As many times as I've read this story, I've never come across this.

Pity, as the constant handwaving in the answers makes the entire thing seem made up.

What I don't get is how the author can't pin the year down to anything narrower than "between 1994 and 1997," especially considering he wrote the article in 2002: only a few years later.

I'm not at all implying the story was fake; just this particular thing feels weird.