Top 10 Craziest Mysteries Solved by Reddit

Cicada 3301 is one of the Internet’s most tantalizing mysteries. It is seemingly a complex puzzle with the intent of recruiting the intelligent individuals who solve its various clues. The first puzzle appeared on message boards in 2012, and others have appeared again in following years. The original puzzle focused primarily on aspects of data security and cryptography, leading most to speculate that the puzzle was some sort of recruitment tool for a government agency or anonymous internet mercenary group. Many of its intricate and complex clues have been cracked by collaborating Redditors and some have claimed to have solved the entire puzzle, with a mysterious Reddit URL providing crucial clues along the way.

No, Reddit didn’t figure out how our ancestors built Stonehenge. That mystery might never be solved. No, this Stonehenge is entirely digital. In July 2011, a Redditor opened a mysterious sub that consisted entirely of nonsensical text. Redditors quickly assumed that it was a code dump, and thousands quickly got to work trying to figure out the meaning of the codes. One Redditor eventually cracked the code, finding a picture of England’s famous Stonehenge in ASCII. Other, smaller fragments of the text were decoded, but the larger meaning behind the sub and its various codes remains a mystery.

While mysterious text is one thing, creepy, unexplained videos are something else. The Webdriver Torso videos started appearing on YouTube in 2013. They consisted of a white background, moving blue and red rectangles, and unsettling beeping noises. The channel quickly gained the attention of the internet, with many speculating about its intended purpose. Some theories thrown out included a recruitment tool, spy messages, and, because this is the internet, communication from aliens. Redditors quickly got to work, and an Italian blogger traced the account to Google. YouTube eventually admitted that they were behind the videos and that they served as a testing mechanism for video quality.

This one is sure to get the paranoid conspiracy theorists going. A poster by the (rather fitting) name of shadybusiness15 blew a fuse and took apart his extension cord to assess the damage. He found what looked like a SIM card inside the cord and posted a picture of the mysterious card to Reddit. Redditors quickly figured out that the chip was a listening device. Yep, shadybusiness15 was bugged. If you called the SIM card’s number, you could listen to what the device was recording. Shadybusiness15 called the number but found the service closed. The mystery of what the device was was solved. Why his room was bugged . . . was not.

Ciphers can be fun. This one…not so much. One Redditor was allegedly given a $50 bill and a secret code while walking the streets. He posted the mysterious markings to Reddit, and the users quickly figured out that it was something called a bifid cipher. The cracked code read, “There’s plenty more money to make. Figure this out and prepare to meet.” However, the poster also got another code chastising him for getting help, and he was allegedly threatened. Theories range about the meaning of the text, including links to the Department of Defense, planning a Reddit meetup, a hoax drummed up by the poster, and a marketing ploy.

On June 26, 1995, a hitchhiker was killed in a car crash and quickly earned the moniker “Grateful Doe” due to his unconfirmed identity and Grateful Dead tickets. Years later, a Redditor opened a Grateful Doe sub and circulated reconstructed images of the deceased. The image eventually caught the attention of the deceased’s mother, who said it was her son, Jason Callahan. Callahan looked a lot like the reconstructed image and went missing in 1995 while following the Grateful Dead on tour. An investigation was opened, and a DNA test was finally done on the unidentified man. After twenty years, Callahan was found.

Hit and runs are the worst. But fear not! Reddit is here to help! A Reddit user, Meatheaded, witnessed a hit and run accident and posted a picture of the broken-off headlight to the sub r/whatisthisthing. Hundreds of car aficionados worked together and traced the headlight to a grey 1990 Cadillac Brougham. The poster later discovered that a gray Cadillac Brougham had been reported stolen in the area. A man was then linked by police to the stolen car and was charged with auto theft and several traffic-related crimes.

And here we have Reddit helping yet another cold case. Back in the ‘70s, a group of kids came across a body. The case was cold for forty long, LONG years until a sleuthing Redditor came across the body’s cemetery records and autopsy report. After posting to Reddit, another poster copied the files to the site Websleuths; a forensic artist then got involved and reconstructed the victim’s face. This image bore a striking resemblance to a teenager named Linda Pagano, who had been missing since the mid ‘70s. While the bones haven’t yet been officially matched to Pagano as of 2018 , her siblings and Akron sergeant Jeff Smith strongly believe they will be a match.

On April 4, 2015, a man named Walter Scott was stopped for a broken brake light and later shot in the back by police officer Michael Slager. The case made international headlines, and footage from a bystander’s cell phone became a key piece of evidence. A Redditor, Daniel Voshart, stabilized and cleared-up the shaky footage. He found what looked like Scott obtaining and subsequently throwing Slager’s taser. Voshart argues that Slager may not have seen Scott disposing of the taser. Voshart’s story and potential discovery was later made into a documentary.

Sometimes Reddit can save a life. Literally. A poster by the name of RBradbury1920 posted to r/legaladvice, as someone was leaving mysterious post-it notes around his apartment.He was suitably creeped out and asked the sub what to do. One Redditor suggested that he was writing the notes himself and forgetting due to possible carbon monoxide poisoning. The OP admitted that he had been having terrible headaches, lived above the parking garage, and never plugged in his CO detector. After doing so, he found his apartment reading 100 parts per million, indicating that he was indeed suffering from CO poisoning. He checked himself into a hospital, and user Kakkerlak literally saved a life.