Following the publication of the article, “Masked man menaces Fredonia residents after dark, students report,” The Leader received an email from the address “akitsunestranger@gmail.com” with the display name “Ise Emden.”
The person claimed to be the masked man who had been seen scaring students at nighttime.
To prove that the person was legitimate, we asked him to send a photo of the mask worn that night, with three fingers held up, which he provided.
The email reads as follows:
“Hi.
First of all, I am the one who was wearing a kitsune mask. Yes, kitsune, it was not a kabuki mask. I can confirm this because where it was purchased from was Foxtume, a website based out of Hong Kong that produces Kitsune masks, traditional geto, and kimonos, among other things.
To be frank, I would like to apologize, as I was unaware of the situation of others creeping out people, mine was purely in the name of Halloween, and to put it extremely bluntly, all people who are in support of human trafficking in any way do not deserve kneecaps.
To Mr. Isaacson, I intended no harm and apologize for the fright, as previously stated, it was only for Halloween.
To Ms. Heubach, I apologize for the scare, and I should have waved back when you did.
I was only intending to have some fun as it is October, or to refer to it in a more light-hearted term, spooky szn.
I must make it abundantly clear, human trafficking is an awful thing and all in favor of it are below the salt of the earth, they are abominations of humanity and pure forms of sin. If you are truly afraid of it, the best size is a group of 3 or more, and if it is 2 or less, always carry a decently bright flashlight, as it might not be perfect but it will force them to shield their eyes or look away, and unlike pepper spray, has no chance to injure you.
I am also not the one who was doing the christ thing. Silent and staring is one thing, asking if people want to meet god is a whole new level of creepy I intend to never reach.
It was just a prank, and no harm was meant by it. This is a formal apology and I hope all can forgive me.
One last note, my name is not Ise Emden, nor an anagram for my name. Seriously, don’t try, it’s not even close.”
When asked why the prank was played weeks prior to Halloween, he said “I see Halloween as a month-long holiday, as many see Christmas. Why can’t other holidays bask in the lengthiness of the season that Christmas gets? While I am a fan of both, Halloween gets overshadowed in its time, as many see it as a one-day holiday whereas Christmas is all month long.”
He also reiterated that the pranks were “to scare a few students and not much else, there was no underlying reason to scare people other than for fun,” and that his gender identity is indeed male as reported by our sources.
He then concluded the email in regards to his screen name once again: “To [clarify] one more time, It is not an anagram, its two WW2 naval vessels, please do not waste time trying to decode something.”