Welcome back guys, my name is Danny Burke and I love Reddit.
Its one of the biggest online communities and when they put their minds together, theyve
acheived some pretty crazy things.
Sometimes - they even solve crimes and mysteries together that many in the real world just
couldnt get their heads around.
Youre about to see exactly what I mean - this is the top 10 insane mysteries solved by reddit.
Also, if you like the hat or the shirt, you can get your own over at mostamazingshop.com
… the material is very nice.
Hopefully Ive really sold that to you.
Ok Starting off at number 10 we have Webdriver Torso.
In 2013, a YouTube channel was created called Webdriver Torso.
All it did was uploaded videos like this.
CLIP.
Reddit users jumped on it - theories ranged from the ridiculous such as aliens to the
intriguing such as spy communication.
Eventually, a number of Reddit users came up with the answer to this mystery, including
a blogger who made the most detailed description.
It turns out that YouTube itself set up the channel to test the quality of videos.
The content is meaningless, hence the random sounds and visuals - but by comparing that
video with the original file, YouTube can see how good their uploading system is for
video quality.
Google later confirmed this was the case.
Shame its not aliens or spies though.
Next up at number 9 we have The Post It Notes.
In 2015, Reddit user RBradbury1920 posted to Reddit saying he kept finding post it notes
in his apartment reminding him to do errands he had told nobody else about.
He was seriously freaked out but found no signs of a break in.
It kept happening though so he asked Reddit to help him solve it.
Reddit user Kak-kerlak made the suggestion that perhaps HE was the one leaving the notes
and just not remembering.
He suggested mental health but also a Carbon Monxide leak.
This odorless gas can have serious effects on peoples brains and will cause death if
levels are high enough.
He replied by saying that he was having pretty bad headaches and that hed set up his Carbon
Monixide detector right away.
It was a good job he did because that was the problem.
The level had reached a dangerous 100 PPM - causing him to black out and forget he wrote
the post it notes.
Mystery solved but even more importantly, a life saved.
Coming in at number 8 we have the Nail Through The Wood.
One day a Reddit user posted this image to Reddit.
That’s a nail going through a piece of wood - but how did it get there?
As you can see, there is no hole in the piece on the left, how did the nail end up going
through the other pieces?
The user who posted it said he found it on a hiking trip.
He said there was no visual trickery involved and the wood was one solid block - no glue.
Reddit was stumped, nobody could figure out how it was achieved.
And then, on November 21st 2009, woodworker Steve Ramsey uploaded a video showing the
solution.
He made the block, soaked the end piece in boiling water and used a clamp to push it
down enough to nail a hole in the next block.
Then, he simply soaked it again to make it take its original form.
Incredibly simple and very impressive work by him, the video is currently sitting at
over 20 million views!
Moving on to number 7 we have the SIM card.
In 2013, Reddit user shady business 15 posted pictures to reddit showing his extension cord
which had blown a fuse.
When he took it apart , he found a sim card with a serial number on it.
Errrr what?
Yeah, Id be freaked out too.
Reddit users realised there was a microphone attached to the device - he was being bugged.
Everytime somebody rang that sim cards number, it was listening to the whole room.
He called the number on the sim card and an automated message said -The service is now
closed, if you have voicemail you can turn it on- … he then called O2, the sim cards
manufacturer who told him that hed need a warrant to find out who owned that number.
Well, the mystery was solved of what the device was, now they just need to figure out who
put it there …
Next up at number 6 we have Hit and Run.
In 2013, Reddit user Meathead posted an image of a broken tailight from a car that had been
involved in a hit and run.
He wanted to identify the driver.
Not much to go on with just a taillight. 400 reddit comments pouted in and eventually,
Reddit identified the taillight belonged to a grey 1991 Cadillac Brougham.
He went to the police with that information and they were able to match it to a stolen
vehicle.
With this lead they found the hit and run driver and laid charges on him.
Or her.
I don't know.
Maybe reddit can figure out the gender from the taillight too ...
At number 5 now we have The Cypher.
In 2012, a Reddit user posted saying that a homeless man had given him 50 dollars with
markings on it and a note covered in some sort of code.
Redditors quickly identified it as a bifid cypher - a message scrambled using a square
grid sytem.
They decoded it to read -Theres plenty more money to make.
Figure this out and prepare to meet-, it then gave an hot dog stand address and told him
to ask for Mr Input.
Then he got another message threatening him because he got Reddit to help.
Soon after, the origal poster deleted his initial post after claiming he was now getting
death threats to him and his family.
The reddit hunt continued though and the theories for this now range from recruitment for the
department of defense to an elaborate marketing campaign for a local Spy museum.
Some say this one is solved while others say thats what Mr Input wants you to think …
Next up at number 4 we have the Strongsville Jane Doe.
In 1975, 3 boys found a skeleton by a river in Ohio.
It was identified as belonging to an 18 - 25 year old woman who had been shot in the head
some 5 months before her discovery.
Detectives hit a dead end on identifying her and it became a cold case.
Fast forward to 2015 where reddit user Call Me Ice decided to do some digging on the case
herself.
She managed to obtain the original autopsy report including a photo of the womans skull.
She then enlisted the help of a forensic scientist to create this facial reconstruction.
A while later, they found this image of 17 year old Linda Pagano who went missing in
September 1974 after an argument with her stepfather.
They contacted the medical examiners office who say they were already working on the match.
Shortly after, Lindas sister confirmed that the skeletal did belong to Linda.
The Reddit community praised user Call Me Ice for her incredible initiative and detective
work …
Moving on to number 3 we have Stonehenge.
In 2011, Reddit users noticed that someone had created a strange subreddit with a long
string of numbers and letters and was just dumping weird code into it.
Thousands of redditors tired to figure out what the code all meant.
Eventually, one Reddit user called Fragglet decided to put his programming skills to good
use.
He decoded one of the posts to reveal it was a picture of stonehenge drawn in ASC2 art.
Other posts were decoded to read -happy new year 2001- and what looked like co ordinates
in North Korea.
Eventually, the thread just closed.
Most of the code was never decoded.
On the one hand, it was a victory to even uncode some of it but many users still want
to figure the whole thing out …
Coming in at number 2 now we have Grateful Doe.
In 1995, a hitchhiker was killed in a car accident in Virginia.
Because of his injuries, police were unable to identify who he was.
They found a note on his body referring to him as Jason from two women called Caroline
T and Caroline O.
The police were lost.
Almost 20 years went by and nobody had solved the mystery.
Then, in 2014, Reddit user ZombieGrey, real name Layla Betts, began to research the cold
case herself.
A community sprung up on Reddit to help her.
She posted digitally recreated pictures of the hitchhiker.
Then, she was contacted by a man who said the images looked a lot like his roommate
Jason Callahan who he hadnt seen since 1995.
They were onto something.
Incredibly, Jasons mother saw the pictures online at the same time.
They were able to contact the Virginia Medical Examiners office to do a DNA comparison between
the hitchhiker and Jasons mother, sure enough, it was a match.
Layla Betts, with the help of the larger Reddit community, had solved a 20 year old cold case
and brought closure to Jasons family.
And finally at number 1 we have The Box Of Crazy.
In 2013, Reddit user TramStopDan posted images of a box he found in the trash.
What he found inside was a weird collection of posters, illustrations, maps, and personal
belongings.
Some of the text and pictures made references to alien invasions and trains with animal
faces.
The pages were so intricately detailed - this was obviously done by someone who took the
work very seriously.
Eventually, Reddits investigation led them to a man named Daniel Christiansen - a Danish
Immigrant to the US who has since died.
They found out that Daniel had become obsessed with the book of Ezekiel from the Bible.
Couple that with his apparent schizophrenia, and the book appears to be his belief in the
bible as proof of aliens visiting Earth.
The case was closed as solved, however, for the people who said this was a government
cover up the whole time, this only added fuel to the fire … what do you guys think?
Very interesting stuff there - which one was your favourite?
Do any of you guys use Reddit?
Let me know - Im Danny Burke - thanks as always for watching and Ill see you in the next video!
10 https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/26ee9n/youtube_mystery_webdriver_torso_solved/
9 https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34l7vo/ma_postit_notes_left_in_apartment/
8 http://incredibleengineering.com/reddit-mystery-is-solved-this-youtuber-has-cracked-impossible-nail-through-the-wood-puzzle/
7 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-reddit-bureau-of-investigation-solves-cases-online-2013-8
6 http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/reddit-internet-solving-fighting-crime/
5 https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/weo8j/today_a_homeless_looking_man_handed_me_50_and/
4 https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/5z6rkn/redditor_helps_id_jane_doe_from_1975_cold_case/
3 https://www.dailydot.com/culture/code-redditor-secret-ascii/
2 https://redditblog.com/2015/12/11/how-redditors-solved-the-20-year-old-mystery-of-a-deceased-teen-known-only-as-grateful-doe/
1 https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatsInThisThing/comments/1ptpj5/large_box_full_of_odd_illustrations_of_an_event/ - http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/06/found-in-the-trash-a-box-of-otherworldly-notes/