Friday, February 14, 2014

Miraculous Castaway's Story; Truth or Tall-tale?

A castaway, who claims to have floated on the Pacific for thirteen months, faces public doubt as to the truth of his story.


Recently, a man named Jose Salvador Alvarenga washed ashore on an atoll, claiming to have drifted at sea for thirteen months.  While the media is questioning the validity of his story, his account has not been proved false.  In these types of cases it is important to remember that just questioning someone’s story will put suspicion into people’s minds, and many will assume his he is a fake. In the mind of the public, people are not innocent until proven guilty; they are guilty until proven innocent. This is where companies like Centel Media™, a top reputation management company, can help.  Centel Media™ offers multiple reputation control services, all useful to someone undergoing such overwhelming public scrutiny.


Just like from the pages of Robinson Crusoe, his story seemed too romantic and far-fetched to be true, but the facts are backing up his claims.  According to Alvarenga, he survived on turtles, fish and birds as he floated from Mexico to the Marshall Islands, until washing ashore on a small island, bearded and weak. He traveled a whopping 6,500 miles; more than many people do in a lifetime, and lived to tell his fantastic tale.


In an ironic twist, Alvarenga’s story has some odd similarities to a story written by Joe Kissack.  His characters survived on the same foods, traveled the same path, and the name of Kissack’s production company matches the name of the teen that Alvarenga claimed died earlier in his adventure. People are also claiming that while he appeared thin, he was not emaciated nor did he appear to be sunburned as one would expect from surviving at sea for so long. While these facts may all be an eerie coincidence, they are enough to put doubt into the mind of the public.  


After seeming to be in reasonable enough shape to go home, Alvarenga’s health took a turn for the worse.  He ended up being rehospitalized due to dehydration and a lack of vitamins, which seem to back up his story.  Hopefully, he is able to recover from his journey so he can share even more of his story. Whether his story is a tall-tale or not, it is an interesting one, and people captivated by him deserve to know the truth, while Alvarenga deserves control of his online reputation.


Renee Miller,
Creative Writer,
Jonathan Wong,
Editor-in-Chief,


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