Inside “Freaky Soup Guy,” Internet Mystery Proved Hoax
Uploaded to YouTube in 2005, “Freaky Soup Guy” was one of the site’s first viral horror videos. As it was reuploaded throughout the years, the lore surrounding it grew. What was once nothing more than an “lolrandom,” albeit creepy relic of the early days of YouTube has since been revered by many as a “dark […]
The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife: A Hoax That Fooled Historians
Despite his being the figurehead of the world’s largest religion, little is known about the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The four canonical gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were written around 70 to 110 years after his death and document only the latter portion of his life. With a lack of […]
What Happened to the Missing Sodder Children?
While on record, the case of the missing Sodder children is solved, its official explanation is so full of inconsistencies that even today—nearly 80 years after its occurrence—it still perplexes true crime aficionados across the world. Who Was George Sodder, Father of the Missing Sodder Children? Case #30: Sodder Children Disappearance The Sodder family's home […]
5 of the Most Shocking Deathbed Confessions
To some, it is never too late to set things right, even at the tail-end of their lives. These five deathbed confessions may have been a final weight off the shoulders of those making them. But to investigators, they completely altered how certain cases were perceived. The Faked Nessie Photo Deathbed Confession The “surgeon’s photograph” […]
Who Is Jandek, Outsider Music’s Most Mysterious Recluse?
Since 1978, Houston, Texas native Sterling Richard Smith has been creating polarizing music under the alias Jandek. Released under Smith’s own label Corwood Industries, Jandek’s current discography consists of over 40 full-length albums. A cacophony of out-of-tune guitars, pained half-sung, half-spoken vocals, and cryptic lyrics that are thought to reflect their narrator’s state of mental […]
Was Theresa Ann Bier Taken by Bigfoot?
Despite being a lesser known missing person mystery, the 1987 vanishing of 16 year-old Fresno, California native Theresa Ann Bier is a story filled with twists and turns, all of which point to the guilt of one man. This man, 43 year-old Russel “Skip” Welch, maintained his innocence until his passing in 1998. According to […]
Where Is Brian Shaffer? Missing From the Ugly Tuna Saloona
Born on February 25, 1979, Brian Shaffer was a medical student at Ohio State University. In 2006, three years into his studies, he went missing, no trace of him ever being found since. The complete lack of motive for foul play, his apparent mental wellness, and the bizarre circumstances surrounding his disappearance make his case […]
The Story of Yasir Afifi, the Redditor Under FBI Surveillance
At some point, we’ve likely all experienced the feeling that we’re being watched. Whether inspired by conspiratorial media or an unfortunate defense mechanism against loneliness, it is hard for us to accept that we’re ever truly in solitude. Of course, even considering the ever-evolving technology used to survey unsuspecting people, the majority of the time […]
The Anticlimactic Truth Behind the First Internet Mystery
Given both the internet’s universality and the anonymity it provides, it is flooded with mysteries, some revealed to simply be the works of artists, others the digital footprints of genuinely disturbed individuals. But predating the canon of internet mysteries — Cicada 3301, Lake City Quiet Pills, etc — was the Markovian Parallax Denigrate, referred to […]
The Tragic Story of u/YAYVIDEOGAMES, a Reddit Mystery Solved
Reddit is an online community featuring user-created forums, called subreddits. It’s no exaggeration to say that whatever your interests may be, there are subreddits that cater to them. And with nearly 1.5 billion registered users and 52 million daily users, Reddit is essentially the internet’s all-inclusive safe haven. Of course, with so many differing personalities […]
