Steven Frischling won't stop lying about Hurricane Katrina

A decade ago today, Hurricane Katrina turned into a Category 5 nightmare that left death, devastation and $100+ billion of damage in Louisiana, Mississippi, and surrounding states. The images of the destruction, particularly in flooded New Orleans, were heartbreaking and unforgettable. But that was then, and 10 years later it's time to take a look at the dramatic tales of Katrina suffering endured by one Steven E. Frischling, an unusual photographer who somehow always manages to be present at the scene retroactively and never produces any photos he brags he took. No tragedy is too horrific to exploit so long as Frischling's fantasies get fleeting attention from online strangers who won't remember them.

We already did a Katrina post several years ago laughing at his claims of being the only person sickened by "airborne pathogens" while dodging invisible gangs fighting it out on rooftops in the completely flooded Lower 9th Ward. Since Frischling can't stop lying about Katrina, it's time to go fishing once again and see what we find. Just so you know, these incredible stories are all text and you will not find a single Frischling photo to illustrate these epic tales. Awww, why not? Because Steven Frischling refuses to provide any evidence of the photos he claims he took after Hurricane Katrina.

First, let's establish where Frischling was in late August/early September 2005. Easy enough as always, he was talking about himself online. We know that because, unlike him and his photos, we have the messages to prove it. Here's his activity on SportsShooter message boards alone - Frischling posted at least once in all of these threads during these days:

Therefore, he was somewhere with not only an Internet connection, but plenty of leisure time to spend online chatting about mundane, non-disaster situations. Not only that, on September 6, Frischling very specifically says "we" spent the morning gathering up all kinds of items to send "down" to Katrina victims. He was nowhere near New Orleans the week after Hurricane Katrina.

Frischling continues to chat about all sorts of items on the message board that have nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina and give no indication he plans to travel to the Gulf Coast, much less that he is currently anywhere near New Orleans. Two weeks after Katrina, on September 15, he mentions a travel plan one month away:

Over the past 10 years on SportsShooter, he's never mentioned his supposed time in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, nor any of the surely challenging and memorable photographic moments he experienced "covering" one of the most devastating disasters his country has ever seen. Most likely because his own postings on Sportsshooter in August and September 2005 very clearly demonstrate that he was not there:

He does mention floods twice and hurricanes three times, but all comments pre-date Hurricane Katrina. At one point, he pipes up to brag that a "flood rescue" photo of his ran "full page" in the National Enquirer (because they often give full pages to spot news) and also that the Discovery Channel Online hired him to photograph the New England Patriots in 1998 (lolwut?).

Fast forward a few years to 2009, after Frischling met the forum of his dreams, the single and available Twitter, where he discovered a new fresh audience to regale with his fantastic FishTales, in 160 characters or less. Though he's never mentioned being in New Orleans after Katrina on SportsShooter, he now won't shut the fuck up about it on Twitter. Almost four years after Katrina, in July 2009, Frischling says his boots that somehow miraculously "survived" Frischling's trip "covering" the War in Iraq his six-hour stay inside an Iraq airport under the control of British soldiers, the trusty boots had to be sadly thrown out after Katrina.

In August 2009, Frischling declares he was in New Orleans after the hurricane when he "picked up an infection" that was "NOT contagious."

And again he brings up his illness after that "pesky hurricane" Katrina, where for four days, he bravely worked through a fever fluctuating between 102F and 104F.

In 2010, Frischling complains that his imaginary photos from after TWA Flight 800 are with the AP, and that his Katrina photos "belong to" his former employer.

He then clarifies he does have his Katrina photos, but that they are on a "hard drive somewhere" the CDC will not permit people to go. (His CDC comment could be a joke about the state of his "office" or, knowing Frischling, he really could be implying the CDC has actually forbidden him from entering because of some tragic toxin it is currently investigating.)

What an incredible mystery it is why Frischling would a) store important photos on a single hard drive that he cannot easily find yet b) not have any online copies where people can see them and discuss them, such as Instagram. This from a person who claims to be both a professional photographer and an expert in social media.

Finally we get to our present era of #TTOT (Travel Talk on Twitter) and #TNI (Traveler's Night In). ##TTOT is a hugely popular chat supported by major travel brands. #TNI is a much less popular chat Frischling "hosts" in which he asks questions designed to elicit exciting answers from Steven Frischling about Steven Frischling. In July 2012, he now claims he witnessed Hurricane Katrina itself, not just the devastation afterward.

Not only that, in January 2014 he recalls how he developed an "unknown" "super" infection! Perhaps this "unknown" "super" infection was caused by the piscis bullshitia strain of bacteria? It does seem odd that back in 2009, he was able to say he was definitely "NOT contagious." Apparently the Frisching University School of Medicine teaches that a patient CANNOT spread an infection if nobody knows what it is or what caused it. Because science.

But oh how he suffered. This unknown super noncontagious superinfection was so serious he was suffering from a 103-degree fever that he now had for seven days! So which was it Steven? Four days or seven days? Four days is long enough with a 102, 103 or 104-degree fever, but seven whole days while you worked in 100-degree heat with no medical treatment whatsoever? You think you would remember that more clearly.

By February 2014, that fever has now increased to a stable 104F. It would appear Frischling was patient zero of the first "terribly" infection, which he came down with when he was stranded in New Orleans, burning with fever, unable to leave and unable to get medical help!

Frischling sure must be brave as the one bright side to his precarious plight is that, as we pointed out already, despite suffering from hyperthermia, he had the energy to post over and over on SportsShooter about things unrelated to hurricanes, flooding, or infections (including infections unknown and/or super). In May 2014, Frischling reveals his most unusual travel method was on a USCG SPC-AIR "through" the French Quarter.

What the hell is a SPC-AIR, you ask? No, not an airline named after Frischling called "Special" Airways ("We love to lie and it shows"). The Special Purpose Craft Airboats (SPC-AIR) are used by various Coast Guard units "in the execution of ice rescue missions, flood response, and are capable of operating over water, ice and short distances on land. Airboats are also used to get responders into shallow water areas and marsh areas where deep-draft vessels cannot go."

Well now, that's odd. Why would an airboat be traveling "through" land that remained, for the most part, DRY? Yes, the French Quarter was almost entirely dry after Katrina, because it was built on higher land that has historically allowed it to survive flooding. And it was dry after the storm because the heat at this time was so extreme it was killing people in New Orleans. Moisture quickly evaporates in 100-degree heat. Disgraced journalist Brian Williams was caught up in this lie as well when he claimed to have seen bodies floating in floodwater by his hotel in the French Quarter. Only about 9 percent of the French Quarter had any standing water.

So why would the hardworking Steven Frischling say he was cruising around through the French Quarter on a highly specialized boat? Because Frischling a) is lying, b) was nowhere near New Orleans around Katrina, and c) is describing his own elaborate fantasy, in which the French Quarter was flooded and he was hanging out with his Coast Guard buddies (boys, really).

A photo taken at 8:05 am the morning of August 30, 2005, shows limited flooding near Canal and Bourbon.
It's a good thing Frischling wasn't there, or else he might have gotten his shoes wet.

Seriously, does this look like something the men (boys, really) of the U.S. Coast Guard are going to drive across asphalt in triple-digit temperatures?

Happy lying!

PS As always, we'll take this post down if you can prove you were there, Fish. Show us your Katrina photos. Oddly there are none in your online portfolio... It shouldn't be that difficult to put a few up online, right?