The Truth Behind – Sesame Street 's "The Count"

Born into a lower-middle class family, Stefan von Bluderstrattenstein, also known as Sesame Street's "The Count", appeared to be a normal Transylvania child. However, under the surface, a troubled mind was already starting to unravel.

Stefan's mother, Doris von Bluderstrattenstein, recalls that her boy displayed odd behavior at a very young age. "Stefan counted all the time," she told our reporter. "Sometimes I would find him standing in the front yard counting blades of grass and laughing like a lunatic. He would say, '2,237 blades of grass, 2,238 blades of grass, HA HA HA!'. Whenever I would try to get him to stop counting, he would go into a terrible fit of rage. I didn't know what to do with him, so I just let him count."

Stefan's mental instability was largely unknown to the general public as he found the perfect job to hide his illness. As Sesame Street's "The Count", his job description actually included constant counting and crazy laughter, the very two things Stefan loved doing.

However, Stefan's mental issues, combined with the fame and a wicked heroin addiction, brought what could have been stellar career to a grinding halt. His former co-star, "Big Bird" spoke to us.

"Stefan could have been great," he said. "But he let Hollywood get to him. This town can do strange things to people and Stefan was already strange to begin with. There was this one time that he started trying to count my feathers. Things got out of hand and we ended up having to call security."

The following was taken from the notes of the psychologist that evaluated Stefan.

"…the patient shows classic signs of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder along with psychosis. The obsessive counting, along with the uncontrollable laughing, are text book symptoms. The patient also displays the following additional symptoms: washes hands 13 times a day (counts as he washes), hears voices, paranoia, and night time thumb sucking."

Most people are unaware that "the Count" is no longer played by Stefan. After the "Big Bird" incident, studio executives fired Stefan and hired someone who looked just like him. Attempts to contact Stefan for an interview for this story were unsuccessful.