The Morning a Fifteen-Year-Old Found a Perfect Fake in the Hall

The Morning a Fifteen-Year-Old Found a Perfect Fake in the Hall Fear and curiosity collide in the half-dark: at 6:47 AM on October 11, 2014 a fifteen-year-old newsboy found a second, identical Clyde Bauer landscape leaning against the Calloway Museum corridor - and there should have been only one. How did two indistinguishable paintings appear overnight with no forced entry, 31 minutes of van activity, and 17 minutes of movement inside the museum? In this episode, we follow the timeline from the morning call to the police through the BCI investigation, detailing the security logs, the museum's collection history, and the forensic tests that followed - and we ask how a plausible forgery could coexist with an original in the same building. Person: Eugene Sharp, fifteen-year-old newspaper delivery boy Location: Calloway Museum of Regional Art, Brindleton, Ohio Date: October 11, 2014 (incident); October 14, 2014 (transport to BCI lab) Investigator: Donna Patterson, Ohio BCI art crime unit Lab work: Forensic testing on both paintings over five days - The paperboy pushed the Brindleton Courier through the side-door slot at 6:47 AM and then walked three blocks to a pay phone to call police. - Emergency light in Gallery C activated at 4:22 AM and stayed on until 6:47 AM - a continuous 2 hours and 25 minutes. - A white panel van appeared in the service alley at 4:08 AM and left at 4:39 AM, a 31-minute presence with license plates turned inward. - Corridor sensor log showed 17 minutes of movement from 4:22 AM to 4:39 AM, matching the van's departure time. - The painting on the wall had canvas substrate dating to the 1930s-1940s and varnish layers consistent with decades of cleaning per initial forensic material tests. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].