ABC aired a 30 minute presention about a mansion called "Rose Red" that was supposedly haunted, it could change shape, many people disappeared, etc. to hype up a movie that Steven King made that was going to air later that month. The movie itself is good, but the "truth" behind the movie is total bull. The mansion never existed.
On that site, they give the link to "Beaumont University," where you can find the information on this scientist's studies, etc... but none of the other links on that site work. All of the other "divsions" like Chemisty, Music, etc, links all go to the same Rose Red page. The whole site is fake --set up to make the story seem real. Here is the direct link to that site: http://www.beaumontuniversity.net/index.html
It's kind of like the "Blair Witch" thing, all though I was a bit surprised, because Steven King doesn't need a hype for people to tune in and watch his movies, but I guess ABC thought it'd be more exciting this way.
I haven't seen the aired presentation so I can't comment on it, but the ABC website doesn't seem to be hyping it as a real haunting. It specifically states that this a work of fiction from Steven King.
The Beaumont University website seems a bit more hoaxy but still seems to be more about entertainment (admittedly rather sparse on the content side) and less about trying to make you believe that all this is real.
If someone saw just the university website then, yeah, the might think it a bit odd but not too terribly convincing. It looks more like an entertainment or spoof site that's still under construction than the site of a real university (seems to be woefully understaffed [did I just really use the word woefully?]).
Brandie
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 | 03:46 PM
I saw the "documentary." The whole thing is based on the fact that Rose Red is a real mansion, and that they actually found the diary of the lady this mansion was built for, Ellen Rimbauer. This diary gives an inside view of the mansion and supports the supernatural claims. This psycholgist has even published this diary.
You know that what happens inside Rose Red is a fictional story that has been created by Steven King, but the documentary they give you, "the history behind Rose Red" is completely false. In the movie itself, it has all this history incorporated into it, and all of the characters names (the phsychology professor, the actual guy who owns the non-existant mansion, etc...)
It's really hard to explain to someone who didn't see the documentary ABC put on the air. If they didn't put that on the air, claiming it to be truth, I could give a crap less, because I like Steven King and I liked the movie. You can find the ABC documentary on the DVD version of Rose Red, I watched it last night after I watched the movie. That's what got me interested in finding out more about the mansion. Instead I found all this out.
Since you never saw the documentary, it's really hard to explain. The last site, the HistoryLink one, explains the most about whole ordeal. The fake site ABC set up linked to them without their knowledge, and when they began recieving thousands of hits and inquiries, they did research of their own to set the record straight.
ABC has this link right on their front page to the university website that you know isn't really a university:
Joyce Reardon's bio, course listing and Rose Red research are available at Beaumont University's official website.
Ozymandias
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 | 05:40 PM
They did the same thing with Kingdom Hospital. Also, the documentary is on the DVD.
And Rose Red was a miniseries, not a TV movie.
Tamati
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 | 02:03 AM
Gees,
Rose Red - I saw this movie and totally believed it was based on a true historical account. Im dissapointed to learn it was not. Lying cunts !! No wonder you guys lost Vietnam and Iraqi. Anyway Stephen King has as much imagination as a friggin blowfly - he looks scarier than the monsters he conjures up (ugly bastard that he is), and his endings are always predictable, ala BORING. Thats what happens when ya have too much money - creativity suffers. Ohhh and Stephen if your reading this - GO FUCK YASELF UGLY AMERICAN ASSHOLE.
God Bless
Bye
Charybdis
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 | 10:40 AM
Don't hold back sweetie. If you have something to say just say it. I don't have time to read between the lines to figure out what you're really trying to get across.
Charybdis
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 | 10:41 AM
Oh, and I love the God Bless part. Really lightens my heart.
Tamati
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 | 12:54 AM
ok apologies if I offended SK fans. Its just that Im sick of quality horror being traded off for the greed of money - a typical american attitude I must admit
erica
Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 | 06:13 PM
i saw it and all my friends were scared out of there minds and were all hudled togewther i sat as close as i could and was in a trance i couldnt take mty eyes of the screen i beleive in it and i hope one day i can visit the mansion
Brandie
Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 | 07:29 AM
There is no mansion -- it was all a hoax created by ABC!
josh
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 | 10:38 AM
you people are nuts to beleive a house can grow and change shape. you people who think that this mini series is true are nuts. people don't just disappear it cannot be don't.
Brandie
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 | 05:05 PM
I am definitely NOT nuts, okay -- I didn't say I believed all the stuff they say happened, but they did (and still do) insist on there being an actual mansion to base the story on. The fact that the mansion itself does not even exist is what perturbs me.
amanda
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 | 01:16 PM
I have not seen the televised version but, I did enjoy the book "Diary of Ellen Rimbaur" and her story of "Rose Red".
jessica
Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 | 11:52 PM
the movie was good but i had to find out for myself if rose red did exist but to my finding the site of the so called college is a fake and they film it at a castle in washington state but steven king made every person believe the movie was base on some truth but its not and i do believe whom ever think its real is so lost in lala land they don't know reality from false truths. the paranormal does exist but stuff about rose red is in fact false. just had to add my thoughts here sorry for wasting everyones time good day
jessica
Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 | 11:58 PM
also go look at thornewood castle in washington state and look hard at the castle and tell me what does it look like to find the website to go google.com and type in thornewood castle
Brandie
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 | 10:53 AM
Yes, it was thornewood castle that they used for a lot of the outside taping of Rose Red. And to Amanda, the "Diary fo Ellen Rimbaur" is a complete fabrication, since Ellen Rimbaur never existed at all.
Rex D.
Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 | 06:04 PM
Seattle City Hall has no record of one Ellen Rimbauer as a Seattle resident at any time in the past.
Rex D.
Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 | 06:06 PM
She was a completely fictional character
chase
Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2005 | 07:56 PM
Also if u look at the bottom of the university page there is the hyperion copyright mark. The book company that published the diary of ellen rimbauer....coincidence??? no
~*sShimmeRr*~
in Adelaide, Australia Member
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 | 06:57 AM
Rose Red was totally fictional. If you hire out the DVD version of the movie, it'll tell you itself in the Special Features.
What University, anywhere on the planet (or the net for that matter) has an incomplete website that only lists paranormal classes, has the only working links all the same (and basically all about a brand new movie), AND ARE ALSO named after a Stephen King character?
Anybody read The Dark Half?
Protagonist: Thadeus Beaumont, Author
This coupled with...
Beaumontuniversity.net is registered to Walt Disney Hyperion Books. If it was real would it not have a .edu extension, like all other educational institutions? (I think only registered educational institutions can get an .edu extension, the same as Joe Blow not being able to get a .gov extension. This may have changed, I'm not too up to date on net developements anymore, and I'm sure there are ways around it somehow.)
Beaumontuniversity.com is an identical copy of the site. It is registered to Vertical Axis, Inc. A google for "vertical axis, inc" brings up nothing but a long list of copyright infringements against an identically named business in Hong Kong. And this company runs the University, huh?
Sometimes I wonder if people really want to be fooled, it's SO easy to get this info. Anytime you go to a site and wonder about it, checking the website registration could give you a few clues... if it's real, generally people like Harry Balls and Richard Stroker do not register it.
