MovieChat Forums > Who Took Johnny Discussion > Do you believe Noreen

Do you believe Noreen

posted 8 years ago by SilverGameDog
32 replies | jump to latest

When she says that she was visited by a grownup Johnny?
I honestly don't. And it makes me sad to say that. This woman has been through so much. I don't think I could personally be strong enough.
But I think something like this takes a toll on your sanity.
I think she created a meeting in her head and she believes it's real. It's her way of dealing with this and giving herself some closure.
I also don't think those photos of the boy tied and gagged are of Johnny. It really doesn't even look like him.
But I know she badl wants it to be him. In a strange way. In the same way that you just pray for answers - even if it means evidence that your son is dead.

What a sad and strange story.

[–] rachelr27 8 years ago

I believe it could have happened. I also believe it could have been a hoax. And I also believe it could have been part of a forgivable mental breakdown.

The visit part of the story reminds of something that happened to Colleen Stan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Colleen_Stan, a/k/a "The Girl in the Box." Colleen was kidnapped and held prisoner for years inside a little box, first in a basement then under the kidnapper's bed. He managed to brainwash her into thinking he was part of this huge sex slave ring and that if she tried to escape the network was so large and powerful that they would find her no matter where she tried to go. She had been sensory deprived for so long that her brain seized on any information it was given. She had no reason to doubt it after what she had been going through. After several years, she was allowed to visit her parents, but was told she couldn't say anything about where she had been. She was right there, sitting in her parent's living room telling them how happy she was, too afraid to say anything else. After about an hour, she left and went back to her box.

The same thing could have happened to Johnny Gosch. If he was held captive long enough, he could probably be convinced of anything. It's truly heartbreaking.

[–] SilverGameDog 8 years ago

Oh my god...
I've never heard of that story.
I can't believe it hasn't been made into a movie.
Now I have to go read more about it.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tempmail1974 8 years ago

I think she snapped.

Her story gives Johnny the best possible ending she can imagine.

That written, by now, she deserves to believe this.

[–] Leepal 8 years ago

"I think she snapped.

Her story gives Johnny the best possible ending she can imagine.

That written, by now, she deserves to believe this."

Yeah, that's what I think. I don't believe she actually saw him. Very sad story.

[–] leiastarkiller 8 years ago

I think she imagined it too. Who knows, anything is possible but it's highly unlikely. I don't think she's lying at all though, I think she's convinced herself it happened so she could mentally let go of the pain of not knowing.

I think if it really happened she wouldn't have just let them go. After decades of fighting for missing children and bonding with other parents, she would've needed more info. Who was the other person with him? Someone else's missing child? I don't think she could've ignored that.

[–] blister_in_the_sun890 8 years ago

I don't know about the visit, but I too think that's Johnny in the picture. You can change hair, body shape, you can even cover up a birth mark with make up; you can't change the eyes though, and the boy in the picture had Johnny's eyes.

[–] mattbear78 8 years ago

The pictures have been thoroughly debunked and they are not Johnny. Even his father said that's not him because the kid in the pictures had smaller feet than Johnny.

[–] smshah232 7 years ago

I also believe that the unidentified 4th boy is Johnny.

Regarding the father's statement on the feet, it can be explained by the aspect ratio of the camera possibly making his feet appear smaller.

There's a birthmark on his chest that looks like South America, just like Bonnacci described, unprompted. Of course he looks different than the photos we see of him before the abduction. Consider this: he was a literal corn-fed Iowa boy, he had baby fat before he was abducted. After the abduction he was at that age where a boy's body begins to change as a result of puberty, couple that with what I would imagine to be a DRASTICALLY different diet than he was accustomed to, he just wouldn't look exactly the same. The preteen baby fat blond kid they knew changed into a teenage kid while in captivity and might have lost anywhere between 10 and 20 pounds depending on how harsh the conditions of his captivity were. He's pictured gagged in the back of a van so I don't imagine he was being fed 3 homemade meals a day like he would have eaten under the care of his mother for instance.

Keep in mind those 2 pictures of "Johnny" are NOT related to the debunked picture of the three boys. The lone boy has never been identified while those other 3 have been.

[–] mattbear78 8 years ago

I don't believe her at all. I think it's pure fantasy. So does Johnny's father. I wish they had showed him more in the documentary. He left Noreen because she is such a nut. He believes, like I do, that Johnny was dead within hours or days after he disappeared. There's no conspiracy or vast pedophile ring. It was most likely one single pedophile who abducted two or three kids over the years and is now probably dead.

[–] affliction504 7 years ago

i definitely dont believe the that was her son that visited her. Probably just hoax or she made up. I also don't believe Johnny wrote on a dollar bill.