Christine Chubbuck
By Clive Python | 14jammar
This is an archive of an article I did in 2017. The info on this page is not fully correct. Please click here
Christine Chubbuck was born on the 24th of August 1944 in Hudson, Ohio. She was
the daughter of Margaretha D. "Peg" (1921–1994) and George Fairbanks Chubbuck
(1918–2015). She had two brothers, Greg and Tim. Chubbuck attended the Laurel
School for Girls in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland.
She originally worked at WXLT-TV (now WWSB) as an evening news reporter and
then later she went on to host a morning community affairs talk show, Suncoast Digest.
In the lead-up to her death, she had volunteered to make a feature on suicide
for the station, for her research on the subject, she had asked a bobby who the
best way of taking your own life was (the sheriff told her what kind of gun and
bullets that he would use if ever put in that situation).
On the 15th of July 1974, 29-year-old Christine had come, equipped with a gun, to
end it all. Chubbuck (who was noticeably more enthusiastic and cheerful than usual)
declared, just before Suncoast Digest was due to go on air, that she needed to read
a newscast beforehand, confusing co-workers (as this was something she had never
done before).
Everything went fine for eight minutes, she covered three national stories. When
she got to the fourth story, a shooting at a local restaurant, the reel for the
footage jammed, prompting her to shrug, nonchalantly turn towards the camera and
proclaim the now infamous line;
She then drew a revolver that she had hidden in her bag, placed it behind her
right ear and fired, immediately slumping forward violently onto her desk, as the
technical director scrambled to fade rapidly to black.
This was 1974, not where
everything is recorded, only rich or lucky people could afford a video cassette recorder in the 70's, it is possible that someone
recorded the suicide, but it is unlikely. If someone did record the suicide, it is likely that the video is now damaged
because of time, or the owner does not want to release the tape.
A significant number of people have claimed to have seen the footage via a number of
sources other than the original live broadcast, including early websites (nope), FBI
training videos (nope), and mondo films a la Faces of Death (nope), this seems unlikely
as to why did no one archive the video.
One of the most likely people to have a copy of the video will be WXLT-TV and as it
seems, they do indeed have a copy. According to an article published by Vulture,
Mollie Nelson, the widow of the owner of Chubbuck's news station, has a copy, the article says that;
The article continues by saying after the Sundance debut of "Kate Plays
Christine" in which a former news station employee suggests that Nelson
might have the tape, people started contacting her, all the attempts made her
uncomfortable, she gave the tape to an unnamed "very large law firm"
The article ends by telling us that Mollie Nelson has no plans to release the tape.
11/02/17 17:06
I was on the LMW Discord server today when I saw a user posted a link to [NSFW] this video, the post was removed by a mod as it was posted in a SFW channel. It would seem it shows the death of Chubbuck, this is the first time that I've seen this video ever so I can't say if it's real. I feel like it may be fake as it looks like the snow effect was added on a computer, but I may be wrong.
If the video is indeed the real footage, I guess it was recorded off a TV and is not a copy of Mollie Nelson as I believe she would have colour footage.
This took place before I joined the LMW server...
[12:34 AM] matt: Each one is filled with a few desktop backgrounds that have the same designs but with different colors
[12:34 AM] matt: When you open the desktop backgrounds folder there's a duplicate inside
[12:35 AM] matt: And when you open the choice folders in the duplicate you can see that he actually left a Photoshop file in each one, which one can only hope was an accident
[1:45 AM] Hajime Hinata: What's the NS form?
[1:46 AM] ApolloAnarchy: Nationsquid
[1:46 AM] ApolloAnarchy: An asshole who has a recreation of Chubbuck footage but won't talk to us at all
[2:02 AM] Hajime Hinata: Oh wow
[3:10 AM] matt: Apollo, any answer from NS yet?
[3:14 AM] ApolloAnarchy: nope
[3:14 AM] ApolloAnarchy: why would there be
[3:14 AM] matt: Idk
[3:14 AM] matt: I was just thinking maybe he responded
[10th of February 2017]
[11:50 PM] BlackBearCJ: I mean in the the thing E! did about Chubbuck they said she slumped onto the desk, not the violent falling over like in the NS footage. That makes me question it more than the N on Newswatch or it fading to a technical difficulties instead of black [edited]
[11:52 PM] matt: Multiple accounts say that too
[11:52 PM] matt: Im not sure why everyone thinks she fell
[11:52 PM] matt: Unless it's coming from the movie
[11:53 PM] matt: Also, idk about you but it sure as hell looks like she's not holding a gun
[11:53 PM] matt: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/278342620940337162/279761722896547842/image.png
[11:53 PM] matt: Unless that's it in that darker area around her hand
[11:54 PM] matt: But even so the gun shape is very odd and doesn't match the picture of the gun she actually used
[11:54 PM] BlackBearCJ: I mean they could even get a prop gun, but the pause seems kind of long before she pulls the trigger after putting it to her head
[11:56 PM] BlackBearCJ: Also NS put in that reenactment Timothy Tredwell audio so I don't know why he'd be so reluctant to admit it's a reenactment
[11:56 PM] matt: She doesn't even hold it to her head btw she holds it to her neck or the bottom of her chin
[11:57 PM] matt: Which I'm pretty sure isn't what happened
[11:59 PM] BlackBearCJ: Well it looked like the area of the brain (from the outside) that she was supposed to have held it to? Since it's behind the ear. The footage is such poor quality it's hard to tell
[11:59 PM] matt: I guess
[11th of February 2017]
[12:00 AM] matt: Idk though
[12:01 AM] dycaite: in rl she held the gun to the back of her head, behind her right ear, as per the video
[12:01 AM] matt: Ah
[12:01 AM] matt: Does it look like she's holding a gun to you @dycaite
[12:02 AM] dycaite: i can't see a gun, but that could be attributed to it being black, as well as the black sheet hanging behind her (plus the distortion)
[12:03 AM] matt: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/278342620940337162/279764195959111680/image.png
[12:03 AM] BlackBearCJ: Yeah like I said that part looks fine to me, it's what happened after the gunshot not adding up to accounts of people who were there that make me suspicious. As much as I'd like for it to be real since she did want people to see it.
[12:03 AM] matt: There's kinda a darker area around there
[12:03 AM] matt: But yeah pretty hard to make out
[12:03 AM] BlackBearCJ: I think it's just because it's all dark. The background, her hair, being black and white
[12:05 AM] dycaite: yeah. if you'll notice in that screenshot, it almost looks like she has no hair on her right side
[12:05 AM] dycaite: coz its blending in
[12:09 AM] BlackBearCJ: Do we know why this footage would be in black and white though? Everything I've seen of suncoast digest is in color?
[12:09 AM] ApolloAnarchy: Multiple reasons
[12:10 AM] ApolloAnarchy: 1. The TV someone recorded it on was black and white 2. This is an alternate camera
[12:10 AM] ApolloAnarchy: 3. They wanted to save money (since Christine wanted this for herself, it wasn't a normal thing) [edited]
[12:12 AM] BlackBearCJ: That makes sense, especially the alternate camera because it doesn't really look like one you'd be broadcasting with, all the negative space
[2:31 AM] neonpero: whats the video
Update II
11/02/17 22:32
The video has been on YouTube for one day now, it only has 4,148 views and was posted by Indrid Cold.
Update II
11/02/17 22:32
I have found where the video has come from, a YouTuber by the name of NationSquid did a video on the 31st of January called "Freaky 5 - Lost Footage" the video can be seen at 8:47.
dycaite from the Lost Media Wiki started this thread on NationSquid's forum asking where they got the tape from.
NationSquid has yet to say anything, unlike itwbtc16 who knows his shit.
I.
The Christine Chubbuck Tape (Lost On-Air Suicide Footage; 1974) - The Lost Media Wiki
http://lostmediawiki.com/The_Christine_Chubbuck_Tape_(Lost_On-Air_Suicide_Footage;_1974)
II.
Christine Chubbuck - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Chubbuck
The Existence of Christine Chubbuck’s Suicide Video Has Been Confirmed - Vulture
http://www.vulture.com/2016/06/christine-chubbuck-suicide-video-exists.html
Photo of Chubbuck
https://www.flickr.com/photos/104052367@N03/10060852375/
Written by Clive "James" Python, 06/02/17.
http://owlman.neocities.org/library/chubbuck.html
In keeping with the WXLT practice of presenting the most immediate and complete reports of local blood and guts news, TV 40 presents what is believed to be a television first. In living colour, an exclusive coverage of an attempted suicide
The Footage
[Vulture] got a call that confirms the tape's existence. [...] [Mollie Nelson]
called us [...] to explain that she had the video for years - her late husband
Robert Nelson had kept a copy of the tape, though Mollie says he never told her why.
Update
[9th of February 2017]
[12:33 AM] matt: So there's 3 folders called "choice 1", "choice 2", and "choice 3" respectively
References
