I first met in person with Mary E. in the summer of 2007. I had arranged with her husband of fifteen years, Terence, to see her for an interview. Mary had initially agreed, since I was not a newsman but rather an amateur writer gathering information for a few early college assignments and, if all went according to plan, some pieces of fiction. We scheduled the interview for a particular weekend when I was in Chicago on unrelated business, but at the last moment Mary changed her mind and locked herself in the couple’s bedroom, refusing to meet with me. For half an hour I sat with Terence as we camped outside the bedroom door, I listening and taking notes while he attempted fruitlessly to calm his wife. The things Mary said made little sense but fit with the pattern I was expecting: though I could not see her, I could tell from her voice that she was crying, and more often than not her objections to speaking with me centered around an incoherent diatribe on her dreams — her nightmares. Terence apologized profusely when we ceased the exercise, and I did my best to take it in stride; recall that I wasn’t a reporter in search of a story, but merely a curious young man in search of information. Besides, I thought at the time, I could perhaps find another, similar case if I put my mind and resources to it.

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Russian researchers in the late 1940s kept five people awake for fifteen days using an experimental gas based stimulant. They were kept in a sealed environment to carefully monitor their oxygen intake so the gas didn’t kill them, since it was toxic in high concentrations. This was before closed circuit cameras so they had only microphones and 5 inch thick glass porthole sized windows into the chamber to monitor them. The chamber was stocked with books, cots to sleep on but no bedding, running water and toilet, and enough dried food to last all five for over a month.

The test subjects were political prisoners deemed enemies of the state during world war II.

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In 1997, Art Bell, of “Coast to Coast AM,” the popular syndicated late night radio talk show, received a fax from a man named Mel Waters. The fax explained that Mel had what appeared to be a bottomless pit on his property near Manastash, Washington. Soon thereafter, Art booked Mel on his radio show, where Mel explained what would become known as “Mel’s Hole” to the world. Mel was interviewed over the phone, and at the time of the interview he was not at home, but in the town of Ellensburg, WA.

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The Grifter is a meme and urban legend hoax created by the_solipsist !wYl0Ob/Jlo on 4chan’s /x/, who has since admitted that the video and the legend surrounding it are his own creations.

the_solipsist !wYl0Ob/Jlo created the initial thread on August 10, 2009, asking if any users of /x/ had heard of or seen a video known as The Grifter. He claimed that the video had disturbed him greatly, “like it ruined something deep down within [his] soul”. He then, by his own later admission, posted anonymous replies validating his claims that the video had existed, and also claimed that the video had emerged in 2008 on 4chan’s /x/ and had been quickly buried by people who felt it too disturbing to share. In addition, other posters unknown to him “acting in the interest of [his] efforts” corroborated the story, saying they, too, had seen the video. Soon after, the thread became a flurry of debate on whether or not the video existed and where a link to it could be found. Later that day, the_solipsist produced the now-famous image featuring a screencap of the thread and three images purported to be from The Grifter video, which was quickly posted on 4chan’s /b/ and several other boards through the internet, igniting The Grifter story into full-fledged mayhem.

Full image can be viewed in the Gallery

Full image can also be viewed here.

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[OPTIK’S NOTE]

The following is more information I’ve found relating to the Ted the Caver story. It contains real names as well as the alleged name of the cave. These are exerpts from forum posts that were made about the matter, and I would provide more information if it were available. Most of the sites that had information about Ted the Caver story have since disappeared with time. If I get more information, I will post it asap.

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