Back in April, Hanson, who grew up in the Minneapolis area and now lives in Colorado, got the ball rolling with one group email to all the guys invited, giving them a rundown of what to expect when they arrived at their northern Minnesota destination for the weekend of August 19-21.

"Depending on the size and interest of the group, we can shoot clay pigeons and pistols," Hanson wrote.

The organizer promised "partying" both Friday and Saturday nights, with music and games in the barn of one invitee, who had generously welcomed everyone to enjoy his family's land.

Hanson sent off the email and awaited responses. He didn't get many. One person did start writing back, a guy by the name of Shawn McGovern. The name belonged to a friend-of-a-friend, and Hanson didn't know McGovern personally.

Actually, no one did. Hanson had emailed the wrong Shawn McGovern, and had just unwittingly sent the details of the northern Minnesota bachelor party to a random guy who lives in Massachusetts. As it turns out, this Shawn McGovern is not the type to politely email back and cop to being mistakenly included on the email thread.

In the past, he's learned that his name is a common one, and he's received emails intended for other Shawn McGoverns. Sometimes he can't help writing back, and gets into lengthy discussions (or arguments) with homeowners associations or debt collectors... before finally revealing they've got the wrong Shawn.

McGovern figured he was in. Might as well enjoy it. Here's an email he sent the group:

So quick question. I have recently been blessed a 16 year old beagle named Flipsy from a farmer in Flint who grows figs. Flipsy frequently follows me to and fro. For instance, Friday Flipsy followed me to Fredricksburg. I feel like Flipsy should join the fun and festivities on Friday for feelings may get furious if not. He's a good head and heart n hears horrible humans hitchhiking Harley's to Houston. So, what do you say!? Is Flipsy in for fun?



This nursery rhyme-esque request was followed with the suggestion of a "cheese-free weekend," with McGovern saying, "the last Munster my mouth munched made my mind melt marbles." He added: "We could always get faux cheese which would work wonders without worries whether we work with wagon wheels with whistles."

Absurd, all of it, and every word made up.

The response from Hanson, our party organizer? "I think flipsy is welcome as long as he can fetch beers for us! As far as cheese goes, I'm good with anything as long as it's not being cut!"

Privately, Hanson was of two minds about this weird email from this guy Shawn. While he was pretty sure the guy was "a goofball," and messing with everyone, Hanson appreciated that this weird guy was at least having some fun with the email thread.

Time passed, and the real-but-wrong Shawn McGovern decided to double down. In one email, he wrote the group about a "sharp pain in my left hand" that came whenever "I'm on the punching bag at the gym and I get too aggressive." He added: "Worried about my hammerschlagen abilities." In another, he had one of his friends photoshop his face into a picture of a bowhunter, completing the image with a depiction of "Flipsy," the aging beagle.

To both, he received earnest, good-natured responses from Steve Hanson, who still treated McGovern very much like a guy who was coming to his friend's bachelor party. The kindness and lack of cynicism left McGovern privately "flabbergasted."

He decided it was time to end the charade. When he's run similar wrong-Shawn gags in the past, he's always pulled the plug before the time his joke would do damage to the right one. In June, he emailed the group to explain.

McGovern expected some anger might come his way, most obviously from Hanson, who'd gamely taken the bait at every step. But no.

"Lol!," Hanson wrote. "I'm not sure what to think or what to believe.... I think we have just been 'catfished.' If the [sic] is really a different Shawn.... you sound like fun.... maybe you want to join us? Ha-ha."

In his mind, Hanson wrestled with what had happened.

"I had a half-day there where I thought, 'Is this guy funny? Or is he an asshole?'" he says. "I was never really upset about it, but I was unsure what to think."

After that thinking, Hanson decided: The wrong Shawn was funny, and his unexpected appearance at the bachelor party would be a welcome one. There's a dozen guys, Hanson thought. What's one more? He ran his idea past the groom.

Turns out, some members of the group, ones who knew the right Shawn McGovern -- and knew he was not sending them alliterative narratives of Flipsy, his beagle -- had been in on the joke the whole time.

One wrote a reply to Shawn:

"There are many of us who know of your identity and have let this go because of its hilarity and in the hopes you might actually show up. Thanks for the amazing laughs. The real Shawn has been included by forwards to this email thread. Steve, you are a great sport! Looking forward to the party!"

Now, so's Shawn. Both of them.

Filled in on the wackiness, the groom greenlit Hanson's invite to their new prankster friend. McGovern has booked his ticket, and will be arriving in Minnesota this week. He's never been, but used to do sales for a liquor distributor, and has a soft spot for the Minnesotans he encountered there.

"The worst possible things could happen to these [Minnesota] customers," McGovern says, "and they'd always be fine with it, like, 'eh that's life.' I always loved that."

He's become friends with Steve Hanson, his "catfish" victim, and expects to get along well with the rest of the group. They didn't know the other Shawn would actually be coming -- until now. He's not worried about it.

"What do I hope to get out of this?" McGovern says. "Hopefully life long friends. As far as being awkward, I don't think so. I meet people every day and like pretty much everyone. If I knew there would be any kind of animosity from the whole email thing, then I think it would be awkward, but no, they are a great group of guys."