Biking through Chernobyl

**Sarmatian** · 07-03-2008, 13:41

Supposedly, she had made several more trips after her 2004 report was called a fake. I don't see anyone questioning those trips. And she said on her site that she made some trips alone and some with someone, but never more than two people.

I just don't understand why would someone create such an elaborate fraud for no gain. You don't see her face, according to the article her name is not same (Elena/Lena) so she can't use it to achieve "celebrity" status, no money involved, no advertisements on the site...

I'd be extremely disappointed if it were a fraud

, it made such interesting reading...

**Caius** · 07-03-2008, 16:45

Incredible.

**FactionHeir** · 07-04-2008, 00:56

Originally Posted by Sarmatian

Supposedly, she had made several more trips after her 2004 report was called a fake. I don't see anyone questioning those trips. And she said on her site that she made some trips alone and some with someone, but never more than two people.

I just don't understand why would someone create such an elaborate fraud for no gain. You don't see her face, according to the article her name is not same (Elena/Lena) so she can't use it to achieve "celebrity" status, no money involved, no advertisements on the site...

I'd be extremely disappointed if it were a fraud

, it made such interesting reading...

Its kind of like people broadcasting themselves on Youtube as someone else and their character (not them directly) attains celebrity status among those who go to that site.

Or if you will, levelling and item hunting with a fictional character on an online server.

**ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88** · 07-04-2008, 01:03

Intersiting Indeed Me Thinks!

**Sarmatian** · 07-04-2008, 02:11

Originally Posted by FactionHeir

Its kind of like people broadcasting themselves on Youtube as someone else and their character (not them directly) attains celebrity status among those who go to that site.

Or if you will, levelling and item hunting with a fictional character on an online server.

Yeah, you're right. There are all kinds of people. But this is immensely bigger than simple uploading videos to Youtube. She had to organize everything, go there on a tour, stage photos with helmet and motorcycle, plant old letters that she supposedly taken picture of, write fiction text, take hundreds of fake photos, familiarize herself with a lot of stuff about Chernobyl, about radiation and nuclear energy in general and who knows what else. I can imagine someone doing all this but when there is profit or some other gain. It seems to much work just to have your cyber character achieve cyber celebrity status.

If it's a fraud, it's a very good one. I'll try to see and find are there more texts on the net about her supposed further trips...

EDIT: Not much to be found, it's same stuff everywhere. It's still a controversy. But I found a nice comment on the issue on one site: "Nevertheless, the value of Elena's story is not her degree of personal involvement, nor her narrative, but her photos. While some of them could have been staged to a degree (one of the points of criticism - it is noticeable that there are no photographs of her motorcycle inside the abandoned town of Pripyat), she obviously could not have staged the whole ghost town. While there are numerous accounts of the consequences of the catastrophe, Elena presented it to the world in a way never done before."

Even if she was lying about her trip, the photos are real. Some of them may have been taken by other people, or when she was on a tour there, but they are not fake and that is not being disputed by anyone. So the question that remains is whether she actually went there, but that is of much less importance compared to the fact that pictures are real. So, at least that part can be enjoyed without thinking are the photos real.

**Geoffrey S** · 07-04-2008, 10:59

Couldn't care less if it's fake. I don't think that was the point of the site - rather, to write a story and create an atmospheric setting. Did that well.