Last Thursday I got a call from David Akast. He pointed out an article on the Seattle Times about a guy who just appeared in Discovery Park with amnesia, saying something along the lines of, “I think this is Ed Lighthart.” I saw the picture, and indeed it was good old Eddie. I first met him in a Managers Meeting working for Aston. He had a couple nicknames. Rip Torn, Kaiser Wilhelm.. mostly related to that stache of his.
Yeah yeah… it was Rip Taylor, not Torn. But the nick stuck.
He certainly liked to talk, and he definitely wanted to make sure EVERYONE knew he was the Boss of Baoji. That wouldn’t last. He ended up back in Jinan as a teacher, where I’d met him again. I do remember him getting angry at me about not being able to tell him where he could get Microsoft Windows. That was after I told him. Ever since then, I always thought he was an arrogant prat. He didn’t last long in Jinan, as he probably saw himself being disgraced. He took off and headed toward Shanghai. About a year after Baoji, he ended up on a local website hawking English classes. Never saw him here, then never saw him again.
Until the Seattle Times article & David Akast’s call. The next day, Fox News had a video of him speaking. He doesn’t want to associate with “Edward Lighthart” preferring to be John Doe instead (gee, I wonder why?). He mentioned David, but wouldn’t say his name, like he didn’t want the association to his former life. He spoke A LOT, just like at the manager’s meeting, and did everything he could to “start over”. And it seems that’s what he’s going to do.
On a side note, David Akast & I and a few others were out Saturday night when he got yet another phone call (GUYS… TIME ZONES! YOU’RE CALLING CHINA!). He answered the usual, with a somewhat intoxicated ME in the background yelling, “He’s FAKING!”
Edward Lighthart is definitely NOT stupid. Arrogant, a bit of a prat, yes. But not stupid. Though, while I won’t speak for the others, a few of us do think something is definitely wrong. Me, I call bullshit on the whole story now. Some others who knew him, they’re not so sure.
I guess we’ll see what he says next on Oprah or Dr. Phil. After all, isn’t that the next logical step to take?
Update: Looks like Eddie’s LOOSE! And not in the fun Aussie way.
Wow… had no idea when I saw this on Shanghaiist that it was going to blow up into such a big story — never mind connect to people I “know”. Crazy, and crazy that he worked at Aston. This is why I never left the Dalian branches… those Frontier schools… I dunno.
Crazy, isn’t it? I imagine he’ll end up on Oprah or Dr. Phil just to milk it a bit longer.
Dude, when I first heard this story I thought ‘This sounds so familiar…’. It took a minute to realize this is the exact story from a book I read a few months ago called The Manufactured Identity. A guy wakes up in a park with nice clothes, amnesia and money in his shoes. If he is faking, I wonder if he’s read that book too.
Interesting! Just read the prologue of the book. http://themanufacturedidentity.com/
Does sound awfully familiar!
I knew Mr. Lighthart when he lived in the States. He is a very, very troubled individual who I belives suffers from bipolar disorder.