This is the way I heard it.

Ed had no reason to lie, none whatsoever.

And yet he did, time and time again, Ed stretched the truth, even when his far-fetched

fabrications serve no purpose.

A horseback encounter with a bear during a summer job evolved into a series of harrowing

adventures.

There were knife fights in railroad yards.

There were tent mates killed by falling trees.

There were terrifying rides through Indian country.

But there were no witnesses to support any of this.

During World War II, Ed claimed that O.S.S. director Wild Bill Donovan wanted him

on a secret mission to parachute into occupied France as the leader of a seven-man team

of assassins.

He also claimed that Hitler sent a U-boat to kill him.

Wild Bill Donovan confirmed none of this.

When he applied to the University of Chicago, Ed claimed to have been practicing law in

Kentucky when, in fact, he'd been teaching high school and coaching basketball, a pointless

perverication that very nearly ruined his career.

With a tall tale, he told in 1925, top them all, a strange story of an unearthly encounter

on a remote hilltop in Los Angeles.

What exactly did Ed see on that fateful night in the hills?

Was it a ghost?

...