On the way home I had an experience that has left me wondering if I was the unwitting victim of an undercover cop and wanted to see what you guys thought. We ended up bringing home a person that our close friends had met at the burn. Because we were going to the same place he needed to fly out of it worked out to have him come with us. On the long ride home both my partner and I were asked questions during conversation that after we compared notes, left us scratching our heads. There were also many statements made that either did not make sense or made us question who he really was.
At one point in the conversation he asked my gf "is there any other [b]paraphernalia [/b]in the car?" Ive only heard 2 people use that word, my dad and cops. I was asleep in the back when he said this but she says that he specifically used the word paraphernalia. He also wanted to know about us, our friends, where we lived, how we knew our mutual friends, standard getting to know you fare. But while this person wanted to know where we all lived, he was not at all familiar with the city we were all heading towards. He lived out of state on the other side of his country. He flew into the bay area but was flying home out of a different city a days drive away, which seems pretty unusual to me. His reason for this was that his brother lived in the same city as we did. But we dropped him off just before dawn and his flight was supposedly that morning. What a great time to spend with your brother, right?
Other things just didn't make sense either. My gf, while no longer religous, can recite arcane christian and jewish theology with doctors. She said that he seemed to be very very conservative and when she started asking specific questions to try to find out exactly what his beliefs he withdrew and told her that while he considered himself a christian, he did not like that label and did not attend church regularly and wouldnt tell her any specifics. But then when she was asleep in back we talked about how he prayed daily, went to church at least once a month, talked about the power of prayer and stuff like that. Aside from the contradictions in statements made to my gf and me seperately, it just didn't seem like someone that would spend 5 days at burningman. He also asked about some of the regional events we have been to and expressed intrerest in coming to one of ours even though he lives on the other side of the country with a job that I would not expect would allow him to make regular cross country travel for fun possible.
So I know this is just my experience but a lot of this struck me as weird and it was doubly weird when I found that my woman felt the same way and it turns out he made contradicting statements to each of this. Am I just being too paranoid?
Undercover cop?
Hard to say. Definitely a weird guy. Of course, maybe he was just really high. *laugh* Wouldn't that be the greatest? Maybe he woke up the next morning, dusted off his ACLU membership card and thought "Did I go on about conservative politics and . . . church, yesterday? I must've been trippin' balls. I mean DAMN."
(Probably not, but the idea amuses me.)
Sounds like you handled yourself well, in any event.
And your account reads a bit like a ghost story. The final line should involve your playa coat folded neatly on a gravestone, or a hook hanging from your car door handle.
(Probably not, but the idea amuses me.)
Sounds like you handled yourself well, in any event.
And your account reads a bit like a ghost story. The final line should involve your playa coat folded neatly on a gravestone, or a hook hanging from your car door handle.
No cop
Not a cop. Just a weird dude. I am sure the person asked about paraphernalia to make sure they didn't get caught up in a ride gone bad if you were to get pulled over. They probably used the best legal term they know to make sure you understood. What juristrisction would let an officer ride in a car for hours?
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Bob
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I vote weird car, normal dude.
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"Let us say I suggest you may be human." -- Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
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Pink Daddy
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I saw my fair share of undercovers and this guy doesn't sound like one. He definitely is a strange cookie, but that's most likely it.
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We watched the man burn from the Esplanade because we had to leave right after, and a 20-ish guy pulled up to us on his bike and said something, like, "It's a 911 emergency, do you have anything?" I just rolled my eyes and said no. Wouldn't that be soliciting anyway? We were pretty sure he was a cop. Not one of the brighter ones...
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unjonharley
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