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If you want a quick summary of what this is about:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gef

The linked article is much, much better, much more nuanced and insightful, than the Wikipedia page.

There may not have been a talking mongoose, but there really was a talking seal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_(seal)

Amusingly it had a really strong New England accent as well.

The things you know about when you listen to Neil Cicierega https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyzQ-ZFSQic

Clearly Gef was a regular old European Tailypo. ;)

I love stories like these, where it seems like a legend gets perpetuated not out of malice or for personal gain, but maybe a sense of being “in too deep”. Assuming there was no Gef, there was no way to admit it while saving face, and the ruse wasn’t hurting anyone, so they just kept it going.

I am the fifth dimension