Help us find "The Human Fly". This is Websleuths' chance to show law enforcement what we can do!!!

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
We asked a PI in Calgary to help us. They did some searches (which didn't turn up anything) and one trip downtown to ask the homeless community.

If you have any questions you want me to put to them about anything they have done please do say and I can ask.

Searches

1) Social media/facebook/Instagram/ twitter; Attempt to contact Heather Dresser from Facebook

2) Personal Property Search

3) Public Guardian Office (people passing away with no next of kin)

4) Vital Statistics – Death Records Alberta Government

5) Calgary Police Service – Dialogue with Missing Persons Unit

6) Access To Information Calgary Police Service

7) Personal Contact from Montreal

8) Dialogue with Security officers working homeless residences in Calgary

Visit Downtown

1330hrs: Headed to first location to find any information on Rick Rojatt in areas highly populated by homeless people.

1413hrs: Arrived at Central Memorial Park

1415hrs: I talked to onsite Security (unit #40 with MacCon Public Safety) Security advised me to go check Lot 25 (City Centre parkade) I gave Security my number and asked they call if they hear anything about Rick Rojatt

1508hrs: Arrived at Lot 25

1520hrs: A homeless man confirmed that he's seen another homeless man named Rick in his late 70s at the drop-in centre. He said the elderly man has a thick brown and grey beard and he's Caucasian.

1602hrs: Arrived at Bow Valley College to park car and continue other locations on foot.
I talked to a Security Guard at Bow Valley South Campus who directed me across the street to a nearby above ground parkade with a large group of homeless people.
I talked to 10 different homeless people at the parkade who all took my phone number and said they will help look for Rick Rojatt.
One homeless man suggested that we call the drop-in centre and request to leave messages and numbers for Rick, this was recommended by multiple others.

1655hrs: I walked down to the underpass near the Drop-in and immediately noticed about 50 or so homeless people. While talking to a man in his 60s (not Rick) an overdose occurred behind me. I gave CPR and two shots of Naloxone and the individual was successfully revived. A fight consisting of 5 individuals broke out as some people were accused of stealing during the overdose event. I was caught in the middle and eventually broke up the fight after a couple minor scrapes. At least 12 more individuals agreed to help look for Rick.

1738hrs: I walked over to Olympic Plaza to finish up. It was fairly busy but no one was really willing to help or talk.
 
legalmomma said:
yes I agree, the homeless connections would be the best. Many potential connections in this article.
-----------------------------------------
“Relationships formed and sustained on the street can become as important, or more important, as biological families,” says Shaw. “When someone loses a member of their street family, the personal and community loss can be devastating."

ucalgary.ca

Solemn ceremony commemorates those who die on city streets while experiencing homelessness

Social work research, advocacy help make permanent memorial possible
ucalgary.ca ucalgary.ca

Home Page - Calgary Homeless Foundation

Calgary Homeless Foundation guides the fight against homelessness in Calgary. Learn about our purpose and ambition, meet our board, and more.
www.calgaryhomeless.com www.calgaryhomeless.com

Calgary's Permanent Homeless Memorial — #longestnightyyc

www.longestnightyyc.com www.longestnightyyc.com
Click to expand...
Let me check exactly what searches the PI did. They did search to see if anyone by Rick Rajotte had passed away, but no records. It is possible he was homeless and therefore not ID-ed properly, or going under a different name (as mentioned he did sometimes).

Homeless charities can't really help as they are bound by data protection. So need to reach out to the homeless community themselves, but not sure how to do that, other than via posters or someone physically talking to them, as I assume they are not regular users of the internet.
 
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What about an attempt to post fliers up in the shelters and on the poles in Calgary ... depicting the Human Fly character from the comic or a pic of him in his stunt suit - with a contact number. Surely he couldn't miss that and may possibly reach out.
 
Any bridges around to post fliers around? Often homeless live up high in the concrete bridges. Sometimes whole families are hidden. Bridge people know other bridge people as they travel up and down from bridge to bridge. Good luck. I commend your unafraid attitude toward the homeless. Thank you.
 
I wonder if Rick may have moved back to Montreal. In one of the interviews from the 70s, he said he was a Notre Dame de Grace native (a fact which is corroborated by the legal notices @MadMcGoo posted earlier in the thread), so maybe he decided to relocate?
 
There's also a dual personal angle to the project, in that Goldmann is from Montreal, the city that spawned the Fly. And like Joe Ramacieri, the man who represented and promoted the daredevil, Goldmann was born into a family business that he wasn't interested in, and sought an entertainment career as an alternate path.

…And here's a weird tidbit that was reported to the web via an article comment, but which Goldmann seemed to verify for me today: at one point Ramacieri employed a young woman who would deliver contracts and pick up checks related to the whole Fly enterprise. Her name was Cyndi Lauper. Yeah, that Cyndi Lauper.)
www.slashfilm.com

When Is A Marvel Movie Not A Marvel Movie? When It Is 'The Human Fly' - SlashFilm

Those who were around for wild televised stunt performances in the '70s, or who have studied the annals of weird human behavior, may remember The Human Fly. The Fly was a masked stuntman who claimed to be the greatest daredevil who ever lived. Under his mask, the Fly was reportedly a man who...
www.slashfilm.com www.slashfilm.com
 
LucyAstro said:
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
We asked a PI in Calgary to help us. They did some searches (which didn't turn up anything) and one trip downtown to ask the homeless community.

If you have any questions you want me to put to them about anything they have done please do say and I can ask.

Searches

1) Social media/facebook/Instagram/ twitter; Attempt to contact Heather Dresser from Facebook

2) Personal Property Search

3) Public Guardian Office (people passing away with no next of kin)

4) Vital Statistics – Death Records Alberta Government

5) Calgary Police Service – Dialogue with Missing Persons Unit

6) Access To Information Calgary Police Service

7) Personal Contact from Montreal

8) Dialogue with Security officers working homeless residences in Calgary

Visit Downtown

1330hrs: Headed to first location to find any information on Rick Rojatt in areas highly populated by homeless people.

1413hrs: Arrived at Central Memorial Park

1415hrs: I talked to onsite Security (unit #40 with MacCon Public Safety) Security advised me to go check Lot 25 (City Centre parkade) I gave Security my number and asked they call if they hear anything about Rick Rojatt

1508hrs: Arrived at Lot 25

1520hrs: A homeless man confirmed that he's seen another homeless man named Rick in his late 70s at the drop-in centre. He said the elderly man has a thick brown and grey beard and he's Caucasian.

1602hrs: Arrived at Bow Valley College to park car and continue other locations on foot.
I talked to a Security Guard at Bow Valley South Campus who directed me across the street to a nearby above ground parkade with a large group of homeless people.
I talked to 10 different homeless people at the parkade who all took my phone number and said they will help look for Rick Rojatt.
One homeless man suggested that we call the drop-in centre and request to leave messages and numbers for Rick, this was recommended by multiple others.

1655hrs: I walked down to the underpass near the Drop-in and immediately noticed about 50 or so homeless people. While talking to a man in his 60s (not Rick) an overdose occurred behind me. I gave CPR and two shots of Naloxone and the individual was successfully revived. A fight consisting of 5 individuals broke out as some people were accused of stealing during the overdose event. I was caught in the middle and eventually broke up the fight after a couple minor scrapes. At least 12 more individuals agreed to help look for Rick.

1738hrs: I walked over to Olympic Plaza to finish up. It was fairly busy but no one was really willing to help or talk.
Click to expand...

LucyAstro said:
Great to have some local knowledge. Any suggestions on what we could do to find him would be amazing. I was thinking about paying someone to put up some posters for us to reach the homeless community.
Click to expand...

The above searches and such are amazing. It's too bad nothing has come from them though. I am thinking the route of asking other people on the street is a good one. I may be able to assist in putting up posters in the downtown Calgary area. I have also been trying to think about how we could find more information to see if Rick may still be in Calgary. I think the homeless population changed a lot during the pandemic. I know I spoke to a man during the pandemic who I ran into at a hospital and took him for a coffee. He had just flown in from California. He was a Canadian who served in the US army, and he was homeless down there and very happy to be back on Canadian soil during the pandemic. I do wonder how common it is for street people to migrate to other cities. I don't have any back ground in being a PI, but I have worked in the search department of Law Firms for 15 years, and I enjoy searching for info.

Has anyone tried to contact Gina Bluno or their kids Tammy or Shelley via Facebook? I am also thinking it's possible that the article that was commented on by a Susan Harman, may have just been one of the already known ex's using a different name.

MOO
 
imstilla.grandma said:
There's also a dual personal angle to the project, in that Goldmann is from Montreal, the city that spawned the Fly. And like Joe Ramacieri, the man who represented and promoted the daredevil, Goldmann was born into a family business that he wasn't interested in, and sought an entertainment career as an alternate path.

…And here's a weird tidbit that was reported to the web via an article comment, but which Goldmann seemed to verify for me today: at one point Ramacieri employed a young woman who would deliver contracts and pick up checks related to the whole Fly enterprise. Her name was Cyndi Lauper. Yeah, that Cyndi Lauper.)
www.slashfilm.com

When Is A Marvel Movie Not A Marvel Movie? When It Is 'The Human Fly' - SlashFilm

Those who were around for wild televised stunt performances in the '70s, or who have studied the annals of weird human behavior, may remember The Human Fly. The Fly was a masked stuntman who claimed to be the greatest daredevil who ever lived. Under his mask, the Fly was reportedly a man who...
www.slashfilm.com www.slashfilm.com
Click to expand...
You should reach out to her too! Not for the search, I guess, but perhaps with the outcome. I am confident there will be one!
 
imstilla.grandma said:
There's also a dual personal angle to the project, in that Goldmann is from Montreal, the city that spawned the Fly. And like Joe Ramacieri, the man who represented and promoted the daredevil, Goldmann was born into a family business that he wasn't interested in, and sought an entertainment career as an alternate path.

…And here's a weird tidbit that was reported to the web via an article comment, but which Goldmann seemed to verify for me today: at one point Ramacieri employed a young woman who would deliver contracts and pick up checks related to the whole Fly enterprise. Her name was Cyndi Lauper. Yeah, that Cyndi Lauper.)
www.slashfilm.com

When Is A Marvel Movie Not A Marvel Movie? When It Is 'The Human Fly' - SlashFilm

Those who were around for wild televised stunt performances in the '70s, or who have studied the annals of weird human behavior, may remember The Human Fly. The Fly was a masked stuntman who claimed to be the greatest daredevil who ever lived. Under his mask, the Fly was reportedly a man who...
www.slashfilm.com www.slashfilm.com
Click to expand...

And, speaking of Cyndi Lauper

In the 1980s, a man named David Wolff (former boyfriend and manager of Cyndi Lauper) performed a concert as "The Human Fly & Red Rider" and the act was once again backed by Ramacieri, but whether they were just adopting the name or Wolff was really Rojatt is unknown.

www.kleefeldoncomics.com

Who was the Human Fly?

Sean Kleefeld's daily thoughts about comics and the comic industry.
www.kleefeldoncomics.com www.kleefeldoncomics.com


ETA: Interestingly (or maybe not), David Wolff's company is called "Captain Chameleon"
 
Last edited:
Per this book, Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir

as Captain Chameleon and did rock music as the human Fly. See, he happened to make a deal with this French-Canadian acrobat called the human Fly.


books.google.com

Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir

Legendary singer, songwriter, actress, and activist Cyndi Lauper offers a personal account of the journey that led her to become an international superstar in this “moving story of an American musical original” (Kirkus Reviews).Icon Cyndi Lauper offers a poignant account of the journey that led...
books.google.com
 
I hate to be a buzz kill but this seems very much like a fictionalized character created by these sausage guys as something they would own and receive royalties from. It might have been portrayed by multiple different people inside the costume. Like, do wing-walkers also do motorcycle jumps? And didn't he take a nasty crash on that jump and bounce right back? That would be another benefit of your seemingly unkillable daredevil character being portrayed by multiple stuntmen. That's where I think questions should be asked, to the surviving 70s Hollywood stuntmen. I'm sure they had a union that would have them all recorded officially.

But that brings me to another point, what questions would we ask them? Say that this canvassing of the Calgary homeless community turns up someone who says "Yes that's me - The Human Fly of Canada" how exactly does a person prove that?

Seems like an excellent one would to be able to provide some stuntman credentials, credentials that someone could be combing through right now from the other end.

The thing about the wife and stepdaughter dying in a car crash could be fiction but the bit about "he's since remarried" makes it seem more true since in my more modern experience you want your manufactured celebrities to be single - but maybe the "family man" was more fashionable back then.
 
evilwise said:
I hate to be a buzz kill but this seems very much like a fictionalized character created by these sausage guys as something they would own and receive royalties from. It might have been portrayed by multiple different people inside the costume. Like, do wing-walkers also do motorcycle jumps? And didn't he take a nasty crash on that jump and bounce right back? That would be another benefit of your seemingly unkillable daredevil character being portrayed by multiple stuntmen. That's where I think questions should be asked, to the surviving 70s Hollywood stuntmen. I'm sure they had a union that would have them all recorded officially.

But that brings me to another point, what questions would we ask them? Say that this canvassing of the Calgary homeless community turns up someone who says "Yes that's me - The Human Fly of Canada" how exactly does a person prove that?

Seems like an excellent one would to be able to provide some stuntman credentials, credentials that someone could be combing through right now from the other end.

The thing about the wife and stepdaughter dying in a car crash could be fiction but the bit about "he's since remarried" makes it seem more true since in my more modern experience you want your manufactured celebrities to be single - but maybe the "family man" was more fashionable back then.
Click to expand...
Based upon the photos and videos we have accumulated to date, and linked in here, of The Human Fly, he's got a very distinct body-type. Very tall and sinewy slim. Seems to me to be the same individual vice multiple parties switching out.

As to your point about him suffering the nasty crash and bouncing right back - the opposite is actually true. If you watch the Human Fly 101 video that was linked that tells the background story - it also has footage of the jump, the crash and him being carted off on a stretcher. This was the "career-ender" despite previously announced 'upcoming' stunts (upcoming jump off CN tower into a pool of water etc). The Human Fly made no more appearances nor performed any more stunts after this failed jump. Seeing the bike and him slam into the ramp - I'm amazed he actually survived it.

Indeed though the stunt-character was thought up by the Rama Brothers as a way to relieve boredom and no doubt financial thoughts came into it as well (see Human Fly 101 video for ref). Royalties on the comic book that came as a result of their braintrust? I certainly hope so!

His real name. Rojatt, has been published since the outset of The Human Fly's existence. Verification of marriage of this individual and the resuting link to the Rama brothers, also linked in this thread previously. The issue here is that no (known) photos were ever taken of him "outside of costume" - he even showed up to collect his pay cheque at the events "in costume". He appeared in numerous interviews (some televised and also linked here) "in costume." But, we have his voice and we have people - the Rama Brothers etc who actually knew "the real guy" vice 'just' the character. Some of them have verified that the homeless man pictured/interviewed is indeed him. An ex-wife has commented on an article that she was married to Rojatt and I think it's key she doesn't state that the individual photo'd is not him.

As for the background story of The Human Fly, and the car accident etc - I am pretty certain at this point that 'the story' was just simply character building for their stunt man. That kind of traumatic past explaining away their hero's daredevilishness and uncanny physical ability captures the imagination and draws in more interest than "a married/divorced guy is going to wing-walk". A metal skeleton!!?? Easy background to come up with when Steve Austin and Jamie Summers reigned supreme as the Bionic Man and Bionic Woman on TV. That car crash story allowed for/explained all of these special attributes of the Human Fly and 'how they were possible". How he was "real" according to Marvel. ;) That's how he was sold. An added bonus to the Human Fly's "background" story was that it served as inspiration for hundreds of those who were suffering debilitating and disabling injuries etc and directly resulted in the ability of The Human Fly fundraising on their behalves, making hospital visits to kids, inspiring people to do more and to do better for their fellow humans. I'm certain it also increased marketability and sponsorship possibilities too (a Comic Book after all!!)!

I'm certain that he was a mere mortal and that the "background" story was fictional. But that fiction is what created the phenomena that came to be known as The Human Fly.

For me it is the text I've put into blue font above that is most important. The Human Fly's ability to inspire. To inspire during a period in our history when Vietnam was just ended, when the threat of nuclear was was an every day reality, when a major world-wide recession was underway and gas lines were long and hot, the Cold War was in full swing.

An era when those who suffered physical and mental disabilities, deformaties and disabling injuries were just shuffled off to care homes or institutions as a severely marginialized group. He, Rojatt, brought them hope, inspiration and joy. He did this in an era where that much-lacking attention of this group was required. He was part of helping swing that pendulum that saw and recognized their value and worth within society, that saw laws finally beining enacted to support disabled/injured persons; to protect them from the rest of us. The Human Fly, ironicly, did that --- he made them human.

That's why I hope he is found. Although his fame may have been fleeting it was well-earned. His contribution to making the world a better place for marginialized persons resonates with me and still inspires.
 
charminglane said:
Did he ever serve in the military?
Maybe he is known at med clinics for veterans if so.
Click to expand...
According to background story he served with the US during the Vietnam War although he is Canadian.

I currently have 36 years service in the Canadian Army but am on my way to a medical release having been diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) with organ implications about a year ago. I've met/know quite a few Canadians who served in Vietnam with American Units over the years. On November 11th, Remembrance Day, we still get them coming out to the ceremonies with although their numbers are dropping every year. :( We have medical clinics/hospitals on our military bases whoserve only "serving" members. Once we release, we fall under the auspices of care of Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) for prosthetics, prescription costs, additonal support costs etc. That being said, we have no VAC hospitals or clinics in this nation - we (our veterans) use the same hospitals and clinics as all other Canadians do as part of our Universal Healtcare System.

VAC does not provide coverage to Canadians who served in Vietnam as Canada was officially not involved in that war, but they utilize our Canadian Universal Healthcare system as well just as every other Canadian does and is entitled to. For prosthetics etc, prescription costs or war-related injuries, these Canadian Vietnam Veterans are entitled to that additional care and are covered for it by the US Department Veterans Affairs (DVA) (Thanks Ronald Reagan!!).

That being stated, Veterans tend to be a tight bunch and seem to have an uncanny ability to find each other and I'm certain a Vietnam Vet would be welcomed within our Canadian Veteran community on the social front. That triggers me to an additional resource that may prove beneficial in the search for The Human Fly in Calgary. That will be/form my next post.
 
Calgary was the site of our first Canadian Tiny Homes project for Homeless Veterans through the Homes For Heros Foundation.


The Calgary Tiny Homes Village for Homeless Veterans is located in Forest Lawn in Calgary. I think it would be worth a visit to post up some fliers, make inquiries and get word onto the street through the Veteran Community.

Calgary | Homes For Heroes

homesforheroesfoundation.ca homesforheroesfoundation.ca

www.businessinsider.com

A village of 15 tiny houses designed for homeless veterans just opened in a Canadian city, and it charges veterans $600 a month to live there until they get back on their feet

Each home includes a full kitchen, a breakfast bar and workstation, a full bathroom, and a living area with a sofa and a Murphy bed.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com

 
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