In April of 2013, an anonymous 4chan user would post coordinates to a so-called prize.
He instructed seekers to “park nearby and walk to this point for the secret,” saying, “It’s under plastic at this point.”
The vagueness of this description, coupled with the mere fact that the coordinates were posted on 4chan (aka the Wild West of the internet), caused many users to believe that the original poster was either trolling or intended to lead them somewhere macabre.
However, one user, who called himself Alex from Tennessee, had both the bravery and time on his hands to travel to the original poster’s coordinates. He hasn’t been heard from since.
“Prize” or Wild Goose Chase?
The posted coordinates pointed to a seemingly decrepit building in a secluded area of Elizabethton, Tennessee: basically, the stereotypical setting of a horror film.
Plenty of users left sarcastic comments dismissing the validity of the supposed prize. (i.e. “It could be a leprechaun.”)
The OP (original poster) responded to these mockeries with even more cryptic descriptions. “It is warm,” read one. “No cops here,” read another.
However, things took a dark turn when the OP commented, “Little friend, fly away. Why is no one coming?” alongside a photo of what appeared to be a rotting hand.
From this point forward, his ambiguous comments seemed more disturbing than pretentious.
He posted more photos as well, several of a plastic bag containing who-knew-what, as well as one of a dimly lit cellar.
Enter Alex from Tennessee
Five nights later, a user referring to himself as Alex from Tennessee posted a follow-up thread, reading, “Alex from TN here. I am at location of creepy guy. Came early.”
He filled the thread with photos of what he said was a “dirt basement,” containing several seemingly random objects, like empty jars, wiring, bottles of pills, and the plastic bag that OP had posted a photo of five days prior.
According to Alex, the bag contained “a mummified pelvis and a folded paper plate.”
The paper plate, when unfolded, read, “Plate’s a date, a very important date. You shouldn’t have come. I lied.”
“Plate’s a Date”: Alex from Tennessee’s Disappearance
Shortly after finding the plastic bag, Alex posted, “I hear someone outside driving really slow over the gravel. I think it’s time for my date.”
What transpired during this so-called date is unknown, as Alex stopped posting entirely.
Explanations of the strange story of Alex from Tennessee usually boil down to two theories.
The first theory is that Alex actually went to the location and was met with foul play.
The second theory is that Alex was the same person who initially posted the coordinates, and the whole thing was an elaborate joke.
What Does the Evidence Say Happened to Alex from Tennessee?
According to the National Missing Persons Database, there are zero cases of someone named Alex going missing from Elizabethton from 2013 – 2014.
Nor are there homicide cases involving an Alex from Elizabethton during that time.
Of course, Alex could have been using a false name. But there is further evidence that seems to indicate that he was not being truthful in his posts.
The fact that he was posting so frequently in an unknown, objectively creepy place indicates that he was either abnormally fearless or lying about being there.
In fact, he was averaging at about one-and-a-half minutes between each of his posts. Factor in the time it took him to take the photos and type out captions, he would have been perpetually on his phone during this critical time, where his life could have been in danger.
Couple this with his smug comment, “I think it’s time for my date,” in response to a car pulling up outside, and it becomes clear that Alex is simply not painting a realistic scenario.
The most likely scenario is that Alex most likely had these photos on hand and was posting them from a desktop.
A YouTuber Visits OP’s Location
With the story of Alex from Tennessee making its rounds across the internet’s most popular horror forums, some consequently thought to actually visit the location of OP’s coordinates.
In 2018, a YouTuber named Noah posted a video titled “Going to the coordinates from Alex from TN 4chan post.” In it, he documented his findings at the location.
And as one might expect, there wasn’t much to be found in the area aside from some scattered and abandoned buildings that contained nothing more than the clothes and belongings of unhoused people.
There were certainly no bags containing a “mummified pelvis.”
One can’t help but admire the lengths “Alex” went to trick the internet; what he himself most likely viewed as a harmless, time-killing joke is somehow still discussed by web sleuths today.
