# Edgar Oliver, the most bizarre storyteller I have ever heard. Is he real?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-oliver-the-most-bizarre-storyteller-i-have-ever-heard-is-he-real/726528>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 29, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-oliver-the-most-bizarre-storyteller-i-have-ever-heard-is-he-real/726528 "2015-07-29T22:09:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edgar-oliver-the-most-bizarre-storyteller-i-have-ever-heard-is-he-real/726528/1 "2015-07-29T22:09:31Z")

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Edgar Oliver is an author, playwright and storyteller originally from Savannah, GA who now lives in NYC. He also has the distinction of probably the strangest person I have ever heard in any medium. His accent is positively bizarre especially for someone that grew up in Savannah. He sounds like a vampire from a 1940’s horror movie but he insists that he has always talked that way and cannot speak any other way.

I first noticed him on some Discovery Channel show when he did a short scene admiring the strait-jackets in some bizarre curiosity store. I assumed he was just a throw-away plant but then he also appeared on The Moth storytelling series on NPR describing his life story. He is one unique person and quite well known in some artistic circles but I cannot bring myself to believe everything he is describing is factually accurate or his persona is fully real.

His life stories from The Moth are available online if you are interested. It does require an appreciation of really unusual story-telling techniques but it is well worth it if you have the time.

I suggest you start with the bottom one: “The Apron Strings of Savannah” if you interested. All of the casual research I have done suggests he is real even if it is hard to believe but the SDMB is a big place and someone may even know him personally to give more information.

> **[The Moth | The Art and Craft of Storytelling](https://themoth.org/storytellers/edgar-oliver)**
>
> The Moth is a nonprofit organization that builds empathy through live and virtual storytelling shows, open-mic storytelling events, The Moth Radio Hour, The Moth Podcast and storytelling workshops.