The Postman Took the Circulars
Alan Gagne was the postman for 20 years in the Brookline, Massachusetts. He was found dead at the age of 54 in his apartment—-along with “thousands of circulars and hundreds of letters in drawers and closets in his apartment” by police last week, as reported in the October 18th New York Times. Some of the mail dated from the 1980s, and 90 percent of it was circulars.
Neighbors said Mr. Gagne was somewhat of an enigma on his street, barely looking people in the eye but seemingly obsessed with getting the mail to them properly and on time, leaving them all the more baffled as to how and why he took the mail.
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Mr. Gagne was, by many accounts, socially awkward and had problems striking up even casual conversations. He was often heard mumbling to himself and complained about how heavy the mailbag was.
“Being social was extremely difficult for him, said Jeff Kline, who lives on the street. “He would answer if I spoke to him, but he wouldn’t strike up a conversation.”
“It was even difficult to tip him,” Mr. Kline added. “I would sort of press a twenty into his hand and he’d look away. It was very hard for him to look you in the eye.”
The article does not mention this but………did Alan Gagne have Asperger’s Syndrome? Might there have been some logic, some order known only to him, for taking those circulars and letters to store in his first-floor duplex apartment?
Rest in peace, Mr. Gagne.
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POSTED IN: Adulthood, Asperger's Syndrome, Crime, Work
7 opinions for The Postman Took the Circulars
kevin_1000
Oct 19, 2006 at 11:21 am
Well, certainly sounds like ASD according to the criteria. What a shame, 54 is still young.
Pardon the ignorance, but what’s a circular? We don’t have those in the UK.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Oct 19, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Circulars are advertisement pages (announcing sales and/or containing coupons) that come free in the mail. I tend to immediately put them into the recycle bin.
Someone
Oct 19, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Well, he might have been AS.
But he could have also been schizophrenic or just plain weird as well.
Those surface behaviors alone are not enough to say whether someone had AS or not. You’d have to look at why they had those behaviors as well.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Oct 19, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Agreed. Certain things do stand out more than others when one lives in Autismland.
Kevin_1000
Oct 20, 2006 at 9:12 am
Oh, so it’s junk mail. Maybe he was doing everyone a favour by keeping the mail he knew would be a pain. Or, he found pleasure in collecting it. Well, either way it’s a shame. Thanks for the translation.
“Those surface behaviors alone are not enough to say whether someone had AS or not. You’d have to look at why they had those behaviors as well.”
I agree. In any event he was neurodiverse.
I wonder if severe autism has ever been mis-diagnosed as schizophrenia or vice versa? I know that severe autistics may have irrational thoughts and fears, may be impulsive and talk to themselves.
Julia
Oct 30, 2006 at 10:05 am
Kevin,
I’ve heard enough first-hand accounts of autistics misdiagnosed with schizophrenia to say that yes, it happens. I haven’t heard of it going the other way, but I’m not in online communities populated by schizophrenics.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Oct 30, 2006 at 6:01 pm
The term “autism” was first used by Bleulen in regard to schizophrenia, and autism was first thought of as “childhood schizophrenia,” so the diagnoses have been intermixed (rightfully or not) from the start.
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