Thinking Sideways Podcast

"Not all mysteries are solvable, but prize comes in the pursuit." Called "the most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet", Cicada 3301 is the name given to an organization that posts complex puzzles for public consumption on or around the 5th of January every year. First surfacing in 2012 via a post on 4chan, users were given a month to solve a set of increasingly complex puzzles. Who is behind this group, what is the end goal of the puzzles, and how could anyone solve them? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For centuries strange "booming" noises have been heard in coastal regions all around the world. Some say they are part of a government conspiracy, others say it is the sound of the continental shelf shifting. What is making all the racket? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After her death by suicide in 2010, Lori Erica Ruff (nee Kennedy) was discovered by her family to have been living under a false name, and that her real name was Becky Turner, except… Becky Turner died in 1971 at the age of 2. Who was Lori Ruff? Lots of people have been trying to find out, with no success. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the night of March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves disguised as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and roamed the Museum’s galleries, stealing thirteen works of art. None of the missing art has shown up and though the FBI says they have suspects no arrests have ever been made. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1992, Stardust casino employee Bill Brennan walks out of work with half a million dollars belonging to the casino. He hasn't been heard from since. With that much money, did he chose to disappear? Or is it more than coincidence that the Stardust has strong ties to the Mob? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone knows that humans were in the New World long before Columbus arrived but no one knows exactly how they got there. On foot, in boats, across the Pacific or the Atlantic ocean? Is there only one option or could all the players be right? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jack the Ripper terrorized London in 1888, 5 women are attributed to having died horrifically by his hand but no one is certain if that number is correct. Who was he, why did he do it, and where did he go? These are questions that have plagued everyone who has looked into this mystery for the last 120 years. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For 18 months in the years 1918-19, a serial killer terrorized the citizens of New Orleans, his favored method of murder earning him a grisly nickname: "The Axeman". The murders have never been solved. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, this mystery circles around a still unidentified serial killer responsible for at least 12 grisly murders in the Cleveland area in the 1930's. The murder's MO? Dismemberment of low-class citizens, making the bodies often impossible to identify. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to local legend a Gateway to Hell is located in Stull, Kansas. Each year on Halloween Satan uses this gateway to visit the earth. What is he doing and why is the gateway located in a tiny town in the middle of Kansas? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1967 Jim Thompson, a former spy with the OSS, more recently a very successful businessman in Bangkok, left the house where he was staying (in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia)… and never returned. And no trace of him was ever found. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On February 9th, 2004, 21 year old Maura Murray set out on a car trip, telling her employer and professors it was because of a death in the family--a lie that puzzles investigators to this day. Despite many alleged sightings and bad tips, her disappearance has remained a mystery for the past decade. Was this a case of startlingly well planned out foul-play? Did she run away? Is she still alive? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gary McKinnon hacked into NASA and several other government agencies' computers. He swears he found evidence that we have a fleet of space ships and that they are staffed by "non-terrestrial" officers-humans in space, not space aliens. Did he really find that kind of information or was it all in his head? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Netta Fornario, a student of the occult, left her London home in 1929 for an extended stay on the tiny but storied island of Iona; months later, she died while apparently performing some sort of ritual, leading to accusations of, among other things, murder from beyond the grave. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following a kidnapping of the president of Glico industries, a crime organization calling themselves the Monster with 21 Faces begins systematic extortion attempts on confectionery giants Glico and Morinaga, including lacing candy with potassium cyanide. The mystery behind who the Monster with 21 Faces is remains. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Irish Crown Jewels were discovered to be missing on July 11, 1907. No one knows who took them or why but for a century there has been plenty of finger pointing over who the thief must have been. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we look at three similar nautical mysteries and try to get to something to float to the top. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In December 1910 Dorothy Arnold, a wealthy New York socialite, left her family's Manhattan home to go shopping, and never returned. Despite a massive search and extensive investigations, no trace of her was ever found. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On August 7th, 1973, radio operators in California picked up the terrified cries of a young boy who identified himself as Larry. Larry was unable to tell authorities where he was, or even what state he lived in. As the days drew on, the signal from his radio became weaker, the search for Lost Boy Larry was called off as he was presumed dead. Was this a hoax, or did a young boy get cooked to death in an overturned truck? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Mongolian Death Worm is a cryptid that has never officially been captured (though Westerners have been trying since 1922). The creature lives in the Gobi desert and only surfaces in the months of June and July, supposedly after heavy rains. It reportedly can spit acid at AND/OR electrocute anyone who gets near it. And someone wants to find it why? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.