DELAWAREDOUBLE

DELAWAREDOUBLE is the eighth episode of the first season of the Monument Mythos. The premise of the episode surprisingly doesn't feature any monuments, rather it serves to expand the world of the Deanverse. This is a concept that would be continued in Season 2

## Overview

The episode features a report from the Delaware River Journal on a discovery made by two fishermen in the Delaware River.

On Christmas Eve, at 4 p.m., fishermen Ralph Grasserman and Michael Tillon were fishing on the frozen Delaware River for catfish, when they discovered a bicorn hat in the ice. Grasserman removed the hat, only to discover a human scalp beneath. Tillon and Grasserman both agreed to remove the rest of the body from the ice.

After several hours, the fishermen were able to remove the body at 10 p.m., resulting in no further damage.

The body, which to this point had been assumed dead by the fishermen, showed signs of life when an eye twitched. This shocked both fishermen, and Grasserman decided they should bring the body home to thaw. The duo immersed the body in Grasserman's bathtub and slowly raised the temperature throughout the night, as to avoid shock. Grasserman claimed to have learned the technique from a pulp magazine.

At 2 a.m., Tillon claimed the body briefly regained consciousness enough to shout "Victory or Death!". By 7 a.m., however, the person had relapsed into a coma, resulting in Grasserman calling authorities to handle the body. When reporters asked later why he had not called medical personnel upon discovering the frozen person, Grasserman stated "I didn't want to risk the lives of first responders, who would have been driving on slippery roads in the dark."

Paramedics arrived shortly after and brought the frozen man to Delaware State Hospital.

The report describes how both fishermen found the frozen man to seem familiar, it was not until Tillon pulled out a dollar bill that he had made a connection to the face. Grasserman went on to say "When we first dug him out, we removed his clothes so that we could carry him more easily. The clothes weighed a ton because they were completely frozen over. But I bet if we saw the clothes without ice, then we would have no doubts that we dug out George Washington."

Although Delaware State Hospital declined to comment on the identity and condition of the frozen body, Grasserman later brought the bicorn hat to the Delaware History Museum, where it was confirmed to be an authentic piece from the 18th century.

This raised many questions, especially when it was discovered there were no missing George Washington reenactors, nor artifacts, missing at the time. This resulted in Grasserman proposing a theory that Tillon and himself removed the real George Washington from ice, and that the president had become gravely ill during the crossing of the Delaware River. Due to the potential impacts that the death of Washington would have on the war effort, his condition was hidden and upon his death, a double acted as the president until 1797. Grasserman addressed the question of why the body was found so far away from the battlefield by stating either his body drifted or was hidden by Washington's soldiers.

At a Saturday press conference, President James Dean was asked about the Delaware River Journal report, and replied with two words: "I'm surprised."

The video ends with the statement that the "Delaware Double" story aired on WBOC-TV on 12/27/1976, and the Delaware River Journal ceased operations on 12/28/1976.