The "Mysterious" Esteban Labruna

[Faucundus]

Hi, we are a group of residents in the Prudence Island (RI). We are looking for a certain writer - he should be mexican, spanish or latin-american - who has written a strange and far-fetched story set in our island. Not only. We realized that this video has been running for a few weeks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KbMaHqpotg

That would be set by us. Does anyone know him? In case you would be so kind to warn us and give us news? Thank you very much....

Friends of the Isle of Prudence

[SecretSanta]

Where’s the story? What’s it about and why are you trying to find him.

[Faucundus]

Hi Santa and thanks for your attention ... we do not know precisely ... They informed our circle that there is this writer who must have published a strange book of horror stories where he talks about our island (Prudence - RI ). His name is Esteban Labruna. The only thing we've already known is that he published this video that he says he found in an old pc in a landfill on our island ... You've never heard of him?

We have friends from the latin-american language who are looking for her book (which should be written in Spanish) and have promised to translate it. As soon as i have the story, i'll put it here ... In the meantime, if you know anything, contact us here. Thanks again

[Imaginarynumber1]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42845908-storie-per-chi-non-vuole-dormire
 

But this is an Italian author

Edited December 2, 2018 by Imaginarynumber1

[Faucundus]

Italian???? Thanks! We thought it was mexican ... So we know who to ask for a translation right away!

[moonman]

Why does it matter if some author writes a creepypasta about your town? It's fiction. Anyway, it says Providence RI, not Prudence.

Edited December 3, 2018 by moonman

[Faucundus]

Hi Moon, our island is in front of Providence. And they told me that this story takes place here. My friend is translating it will take a few weeks ... In the video i posted above we talk about a certain Anacletus Hollandus. Start "AH". I remember that symbol with the initials. The first time i saw it here in Prudence, engraved on a stone of a dry stonewall. A few years ago, on the beach facing the bay, a buckle was found with the same initials. But that is not all. We have done a search: and there is a certain Johannes Isaac Hollandus, a Dutch scientist who seems to have boarded the Onrust ship of Captain Block ... One of the legends of our island speaks of a european scientist who lived on the island in an underground house, full of books. How this writer, Labruna, came to know about this story. It intrigues me. It's a story that they really know in a few. Residents of Prudence and maybe some tourists

[Still Waters]

On 12/3/2018 at 7:24 PM, Faucundus said:

Hi Moon, our island is in front of Providence. And they told me that this story takes place here. My friend is translating it will take a few weeks ... In the video i posted above we talk about a certain Anacletus Hollandus. Start "AH". I remember that symbol with the initials. The first time i saw it here in Prudence, engraved on a stone of a dry stonewall. A few years ago, on the beach facing the bay, a buckle was found with the same initials. But that is not all. We have done a search: and there is a certain Johannes Isaac Hollandus, a Dutch scientist who seems to have boarded the Onrust ship of Captain Block ... One of the legends of our island speaks of a european scientist who lived on the island in an underground house, full of books. How this writer, Labruna, came to know about this story. It intrigues me. It's a story that they really know in a few. Residents of Prudence and maybe some tourists

*Posts removed*

Translated or not the contents of the book are subject to copyright and should not be posted on the forums.

A link to the book has already been posted for everyone to see.

On 12/2/2018 at 10:06 PM, Imaginarynumber1 said:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42845908-storie-per-chi-non-vuole-dormire
 

But this is an Italian author

 

[Imaginarynumber1]

On 12/3/2018 at 1:47 PM, moonman said:

Why does it matter if some author writes a creepypasta about your town? It's fiction. Anyway, it says Providence RI, not Prudence.

I suspect it's some lame attempt at viral marketing.

[Faucundus]

Marketing? And what? A book written in a language that nobody understands? Written who knows who? You're out of the way.
I'm sorry if i bothered you. Meanwhile, we have continued to translate. We are increasingly convinced that this story is strange. Mix elements of true to fiction.
But we do not want to bore you and thank you again for what you have helped us to discover. If anyone interested I can post here a summary of what I find, otherwise it's okay

[Nnicolette]

Soo weird.... so you are a group if residents concerned because you are reading a book about your neighboring town and it is partly fictitious? What is the problem, you are afraid of tourism? Why in the world would you be looking for aparticular author in a random forum?

[Faucundus]

Hi Nicolette,
we are only a few elderly women living on the island and the fact that it was named in that video intrigued us. That's all ... Then it turns out that this Labruna searches for the author of the video I posted, wrote a book, and is not Mexican ... But Italian.
We are not interested in this Italian and his stupid book that nobody can read, but about Ancletus Hollandus. On our island tells the legend of a Dutch scientist who would live in a cave full of books a few centuries ago. Then stones were found engraved with his initials and at the beginning of '900 a buckle with "AH" above ...
We wrote here because we knew we could find someone who knew about mysteries. We apologize for inserting passages from the translation. We are not very web experts ... Sorry

[Kenemet]

15 hours ago, Faucundus said:

Hi Nicolette,
we are only a few elderly women living on the island and the fact that it was named in that video intrigued us. That's all ... Then it turns out that this Labruna searches for the author of the video I posted, wrote a book, and is not Mexican ... But Italian.
We are not interested in this Italian and his stupid book that nobody can read, but about Ancletus Hollandus. On our island tells the legend of a Dutch scientist who would live in a cave full of books a few centuries ago. Then stones were found engraved with his initials and at the beginning of '900 a buckle with "AH" above ...
We wrote here because we knew we could find someone who knew about mysteries. We apologize for inserting passages from the translation. We are not very web experts ... Sorry

The name, "Ancletus Hollandus" appears to be made up and is of modern origin.  "Hollandus" is an attempt at an alchemist-type name, but the Latin is wrong (ancient alchemists would have been far more literate than that.)  So this would indicate that the story told by the Italian author is pure fiction.

A Spelunking website I browsed indicate that there are no known caves there and no real caving activity in Rhode Island, and says it's really unlikely, given the geology of the area.  So I think you are chasing a modern fable and your "AH" buckle is more likely to be from Arthur Hearst or Anne Hathaway or Alexander Hinton or Alec Hamilton or Adam Hunt or someone like that.

By the way, the "lived in a cave with books" angle is another bit of data that shows the story is fake.  Caves are damp and you get algae and insect life there.  A collection of books would be destroyed in pretty quick order, I think.  They'd be much safer in a house or cellar.

By the way, I must commend you on your computer skills.  I have been teaching computers to senior citizens, and to date only one of my students was able to get beyond reading email and looking at videos and posting on Facebook and playing games.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Kenemet

[Faucundus]

Hi Ken,

yes i also believe what you said. But the history of the buckle is true. Or rather: it is true that since i was little i have heard this story as well as that of the initials on the stones. We wondered only how italian had learned of this old legend ... As for the name. One of my old high school mates, who is a teacher in Florida today, sent me this

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Isaac_Hollandus

Also through our italian friend who lives in Providence, we are trying to find this Labruna in Italy. Maria has almost finished translating the story. On that I do not know what to say ...

Thank you for your compliments. I assure you that if you live on a small island with a few other neighbors, at the end you only have internet ...

To surf in the forums we are learning only these days. To try to understand ...

[Kenemet]

13 hours ago, Faucundus said:

Hi Ken,

yes i also believe what you said. But the history of the buckle is true. Or rather: it is true that since i was little i have heard this story as well as that of the initials on the stones. We wondered only how italian had learned of this old legend ... As for the name. One of my old high school mates, who is a teacher in Florida today, sent me this

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Isaac_Hollandus..

Aha.  My bad Latin didn't hold up after all.  Interesting to see that he's real and from the 1500's.

[hereticspl]

It looks like viral marketing because the same post has been posted elsewhere online. Someone is trying to make this mediocre looking book go viral for some reason. One thing i can say for sure is faucundus is not a group of elderly ladies who happened to come by something, where it gets murky is why try to market a book written in italian on enlgish forums? doesnt seem to make too much sense. 

[Faucundus]

Hi Her,
I do not know what to tell you. I can only talk no more about the book. You have helped us enough and for this we thank you. It is true that we have also sought help in other forums, but we have said it since the first post. If it has bothered you, we apologize. We thought that this story was interesting for you and that someone knew something more ... the answer, however, you gave it to yourself. What sense would it make viral marketing of a book that no one would ever buy from us? About "Faucundus". It is the name with which the ancient Romans indicated a "chatty". And we at the Club are "chatty". We like talking in Latin, we cook cakes and we exchange books. Does this seem so strange to you?

[hereticspl]

Theres alot that doesnt add up. The fact that english isnt your natural language, the fact that you abbreviated my pseudonym and the fact that theres more then one person who speaks latin on an island with a population of about 90 people? Latin is native to Italy and the author is italian. And if you were smart enough to troll forums and share YouTube links to videos as well as copy pasting but you couldnt figure out that the book was was written in italian? Highly suspicious.

[Faucundus]

I understand your suspicions. If you had been on the island, you would know that we all speak (and we also write) in a latinized form of dutch. I and the others in the club use only what is then a Dutch language that has become "inglesized". You know Louisiana? And Quebec? There they also speak french (some only that). We at Prudence speak the language of our Dutch fathers. Even if it's a bit 'changed ... And i realize i write a bad english. Better in latin. For us it's a tradition. And then i discovered something that i did not tell you because i understood that i was bothering you involuntarily. That author (do not even claim the name) is not italian or mexican. He was born in Spain and lives here, in Baltimore...

[Imaginarynumber1]

14 hours ago, hereticspl said:

Theres alot that doesnt add up. The fact that english isnt your natural language, the fact that you abbreviated my pseudonym and the fact that theres more then one person who speaks latin on an island with a population of about 90 people? Latin is native to Italy and the author is italian. And if you were smart enough to troll forums and share YouTube links to videos as well as copy pasting but you couldnt figure out that the book was was written in italian? Highly suspicious.

I mean, I literally just googled the name and the link I posted was like the second result.

I'm sticking with lame marketing attempt on this one.

[Kenemet]

6 hours ago, Faucundus said:

I understand your suspicions. If you had been on the island, you would know that we all speak (and we also write) in a latinized form of dutch. I and the others in the club use only what is then a Dutch language that has become "inglesized". You know Louisiana? And Quebec? There they also speak french (some only that). We at Prudence speak the language of our Dutch fathers. Even if it's a bit 'changed ... And i realize i write a bad english. Better in latin. For us it's a tradition. And then i discovered something that i did not tell you because i understood that i was bothering you involuntarily. That author (do not even claim the name) is not italian or mexican. He was born in Spain and lives here, in Baltimore...

I concur with the others that you appear to be fabricating parts of your tale.  For instance, I looked up the history of Prudence Island, and there's no evidence that it has a culture or even group of people that speak Dutch among the 88 people who currently live there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudence_Island  I did check land ownership records.  The original owners were Williams and Winthrop, and the bulk of the island was a naval base recently. The northern section of land was not owned by any Dutch people.

To confirm whether there were any groups of Dutch people owning or farming the land as tenants, I looked at the census for a number of decades for that area of Rhode Island. http://www.us-census.org/inventory/  As you can see from the 1800 census of the entire county, there's no Dutch names appearing anywhere in the county: http://us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/ri/newport/1800/indx-a-z.txt  The same was true of other years.

 And then there's the version of English that you use, such as "u" for "you" in earlier posts and use of the term, "mate".  This is very modern English and not in use by anyone of my generation (I count as "elderly".)  In addition, spelling and syntax and correct capitalization were hammered into our heads back in those days -- if you examine the writing of people on our forum, you will notice that those born before 1960 write very differently than those born after 1986. 

I've never heard of a "Latinized form of Dutch" nor is it listed anywhere as a patios, pidgin, or creole - though Dutch names are found among names which were Latinized during the late Middle Ages.  You can Latinize individual names but not a language. 

And then there's the film clip, which appears to be shot on a modern cell phone.

And finally your writing style, which says you're male: http://www.hackerfactor.com/GenderGuesser.php#Analyze

So add me to the list of people who think this is a manufactured tale.  I could be wrong, but it appears as if someone wants to start a "Treasure of Oak Island" version for Rhode Island.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Kenemet

[hereticspl]

Yeah im dutch ive lived in the netherlands for years still havent met one person who speaks latin.

[Faucundus]

Hello,

I always answer you. But it is clear that it is not my concern to disturb, offend or create unnecessary doubts. So one just tells me to write and I stop. Immediately. Without rancor.

Kene, regarding the surnames of Prudence. You will never find anyone of Dutch origin. The reason is simple: the Dutch between the '500 and' 800 in our "welcoming" territories were not well seen. Persecuted, I would say. The "Van Himst" become "Williams", the "De Jong" become "Young" and so on ... As for Latin, that was a language that spoke a European elite until the last century. From Italy to Germany, from Spain to Poland. To say that Latin is of Italian origin, it has come to be said that English is of Maine origin ... We know that nobody in Europe uses it anymore. Not even in Holland, but that language remains amiable for us. Do not rely too much on what you have on books or on the net. Rather inform yourself directly. Do you say that I write as if I were a man? Excuse me, but I do not want to explain my sexual indicators.  I hope you agree.

About the naval base and why they had chosen to build it here, i would have many stories to tell. Maybe one day...

I read on wikipedia what "The Treasure of Oak Island". The only idea makes me shiver. Here we live quiet and we want to continue like this.

"Here", do you really live in Holland? Where are you? Mijn familie kwam oorspronkelijk uit Utrecht. Ken je haar?

Meanwhile, I inform you that we have finished the translation of that story. And soon we will be able to ask some explanation directly to the author. Always that he is where he says he is.

[Carnoferox]

9 hours ago, Faucundus said:

Hello,

I always answer you. But it is clear that it is not my concern to disturb, offend or create unnecessary doubts. So one just tells me to write and I stop. Immediately. Without rancor.

Kene, regarding the surnames of Prudence. You will never find anyone of Dutch origin. The reason is simple: the Dutch between the '500 and' 800 in our "welcoming" territories were not well seen. Persecuted, I would say. The "Van Himst" become "Williams", the "De Jong" become "Young" and so on ... As for Latin, that was a language that spoke a European elite until the last century. From Italy to Germany, from Spain to Poland. To say that Latin is of Italian origin, it has come to be said that English is of Maine origin ... We know that nobody in Europe uses it anymore. Not even in Holland, but that language remains amiable for us. Do not rely too much on what you have on books or on the net. Rather inform yourself directly. Do you say that I write as if I were a man? Excuse me, but I do not want to explain my sexual indicators.  I hope you agree.

About the naval base and why they had chosen to build it here, i would have many stories to tell. Maybe one day...

I read on wikipedia what "The Treasure of Oak Island". The only idea makes me shiver. Here we live quiet and we want to continue like this.

"Here", do you really live in Holland? Where are you? Mijn familie kwam oorspronkelijk uit Utrecht. Ken je haar?

Meanwhile, I inform you that we have finished the translation of that story. And soon we will be able to ask some explanation directly to the author. Always that he is where he says he is.

You don't need to keep pretending that you're not the author.

[Kenemet]

9 hours ago, Faucundus said:

Kene, regarding the surnames of Prudence. You will never find anyone of Dutch origin. The reason is simple: the Dutch between the '500 and' 800 in our "welcoming" territories were not well seen. Persecuted, I would say. The "Van Himst" become "Williams", the "De Jong" become "Young" and so on ...

That "doesn't wash", as we say here in America.  It's pretty easy to check up on those families living there with Ancestry.com... the census records, for instance, tell where a person's parents were born.  And that can be quickly checked with immigration records; a task of less than ten minutes if you do a lot of genealogy and know where the records are.

Dutch were welcomed in America, by the way, and owned a large part of the New World that they called New Netherland (later taken over by the English and renamed.)  There were three big waves of immigration into America from the Netherlands -- between those waves there was a constant influx (smaller numbers) from the Netherlands.

They were never segregated as the Italians and Irish were and no laws forbid them from working or eating anywhere.

Quote

As for Latin, that was a language that spoke a European elite until the last century. From Italy to Germany, from Spain to Poland. To say that Latin is of Italian origin, it has come to be said that English is of Maine origin ... We know that nobody in Europe uses it anymore. Not even in Holland, but that language remains amiable for us. Do not rely too much on what you have on books or on the net. Rather inform yourself directly. Do you say that I write as if I were a man? Excuse me, but I do not want to explain my sexual indicators.  I hope you agree.

It was taught in schools through the 1900's but it hadn't been in much use since the end of the 1700's, even for scientific publications.  And Latin is Italian in origin; its value in communication was that it was a dead language and not a modern one that changes constantly.

Your story of being elderly American women of Dutch extraction isn't holding up at all.