Las Vegas Myths Busted: The Corpse Brothel
In 2018, a Las Vegas man was reportedly arrested for operating a "mortuary brothel" on the premises of his employer, the Clark County Coroner's Office, during closing hours.
This is not an April Fools' joke.
For five years, James Whittaker, 36, reportedly accepted large sums of money in exchange for allowing men to have sex with bodies they commissioned as coroners.
According to an article published on the World News Daily Report (WNDR) website on July 13, 2018, "Investigators said he charged customers $1,500 to $5,000 per sex act based on 'quality of merchandise.'"
Working stiffness
Whitaker was reportedly arrested for agreeing to sell the "services" of a 49-year-old car crash victim to an undercover officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
"According to WNDR, "Investigators had to talk to him on a necrophilia forum for months before he gave up his identity and offered his services. “An undercover operation was quickly organized and he was immediately arrested. "
A total of 1,734 criminal charges of necrophilia, desecration of a corpse and gross mutilation of human remains resulted in Whittaker facing up to 700 years in prison, the website said.
What does Whittaker himself say? He only hopes his trial will "eliminate Nevada's necrophilia law," which he believes is unconstitutional.
Fatal blow
We've already said this is not an April Fool's joke. However, we do not claim that this story is true.
As it turns out, World News Daily is one of a growing number of "news satire" sites that aim to trick people into sharing sensational stories without a hint of humor or humor like The Onion or other sites. Ironic meaning. Write weekly world news.
World News Daily was founded in November 2013 by Janick Murray-Hall and Olivier Legault in their native Canada. Two years later, real news website Gizmodo ranked it as one of the nine worst fake news stories in the world. Reporter Matt Novak wrote that World News Daily "didn't always seem to have the intention to deceive people, but it still wasn't very good, not very good at all."
Of course, the people who really enjoyed his stories were among the few who often peppered them with real facts and all kinds of jokes that no one else would appreciate, like real photos and the names of mostly unknown criminals and police officers .
In the story of the Corpse Brothel, inspired by a grimy old comedy called "Dead Party" by Sam Kinison, this photo belongs to Lester Mullet, a rebellious member of an Amish group of leaders who have been charged with hate crimes for their "slashings." The "hair" was an attack on other Amish people, the Associated Press reported in 2011.
BTW, how about silly fiction that's better than a true story like this?
The real dangers of fake news
If social media remains just a source of entertainment, the continued spread of fake news will be an easier pill to swallow. But for Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, social media is their primary source of information.
In fact, a 2022 Reuters study found that 39% of 18 to 24-year-olds use social media “only” for information, while 34% also use visited news sites and apps programs, while these websites and apps are still used by older generations.
In other words, these sites are further eroding America’s trust in legitimate news sources to the financial advantage of their operators.
The corpse brothel story was shared on dozens of social media sites. The largest of these, with 17,000 followers, is the non-ironic British "Preston City News Network" on Facebook, whose motto is: "We believe news should be uncensored." It has spread so widely that it As for Snopes, it was forced to expose its dedicated page.
Of course, World News Daily, like most fake news sites, issued a disclaimer: "WNDR accepts full responsibility for the satirical nature of its article and the fictional nature of its content."
correct. Because everyone on social media will be looking for a disclaimer posted deep inside a website before hitting the share button or that crazy-sounding headline to click on.
Although Murray-Hall claims World News Daily generated more than $73,000 in revenue in the last four months of 2018, as of this writing the site no longer exists, with no explanation why. (As if anyone would believe a word of its creator anyway.)
But please don't cry. Equally valuable alternative misinformation sites appear every day.
Disclaimer: The last sentence is sarcastic.
Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday in Access to read previously debunked Vegas myths. Do you have any suggestions for Vegas myths that need debunking? Email [email protected].
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Source: www.casino.org
