Maine journalists under siege after false accusations from Tucker Carlson

That intrusion was merely the beginning. In an interview with the Erik Wemple Blog, Spinski alleged that about an hour after the Carlson accusations, someone attempted to break into his Maine home while he and his wife were present. “It was like a booming sound, someone trying to get in,” says Spinski. “Our doors up until that segment aired had actually been unlocked.… When the segment aired, everything got locked and I’m glad it did because within an hour somebody was here.… We sort of put ourselves in the safest place we could away from the windows and called police and waited it out.” Chief Deputy Rand Maker of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office couldn’t confirm or deny the office’s involvement, citing Maine law.

Carpenter said he had received thousands of emails stemming from Carlson’s Monday night monologue, most of which were some mix of abusive, threatening and hateful. Family members, he said, have received direct threats as well. Though no one has shown up at his doorstep, Carpenter notified local police about the harassment.

Sources at the Times told the Erik Wemple Blog that the online harassment was pervasive. Among those who were harassed, says one of those sources, were Times reporters who weren’t involved in the story. Other victims include people with similar names, such as those who had the misfortune of showing up in database searches.