Back in ye olden days of my baby internetness, I stumbled across an image of a kitten shoved into a glass cube. The explanation for the image was that these kittens would live their lives in these jars and grow into that shape.
This was, obviously, false - bonsai kittens were clever photoshop combined with pictures of cats just being cats. But to young me, someone new to internet, with no idea of how powerful photoshop and suggestion could be, and a rampant case of preteen hyperempathy, those images were unsettling.
I lost sleep for weeks - first concerned that the images were real; and then concerned that some unsavory character would decide the photoshop wasn't enough and it was time to try it for real. The poor imaginary kittens in my anxiety-riddled mind...
I forgot about it until years later, when someone mentioned bonsai kittens as an internet mystery they never quite got the full story about. Thing is, there are countless things floating around on the internet that people just ... aren't sure about. Are they real? Hoaxes? Viral marketing? Something totally innocent but set to creepy music?
One Reddit user asked:
What mysteries from the early days of the internet are still unsolved to this day?
So here we go, once more down the rabbit hole ...
Chiclet Teeth
There was that guy in the middle 90's who designed his girlfriend using software. He ended up with something like a mug shot, then posted it, hoping to find her in real life.
He swore he was in love with her, this image he had created. He became an immediate laughingstock.
I can't locate any links, but I remember one person referring to the girl as "Chiclet teeth."
Anyway, I wonder if the guy ever found her.
- woofoo2
Clean The Skulls Before Sale
animated art GIF by Falcao Lucas
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I remember that extremely creepy video of a young guy with longish hair and a very odd way of speaking (I think it was a combination of accent and speech impediment) talking about grave robbing and how to prep the remains for sale. I remember specifically him going into great detail into how to properly clean out the skulls so they wouldn't rattle when you shook them. Nobody ever came up with an identity, location, or even a solid answer for who was buying the human remains or why.
Anyway, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it for a long time, because last year a man where I live was arrested for doing the exact same thing. He was digging up graves, taking the remains, and methodically cleaning them for sale. Sale to who?? For what reason?? It literally drives me insane.
A Guessing Game
Wouldn't say early internet but interesting nonetheless. There was a multitude of killers who have posted on 4Chan one who asked the question "What does /b/ keep in the freezer?" they then proceeded to post pictures of body parts with timestamps to prove it authentication. Another one was (again 4Chan) a guessing name of a missing person and provided a freebie which when guessed correctly lead to the co-ordinates of where the body was buried.
Yeah, the coordinates one was originally posted as a thread with a pic of the missing girl and the message "if this thread gets trips, I'll tell you where to find her" with 'trips' meaning a triplicate number in the post number (eg 222, or 777, etc) which was not something you could see ahead of time
Someone made a reply in the thread with trips, and the OP replied with gps coordinates. 2 days later someone posted a news article from the nearby city with an update about the girls body being found.
I was on there when it happened. We all thought the guy was full of sh*t until the news broke.
Heaven's Gate
The Heavens Gate website is still up and running, but the real question is who is paying for it to stay up?
I'm pretty sure it's just one guy running it. He left the cult before they did the suicides and then rejoined it I guess. I'm pretty sure he's the only person alive who still believes it. Sad, sad stuff
Can someone explain what heaven's gate is and what does it do ?
A UFO cult that eventually became a suicide cult. Members were obsessed with Star Trek and general sci-fi/fantasy weirdness, and made frequent use of the Internet to make money and spread their theology. They believed, among other things, that malevolent aliens called "Luciferians" had infiltrated all major religions to keep humans from developing as a species, that God is actually a very advanced alien, and that their leaders' bodies were regularly taken over by alien "walk-ins." They wound up killing themselves when Comet Halle-Bopp came around, believing that their consciousnesses would be transported to an invisible starship in the comet's tail after their bodies' physical deaths (and, unlike the Jonestown massacre, the deaths seemed to be voluntary—as voluntary as they could be in a cult, anyway.)
They relied on the Internet a lot when they were around, and made most of their money by offering website design and cybersecurity services. Their original website is still up today, in all of its '90s HTML glory, and if you email the person running it, he'll probably respond to you. It's incredibly unnerving to read.
Ted's Excellent Adventure
The guy who went caving. He ends his blog with 'I'll let you know what I find.' And then it just ends. Google Ted's caving and it's the first result!
That was the first and literally last thing I ever read from that website years ago and I still think about it sometimes at night and it scares me lol
- ahr3
It was solved it was confirmed fake. It started out real but eventually the guy decided to write a fiction thingymajig.
- Havoq12
For those interested in learning more about the story behind the story: https://grahamjw.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/ted-the-caver-mystery/
Even as fiction, it's still a masterful work of suspense! Major kudos to the author for crafting a story that's held up this well for so long.
How To? How 'Bout No.
I somehow stumbled onto a very disturbing website called something like howtobeaserialkiller.com. That's not exactly the right url, but it's close. I probably found it through Stileproject.com. It was full of information that seemed like it might actually really help someone to get away with killing strangers, for instance; using a heavy duty zip tie to suffocate them so your hands would be free to hold them down; or rolling dice to decide what kind of person to kill next so there wouldn't be an obvious pattern.
I tried to show a friend what I had found a couple weeks later and the site had been removed with a simple message remaining, "How to be a serial killer has been removed. If you're really interested in killing someone why don't you start with yourself." I'd like to know what the hell inspired someone to create such a site and why did they decide to remove it.
Amazon Submarine
In the early days of the internet there was a site which purported to show a massive submarine base being built in the middle of the Amazon - it was documented through a series of photos developed form a camera that had been found in the jungle.
The theory was that the camera had been thrown from an airplane that had flown over the base just prior to being shot down.
This is NOT a drugs submarine base, but rather something else entirely - it was in the MIDDLE of the Brazilian Amazon, far from any body of water, and the submarine itself was GIANT.
The conjecture was that the elite of the world knew something about coming cataclysmic floods that would envelope the planet and so had built themselves an escape submarine - an Ark - out there in the sticks.
I saw this site in the very, very early days of the web... it was one of the few sites to visit with the new web browsers of the time.
But try as I might I simply cannot find any trace of this site any more, it has vanished and even the Internet Archive has no reference to it.
Was pretty interesting that's for sure. The sub looked huge and the pictures of it quite legitimate....
- ibisum
Amputation
One I remember is something along the lines of cutoffmyfeet.com. I don't think its still up, but the gist of it was that a dudes feet were paralyzed and he wanted to cut them off so he could get prosthetics. I don't remember much, there are probably better explanations out there.
Here's a snippet from the old website:
Since Paul is on Medicare/Medicaid, his insurance will not cover the amputation and new prosthetics because it is not deemed a necessary procedure. Paul also receives medical disability and his Medicare plan does not even cover the cost of his catheter bag. Paul doesn't want to fight a no-win battle with the insurance and medical communities in the United States.
Paul is using this event as a chance to speak out against the lack of care in the medical field and the insurance industry. He strongly believes that this could make great strides in the much needed insurance and medical reform in the United States. This amputation is simply Paul's way of saying that even though corporate america has refused him, he will get his new prosthetics and improve his quality of life.
That's actually pretty sad :(
Frozen
frozen GIF by Walt Disney Studios
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There used to be a huge conspiracy theory that Walt Disney's head was frozen in ice. Whenever you searched the key words "Disney" "Frozen", theories would show up.
By "coincidence" Disney makes the movie Frozen and you cannot search up those key words anymore without being blocked by the movie.
Big Ghost
Who Big Ghost is? He was a hip hop blogger who gave hilarious commentary on hip hop in the voice of Ghostface Killah from wutang. He became a music producer but I never found info on him or his real identity
The Red Spiral
Around early 2000's, my cousin and I were using a very recent beta copy of Google earth (wasn't available to public yet, but people in the computer industry could access it). We found a random location in the middle east, miles from anything.
We found an enormous spiral made of those red markers and zoomed in. We clicked on the red dots and they gave the GPS coordinates and #of people killed there.
In all total it was several hundred killed, but it was strange that information was on Google maps and the it was in the shape of a spiral.
There was some obscure forum on it, but it is all long gone
Beebiss
There is a video game that seemingly never existed called Yeah Yeah Beebiss I, which has a ton of evidence on the internet for it's existence nonetheless. For all practical purposes, no physical evidence of it has ever been found or seen...and yet, actual documentation that it exists or existed at one point remains. Specifically, two actual, well-known businesses which sold and resold video games had it listed in their documents as one of the games they sold and listed for some time. And again these companies RESOLD video games, and they weren't just little out of the way joints either, so logic dictates that someone had to have gone, seen or found Yeah Yeah Beebiss I and estimated a price since, if memory serves, VARIED between the two establishments. So yeah, SOMEONE had to have seen it, but no physical copies have ever been found so far despite legions of people (myself included) searching.
More over, I actually did some research myself, and to be frank there are a ton of OTHER games on the lists that were used to document Yeah Yeah Beebiss I which either were not released in America or released under a different title--this combined with the...to say the very least, somewhat bizarre title Yeah Yeah Beebiss I means that it may in fact have been released either in America or only in Japan but under a wildly different title. Which in turn raises the question of what the everliving fck YEAH YEAH BEEBISS I was supposed to originally mean when it was first announced?!
I'm not the only one searching for this, a ton of other people have been looking for it in the Lost Media niche of the interwebs.
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- People Share The Strangest Unsolved Mysteries They've Ever ... ›
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- People Explain Which Unsolved Mysteries Have Always Stayed ... ›
- People Break Down Which Unsolved Mysteries Should Have Already Been Cracked - George Takei ›
- People Break Down Which Things About The Early Days Of The Internet Most Folks Have Forgotten - George Takei ›
- People Share The Best Research Rabbit Holes They've Ever Gone Down - George Takei ›
- People Share The Strangest Unsolved Mysteries They've Ever Come Across - George Takei ›
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
homer simpson episode 23 GIF
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
Disney World GIF
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
tsunami GIF
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
Scared The Launch GIF by CTV
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.