Since 2023, a story has been spreading across the RuNet about how an Irishman deceived several dozen girls into sex by pretending to be a folklore character. We checked whether this actually happened.
Reports of a short, red-haired man pretending to be a leprechaun for sex surfaced online in mid-summer 2023. Typically, such publications consist of a screenshot of a note on an English-language site (sometimes the text is translated into Russian) and a small comment. Details of the story in posts meet infrequently: for example, some authors indicate that the criminal's name is Evan McGuinness, he is 27 years old, and he is from Dublin. It is reported that after having sex with deceived women, the man climbed out through the window in the restroom, and he was arrested in Los Angeles while searching for a new victim.
Many similar posts can be found on VKontakte - for example, in the public pages “Borsch"(147,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), MRZLK (125,000), "Prankach"(46,000), "How do you like that, Elon Musk?» (39,000), as well as in the verified radio community Record (55,000). The news spread even more widely on Telegram, where the channels “All Seeing Eye Ukraine"(421,000 views), "Trash⚡️Tough 18+"(354,000), "Legal lawyer"(254,000), "Broadcast 18+" (169,000), "Drain Rat"(155,000), "r/repeater"(113,000) and 4chan (69,000). The viral screenshot is also found in “Odnoklassniki", to "Peekaboo" and on the newspaper website "My family" This news spread to English language.
The screenshot that usually accompanies a story about an inventive Irishman does not have the logo or name of the media outlet that published it. At the same time, the image shows the date July 20, 2023 and the name of the author Bonnie.
"Checked" found out that original source This story is from the Daily News Reported website, but the headline is different from what is shown in the viral screenshot: “A 2-foot-13 Irishman lured women into sex by offering them non-existent pots of gold.” It is possible that the original title may have been changed after publication. Below is a translation of the original news.
This could be the script for a Hollywood movie. Irishman Evan McGuinness, 27, from Dublin, was arrested after several women said he tricked them into sexual relationships by making them think he was a leprechaun with a pot of gold. McGuinness used this deception to have sex with these women in exchange for his pot of gold. At 2 feet 14 inches tall, the man looked like a leprechaun.
After sex, McGuinness would go to the bathroom to clean up and slip away through a small window without a trace. The women had more questions than gold. “They promised to reveal the location of his gold, but in return I received only genital warts,” one of the victims told us on condition of anonymity.
McGuinness was spotted by a patrol car loitering outside an Irish pub outside Los Angeles. Police assumed he was looking for his next victim. When detained, the man offered no resistance; he was arrested and taken to a special cell for short prisoners in the Los Angeles County Jail (Twin Towers).
The fake leprechaun told our reporters: “I travel outside of Ireland about once every year or two. I go where the women are beautiful and hungry for gold (in the original gold diggers - this is the name given to women who enter into relationships only or mainly for the sake of their partner’s money. — Approx. ed.). I strengthen my accent and go to work. So I myself was rewarded with many “pots of gold.” In total, more than 40 women opened their pots of honey in exchange for a pot of gold that never existed.
Readers who took this text seriously and began to distribute it on the Internet, apparently, did not study the section “About Us" on the Daily News Reported website. It says it is a "fabricated satirical newspaper and humor website" not intended for anyone under 18 years of age. “We use fictitious names except when ridiculing public figures. In all other cases, the use of real names is a mere coincidence,” the site says. The satirical nature of the news is also indicated by slogan resource: “Not quite daily.” “Not quite news” (“Not quite daily. Not quite news”).
As often happens in such satirical publications, the main photograph is real, but the hero of the article is not depicted in it. “Verified” found out that the photo was taken back in March 2016, at the same time published on the website of the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana. The police report stated that in the city of Hammond, law enforcement officers detained Brett Gonzales, 22, of Tickfaw. During interrogation, he admitted that he had robbed a church in early March and told detectives where he hid the stolen property. Gonzalez's height has not been reported.
Similar publications about an Irishman who allegedly pretended to be a leprechaun for sex appeared on RuNet in 2020. Those posts reported 26 defrauded women and included another photo of a man named O'Byrne. This version of the story did not gain much popularity in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, but you can still find similar entries - for example, on VKontakte (examples here, here, here And here) and Telegram (here And here).
Some posts did not include the photo of the man itself, but a screenshot of a snippet from the World News Daily Report website. The corresponding publication on this resource is indeed There is - How found out fact-checking project Lead Stories, it appeared there on January 30, 2020. The text said police had arrested 29-year-old 3ft 4in (just under 102cm) Connor O'Byrne in Dublin. The man allegedly tricked tourists and local women into sex by dressing up as a leprechaun and promising the victims a pot of gold. It was alleged that the real number of victims could exceed 200 or even 300 people, and during a search of O’Byrne, six different outfits of a folklore character and several gold coins were found. At the end of the note it was reported that if the Dubliner is found guilty of all charges, he faces life imprisonment and a fine of €75,000.
As in the previous case, World News Daily Report (WNDR) is a satirical site whose fictional stories have been “Verified” several times sorted it out. Resource slogan reads: “Where facts don’t matter” (“A place where facts don’t matter”), and in the disclaimer said: “WNDR takes full responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictitious nature of their content. All characters mentioned in the texts on this site are entirely fictitious, even if based on real people, and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is a mere miracle.”
As for the title photo, the Snopes project found outwhat's really in the picture imprinted participant of the traditional congress redheads, which took place in Ireland in August 2016. “Verified” established that this person’s name is David Scherger - He was born and lives in Germany, serving as a deacon and sometimes performing as a clown at charity events. As seen on others photographs, he does not have dwarfism.
Thus, the stories about two Irishmen who pretended to be leprechauns for sex turned out to be the fabrications of satirical sites.
Cover photo: frame from the filmLeprechaun-2» / Daily News Reported / Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office
- Is it true that St. Patrick exterminated the pygmies in Ireland, who became the prototype of leprechauns?
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