The Secret Confession of Jebediah Springfield
The Secret Confession of Jebediah Springfield
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Object Information
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The Secret Confession of Jebediah Springfield was a written document in which Jebediah Springfield revealed the truth about his identity and his supposed heroic past.
History[edit]
The confession was discovered by Lisa inside Jebediah Springfield's fife at the Springfield Historical Society. It revealed that he had not tamed the legendary buffalo, but had merely shot an animal that was already tame. More importantly, it stated that until 1796, he had been known as Hans Sprungfeld, a murderous pirate, and that the people of Springfield would never learn the truth.
The document had an unusual origin. It had been written on the lower portion of the canvas of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington. According to the events surrounding the confession, Hans Sprungfeld stepped on the portrait while the paint was still wet, causing the lower part of the canvas to become attached to his boot and tear away. He subsequently used that piece of canvas to write his confession. The episode therefore provides an explanation for why the famous Washington portrait was incomplete.
Lisa later used the confession to expose the truth about Jebediah's identity. Although historian Hollis Hurlbut initially dismissed it as a forgery, Lisa eventually established that the document was genuine.
