C. W. Schultz

C. W. Schultz released a video about the suspicious and mysterious audio leak of Christine Chubbuck‘s suicide.

Chubbuck was an American news reporter and host of the morning community affairs talk show Suncoast Digest. Because the broadcast of Chubbuck’s suicide took place in 1974, it’s highly unlikely that the footage of her suicide could’ve been recorded by a home viewer, since VCRs were such high cost and thus incredibly rare for a 1974 household to possess one. As such, Chubbuck’s suicide is considered lost media.

According to an article by Vulture, the video does still exist in the hands of Mollie Nelson, the widow of Chubbuck’s former employer. When this was publicized, Nelson started getting requests to see it, which made her uncomfortable. She says that the tape is now in the hands of a very large law firm for safekeeping and has no intensions of ever letting anyone see it.

In early 2021, Ataliste claimed to have acquired a legitimate cassette recording of the audio from the incident (via an undisclosed private collector), releasing a portion it to his YouTube channel. The audio aligns with the news covered in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune from the day of the incident, giving credibility to the audio’s authenticity.

Ataliste eventually released the audio in its entirety, but it has since been privated. Despite Ataliste’s attempts to remove the audio, others were able to download and re-upload it; resulting in it still being available.

Prior to 2024, only very limited footage of Suncoast Digest was available, which included a few seconds of Chubbuck conducting an interview (without audio). However, in February 2024, prominent Chubbuck researcher Tapesignal revealed she had been in contact with John Griffin, the creator of a documentary surrounding Chubbuck’s life. Griffin provided Tapesignal with a full Suncoast Digest episode hosted by Chubbuck. In April 2024, Tapesignal uploaded the episode to YouTube. It’s thought that this is the only known fully intact footage of Chubbuck still in existence.

With an increased amount of audio available of Chubbuck’s voice as a result of this resurfaced Suncoast Digest episode, a more accurate voice-to-voice comparison can be made with the supposed audio of her suicide…

And the similarities are uncanny! This comparison led many skeptics to concede that Ataliste claims are legit and that his audio of Chubbuck’s suicide is indeed authentic.

Given that all footage of Chubbuck’s suicide was thought to be lost (with the one exception being in Mollie Nelson’s attorney’s possession), Ataliste’s ability to retrieve audio of this tragic event is astonishing and impressive… but also mysterious and suspicious. Having a piece of Chubbuck’s death has made the impossible possible, leading some to think the full footage might eventually be released; however, if anything, this actually raises more questions:

• How did Ataliste get his hands on the audio?
• Who is this “private collector”?
• What’s the reason for the secrecy behind protecting the collector’s identity?
• Can the claims be substantiated that one of Christine Chubbuck’s brother is filing a lawsuit for the audio leak?
• Could Ataliste know Nelson’s attorney, and the audio got leaked over a breach in confidentiality?
• Who is Ataliste and how did he come into possession of something so sensitive?