Reader's Notes #3: The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar

9/22/2020

The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar is a story told using archives. What the main characters in this (true) story learn about their own lives comes from looking at the past. The past is documented in letters, pictures, newspaper clippings, and oral histories. That's the kind of stuff that makes up an archive.

For this set of Reader's Notes, I want you to tell me two things: 1) tell me all the different documents that the granddaughter uses to learn things about Bobby Dunbar, the kidnapping, and her family. She talks to actual people, but I'm interested right now in you telling me about all the things that aren't people. Be specific. Don't just say she uses papers. Point to specific moments and documents from the podcast.

Then 2) tell me how searching around in the past affected the present lives of the people in the story. Here, again, try not to talk in a cliche. Try to look seriously as the effects of the past on the people still alive today.

Remember, you have 250-300 words. You can do this. If you are struggling to get to 250 words, there are a lot of ideas for how to get to that number (which is really not a lot) in the Reader's Notes, assignment page.

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13 Comments

Leona Cotton

9/22/2020 09:59:57 pm

In the podcast ‘The Ghost Of Bobby Dunbar’, author Tal McThenia gives us the inside of the kidnapping of 4 year old Bobby Dunbar. The granddaughter of Bobby Dunbar did hard research to find the full story about her grandfather's kidnapping. With the numerous research she had to look through a lot of old newspapers and articles to hold information. The first article she looked through was the article about her great-grandmother fainting when she realized her son was missing. That was just the beginning of the investigation, fewer articles down it was still talking about how her great-grandmother felt. When Bobby returned, it took him a minute to recognize his family members. Researching the past did somewhat affect the present for most of the family members. It affected them in a way because people would either tell tales to their children even Bobby mentioned “A lot of people still believe I was eaten by an alligator.”

Grace Reardon

9/23/2020 07:26:03 am

In this podcast it talks about a kidnapping of a man named Bobby Dunbar. His granddaughter Margret is telling the story of him being kidnapped at the age of four. Bobby was found after being gone for eight months and another woman tried to claim him as her son. There was a debate on which family Bobby belonged to. Julia Anderson was the other mother who was trying to say Bobby was hers. In one article it even said that one of Bobby’s parents doubted it was their son when they met because of facial features. Julia Anderson was so sure Bobby was her son that it sounded like she became obsessed with proving he was. Julia was given a second chance to identify the child and she failed which made headlines. This whole story was nationally covered. This is how Margaret knew so much about her Grandfather’s abduction. Margaret became very invested in the story and wanted to meet Julia. Meeting Julia was not what she expected and it made her more curious about if her family’s DNA all matched up. Margaret got DNA tests without consulting in her family and one of the tests came back that they were not actually related. This made headlines and was a very public discussion. Margaret's family was very mad at her because they had no opinion in her decision, but it affected them negatively. Margaret became obsessed just like Julia and it shows that once something is done and settled, you should just leave it.

Allyson Spencer

9/22/2020 10:28:29 pm

In the Podcast we listen to Margaret unravel the kidnapping of her grandfather, Bobby Dunbar. Her dad gave her a scrap book that was her grandmothers which held photos, letters, and newspaper clippings with about 400 articles about her grandfather’s kidnapping. This set her on a difficult path. On days where she felt lonely the book made her feel whole. She realized quickly that it wasn’t was simple as she thought. Reading through the articles she noticed that they all told different stories. Some talked about how Bobby’s parents did not believe that it was really him and according to other articles he didn’t even recognize his family. After reading the articles about Julia Anderson, Margret realized that Julia’s story seemed genuine and wanted to find out more. Margret went to go see Julia’s family, where she got a very different image of Julia. Margaret and her dad decided to get a DNA test and see if his DNA matched Alonzo’s son’s DNA. They weren’t a match. When Bob’s siblings found out he got a test they were not happy. They were especially mad at Margaret and blamed her for arranging the entire thing and making it national news. They felt betrayed and like she was being selfish. And as her brother said, he “felt like she was alienating everybody else” by doing it. After the story ran there was a divide between Margaret and her family. They even said she was disrespecting the family heritage and felt like she was destroying the family relationship. The story affected the other two families differently. They were happy to know that their relative was not a kidnapper. This story deeply affected all three families and showed that sometimes you have to see things from a different perspective in order to get the full story.

Wicahpi Chaddlesone-Yankton

9/23/2020 12:46:56 am

We are listening to the story of Bobby Dunbar who was kidnapped at the age of four. After a couple of months he was found with a random handyman. His relative Margaret had decided to bring the case back up to look more into it. Tal McThenia is the reporter bringing the story and interviewing the family member of Bobby Dunbar and more background info about the Bobby Dunbar case.When the Dunbar family traveled to meet Bobby Dunbar there were two articles and one said that Mrs.Dunbar didn’t believe the little boy was his own son due to small face futures. A woman named Julia Anderson was trying to claim Bobby Dunbar as her own son whose name is Bruce but during court she was claiming him and soon after that she had failed in the court also the public eye to find her own son. Margaret had noticed that all the articles and stories are very much different from each other and always created new rumors about the case and Julia Anderson. I feel that Margaret is learning more about Julia Anderson and her children by understanding their emotions towards their own brother getting kidnapped and how their mother was a hard working lady who tried the best for her own children. Both families have different ideas about the true identity of Bobby Dunbar and the idea of illegitimate children of Julia Anderson. This case is a perfect example of not looking back in your past because it could just bring up issues and you are questioning everything in your family. The idea of looking into the past could either lead towards good info or bad info.

Colm McDonough

9/23/2020 06:41:35 am

The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar is a podcast about Bobby who went missing at Swazy Lake. He was only 4 years old and the search went all across the country. But nothing else was mentioned until 8 months later when he was found with Mr. Walter in Mississippi. Another woman who lost her child tried to claim Bobby but she was wrong. Margret was given a notebook filled with newspaper clippings from the early 1900’s. But many different reports have different stories of what happened. Some say she was sure the boy was hers and others that made her seem unsure. Margaret had begun to uncover the numerous rumors about the case including Julia Anderson. This caused many problems with each family. Julia Anderson was sure the boy was hers, Bruce Anderson who also went missing. But she failed the test to identify the child and once given a second chance the news of her failure was already national. This case really tells you not to look back and keep moving forward. Many things can go wrong if you dwindle on the past. I think it was trying to tell us that when looking at something we need to take a step back and take everything in. We can not only take what we want to hear. I think it is important that you have heard everything before you can talk about what you know. Another thing this reveals to us is that it can be good to look back. We should do it. But you need to know whenever you do something you have to be prepared for what can come of it.

miah poindexter

9/23/2020 08:06:10 am

In the podcast we listen to the story of four-year-old Bobby Dunbar being unraveled while his granddaughter Margret investigated the story. She was given a scrap book by her dad with different newspaper, letters, photos, and four hundred articles. The scrap book was her grandmothers and as she went through the scrap book, she didn’t realize that what was about to unfold would change her family forever. As Margret read the articles, she realized that a lot of the contradicted each other. Some said that Bobby was not the son and his so-called mother didn’t recognize him and other articles said that she was sure that was her son. Come to find out that another lady, Julia Anderson a single mother was also missing her child and eventually she went on to say that Bobby was in fact her child. At first Margret paid it no mind but as she read it became more surreal, and she started to feel for Julia. Julia was given a chance to identify Bobby as her son but failed when she stated she “didn’t know”. Margret the got in contact with Linda’s granddaughter and they both worked together on the investigation, although they both had two totally different views as Margret thought that he was a Dunbar and Linda thought he was an Anderson. There is so many different stories about Bobby and a lot of regret behind the investigation of who Bobby was. It’s not always smart to investigate in a story because. As Margret found out could bring back a lot of different emotions and revel things that would affect the different families deeply.

Alexis Maldonado

9/23/2020 08:15:02 am

Bobby Dunbar was a famous kidnapping that took place in 1912. It was front page news and was reported all across the country. The biggest mysteries of the case were never solved until almost a century later after it took place. Everyone in the family knew the legend of Bobby Dunbar. He had gone camping with his parent to a swamp in Lousiana. Bobby was only 4 years old at the time and while he was there, he just disappeared. There was a massive search that started because he went missing but nothing came up for 8 months. They eventually found him in Mississippi and brought him back home. Margaret Dunbar Cutright was granddaughter of Boddy Dunbar. She was the most captivated and her father gave her a scrapbook that had 400 articles. Percy and Lessie both told papers the boy didn’t look like their son but after identifying the moles and scars on his skin she declared him hers. Julia claims Bobby Dunbar was her child and that his name is Bruce Anderson but after the test it was declared a failure. Margaret visited Julia’s children Hollis and Jewel and Jewel’s daughter Linda. Hollis and Jewel knew that they had a brother and Linda was convinced that it was in fact Bruce Anderson. Eventually a DNA test to see if Bobby Dunbar was actually a Dunbar or not and the results came back not matching. He was really Bruce Anderson but lived Bobby Dunbar’s life. I wonder if he knew why he never spoke up or said something? Maybe he was unhappy with his old life and wanted a new one.

Tk Okla

9/23/2020 08:15:50 am

The kidnap of Bobby Dunbar is such a suspicious story. His granddaughter Margret Dunbar was very interested in the story and thankfully was able to get a little deeper into what had happened when her dad decided to give her grandmother's book that had doctrines and articles on the kidnapping. In the 1800’s is when he went missing during a camping trip. He was only 4 years old at the time. He was found years later in the hands of Mr.Walter and was brought home and everyone celebrated. But even when he was brought home it wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. Someone else had tried to claim him. The woman stated that she too had lost her child and she believed that the found child was hers. They went through court and Bobby went home with his parents. Margret used to beg her grandmother to tell her the story about the kidnapping, but she didn’t say much. As Margret went through the articles she realized the stories didn’t match. Some articles would say that when his parents got to where Bobby was staying he was asleep and when he opened his eyes he recognized them. Others say when the parents got there they weren’t sure that it was him and when he woke up he didn’t recognize them; once the mother took him a shower she realized it was him by his skin scars and wounds. Walter (the kidnapper) claimed that Julia (the child's mother) gave him the child willingingly and that his name wasn’t Bobby but instead Bruce Anderson. When Margret first started digging she had no idea that going into this story would draw her further and further away from her family.

Kyle McCrea

9/23/2020 08:31:15 am

This podcast is about the kidnapping of Bobby Dunbar. The mystery of his disappearance was baffling every up until a century later. In 1999, Margaret's father gave her a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings from the time period. There is pictures in there that didn't exactly match up with her family so she did some digging at libraries and all of the archives available. In later years Margaret, meets the living relatives of the kidnapper, Walter Williams. She found a long lost court file with a lot of answers and finally came to the truth of the crime that was committed.

Essiah Marcial

9/23/2020 09:12:07 am

Bobby Dunbar was a famous kidnapping that took place in 1912. It was front page news and was reported all across the country. His granddaughter Margret Dunbar was very interested in the story and thankfully was able to get a little deeper into what had happened when her dad decided to give her grandmother's book that had doctrines and articles on the kidnapping. Bobby was 4 years old at the time of the kidnapping. There was a massive search that started when he went missing but nothing came up for 8 months. He was found years later in the hands of Mr. William Walter and was brought home and everyone celebrated. But even when he was brought home it wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. Someone else had tried to claim him. The woman stated that she too had lost her child and she believed that the found child was hers. They went through court and Bobby went home with his parents. Julia claims Bobby Dunbar was her child and that his name is Bruce Anderson but after the test it was declared a failure. Margaret visited Julia’s children Hollis and Jewel and Jewel’s daughter Linda. Hollis and Jewel knew that they had a brother and Linda was convinced that it was in fact Bruce Anderson. Eventually a DNA test to see if Bobby Dunbar was actually a Dunbar or not and the results came back not matching. He was really Bruce Anderson but lived Bobby Dunbar’s life. This whole story is very off and eerie to me.

Emily Bachman

9/23/2020 05:46:33 pm

This story is about the kidnapping of a four year old named Bobby Dunbar that happened in 1912 that wasn't fully discovered until a decade later. This whole kidnapping was very suspicious. They ended up finding him in the hands of someone called Mr. Walters. Margaret, Bobby Dunbar's granddaughter later became very intrigued with the mystery and spent hours upon hours looking at articles and books at the library with the card that her husband gave her for the library of congress. She was determined to find out the truth about everything that happened. When she was reading up on the whole situation she found that a lot of the articles had something to do with a woman by the name of Julia Anderson and every article she read, it was something new about the case and Julia. The two families that were arguing about who's son it was had very different sides of the story. Margaret had her side of the story told by her grandfather and then there was the side of the story told by the Anderson family. When she went to go and talk to the two youngest of the family they were telling her that it really was Julia's son but they had renamed Bruce to Bobby Dunbar. It almost felt like the family was falling apart and by this I meant they were being separated because of the whole story and the two different sides of how it went. She went through so many people to get the answers of what really happened. She found newspaper articles and looked through them for years researching and trying to figure out who was telling the truth.

Laura S

9/24/2020 02:40:47 pm

In the podcast The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar by Tal Mcthenia we learn about a four year old boy named Bobby Dunbar who was kidnapped in the Swayze lake which is a swamp in Louisiana. Bobby’s disappearance led to a massive search that started in the swamp and spread across the country. He was later found eight months later in Mississippi. We find out that his kidnappers name was Mr. Walters. Once Bobby Dunbar was found the whole town came together to celebrate. They had a tremendous parade, with a fire truck and there was a band. Everybody was so relieved when Bobby Dunbar returned. However, Bobby was not out of danger. Another woman tried to claim Bobby as her own child. She had lost her child too, and said that the boy they found in Mississippi was hers. This then went to a court trial and proved the woman wrong. They brought Bobby back home to stay with his parents Percy and Lessie Dunbar. Margaret Dunbar Curtright, got evidence from the court trial and found out the woman who tried to claim her grandson's name was Julia Anderson. Since Julia believed Bobby was her son Margaret decided to get a DNA test behind the family's back. The Dunbar family members were not happy, in fact they were furious at Margaret. They found out the DNA proved that Bobby Dunbar was not Julia’s son. Julia’s son was named Bruce Anderson. I think Margret going behind the family's back affects the present and the future.

Cindy Moran

10/9/2020 04:29:50 pm

The case of Bobby Dunbar in 1912, was on headlines and the front of the page for 2 years. Decades later, the most unsolved questions were answered by Bobby's granddaughter. The place of where the disappearance took place was in Louisiana, during a camping trip, only to then be found eight months later. There were parades, the town came out, with a band, and everywhere there celebrated. A sudden problem occurred when a single mother came out to say her child, Bruce Anderson, was missing as well, which later was proven wrong by a trial, her name being Julia Anderson. After Bobby's granddaughter, Margaret, found articles upon articles about the most smallest details and relatives of who were involved, on her obsessive quest, found all the answers that put a potential piece together. Lessie Dunbar said her child looked different, and when Julia saw Bobby they both were tearing up without a solid reason. His supposed kidnapper didn't end up doing jail time because the case was too expensive but he wrote a letter telling the Dunbars that they will pay for their acts of lying. After Margaret took DNA testing of a 'Dunbar', which was her dads blood, it came back as related to a Anderson. Then and there was revealed that Bobby Dunbar was indeed Bruce Anderson, which many years later when 'Bobby' had children, he said he had a vague image of riding a car with a similar aged boy, that potentially could've been Bobby Dunbar himself.

Reader's Notes #3: The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar

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