Way back in February, I commented on rumors that the public would soon learn the identity of “Deep Throat,” the legendary anonymous source that led investigative journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to the truth behind the Watergate scandal. Today the rumors came true.

According to an article in the new issue of Vanity Fair, Deep Throat is a man named Mark Felt, who was Deputy Director of the FBI at the time of the scandal. These days, Felt is a frail 91 years old and lives with his daughter in California. Woodward and Bernstein have issued a statement confirming the magazine’s claims, and their former editor, Ben Bradlee — who also knew Deep Throat’s identity — was quoted as saying, “The thing that stuns me is that the goddamn secret has lasted this long.”

So it looks like another big historical mystery is solved. Kind of anticlimatic, really, and regrettable, too. Like I said the other day in regards to Blackbeard’s lost pirate ship being found, it’s more fun to have some things remain unknown.

One interesting note (well, interesting to people who live in Salt Lake, anyhow): the local TV news says that Felt ran the Salt Lake office of the FBI for two years in the 1950s. Strange how often these big stories have some kind of Utah connection. Sometimes I think my home state truly is the nexus of the universe… and that scares me on many, many levels.