Freaky Friday Files: Mysteries Solved by Reddit
Disclaimer: Topics in this blog post may be distressing to some readers. Reader discretion advised.
Hi friends! Happy Fri-YAY! For this week's edition of Freaky Friday Files, I thought we could take a look at some mysteries that were solved by some internet sleuths on Reddit. I think it's pretty cool that everyday people solve mysteries online, and it will be interesting what comes to light in the future as technology continues to advance.
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Mysteries Solved by Reddit
On the 24th of April, 2022, a 10-year-old girl called Lily Peters was m*rdered and r*ped in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Lily was reported missing by her dad when she did not return home around 9 PM on the 24th of April. She was meant to go to her aunt's house and then come home. The next day, her body was found deceased in the woods. Such an awful case.
There was a post on Reddit from a user who was playing Pokémon Go in the area and saw someone who they believed to be Lily and another kid walking. An anonymous woman saw this comment and went to the police. This tip led the authorities to arrest Lily's cousin, Carson Peters-Berger, who was 14 at the time and had been planning his attack. Carson pleaded not guilty and was tried as an adult due to the nature of the crime (it's pretty horrific, so look it up in your own time at your own risk). I also think he had name suppression for a very long time.
I will never understand how people can do these sorts of things.
The "11bx1371" Plague Doctor Video
I believe I've talked about this video in a blog post before, but I can't remember which one - maybe an iceberg post? Anyway, this refers to a 2015 video of a person dressed in what appears to be plague-doctor clothing in a dark, abandoned building, and you can see forests/woods out the window. It was a video that went viral on a Swedish tech blog, GadgetZZ.com.
The video has a few hidden codes inside it, and most of these codes have been deciphered by Reddit users/internet sleuths; it was filmed in Poland. Reddit users then found out that the video was created by Parker Warner Wright as an art project.
12 years ago, a Reddit user RBradbury1920, posted to the subreddit legaladvice about Post-it notes that he kept finding in his apartment, as well as objects being moved around. The OP (Original Poster) feared that his landlord or another intruder was breaking into his home without his permission. OP set up a camera to investigate, but all data had been deleted when he went to look at it.
Reddit users were quick to jump in with some possible explanations such as dissociative identity disorder, sleepwalking, or some sort of dr*g-induced experience. However, the real reason that this was happening to OP was due to carbon monoxide poisoning, as the room OP lived in did not get enough ventilation. When he plugged in the CO detector, it read at 100ppm. With the help of Reddit, OP was able to figure out that he was the one writing the notes to himself.
Grateful Doe (Jason Callahan)
On the 26th of June, 1995, there was a fatal car crash in Emporia, Virginia. The driver and an unidentified John Doe were k*lled. John Doe only had concert tickets on him for The Grateful Dead, no ID and was thought to have been a hitchhiker. Authorities were unable to match his identity to anyone for at least 20 years.
Then, technology got better. There was a subreddit dedicated to facial reconstructions, and the image that was sent out reached the mother of John Doe via internet communities. DNA confirmation showed that the man was Jason Callahan. Jason's mum filed a missing persons report in 2015, and by December that year, it was confirmed the deceased male was Jason. It's not clear why Jason's mum never reported him missing, but her social media posts confirmed that she had not seen him in 20 years. RIP Jason.
Linda Pagano
Reddit users helped confirm that a 1975 cold case Jane Doe was, in fact, Linda Pagano. On the 5th of February, 1975, three boys adventuring out in the woods found a skeleton that was lying on a sand bar near the Rocky River in Strongsville, Ohio. The skeleton was naked and missing its mandible. Authorities believed that it belonged to a woman somewhere between 18 and 25 years old who had been sh*t in the head 4-5 months prior. At the time, detectives checked her against dozens of missing women but were never able to identify her.
Redditers gained interest in the case years later (around 2017), and facial reconstruction began. It was found that the Jane Doe description matched that of a 17-year-old woman called Linda Pagano who had gone missing from Akron (a place nearby) on the 1st of September, 1974 - under mysterious circumstances. Linda had gotten into an argument with her stepfather after coming home late from a rock concert. She "allegedly" left to go to her mum's house but never arrived. Linda's car also disappeared and was found crushed in a Salem junkyard before it could be analysed. Linda was able to be identified thanks to Reddit user callmeice, who was a genealogy student who helped get the facial reconstruction completed.
Even though Linda's identity is known, her m*rder still remains unsolved.
Hit and Run Car Identifications
In August, 2018, authorities posted on the subreddit "whatisthisthing" a picture of a piece of metal from a hit-and-run car crash scene that a cyclist found in Washington State. A Maryland state car inspector was able to provide the model of the car and find the perpetrator, which in turn led to an arrest. This was the hit-and-run of 63-year-old Susan Rainwater. RIP Susan.
There was also another post that had a similar outcome. A user called Meathead posted in the "whatisthisthing" subreddit with a broken right headlight. Users came together to find what car this light belonged to - a 1991 Cadillac Brougham. Information was then taken to the police, where they caught the perpetrator of this hit-and-run.
Mostly Harmless Hiker
I believe there have been a lot of YouTube videos put out about this "mystery". On the 23rd of July, 2018, a body was found in a swamp in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. It was an unidentified male body that was malnourished. John Doe had no ID, wallet, or credit cards on him, but he was carrying $3000 in cash. When a composite sketch of the man was put forward to the public, other hikers who frequented the trail recognised him as someone who went by the following aliases: "Mostly Harmless", "Denim", and "Ben Bilemy". I'm not sure if people pushed for more information when they came across him, but I don't think he posed a threat to anyone, so people just got on with their hikes and let him be.
People came together and shared photos of Mostly Harmless in the hopes of discovering his identity - and a lot of them were average Reddit internet sleuths. By late 2020 and early 2021, genealogy had traced John Doe's lineage to that of Louisianan and Cajun ancestry. He was then identified as Vance John Rodriguez by a coworker. An autopsy confirmed that Vance passed away from natural causes related to weight loss and starvation; however, it's not fully clear why that happened to an experienced hiker. RIP.
Thank you for reading,
Stay safe,
Ash x
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