Cicada 3301: The Internet's Most Mysterious Puzzle | 97

Hysteria 51

“Hello. We are looking for highly intelligent individuals. To find them we have devised a test...” Thus began the phenomenon that is Cicada 3301. At its core, Cicada 3301 is an anonymous group that released to the world a series of internet based puzzles, some of which still have no known solution. From ciphers hidden in books, to actual posters players had to track down across the globe – no one has come forward to claim the enigmatic set of mysteries. But what (or who) is really behind it? Is this just the work of a like-minded cyber punks with too much time on their hands? Is it an anonymous organization of data security and cryptography experts bent on changing the way the internet operates? Or, is it a black ops recruitment project for the CIA? We bust out our encryption keys this week and go hunting. Plus, Conspiracy Bot is a fan of Socrates (think Hemlock). Joe Peck is back and confused by Scooby Doo (think disguises). And our John G makes the connection that the bad guy in Memento is also John G (¯\_(ツ)_/¯). All of that and more on the podcast that thinks all good puzzles should start like the movie Memento – Hysteria 51.

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