Does This Insta Ring a Bell?
A look into the mind of the student responsible for the Dr. Bell Fan page
Around the beginning of the school year, my friends and I were scrolling through Instagram, as you do, and we stumbled upon an account with no profile picture and the name wasn’t even capitalized. It was the very first “Dr. Bell Fanpage” with one image of the legend himself, Dr. Bell, but it was low effort and soon enough we forgot about it. Within a couple of weeks, another fan page arose, we all followed it and spread the word and soon enough the account had around 800-900 followers from students throughout the school. Soon enough the owner revealed himself to me and I became more involved in the fan page’s development by concealing the identity of the owner every time people got close. Now since we’re coming towards the end of the year I thought I would interview the owner of the fan page and give the fans a closer look at the person behind it.
Why did you start the fan page? What was the inspiration behind it?
Just as a joke, I thought it would be funny. There wasn’t any other thought behind it really. If nobody cared then I would just stop, but if people thought it was funny I could keep going using images sent to me from other students around the school.
Why are you staying anonymous? How have you stayed anonymous for so long?
Because I think it ruins the immersion of the joke if you now have a face to put behind it all, plus I don’t want people to treat me differently for making the fan page. The only way I’ve stayed anonymous is by telling the people I trust that I run the page, most are just good friends.
Have you told anyone, if so how did they react?
Most of the people I have told weren’t surprised at all, and one person didn’t even believe me. I’ve only told friends that I trust, the ones I know wouldn’t tell others and that would be able to help me in my endeavors.
What do you think about the rumors surrounding the fan page?
Most of the rumors are completely wrong. If you’re referring to the rumors about who runs the fan page, very few people have gotten it right and most were close friends.
Has anyone from Channel 4 ever asked to do an interview with you?
There was one person who said they were from Channel 4 wanting to do an interview, however, I did not want to do one in person, even after I was offered a mask. They haven’t bothered to contact since.
How has the office reacted to the creation of the fan page, have they tried contacting you?
In the beginning, the office was calling down the people I tagged in the posts to see what relation they had to the fan page and its owner. After I stopped tagging people, they weren’t being able to call any other people down, which is why I stopped tagging people in my posts. Some freshmen actually told Dr. Bell about the fan page, and he said the that they should “keep donating” oddly enough.
Do you ever plan on telling everyone who runs the page?
I plan on doing something towards the end of the year, maybe on the last day of school, but I don’t know what I could do yet. Until then I plan to keep my identity hidden for as long as possible.
Blake Heller is a senior and it's his fourth and final year on The Jacket Journal staff. He values a reasonable two-way debate, but one thing Blake really...