More on the Nielsen Haydens and L. Jagi Lamplighter

A few weeks ago, I reported on an incident that occurred at the Hugo Awards in which Patrick Nielsen Hayden (PNH) was involved in some sort of confrontation with L. Jagi Lamplighter, the wife of John C. Wright. According to Wright:

Mr. Hayden erupted into a swearing and cursing, and he shouted and bellowed at the tiny and cheerful woman I married.

I wrote then:

I hope that PNH will respond with either an explanation for what appears to be poor behavior, or an apology, whichever is appropriate.

Now PNHs wife, Teresa (TNH) has responded with a denial:

@StevenBrust @pnh @jenphalian Here's a denial: Patrick didn't even raise his voice to Jagi Lamplighter. JCW fabricated the entire story.

— tnielsenhayden (@tnielsenhayden) September 12, 2015

@StevenBrust @pnh @jenphalian Lamplighter's the one who got warned that she was pushing the limits on the convention's code of conduct.

— tnielsenhayden (@tnielsenhayden) September 12, 2015

So what really happened? As I wrote before, Lamplighter has responded to clarify what happened:

First, I think John has made it sound a bit worse than it was…but this is not his fault. I did not repeat to him all of what PNH said because I did not him to get upset during the reception. (I was afraid he would be very angry if he knew someone had sworn at his wife.)

Mr, Nielsen Hayden did shout, swear, and stomp off…but he was shouting and swearing at/about John, not at me personally and, actually, as far as swearing, he just used the phrase “tell him to shovel it up his…” You can figure out the rest.

which flatly contradicts TNHs denial. And TNHs own tweets, and the "regret" she feels, makes it clear that it was far from an ordinary confrontation:

Regret not being there when Jayge Lamplighter attempted to talk to Patrick. #Hugos

— tnielsenhayden (@tnielsenhayden) August 23, 2015

So where does the truth lie? And will Lamplighter explain the behavior that led to her being warned?

UPDATED 09/14/2015: Further information, from the Lamplighter/Wright camp, has emerged in the comments following a Vox Day blog post. First, in response to the claim that Lammplighter was warned, Wright wrote:

This is an utter lie. Nobody from the convention talked to my wife about this, nor was she "warned" about pushing the limits or anything else.

Second, in response to this additional tweet by TNH:

@StevenBrust @pnh @jenphalian Apparently JCW's unique version of Christianity doesn't include the bit about not bearing false witness.

— tnielsenhayden (@tnielsenhayden) September 12, 2015

Wright responded:

While this is witty, I should be insulted that anyone would think that I would come up with so unbelievable a lie.

I would never, out of my own imagination, come up with the idea that the senior editor of my own publishing house where I have been working for over a decade would lose his temper in public and use saltly language to my wife, yet another Tor author.

If I were inventing a lie, I would invent something the audience was likely to believe.

This level of immaturity, incivility, and sheer, shocking unprofessionalism is not something I can readily imagine, and not something that strikes me as believable.

Even now, I am having a hard time understanding how someone entrusted with the interests of a large segment of the science fiction publishing world would endanger his financial wellbeing as well as my own merely for the sake of giving vent to a momentary emotional pressure.

If I had made up the story, I would have had him yell at me. No one who knows Jagi is likely to believe anyone would use bad language to her. It is like swearing at one of those Disney princesses who have woodland animals help her clean the kitchen.

Third, another witness has stepped forward. The witness claims to be one of the people mentioned in Lamplighter's report on the Hugo Award Ceremony, where she stated:

We had a lovely time out in Spokane this weekend. Two dear friends who are fans of John’s decided that, in a just world, he would have been a guest of honor, so they decided to treat him like one.

They picked us up at the airport, arranged our hotel, provided meals, covered my plane ticket, even arranged for small gifts for our children, as we did not have time to hit the dealer’s room. They made everything easy and joyful.

 In their comments, the witness states:

I couldn't hear what PNH was saying, all I could hear was volume and Jagi coming away chagrined. She had gone over to offer an olive branch and got yelled at for her troubles.

and

Addendum: I was with the Wrights, running interference for the con (My goal: See to it that they got the WorldCon experience two celebrated authors deserved). I always volunteer at cons, this time my volunteering was a tad more superversive than usual.

There was only one (very short) time when the Wrights were at at the 'con when I or my husband wasn't nearby. Get the fabricators to 'splain when Jagi was "cautioned." Unless they get very lucky, I suspect I can prove they're lying.

Obviously, this is one "sides" version of events. But there are indications further into the comments that a recording may exist and that Vox Day is going to follow up with Tor. I suspect we have not heard the last of this matter.