The images in this article have been deleted to make more room for media data. See this archive to view all images.
In light of the recent Iron March leaks, today we’re going forward with our second exposé. This piece is a tricky and poignant one, as this Iron March user was 17 years old at the time of his posting. It’s quite sad to see young people in general being radicalized into fascism, but this user’s age, William Strom Spigner, 17 years old in 2017, of Rainsville, Alabama, makes this installment all the more bleak. Given his young age, we’re not going post addresses or phone numbers, only pictures of him that were already public. William Strom Spigner, about 19 today, graduated this year from Plainview High School. There, he was involved in the school’s football team, the Plainview Bears. Let’s take a look at what he had to say on Iron March.
Anti-Semitism, Homophobia, Racism, and Fascism
He gives us his real name, William, and states that he’s 17 at the time of his posting, October 17th, 2017. He also states that he’s living in Alabama. He describes himself as a National Socialist and expresses his hatred of Jews and people of color. At such a young age, he’s full of zeal about his politics and he’s managed to radicalize his girlfriend and close friends into fascism. His main reason for joining Iron March is to seek out others with likeminded fascist interests, and he states, “the day we reconstruct, I’m going to be there, with my unfaltering support and assistance.” Giving his opinion on “homos” he says they’re “disgusting, unnatural, they should drug [sic] through the streets and stoned [sic] to death at the town square.” Notice he explicitly states “Blood and Soil.” He concludes with “1488,” which is code for “the 14 words” and “Heil Hitler.”
In another message, William gives us some handy stats which helped a lot in confirming his identity. He says that National Socialism is something of a tradition in his family, as his great grandfather was a Nazi. He says that Nazism is “such a powerful belief,” one of a “better, more pure world.”
In other messages, he seems to say that his great grandfather was basic infantry and that he’ll always be proud to have “such a great man in my family tree.” Again, we can see his anti-Semitism.
Confirming the Identity of William Strom Spigner
William gave us some key information that lead us straight to him. First, he gave us his name, location, and his email: William, stromspigner@gmail.com, of Alabama. Searching for this, we come to his MaxPreps and Hudl profiles. They echo the stats he gave in his posts as well as additional information such as his jersey number, 71, the school he attended, Plainview High School, and the date he graduated, 2019. We also get a Twitter account that’s associated with him. It seems to have been scrubbed but in searching his username on Twitter and Google we can see some of his older posts.
Searching for keywords like “Alabama” and “Spigner,” we come across an obituary for a person named Shawn Spigner, his mother. We know Shawn was his mother because the obituary says she’s survived by a son named William Strom Charlton Spigner. We found Shawn’s Facebook and a “Like” from her on an athlete page named “Strom Spigner,” and she lists him as a son.
We were lead to his high school’s Twitter account where they posted a picture of the team and you can see William from the back in his jersey.
We got the link to his Twitter earlier with his name as his URL. He uses “Top Kek” as his Twitter name; “Kek” being a popular meme in fascist circles that appropriates the frog character “Pepe.” He follows a fascist account.
Finally, his high school posted a picture of him donating blood where they call him a hero for saving a life. If they were only aware of his hateful and fascist ideology.