1
Robert Stack, Jr. Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 22, 2005 Posts: 50	Why the Jim Boumgarten story was bogus I just watched the Jim Boumgarten segment again today. I have seen this story several times, and every time I watch it, I end up yelling at the TV. Maybe I am flat out crazy, but if everybody who lived in my hometown was confusing me with this doppelganger of a different name, I just might have a simple question for any or all of these people. A very simple question. "WHO IS THIS MAN??" Jim, why the frick are you wondering about this "twin" and on national television asking about him when you are in constant contact with people who know who this guy is?!?! Why, in the name of all things visible and invisible, would you be wasting UM's airtime with this story when you could ask anybody who is mistaking you to tell you who this guy is?!?! If the story is true, this is far-and-away the most easily solved mystery in the history of UM. Because the solution to the unsolved mystery here is so obvious, it leads me to believe the story is bunk. It is my belief that Mr. Boumgarten was pulling a stunt to get on TV and get some attention, OR maybe UM was pulling a prank and goofing on the viewers. Do you guys agree with me, or am I missing something?

09-17-2012, 11:12 PM	#5
1990 UM fan Unsolved Mysteries fanatic Senior Member Join Date: Jul 14, 2011 Location: United States Posts: 2,509	Well, he also had a long-lost sister he never knew about and then later found a year before he died, so I don't think his story is bogus.
	__________________ Join my Unsolved Mysteries page (Facebook): http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unsolv...899616?sk=wall

06-17-2015, 10:34 PM	#14
LilMissKryssy " & every sinner has a future" Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 09, 2013 Location: Buffalo, NY Posts: 465	I cant imagine anyone not wanting to meet their identical twin. Id be very overwhelmed by the news but I cant imagine after the shock wore off to not want to meet them. I can understand the choice of not wanting to meet his birth parents especially if he thought they weren't good people but not wanting to meet your twin or your twins children? Just odd. Especially bc Im quite certain the twins adoptive parents have since passed
	__________________ Little Miss Kryssy K

09-17-2012, 08:47 PM	#2
Necco Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 06, 2006 Posts: 1,149	There is a third possibility that could still mean the story was bunk. Maybe his friends were gaslighting him.

09-17-2012, 08:48 PM	#3
scc1222 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jul 02, 2011 Posts: 547	I'd have to review the story,but possibly.If there was someone,then maybe it was just someone who looked like him,but not related.I can't imagine one or the other not asking ?'s when they called him by another name,and just walking off and dismissing the whole thing.

09-17-2012, 09:29 PM	#4
RobinW Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 14, 2010 Posts: 1,874	I don't necessarily believe the story is bunk, but I think Billy Boumgarden probably knew he had a twin brother all along and for whatever reason, just simply did not want to meet him. I thought it was a telling sign that whenever someone mixed this guy with Jim, he never questioned them or said "I think you got me confused with someone else". He just simply expressed a look of disgust and walked away without saying anything. Maybe Jim knew this all along, but thought that making an impassioned plea would make Billy want to reunite with him.

09-18-2012, 03:23 AM	#6
WishfulDreamer Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 01, 2009 Location: L.A. Posts: 3,865	I always wondered why on Earth nobody asked the townspeople. It didn't seem that hard. RobinW, you might be onto something. Why wouldn't the guy just say, "I'm not Jim" or something? He just seemed really put off. I felt bad for the father who was standing there yelling to him and waving nicely and the guy just looked pissed off and got into his car. It was a little funny in the reenactment, to be honest, but the twin just seemed very...unfriendly. At least in the reenactment.

09-18-2012, 12:57 PM	#7
TheCars1986 #VLSKMS Forum Fanatic Join Date: Nov 22, 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 8,594	Seems to me like this mystery could have easily been solved. I don't think Jim is making anything up, I believe UM even had the hospital and date on which he and his twin were born. So I don't think there's any doubt that a twin existed. The easy way to solve this, IMHO, would have been to have gotten the name of the company that his brother-in-law played the softball game against, and found out who the pitcher was that day. I see two possibilities: -Jim's twin was in fact the man seen around town and at the softball game but simply wanted nothing to do with his biological family and was happy with his life. -Jim's twin had passed away (either at a young age or before Jim starting looknig for him) and the man seen around town was simply a "dead ringer" for Jim. I tend to lean towards the man being nothing but a lookalike. IIRC, in an older Jim Boumgarden thread, Jim's daughter posted something about how her father and his twin had some heart condition at birth. So maybe the twin died at a very young age which could account for why no one has found him after all these years.

03-17-2013, 08:29 PM	#11
Robert Stack, Jr. Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 22, 2005 Posts: 50	Sorry, but I think this segment was a prank played by UM. If your remember, it was JIM who was running into people who knew his doppelganger. The ONLY thing he would have had to do was ask who this mystery man was. Sorry but this seg, if true, seemed like a waste of time to me. Jim didn't have to go on national TV to find this mysterious twin. He merely had to ask anybody that mistook him who they were talking about. This all-too-obvious solution leads me to believe that the show was playing an April Fools joke of some sort.

03-18-2013, 08:46 AM	#12
TheCars1986 #VLSKMS Forum Fanatic Join Date: Nov 22, 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 8,594	If the man truely was his twin, why wouldn't he just meet with Jim? They obviously had to know of each other's existence, and if it's true that the twin didn't want contact with the family, why not just meet with Jim and tell him to his face?

06-17-2015, 09:56 PM	#13
aura Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 03, 2015 Posts: 24	You would think that someone would have called in recognized jim as the twin. It's sad that jim never got to have a face to face.