First of all, thank you for having an open mind. I agree, it’s an extraordinary claim, and for anyone to believe it conclusively, extraordinary evidence is required.
Do you have any other pictures?
I have one other picture of the same event from a different angle; see here:
Any recordings of the subject?
There is a recording, but it’s on his computer. I’ve seen parts of it. He understandably didn’t trust any recordings showing his face to be kept on any device other than his own.
did you get samples? When did you get them and can they still be used for a DNA test?
I hoped to convince him to consent to giving samples for laboratory testing, but he was very distrustful of his information being stored anywhere, and it would be a violation of professional ethics to test without express consent. I thought I had made progress in giving him the assurances that he needed - namely, that I would be doing all the testing myself, and that the information would not be stored anywhere except my own computer. But before we could get any further, he went missing, and still remains a missing person today.
Did you complete any sort of medical report on the subject at the time of examination, and if so, can you post it here?
I did write a medical case report, yes. I’d be happy to post a redacted and abridged copy of it here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iAh4h6uNKlbjmdO21cfNpAi_72As7go1Zm4eIbcEMP8/edit?usp=sharing
Are you willing to go public, and if so, can we see your credentials as a “biomedical scientist”?
No. If I were to go public and reveal my legal name, it would be, shall we say, career-limiting. It would also potentially cause a scandal/media flurry for my department that none of us can afford right now. While I respect your skepticism, and would likely have a healthy dose of it myself if our roles were reversed, my hands are tied on this.
From your point of view, I can understand why you would think this, and I really do appreciate the concern. Here are some additional thoughts, and although I suppose it’s unlikely that I’ll change your mind without showing exhaustive evidence, I’d still ask that you keep an open mind to an alternative interpretation.
About my identity, thank you for the heads up, although you need not worry. “Adam Shaw” is a pseudonym, not my real name. I’ve used several pseudonyms over the years, and am careful enough to change personal details to ensure no one makes the connection to my real identity.
You suggested that there is a possibility that I have more evidence that I’m not showing here. I can assure you that in Aaron’s specific case, this is not true. That being said, I do have further evidence from other cases, which may be the subject of future posts.
You also suggested that my publishing of Aaron’s face shots contradicts what I’ve said about privacy here. There is some truth to this, although you must admit that there’s a difference between showing his pictures next to the evidence, vs. showing evidence in which his face is clearly visible and connected to the phenomena at hand. That said, it was a difficult decision to publish the identifying photos, and in truth, it does violate some of his privacy. I held my silence for several years, in the hope that he would resurface on his own, but now I worry that this was a mistake and that something awful may have happened to him.
If someone does recognize him and comes forward, then as soon as I reestablish contact, I’ll be taking those identifying posts down to protect his privacy.
On the point about being an uninvolved third party, I’ve never claimed that - although it’s true that I omitted some details about the personal connection. With that being said, it’s no secret that Aaron was my friend, and a good friend at that. I knew him for nearly two years, and we got pretty close - why else do you suppose I would go to such lengths to try to get a hold of him? I worry for his safety.
From your point of view, I can understand how it would look like this is the obvious alternative explanation. I do acknowledge the unlikely nature of such rapid growth, which would probably require either 1) rapid error-prone mitosis, or 2) asynthetic fission. However, I have seen additional evidence with my own eyes, including the growth process in real time, that I can’t discount so quickly. It’s a shame that I don’t have those files on my own computer, but as I mentioned earlier, he was very careful.
Self-inflicted wounds shown very specific characteristics that this wound did not possess. For example, if an incision was made and the claw was then inserted into it, we would see asymmetric tension, as well as noticeable notching along the axis of the cut. The only way to get around this would be something like a punch biopsy, where a special circular blade is used to cut a small cylinder out of the skin, but that’s a surgical instrument that Aaron could not have had access to. Furthermore, without treatment, a self-inflicted wound like this would almost surely lead to an infection - but it didn’t.
He was remarkably lucid and rational in all of our conversations, even when distressed. Remember, this is something that had been happening to him since he was a teenager, and he was ~27 when we met. While the episodes were excruciating and distressing each and every time they happened, they also weren’t unexpected.
As I said, there is also a video of the overall transformation, which I have seen. Said video cannot be shared because it shows his face and is thus very identifying, so he never sent it to anyone, and would only show from his own device.
I really do respect your desire to help, and your reasoning for this opinion. I doubt there’s much I can say to change your mind, beyond what I’ve said above. I will only ask that you allow for the small possibility, from your perspective, that my description of the case could nonetheless be the truth.