[note: most of the sources for this are dox-heavy so I left them out, particularly in the last section.]

As I read a tale of a failed vampiric romance, my eye was caught by the detail that the cosplaying ex had assumed the identity of a Final Fantasy VII character and run away with two "sexually confused" teen girls. The two teen girls were undoubtedly Jen and Renee, who had infamously lead a soulbonding cult that robbed people of thousands of dollars and untold amounts of dignity. While the demon-sushi resource does make mention of a "Vincent Valentine" who had stayed with the pair for a short time, my e-stalking lead me to conclude that, while the teen girls in the vampire's story were almost certainly Jen and Renee, the ex was likely a different person who had assumed that role and I would never find out who they were. However, during my search I came across the news that, almost fifteen years after Jen had disappeared from fandom, she had emerged to create another cult that is active to this day.

tattle-crime.com

It didn't take long for the Hannibal television fandom to grow into a large and passionate community, with numerous forums, blogs, and websites popping up to capitalize on the hype. One of the first sites to emerge on the scene was tattle-crime.com. The fansite, run by somebody calling themselves Freddie Lounds (the name of one of the characters), offered fans a full spectrum of exclusive content and events such as interviews, art contests, and meet-ups. As a result, it blossomed into a respected cornerstone of the 'fannibal' community, with Freddie taking her place as a central figure in the community.

In her efforts to make the fannibal community active in meatspace, Freddie became leader to a small group of followers who helped run the website and participated heavily in the real-life fanfare. According to some claims, this participation exceeded anything remotely considered healthy. In fact, based upon these allegations, "Freddie" had convinced her sycophants that she truly was Freddie Lounds from the Hannibal television show, and that they too were incarnations of the characters. To play the part, Freddie and her posse began to dress and act like the characters they believed they were, turning cosplay into a full-time lifestyle and going so far as to hold a funeral for a character killed off in the show.

In the meantime, the group was hard at work trying to legitimize tattle-crime.com as the de facto hub for all things Hannibal. In addition to establishing social media connections with some of the cast and crew, Freddie and her followers aggressively solicited the stars at conventions in order to receive promotions. According to sources, Freddie would make it appear like she was not only at the conventions but connected and friendly with cast members by having "tattle-crime staff" carry a doll to cons and convince cast to take pictures with it. A large portion of traffic was drawn to the site by exclusive interviews with folks working on the show, though these may have been faked by drawing quotes and information from other sources.

While Freddie and her staff were hosting events and driving to cons throughout the country, Freddie allegedly boasted openly about having never had a "real job". So, how did she get not only enough money to live on but enough to pay the costs involved with organizing and having a presence at fan events? Aside from a standard donation button, it seems that she may have had a store where she sold flower crowns, "swag bags" and wholesale art at a high markup. Nothing out of the ordinary for a fansite, aside from an instance where she may have kept gifts from a gift exchange without giving anything in return and pawned them off to buy junk food. Of course, a few art sales and donations here and there aren't enough to keep someone alive and fund and extensive fan collection, and this is where the more serious allegations come into play.

Lauren

As previously mentioned, Freddie had a group of in-person followers who acted as tattle-crime staff and, according to claims, assumed personas from the Hannibal television show on the instruction of Freddie. They also provided her with thousands of dollars, countless gifts and art commissions, and rides to wherever she pleased. Some of the staff members took the relationship a step further and offered Freddie full-time companionship. One such case, if true, is particularly troubling. Lauren was a seventeen-year-old girl and rising star artist in the Hannibal fandom when Freddie first contacted her. Freddie, who was in her late 20's at the time, formed a friendship with her that eventually included sexual roleplay. Freddie promised Lauren a job at NBC in exchange for free art and eventually convinced the girl to meet with her. It was during the beginning of their relationship that Freddie convinced Lauren to take the role of Chilton, another Hannibal character, and refused to acknowledge her by correct name or gender.

While Lauren's first visit with Freddie was supposed to last two weeks, it extended to a month wherein Freddie coerced her into drawing fanart like a workhorse, driving her around the city, and buying her whatever she pleased. Whenever Lauren refused to fulfill Freddie's requests and spurned her sexual advances, Freddie threw a fit. Lauren's family members knew something was amiss when she returned home quiet and withdrawn, having spent about a thousands dollars on the trip, but it wasn't long before she quit her "dream job", moved in with Freddie, and went dark on social media.

Freddie vs. Jen

If true, these moneymaking and manipulation schemes resemble the ones employed by Jen, founder of the FF7 cult. And, like Jen, Freddie allegedly left a string of victims in her wake who had stories not much different from the tales told by those who had fallen prey to Jen over fifteen years ago. Some sources have noted the similarities, such as an obsession with perfume in lieu of bathing, an unwillingness to leave the house without someone driving them around, claiming to be the incarnation of a fictional character, an incredibly unhealthy diet, and the extraordinary ability to attract fellow fans, make them feel special, and take them for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Freddie could be yet another fandom predator who entered the scene with the release of the Hannibal television series. But if the story is true, the similarities are quite striking, and a woman in her late 20's who is competent enough in fandom to run a website is likely to have been in the subculture for quite a while. However, the circumstances surrounding the source of this information cast doubt on whether Freddie is Jen, or if any of the accusations leveled against her are even true.

You may have noticed that most, or possibly all of these accusations come from the same person. She has dedicated countless hours to spreading awareness of Jen's crimes to numerous venues, many of which are her own. I came up completely empty as I tried to find other sources to verify these explosive claims. What I did discover is that the person spreading the news has a controversial online footprint of her own, and while she hasn't taken anyone for their money, this footprint rivals even Jen's. What initially seemed like a believable albeit strange story was told by an unreliable narrator whose history calls into question every charge she's made.

MissMisanthropy

Like Jen, the woman who's poured countless hours into 'exposing' Freddie has made her mark on fandom in a bad way. But her notoriety doesn't start or stop there; she is best known for waging a war against feminism under a number of handles including but not limited to 'MissMisanthropy' and 'Dumblr Feminist'. While 'anti-SJWs' are a dime a dozen online, MissMisanthropy quickly built a reputation for being obsessive, thin-skinned, easily trolled, and hypocritical. Every time she quit tumblr in a fit of rage and created a new blog, it would reach hundreds of pages of entries within weeks, she had a penchant for doxxing those she disagreed with, and when others would call her out on her behavior, she would contact them repeatedly, write hit pieces on her various blogs, and accuse them of stalking and harassment. It came to a point where even her fellow feminism-haters, not known for being the most discriminating folks when it comes to their own, completely disassociated themselves from her.

Although MissMisanthropy's initial foray into the Hannibal fandom was very well-received (according to her), it was likely the same obsessive behavior and paranoia that both caused her to become ostracized from the fannibal community and feel the need to write numerous articles and posts about Freddie across multiple platforms (including /r/drama). Somehow the woman came to hate the Hannibal fandom, and her fannibal posts were quickly replaced by lists of 'bad fannibals', baseless paranoia-fueled accusations about how people are stalking her, and a 110-page manifesto (available for a low fee on Amazon!) about how the Hannibal fandom has wronged her.

It's pretty clear from MissMisanthropy's rants that she's interprets situations through a screen of paranoia and hysterics. So how much of the tattle-crime tale is true? Despite the pages upon pages of posts about the alleged cult, there's barely a trace of hard evidence, and now that Freddie has retreated from the spotlight and scrubbed her social media because of MissMisanthropy's accusations, it will remain a mystery.