Howard Hughes' alleged $156 million gift to Melvin Dummar has been thoroughly debunked by historians and Hughes experts. The story, which inspired the 1980 film "Melvin and Howard," claimed that Dummar helped a stranded Hughes in the Nevada desert in 1967 and was later named in Hughes' will.

According to Dummar, he found Hughes near the Cottontail Ranch brothel, drove him to Las Vegas, and nine years later received a mysterious will leaving him 1/16th of Hughes' $12 billion fortune. However, several key facts dispute this account:

Hughes was a known recluse who never left his Desert Inn penthouse during his Las Vegas years. His severe mental illness, addiction to codeine, and deteriorating physical condition made such travels highly improbable.

The "Mormon Will" contained multiple red flags:

• Misspelled names of Hughes' associates
• Named a former employee Hughes disliked as executor
• Used the term "Spruce Goose," which Hughes famously despised
• Peculiarly benefited the Mormon church, despite Hughes being non-religious

By Hughes' death in 1976, his physical condition had severely declined - he weighed just 90 pounds and had broken needle fragments in his arms from drug use. A Nevada jury ruled the will a forgery in 1978, and Dummar's subsequent 2006 lawsuit was dismissed.

While a 2005 book by former FBI agent Gary Magnesen attempted to validate Dummar's story through alleged new evidence, Hughes scholars remain unconvinced. The notion that Hughes secretly visited brothels while maintaining his intensely germaphobic lifestyle contradicts well-documented accounts of his behavior.

Dummar, who died in 2018 in Pahrump, Nevada, may have given someone a ride that night, but evidence strongly suggests it wasn't Howard Hughes. While no charges were ever filed against Dummar for the disputed will, his claim to Hughes' fortune remains one of Las Vegas's most enduring debunked myths.

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