Remembering Doug Williams

[George W. Maschke]

As noted on the blog, Doug Williams died last week. He was 75 years old.

I knew Doug since before the launching of AntiPolygraph.org in 2000. He had generously mailed me copies of news articles and a VHS cassette with interviews in which he had appeared. He also mailed me a complementary copy of his manual, "How to Sting the Polygraph," which was among the sources cited in the 1st edition of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.

After the launch of AntiPolygraph.org and our publication of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, Doug became quite cross with me. Via email, he accused me of plagiarism stealing his intellectual property, and he published a veiled attack on AntiPolygraph.org and me personally on his website, Polygraph.com. I responded to Doug's criticism in a 2003 article, discussion of which is available on this message board here.

By 2007, our relationship was if anything worse, and in a message board thread titled "A Public Challenge to Doug Williams, Author of 'How to Sting the Polygraph,'" I publicly challenged him regarding insinuations about me that he had made on Polygraph.com. In the course of our ensuing exchange, Doug challenged me to "a bare-knuckle, no-holds-barred, knock-down-drag-out, fist fight." I think he meant it.

And so things remained until one day in late February 2013 I received an email from Doug asking that I call him. And so, with some trepidation, I called Doug, and he told me about the raid that federal agents had conducted on his home and office, details of which were not then publicly known.

From that day, Doug and I set aside our differences and coordinated our efforts on public advocacy for polygraph policy reform. I attended and reported on his trial in 2015.

During Doug's incarceration at the federal prison camp in Florence, Colorado, we stayed in regular contact via email, and I kept him informed about posts to this message board and posted replies on his behalf.

Doug kindly sent me a photograph for publication the morning of his release from prison in 2017.

After his release, we remained in contact, albeit less frequently.

I am glad to have known Doug, and especially glad that I was eventually able to count him as a friend.

[anonymous]

How do I get my $50 back for the pdf and video I bought?

[Evan Cletus]

How do I get my $50 back for the pdf and video I bought?

I lost 500 . the 50 was worth every penny . and I will pass mine mark my words

[Aunty Agony]

How do I get my $50 back for the pdf and video I bought?

Wait for Doug's estate to move into probate and then put in a claim of debt with the executor. Eventually you will receive either the materials you ordered or your money back.

If you don't have the patience to wait, then you might want to order a different kind of instruction manual.

[Julia]

So who is running Doug's Polygraph.com website?  The site is still up.  Who gets the money if I buy his book?

[George W. Maschke]

So who is running Doug's Polygraph.com website?  The site is still up.  Who gets the money if I buy his book?

Coincidentally, the TLS certificate for Polygraph.com expired this past weekend, and visitors to the site will be greeted with a security warning. I do not know for sure who presently receives the proceeds from purchase of Doug's books, but if you are inclined to purchase a copy, I would recommend the Amazon Kindle version of False Confessions: The True Story of Doug Williams and His Crusade Against the Polygraph Industry by Jack Straw with Doug Williams. At $7.99, it's fifty cents cheaper than the Kindle version of How to Sting the Polygraph, and it includes How to Sting the Polygraph as an annex.