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Folks Are Intrigued By These 32 Mysteries From The Early Internet Days That Were Never Solved
Since the dawn of the internet, it has evolved at an astonishing rate. We are so used to the world wide web of today that just picturing the early days after its birth is almost like a fantasy. One thing that remains constant, however, is that it was brimming with online mysteries, just like today!
When a netizen asked people to spill these unsolved online mysteries of that time, they didn’t hold back. If you are from that age, a few might be familiar to you, while others might be completely new. Some of these will leave you with an itch to solve them; that’s how compelling they are! Just scroll down to check them out.
More info: Reddit
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
When The Simpsons did the Who Shot Mr. Burns cliffhanger, they had a contest to see if anyone could solve it. On the Simpsons usenet there was one commenter who solved it using the clues correctly (as opposed to just a lucky guess.)
The showrunners tried all that they could to find the person but never did...
RELATED:
#2
Back in the day there was a site called bonsai kitten claiming to sell real kittens grown in glass jars. It was a hoax website but people actually believed it.
Fat Harry (Oi / You) 2 months ago
I remember that one. There were even chain emails going around asking people to petition the site.
#3
Who actually wrote the 'My Immortal' Harry Potter fanfic?? I know there are suspects, but no one wants to officially claim that masterpiece and give evidence? Why?? The world needs to know!
Some of these internet mysteries have been floating around since the conception of the web, and people are still obsessed. The thing is, the unknown totally freaks us out and completely fascinates us at the same time.
Psychologists say that uncertainty can make us anxious, but it also lights up our curiosity. That mix of fear and fascination is exactly what makes these kinds of mysteries so addictive. It’s like our brain needs to know what’s going on, even if the trail is cold or the whole thing might just be a made-up story.
However, the best part is that these internet mysteries give us a way to explore them without any real-world consequences. It’s spooky, but it’s safe and controlled. We get all the chills and gasp-out-loud moments without ever leaving our chairs. Now, who wouldn't want that, right?
#4
Last time this came up, I brought up www.hell.com which was this website where you kept clicking through weird cryptic pages that led you down a rabbit hole of more weirdness. But apparently people told me it was some experimental art project or something.
So... mystery solved.
Kabuki Kitsune 2 months ago
It wasn't an art project. Hell.com was a site where people who were at the cutting edge of the internet and website design (Back when site visitor counters at the bottom of a webpage were common), would share the websites they'd created. These websites were doing things that, at the time, was thought impossible. Things like embedded video, or single pixel sized links, or causing your computer to automatically redirect itself to another site.
#5
Back in the days of war dialing, there were so many weird phone numbers that were discovered that led to weird recordings or just did weird s**t. I'd love to hear about what some of those were about.
#6
Grngecko.com/torment was crazy to me. I don’t remember how I found it but it started you out on this puzzle that wasn’t too difficult to solve, but it just kept giving more puzzles with increasing difficulty. I remember having a full notebook from writing stuff down trying to figure out how to solve them.
I eventually got stuck and went to some forums to find out there were people who put in some WORK trying to complete it but I don’t believe anyone ever reached the end. They eventually took it down and the creator put up a new series of puzzles that was solved within the first couple days.
I was always curious what was at the end of that grngecko puzzle. That website is what made me have a love for puzzles and riddles.
Apart from getting involved in these mysteries right from your house, another cool thing is how inclusive they are. Everyone who knew how to use it got to join in. It didn't matter who you were or where you came from; as long as you were online, you could easily be a part of it. It's almost as if the internet turns everyone into a wannabe detective.
In fact, it's become so popular today that almost everyone is either a web sleuth or is creating a true crime podcast. These are loved so much that they experienced a 66% growth in listeners in 2022. However, we can say that the internet is quite developed now, but imagine how enthralling things would have been when it was completely new!
#7
The "Enigma" conspiracy theory about Pink Floyd's album "The Division Bell" died with Usenet's popularity before it ever led to either the treasure the band had allegedly hidden somewhere for fans to find or the identity of the person connected with the band who was contributing to the theories.
BrunoVI 2 months ago
The conspiracy, which was denied by Pink Floyd but possibly promoted by the publisher anyway, fell apart after the UK reassigned phone numbers to everyone. I saw a video by someone who plausibly solved the riddle, but there was no way left to try to find the treasure. Some tried to encourage the creator to reverse translate the phone number; others said that Ovaltine wasn't that great anyway.
#8
Whether or not "the X-files" is based on *real* FBI files.
Lee Gilliland 2 months ago
It was actually based on a series of books by an author named Nick Polatta and well worth reading.
#9
Not sure if this counts but the Max Headroom/Dr. Who incident has been discussed on the internet for decades without those involved ever being identified.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion)
It's a cool story because it's the cliche where hackers do something harmless just because they can except this really happened and nobody is even sure of how. I've read that they would've needed to overpower the signal that the station was broadcasting but to do that they would've needed to be close to the station and using very expensive and powerful gear.
Lee Gilliland 2 months ago
Or a stooge at the station. My bets on the stooge. It's frighteningly easy if you know how.
When we talk about these enigmatic stories from the good old days of the web, of course we have to talk about how chaotic the internet really was. Its history clearly shows how it evolved from being an unpolished mess to this giant thing that we almost need to survive in this day. After all, back then there were no algorithms or a sleek UI, but just bizarre websites and creepy forums.
You had to click through broken links or dig through old screenshots, almost like a treasure hunt. When we think about them today, they hit emotionally, too. Trying to piece together these forgotten corners of the web feels like you’re uncovering lost memories, not just data.
When the so-called internet sleuths dive into an old mystery, I feel like it’s less about solving it sometimes and more about reconnecting with that weirdly wild energy it used to have.
#10
Who wrote SQL Slammer, an early internet worm. I work in cybersecurity; I remember at the time it was released it was crazy the damage it did: took down 90% of all infectable hosts within 10 minutes or so. Many believe it was an early cyberweapon test. If you get into the technical details of the thing it's wild: so crazy efficient it's entire source code sat in a single packet. More info: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Slammer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Slammer).
#11
The leprechaun sighting in Crichton.
I want to know if an entire neighborhood came together to fake it, if something was in the water, a real leprechaun was seen, but most importantly, I want to know where the gold at.
#12
How come every time I tried to download a new Backstreet Boys album it was just p**n. Every. Time.
Now, you might think that some of these mysteries from the list are very disturbing. However, we have to understand that the online crowd was very different from what we’re used to now. While we mentioned before about how inclusive it was, not everyone knew how to use it.
Since it was so new, your Aunt Susie or Uncle Tom couldn't just come online and surf. It was most probably a mix of tech-savvy geeks or just curious weirdos who loved poking around in digital corners no one else really understood.
No wonder it gave rise to a whole new phenomenon of "online mysteries". As to why they remained unsolved, the reasons are different for each one. However, some of them definitely had me searching online, wanting to know more.
#13
I’ve always wondered about Ted the caver. I think his original posts was on geocities but he had this whole blog about going caving in some more unknown areas and hearing/smelling weird noises and deathly flesh similar to a wendingo.
The Majestic Opossum 2 months ago
It was made up, and is widely regarded as the first "creepy pasta". After several years, the author revealed that "Ted the Caver" was based on his real caving experiences but he had added numerous creative embellishments. -- Thanks Wikipedia!
#14
I can't remember the name of the channel, but I remember the mistery being set around early Youtube days. There was this one girl doing vlogs in Youtube and she had quite a following. Then she started uploading stuff about being stalked and she was afraid someone was after her. After some time, she completely vanished and stopped uploading.
modern-era replied:
lonelygirl15. It was staged. I'll admit, it had me for a minute.
There is still one mystery surrounding that, though. Two videos were posted on Youtube by cassieiswatching that used some of the same locations as LG15. No one has ever claimed responsibility
#15
Anybody remember cutoffmyfeet.com? A guy had terrible foot pain and wanted to amputate, so the website said. He was taking donations for entry into a contest to be the person who, via the internet, would be able to push a keyboard key that activated a home made guillotine to remove his affected feet. The whole thing was planned out with a scheduled date and audience. Ambulance would be already called. Never heard what happened.
Mel in Georgia 2 months ago
He ran into all sorts of legal and financial difficulties and the site eventually disappeared - as did he. Someone looking into this discovered he was later convicted of child mol estation and was sentenced to 7 years. After unsuccessfully suing the prison upon his release, he disappeared again. Here's the interesting video: https://youtu.be/hdlRsO-kKTY?si=lzy7_Zznnyvwla-i
While some of these might be complete hoaxes, they had a massive impact on the netizens of that time. It all makes us think just how much the internet has grown since its birth. I guess these mysteries unite us all in a way, as even today, a good online enigmatic incident can be a perfect icebreaker among strangers.
Well, dear readers, that's it from our end. Now we leave you to ponder over the remaining unsolved mysteries and get lost in time. Don't forget to upvote your favorite ones. Also, if our list has missed any significant ones, feel free to jot them down in the comments below!
#16
The "-Model" websites. There used to be dozens of these websites of underage "fashion" models that people would pay money to for picture sets of them in skimpy clothing. I remember they would offer a VIP photo shoot for a lot of money, which I imagine involved straight up p**n or p**********n which was super creepy. All these websites mentioned that their uncle was the photographer. It certainly seems like they all belonged to the same child predator network. They were around for years until Oprah ran a special on them, and soon after they all disappeared at the same time. Really weird stuff.
(Note: Don't try to repeat their names; a lot of **current** websites have an auto-filter/auto-ban feature despite them not existing for a long time.).
Lee Gilliland 2 months ago
Once Oprah outed them they got targeted by law enforcement. One of her good deeds.
#17
I had a previous Reddit account made during the Digg exodus. This was at least a decade ago when Reddit was pretty new. I came across a post from a guy who swore that a particular website that looked like a generic local news site with the usual AP & Reuters news feeds was actually a government run intelligence program.
It functioned like a numbers station in plain site. Meaning that the exact wording used would match up with a one time use pad and provide intelligence info.
I can not remember the exact website, but it looked unimpressive and the domain was registered in Bahrain, despite appearing to cater to a midsize US city.
He then said he was being harrased in real time since he made that post. Then he said he got doxxed and strangers were calling him telling him to cut it out.
I tried to reply to his post a few minutes later, but then found that his Reddit account and every post he made were deleted.
What was that all about?!
Lee Gilliland 2 months ago
My bet is he was telling the truth and got forcibly relocated and you need to shut up before the same thing happens to you.
#18
I remember the mystery surrounding John Titor, the time traveller.
He even has his own wikipedia article. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor).
#19
Just after the first Harry Potter film was made there was a creepy website with photos of Hermione's face VERY BADLY photoshopped onto various "s**y" celebs bodies. There was no nudity but it was still creepy, especially as he had a countdown clock until Hermione was "legal". The mystery, I suppose, is whether the person who made the site was a "for real" weirdo or if it was some weird sort of parody/satire. I never saw the site again so don't know how it progressed in later years, and you'd never find it now without getting yourself on some sort of list.
#20
Back when Tripod and Angelfire were a real thing, we had a guy who hated the mayor of a local town and had his own little stalking / hate page.
In addition to stuff like *[mayor] is watching cartoons instead of having the potholes fixed* and that the police force was undermanned and overworked, he went absolutely nuts in the winter because the road that the mayor lived on was likely to be plowed first and kept well-plowed.
The absolute classic from that time was when the mayor did something that the hater didn't care for and he said about that mayor: *...that took some real testicle fortitude.*
For YEARS after that I'd go for a hike, motorcycle ride or whatever with friends and for sure, someone would ask "do you have the testicle fortitude for this?"
**NOTE:** https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/05/bill-simmons-testicular-fortitude-the-etymology-of-a-phrase-and-the-sensibilities-of-espn.html.
#21
The identity of Bloodninja, the greatest internet troll of all time. Ahh, those were the days!
edit: [chat logs](http://www.megalomaniac.com/~andrew/funny/bloodcyber.html) for those of you unfamiliar with this legend.
Brendon Nash 2 months ago
Actually on HBO there is a series about that. Not the goofy Swedish troll
#22
I was on Stumbleupon and I remember a story about a Russian (?) boy who had knowledge of ancient civilizations even though he was from a small town in Siberia. He claimed to be an alien who was sent down to earth and grew in his host (the mom). Can’t remember why he was sent to earth but I haven’t been able to find that story since.
#23
A long time ago I was chatting with someone over IM and he somehow managed to open my CD tray over the internet. To this day, I have no idea how tf he managed to do that.
Bored Sailor 2 months ago
I remember this one back, back, back in the day and knew how. Of course that was fixed.
#24
C*****d had an article about this (I know, I know) but there was an old forum a girl had about Buffy the Vampire Slayer - I think? Where she had over 40k posts, all by herself. As in, she would make topics and reply to them as the series progressed, or she watched seasons and episodes. IIRC 4chan caught wind and started raiding, so she deleted the site all together. I really wish I had more context, because it seems so interesting.
#25
I remember this random youtube video where a guy kidnaps a girl and after 10 years, he posted a video titled "happy anniversary" and laughed like hell with some mystery puzzle at the end.
cuppateafling replied:
That's the disappearance of Maura Murray and the video was posted on the eighth year. Supposedly the video creator is not involved, just mentally ill and may enjoy the attention.
#26
Not from the early days- but the stories and conspiracies of Cicada 3301 sound amazing, shame they havent posted a puzzle in years though (or figured out the last one).
#27
Not early internet, but early Facebook. The developers of Facebook used to look through everyone's photos and make comments on them in a tooltip that with javascript would disappear after being read once. Very few people remember that b.s. now.
#28
All of those posts from a bunch of different accounts from a bunch of different social media sites that were all about Captain Kutchie’s Key Lime Pie. Captain Kutchies was a local restaurant that closed a long time ago. I seriously wonder what all that was about.
#29
There a was a site I found only once and have never been able to relocate.
The whole of it seemed to consist of cryptic text in various patterns, with links to other cryptic text in various patterns. The links would be on whole words or sometimes individual letters.
It's hard to explain how, but going through the pages gave you the sense that you were going *somewhere*, that it wasn't just endless randomness but some kind of puzzle to be solved.
I never solved it and neglected to bookmark it; now that (486) computer is a scrap heap.
Lee Gilliland 2 months ago
There were three or four websites that match your vague description. One, I do remember, was actually a CIA recruiting tool and if you got to the final page they contacted you with a job offer. Quite imaginative, really.
#30
How the f**k have we still never seen a picture of CJayC, the founder of GameFAQs?
#32
The Mayday mystery. There were a load of conspiracy theories like a cult, government recruiting, the illuminati, and etc. Basically, this guy found this weird crypric ad in his school paper, and turns out that they date back to the early 80s, possibly even further, and still continue to this day. The ads included the word Mayday, and a lot of ciphers and math. Apparently, the guy who discovered this was messaged by the mysterious group who made it, although im a little skeptical about that.
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Owen 2 months ago (edited)
Do any of you remember rotten.com? It was a horrific website, but I was a young teenager and we used to dare each other to go on it. In computer class. We easily got around the school censorship barriers, they were a joke. But rotten.com was really nasty stuff. Mostly real videos of people being unalived. It got shut down by the FBI in the end. I looked at it due to peer pressure, and I still remember all the traumatizing things I saw on that site. I'm glad it's no longer available online. There are some things you cannot unsee.
Dragons Exist 2 months ago
There are/were lots of websites like that - I wasn't alive for rotten.com, but I can look at that site on archive.ph and the Wayback Machine, and I was alive for r/eyeblech (since I saw eyeblech when I was 12-14, it definitely affected me mentally, particularly the video of ISIS running over someone with a tank)
Load More Replies...
Kaedyn Walsh 2 months ago
Articles like these are what I love about being a Panda. Thank you so much for this, Rutuja! Please do more like this!
Owen 2 months ago (edited)
Do any of you remember rotten.com? It was a horrific website, but I was a young teenager and we used to dare each other to go on it. In computer class. We easily got around the school censorship barriers, they were a joke. But rotten.com was really nasty stuff. Mostly real videos of people being unalived. It got shut down by the FBI in the end. I looked at it due to peer pressure, and I still remember all the traumatizing things I saw on that site. I'm glad it's no longer available online. There are some things you cannot unsee.
Dragons Exist 2 months ago
There are/were lots of websites like that - I wasn't alive for rotten.com, but I can look at that site on archive.ph and the Wayback Machine, and I was alive for r/eyeblech (since I saw eyeblech when I was 12-14, it definitely affected me mentally, particularly the video of ISIS running over someone with a tank)
Load More Replies... Kaedyn Walsh 2 months ago
Articles like these are what I love about being a Panda. Thank you so much for this, Rutuja! Please do more like this!
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