In the summer of 2006, a teenage girl began posting video diaries to a then-new site called YouTube under the handle lonelygirl15. Within weeks she was a phenomenon—even though no one knew the truth of who she really was. The frenzied quest to change that, to solve the mystery of lonelygirl15, would ultimately land her on the front page of newspapers and the covers of magazines. Twenty years on, lonelygirl15 is both an artifact of an earlier online era and an origin point for the internet as we know it: a place full of video diaries, parasocial relationships, influencers, hyper-engaged fandoms, and the knowledge that you can’t always believe your eyes.In this episode, you’ll hear from some of the people who investigated lonelygirl15 way back in 2006: culture critic Virginia Heffernan, who writes the Substack <a href="https://virginiaheffernan.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Magic + Loss</a> and co-hosts the podcast <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/omnishambles/id1787176282" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Omnishambles</a>; entertainment journalist Richard Rushfield of <a href="https://theankler.com/s/richard-rushfield" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Ankler</a>; Emmy Award-winning producer <a href="http://www.jennipowell.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jenni Powell</a>; and one-time cybersleuth <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/phatboyg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chris Patterson</a>. We also speak with the people involved in making lonelygirl15: <a href="https://x.com/mbeckett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Miles Beckett</a>, <a href="https://www.meshflinderswrites.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mesh Flinders</a>, Jessica Rose Phillipps, and Amanda Goodfried.&nbsp;This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s Supervising Producer. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Katie Shepherd, and Max Freedman. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.Thank you to Greg Goodfried, Matt Foremski, and Tom Foremski. Special thanks to <a href="https://www.garbageday.email/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ryan Broderick</a> and Grant Irving of the podcast <a href="https://www.garbageday.email/panic-world" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Panic World</a>, who introduced Willa to the lonelygirl15 story on a <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lonelygirl15-and-when-lies-could-be-fun/id1740187810?i=1000747992019" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recent episode of their show</a> and suggested it might make a good topic for Decoder Ring.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at <a href="mailto:DecoderRing@slate.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DecoderRing@slate.com</a> or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Sources for This EpisodeCresci, Elena. “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/16/lonelygirl15-bree-video-blog-youtube" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lonelygirl15: how one mysterious vlogger changed the internet</a>,” The Guardian, June 16, 2006.Davis, Joshua. “<a href="https://www.wired.com/2006/12/lonelygirl/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Secret World of Lonelygirl</a>,” WIRED, Dec. 2006.Falconer, Ellen. “<a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/the-wireless/374034/an-oral-history-of-lonelygirl15" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">An oral history of lonelygirl15</a>,” RNZ, June 16, 2016.Flemming, Brian. “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061019210323/http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/002285.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Arguments for a real LG15 fall short</a>,” Brian Flemming's Weblog, Aug. 25, 2006.Foremski, Matt and Tom Foremski. “<a href="https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/svw-exclusive-the-identity-of-lonelygirl15/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SVW Exclusive: The identity of LonelyGirl15</a>,” Silicon Valley Watcher, Sep. 11, 2006.Foremski, Tom. “<a href="https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/how-the-secret-identity-of-lonelygirl15-was-found/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">How the secret identity of LonelyGirl15 was found</a>,” Silicon Valley Watcher, Sep. 12, 2006.Foremski, Tom. “<a href="https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/the-hunt-for-lonelygirl15-life-in-a-blogger-household---/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Hunt for LonelyGirl15: Life in a blogger household…</a>,” Silicon Valley Watcher, Sep. 12, 2006.Glaister, Dan. “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/sep/09/news.usnews" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cult blog a fake, admit 'lonelygirl' creators</a>,” The Guardian, Sep. 9, 2006.Heffernan, Virginia and Tom Zeller Jr. “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/technology/the-lonelygirl-that-really-wasnt.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Lonelygirl That Really Wasn’t</a>,” New York Times, Sep. 13, 2006.Heffernan, Virginia. “<a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/08/23/a-pause-for-a-word-from-bree/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Pause for Some Words From Bree</a>,” New York Times, Aug. 23, 2006.Heffernan, Virginia. “<a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/sweet-weird-fraud-or-other/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sweet, Weird, Fraud or Other</a>,” New York Times, Aug. 24, 2006.“<a href="http://www.lg15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=Main_Page" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LGPedia</a>,” <a href="http://www.lg15.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LG15</a>, 2016.“<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lonelygirl15-and-when-lies-could-be-fun/id1740187810?i=1000747992019" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lonelygirl15 and when lies could be fun</a>,” Panic World, Feb. 4, 2026.“<a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/128609-lonely-girl-and-all-her-friends" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lonely Girl And All Her Friends</a>,” On the Media, Sep. 1, 2006.Nudd, Tim. “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181212054729/https://www.adweek.com/creativity/lonelygirl15-still-mystery-now-18443/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lonelygirl15 still a mystery, for now</a>,” ADWEEK, Sep. 1, 2006.Rushfield, Richard and Claire Hoffman. “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-13-me-lonelygir13-story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lonelygirl15 Video Blog Is Brainchild of 3 Filmmakers</a>,” Los Angeles Times, Sep. 13, 2006.Rushfield, Richard and Claire Hoffman. “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-08-et-lonelygirl8-story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mystery Fuels Huge Popularity of Web’s Lonelygirl15</a>,” Los Angeles Times, Sep. 8, 2006.Wendt, Milo A. “<a href="https://milowent.blogspot.com/2006/08/lonelygirl15-its-not-so-lonely-in-bay.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LonelyGirl15: It's Not So Lonely In The Bay Area</a>,” milowent, Aug. 30, 2006.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>. Or, visit <a href="https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slate.com/decoderplus</a> for access wherever you listen.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

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