The Piano Man Sham

The Piano Man remained in hospital for four months, and despite huge press coverage and obsessive callers on the helpline, no one was any closer to finding out who the man was.

Several ‘suspicious’ things were reported, although never verified. Supposedly the hospital reported several months in that the man’s hair was dyed. It was peculated that they should have known this earlier; that the late announcement was a cover up; and that the dying of hair in the first place was a sign of guilt from the man.

Then, on 19th August 2005, a nurse walked in to the man’s room. She asked, ‘Are you going to talk to me today?’, to which he replied, ‘Yes. I think I will.’

No one knows quite what happened after that – only that the man was identified as 20-year-old Andreas Grassl from Bavaria, and the next day he was flown back to Germany. The German Embassy in London confirmed his identity, but otherwise no one said any more about it.

The press hounded his family home in Germany, but to no avail. It took very little time for the papers to declare the entire story a scam from beginning to end. The Daily Mirror and Star in particular were vehemently angry with Andreas.

Various stories changed – including that the so-called Piano Man could never play at all.

Researchers said that Andreas had at one time worked in a psychiatric hospital himself, and was therefore able to mimic the behaviour of the mentally ill.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/piano-man-sham-554649

The discovery of the unidentified stranger…

The Piano Man was actually in hospital for a month before the story was first published. Therefore, his movements during those infamous days on the Isle of Sheppey are hard to pin down.

It is widely recognised by multiple sources that the young man was reported to the police at half past midnight on 7th April 2005. He was wearing a suit with the labels cut out, dripping wet, and didn’t speak.

Reports later say that he ‘washed up’ out the sea, though this was never proved. it had been raining earlier that evening.

Eye witnesses also reported seeing the man wandering the town for some time.

In any case, the police were concerned for his safety and took him to Medway Maritime Hospital. The man was nervous, shy and seemingly panicked or distressed in some way. He made no signs of understanding or recognising anything. (This may be one of the primary reasons many people believe he had a disorder, such as autism.)

After the man did not seem to have any serious or immediate health conditions, staff took him a pen and paper to see if he would write. This is when he drew the picture of the grand piano, that would become so famous.

This prompted staff to take him to a piano, where he is said to have played concert-standard classical music, especially Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky, for hours. His social worker Michael Camp said, “The first time we took him down to the piano he played for several hours, non-stop.” Michael said that the man does not communicate, but “come alive” when he plays piano.

Of course later many newspapers claimed he could not play at all.

Michael Camp would become instrumental to the story, being one of the man’s closest care workers, and most vocal. It is also thought that the hospital may have later used Michael as a scape-goat from criticism.