The Man Not Behind Lonelygirl15

From Blair Witch to Snakes on a Plane, filmmakers have long been using the web to increase their profile. But Brian Flemming never intended to be at the center of an Internet buzz machine, revolving around the ubiquitous lonelygirl15.

Since Flemming posted a blog about lonelygirl15 on August 24, putting forth some thoughts about her credibility, Flemming's traffic skyrocketed from a daily average of roughly 1,500 visitors to a peak of 4,000 at the end of the month, after New York Times blogger Virginia Heffernan suggested in a post "Is the Debunker also the Bunker?" that Flemming might actually be behind the lonelygirl15 phenomenon, citing evidence from conspiracy-prone readers.

Flemming admits there are "a lot of strange coincidences," especially the fact that his new feature Danielle echoes a character and Christian themes that show up on the lonelygirl15 podcasts, as well as the fact "that we both showed up on youtube at the same time," he says.

Flemming also happens to have a long history with hoaxes. "Bat Boy," his Off Broadway musical hit, deals with the fictional half-bat child from tabloid fame, while his 2003 faux-documentary Nothing So Strange chronicles the assassination of Bill Gates and his latest project, a nonfiction feature called The God Who Wasn't There investigates the biggest potential hoax in history: that Jesus never existed.

"When people email me about the [coincidences], i have no answers really. Lots of people still don't believe I'm not involved," Flemming says. While he hasn't noticed a direct increase in the sale of his DVDs, Flemming has received a lot of attention -- and a lot of emails. Because of the dotcom chatter, Flemming admits, "I think a lot of people were introduced to my existence."