Fake Seizure Guy
For years, a Melbourne Man has been baffling fellow Australians.
Update: Saturday October 26
I asked for “further information” around this piece, and got an email I thought was important to share:
I know the 'fake seizure guy' really well. I've spent a lot of time with him over the past few years. He has really severe autism. He is completely harmless. He would never sexually assault anyone. He simply does not know that his behaviour is unacceptable to people like us.
The reason he asks people to 'sit' on him and restrain him is that he is 'stimming'. He's trying to get what is called 'Deep Pressure Stimulation', which is a common symptom of those who have severe autism (e.g., enjoying weighted blankets or hugs). I've attached a link where you can get more information:
https://www.appliedbehavioranalysisedu.org/what-is-deep-pressure-stimulation/
He is disabled and I assure you that he is harmless.
I have asked for further information about all of this — including if I can talk directly to a carer or someone who knows more. It’s been a few days and I have heard nothing back. I’d like to verify things a little more, but in the meantime I thought I should still post this update.
I have also passed it on to Victoria Police, who indicated they were seeking more information.
Regardless of whether this person is autistic or not — or if that is combined with a mental health isssue/s — this behaviour does strike me as unsafe. The public are being misled into a physical interaction that involves close body contact, and it also puts the man at risk if behaviour is misinterpreted.
Note: If you want to get in touch with further information about this story, I am: davidfarrier@protonmail.com. I will also be in Melbourne and Sydney in Nov/Dec to present my 2016 documentary Tickled.
Hi,
When you make a documentary about Competitive Endurance Tickling, people tend to contact you about their strange encounters — which is how, eight months ago, I came upon Fake Seizure Guy.
“So we’re standing there and I just notice this very thin, sort of gaunt looking younger gentleman who was clearly having a medical episode. He’s sort of shaking, and having almost no medical experience I was like, ‘I think he’s having a seizure’.”
It was a cold dark Melbourne night when Christian Hull had an encounter he’s still trying to make sense of nearly five years later. He’d just been at a show, and he was standing with two of his friends near the casino.
“I was like, ‘Are you okay? What’s happening?’ And he’s like, ‘No, I'm not good. I need help. I’m having a seizure’. So I was like, ‘Shit. What? What do I need to do to help you?”
He got to his knees, convulsing, before laying facedown on the ground — where he started issuing instructions on how to help him. First he asked Christian to hold his arms, and then place them behind his back.
“It was all these small instructions where I was like, ‘Yep, I’m just going to help this guy through his seizure and everything will be fine. I’ll just listen to him. He knows his body.’ He’s shaking his whole time. His body is convulsing. And then he’s like, ‘Can you sit on me now?’”
Christian’s friends told him not to do it, but Christian simply saw a man in need.
“I sat on him like he was a bus stop. So then he says, ‘No, I need you to straddle me.’ And so I start straddling him, and I’m holding his arms now. It’s like I’m riding a horse. And he’s convulsing. And I’m holding his hands down, so my crutch is in that sort of dip of the back. So I’m sitting there, and his hands are like getting close to my crotch. And I was like, ‘My God, I’m so sorry.’ Like, I’m apologizing, as he’s pushing them down in his seizure.
By now, Christian knows something is up, but he’s not sure how to get off the man, in case releasing him causes more trouble. “I think he might be a meth user. He’s having some sort of drug trip.” He yelled at his friends to call the police, but a woman nearby already had.
“And he’s screaming, ‘No, don’t call the police!’ and he was really thrashing around. And so I just went, ‘Right 3… 2...1!’ and I let go. And then I just stood up and he was gone. He ran.”
Christian said the whole thing felt like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. At some point early on, his friend had taken a photo.
“The police on the phone had said, ‘We are aware of the situation.’”
Christian Hull is a 30-something Brisbane-based comedian and content creator who has almost two million followers on TikTok. His videos across various platforms have accumulated close to 700 million views, and back in March he decided to post about his 2019 experience with Fake Seizure Guy.
“I uploaded the video, and then it was just this absolute wave of comments of people being like, ‘A few years ago when I was on the train going to school’ — and I was like, ‘My God, going to school? How young are you?’ And it was just everywhere. Everywhere — and Victoria as well. I don’t think it’s just Melbourne specific. People were like, ‘He’s not on drugs. It’s the fake seizure guy. He’s done this to me.’”
“I Thought It Was Maybe a Citizen's Arrest?”
Over the last few months, Webworm has been talking to other victims who found themselves in almost the exact same situation as Christian. Most of them felt like something was “off” at the time, they just didn’t know what. Like Christian, they also spoke of quickly getting involved, compelled into action by the adrenaline rush that comes when someone asks you for help.
Others hadn’t experienced Fake Seizure Guy first-hand, but had seen him in action. Aaron witnessed an incident in August while looking out the window of his Brunswick apartment.
“Me and my friend were chilling in my apartment which overlooks the street. I got up to look outside and saw a peculiar sight that took me a minute to fully process. I thought it was maybe a citizen’s arrest or someone tackled to the ground?
He took a photo, not quite knowing what he was looking at.
Some witnesses knew what they were looking at, just due to the fact that this has now become lore in certain parts of Melbourne. When Brodie saw a man seemingly in trouble, it wasn’t long before he realised it was the guy he’d been hearing about for years.
“The fake seizure guy had lured in a young guy — seemed about 18 or so — who was harmlessly practicing his skating on the street in the minutes prior.
We shot onto my balcony to take a better look and debated what to do. After about 30 seconds of deliberation, [my friend] took to shouting in their general direction. ‘Hey, everything alright over there mate?’ As soon as he yelled this, the guy became extremely defensive, saying ‘I’m having muscle spasms!’
Brodie said, ‘You’re not that [expletive] that goes around getting off on that are you?’ He immediately started yelling back at us and walking away from the situation. His movements indicated that he was fully capable of walking. We also urged him to seek medical help if he needed assistance, knowing full well the fake situation at hand.
What disturbed me the most is the fact he was so happy to take advantage of this young guy, who was by himself, just wanting to practice his skating.
What also hit us was that some people on my relatively quiet street were just walking past and not acknowledging the strange situation unfolding in front of them. We debated calling the police non-emergency line, but there wasn’t much we could have done.”
Another encounter from January was shared online by Reddit user porka93, posting on the Melbourne subreddit.
“Happened to my dad about a month ago out the front of our timber business in Braybrook. My dad, not knowing any better, sat on his back and then tied his hands behind his back (as per fake seizure guys request, obviously).
He then called me to tell me what just transpired to which I had the fun time of telling him he had just been a victim of the fake seizure thug.”
The whole incident was captured on CCTV.
Just after 5pm, Fake Seizure Guy enters from the right of frame, suddenly dropping to the ground where he begins to convulse.
15 seconds later, the owner of the timber business enters frame, asking if he’s alright.
Fake Seizure Guy gets to his feet as the man asks, confused, “Where did you fall from?”
Fake Seizure Guy then drops to the ground again, shaking. More words are exchanged, but they’re inaudible.
At first the man holds Fake Seizure Guy down with his hands, but quickly crawls on top of him.
This goes on for 1 minute and 17 seconds, before the man crawls off and leaves frame. He returns two minutes later holding some rope, gets back on top of him, and proceeds to tie Fake Seizure Guy’s hands behind his back — seemingly at his request.
He remains on top of him for another four minutes, before leaving, then returning to another session.
A few minutes after that, Fake Seizure Guy gets up, no longer convulsing. The pair shake hands, Fake Seizure Guy exits stage right, and his rescuer takes a breath.
The whole thing lasted for about 12 minutes — the longest encounter Webworm has come across.
“I came across him in 2012.”
People have been posting about these bizarre interactions on the internet for years, with seemingly little changing. If anything, there seems to be an increase in accounts over the last year — but that may also be due to increased awareness.
Under that post from a year ago, a number of comments indicated it had been going on since 2012.
“He tricked me into sitting on him when I was out running in 2014 and seemed already pretty pro at it,” said one poster. Another Reddit user posted, “I came across him in 2012.”
Webworm wasn’t able to verify those stories as they were only posted in October of last year — but there is a Reddit post time stamped from five years ago — alleging an incident two years earlier.
The MO was all too familiar:
“A few years ago I was driving home and had to pull over to text someone. I pulled over on the corner of Nicholson and Johnson St.
A guy knocked on my window and asked me for help. He said he was going to have a seizure and needed my help. He wanted me to pin him down so he didn’t hurt himself. I was really wary of this as it seemed super dodgy.
I tried to call Ambulance Victoria but he wouldn’t have a bar of it. I tried to help and his requests escalated to wanting me to hold his arms, to “do it harder”.
Under that post — since deleted, a Reddit user suggested Fake Seizure Guy had been doing this for over a decade:
“For people who don’t know this [expletive] pretends he is having a fit/seizure of some sort to induce men into lying on top of him. He has been doing it for over a decade at least.
It’s not some harmless prank, quirk or joke. It is a paraphilia and tricking unwilling/unconsenting people into a sexual act is sexual assault.
For starters you never need to restrain anyone seizing. When in doubt the First Aid for seizures is pretty much hands off, call an ambulance. Taking advantage of folks who think they are helping someone in need is abhorrent.
Don’t fear that you are endangering someone who is having a medical emergency. That is not the case and certainly anyone capable of jumping up and running away when you say you are about to phone 000 isn’t in medical need.”
The mods at the Melbourne Reddit kept deleting alleged assaults, leading to the creation of a new sub simply “FakeSeizureGuy”. It basically exists as a place for people to log their encounters and share experiences:
K-Mart at Barkly Square, Brunswick (9:30pm, 4/6/23).
PSA: He’s in Deer Park/St Albans tonight.
He’s at Macedon station at the moment
He’s around linear park Carlton North at the moment
Fake Seizure Guy is around Uni Melbourne this morning
He got a friend and me a few days ago in Curtain Street, Carlton North.
There is no way to verify these reports, or confirm they are the same person every time. But when photos are shared, they all show the same man — and the MO is always incredibly specific.
He convulses and drops to the ground, before issuing a very specific set of instructions to whoever he’s fallen next to.
The stories became common knowledge, eventually traveling beyond Australian Reddit.
In February of this year, the hugely popular Last Podcast on the Left released an episode on their feed called “Side Stories: Some Stories”.
In the episode, hosts Henry Zebrowski and Ed Larson discuss Fake Seizure Guy, going through a number of incidents their listeners have sent in. “A lot of people are asking, what’s this guy’s deal? Where are the reporters on this?” the hosts ask.
“The Man Did Not Require Medical Treatment.”
Despite years of stories and encounters, Webworm was surprised to find no media reports or investigations into these incidents, which could easily be interpreted as sexual assault.
With that in mind, Webworm reached out to Victoria Police last week with a specific list of questions.
Are you aware of these incidents taking place?
Do you consider them sexual assault?
Are the Victoria Police investigating at all?
If so - is there anything about the status of the investigation you can share?
What should the public do when they see this man getting members of the public to sit on him?
At first, their Media Comms team didn’t appear to know who I was talking about, saying they needed more information: “We really need to know where these matters are being reported.”
After a week of back-and-forth, providing them with more and more examples, they issued a statement to Webworm on October 20, saying they had talked to the man two months ago.
“Victoria Police is aware of a man using public transport who it’s alleged pretends to have seizures to then inappropriately touch people who go to his aid.
While we haven’t received any official reports from victims, police have spoken with this man about his behaviour.
This included when local police were called to a welfare check on the man on 25 August in Ascot Vale. The man did not require medical treatment.
We encourage anyone subjected to such behaviour to make an official report to police.
This means we can then use this information to investigate and lay any criminal charges as appropriate.
Unwanted behaviour is never acceptable, be it on the public transport network or elsewhere.”
Their statement infers that police think these incidents only take place on public transport, when it appears he covers a lot more ground.
The statement also indicates Fake Seizure Guy was not — at least at the time of the police visit — having a seizure: “The man did not require medical treatment.”
No charges have been laid, but “police have spoken with this man about his behaviour” and are encouraging victims to contact them: “We can then use this information to investigate and lay any criminal charges as appropriate.”
The ‘Seizures’ Are Not Stopping
Webworm has seen reports going back at least five years — with further allegations going back at least a decade.
It’s a little surprising Victoria police are yet to receive any official reports — but that may just be due to the puzzling nature of the events and the fact many people simply walk away believing they have done a good thing.
There’s also the complicated question of exactly what has taken place, whether it can be defined as assault, and if it’s of a sexual nature. In Christian Hull’s mind, there’s no doubt there is a sexual element.
“It’s the gyrating and it’s the sitting on. He’s dry humping the ground, basically. So, yeah, it’s got to be sexual. Well, what else would it be?”
People are like, ‘Well, why hasn’t he been charged?’ But when you think about it: a man sat on somebody. What could the police do? Like - ‘Stop being an idiot and don’t sit on people who are clearly not having a seizure!?’
The whole thing is so fucking strange. He’s clearly sexually assaulting people, but he’s on that sort of line where the police can’t do anything, you know? Sure, we can report it to them, but it's not until it crosses that line that they have something to charge him on.
And then people are so probably nervous to come forward, ashamed, and also just genuinely have no idea what the fuck has just happened because it’s so quick, it’s so confusing. And it’s just like, why? Did he have a seizure? Now he’s getting up and running away. What?”
As for the police’s conversation with Fake Seizure Guy back on August 25? It doesn’t seem to have made a lick of difference.
Webworm received that statement from police over the weekend — but yesterday, 19-year-old Matthew* found himself watching two men down on the ground. One seemed to be holding the other down.
“I saw this guy collapse on the ground next to an older couple. At the time, I thought he knew them, but when I looked back, the older man was restraining him.
I went back to offer help, but the woman said no, they’d be alright, there were two of them already.
I continued on my way to work, a bit confused but not really concerned. On the way back — four hours later — in almost the same spot, he collapsed in front of me. I went to help him, grabbed his hand and helped him up, but he fell over again.
Needless to say I was a bit suspicious, especially after he told me to restrain him, considering that I’ve done first aid training and I know that’s not at all the right thing to do.
But he assured me it wasn’t a seizure, just muscle spasms — and so I listened to him.”
And that’s how Matthew came to be sitting on top of a man who was gyrating wildly beneath him.
“He told me to sit on his back, then hold his wrists together. He was very strong, so I pushed his arms together and up, away from myself. He told me to push his head into the ground, which I did — again, not really thinking too well.”
As usual, it all lasted a matter of minutes. It was a familiar story — one I’ve heard countless times over the last several months. It ended as it almost always does. Fake Seizure Guy stopped seizing, and magically got to his feet.
He shook Matthew’s hand, thanked him for his service, and walked away.
The story ends, but it doesn’t — because there’s always someone else. I think back to something else Christian told me about his 2019 encounter.
“I was walking back to the car park. We look over at some commotion — and this 200 metres away — he is doing the same thing to these young guys fishing in the river. Like, Jesus Christ, 200 metres away.”
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*Some names have been changed at the request of those I spoke to.
If he wants deep pressure stimulation then he needs to buy a weighted blanket or a weighted stuffy like the rest of us do. A sensory sock or other deep pressure methods are also available. If he has high enough support needs to be asking random blokes (why always men?) to sit on him, he needs a carer because it is not safe for him or for others. His friend also needs to stop using resources from ABA to explain things, as ABA is regarded by the autistic community as abuse.
I have a whole rant about the way autistic men are allowed to get away with behaviour that autistic women are never allowed to [because of the way autistics perceived as boys and girls are treated as children], but I'll save that for another time. Any other autistic AFABs in here will probably immediately know at I mean though [because of our childhood experiences.]
*Edited for clarity
Oh my GOD this pisses me off to no fucking end. My 22 year old son has had thousands of seizures, starting right before he turned 5. He still has them regularly. One of my worst nightmares is that he'll have one around people who think he's faking it or being deliberately belligerent (and get arrested). It's people like THIS FUCKING GUY who make me worry so!
For those unaware: NEVER restrain a person having a seizure. You want to help? Put something soft under their head if they are on hard ground, turn them on their side, and let the damn thing play out. If it lasts longer than 5 minutes, call an ambulance. Also, there are a bunch of kinds of seizures - my son has full tonic-clonic seizures, but he is completely conscious through the whole thing. He just can't speak because his body is no longer under his control for a few minutes.