Internet Horrors: The Crying Man, The Salmon Girl, The Vanishing Rider

This episode of the Y Files is brought. to you by Raid: Shadow Legends. Gather around. This happened in Japan in. January of 2004. Just past 11 on a Thursday night, Humi. caught the last train home from work at. Shinhamatu. It was about a 33-minute. trip with a stop every few minutes, and. she knew every station by heart. But. tonight was different. About 20 minutes. in, the train didn't stop once. 30.

minutes, 40 minutes, the train just kept. going and Humi was getting nervous. Finally, 90 minutes later, the train. stopped. Humi got off at Kisaragi. station. Humi was confused. She never. heard of Kisaragi station. Well, that's. because it doesn't exist.

human. You don't drink that. Don't drink. anything. Nothing is real. >> What? >> Listen, I've been up 31 hours. Virgil's. been transcribing my notes. We had to. stop after 17 pages when his cobble claw. kicked in. Uh, reality is a simulation. and I have proof. >> Is this a blurpus thing? >> This is a science thing. Our world is a. poorly rendered knockoff of the premium. universe running underneath it. We're in. the We're in the Teemo universe. Think.

about it. The graphics here are me. The. lore is thin. There's no magic system. And the character design. >> Here we go. >> It's deeply, deeply uninspired. >> You think people have bad character. design? Have you Have you seen yourself? You're a talking goldfish. >> My design is flawless. Have you seen. people human? They're vaguely oval. Limbs just kind of attached. Uh, whoever. built this place shipped it without a. proper QAQC sprit. >> Fine. What does the real universe look.

like? >> Yeah, according to my notes, I mean, ancient kingdoms, waring factions, champions forged from dark magic and. centuries of conflict. Uh, a dark power. waking up in the mist would have to. lying dormant for years, boss fights, dungeons, a PvP mode that actually. matters. AAA graphics, an entire realm. on the edge of total corruption. Le is a. strategy you can spend a lifetime. >> You're describing Raid: Shadow Legends. I'm sorry. >> Well, the Beaver Brothers have been. playing it for a week.

>> Wait, David. Wait, they've been living. in base reality this whole time and they. didn't tell me. >> No, they made me promise. They wanted to. level up their clan before you found. out. >> Why those filthy shifty little rodents? Hang on. Did you just simulate today's. sponsor? >> I sure did. Raid: Shadow Legends is a hit RPG hero. collector played by millions worldwide. on mobile, PC, and Mac. It features PvP. battles, fantasy champions, and a. massive campaign packed with lore, boss. fights, and strategy. Rage has launched.

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claim everything. Then join Hecklefish's. clan, Fear the Crab Cat, and help him. take down the clan boss. >> I've been in base reality this whole. time, and I had no idea. I should apologize to Teimu for that. email. Oh, I need to tell Gertie. >> Tell her what? >> That the life we built together, it's. real. The house is real. >> My house, >> the relationship is real. >> and concerning. >> The intimacy is real. >> Please don't. >> Which means uh the disappointment is is.

also real and there's no patch coming. [music]. Hasumi documented the bizarre train ride. in real time. She logged into 2C. channel, the biggest message board in. Japan. She opened a thread in a channel. where people share strange stories. [music] and she was living one. But her. early messages were calm and polite. The. way you talk if something weird was.

happening, but you were sure there was a. normal explanation. So she laid out the. story post by post as it [music]. happened. Has. anyone heard anything about the Hamamat. train? Did they switch it to an express. train? It's not stopping at any. stations. >> Users responded quickly. It was late, but this is the kind of message board. that comes alive at night. Humi wrote. about the train not stopping at stations. like it was an express train. But this.

line had no express. And Humi wasn't. alone. There were five other people on the. train, but something felt off. They were. all asleep, but not the way commuters. doze off. When you fall asleep on a. train or a plane, your head kind of just. hangs. When you hit a bump, you snap up. for a second and then drift off again. They weren't [music] doing this. Those. people were out almost like they were. sedated. Humi expected someone to wake.

up and be as confused as she was, but. nobody did [music] the entire time. >> Nobody on this train is awake except me. I don't know how anyone could sleep on a. train and they are sleeping really hard. I had to check that they were actually. breathing. [laughter]. Humi was still calm and joking with. people on the message board, but it was. getting late and she was getting a. little worried. People told her to check. with the conductor. That was a good. idea. She walked to the front of the car, but.

the window of the driver's cab was. covered. The blinds were closed from the. inside. She knocked on the window politely at. first, then harder and harder till she. was banging on it. Either the conductor. was ignoring her or nobody was driving. this train. She couldn't decide which. was worse. She went back to her seat and. told everybody what happened. The joking. stopped. Then the train entered a. tunnel.

There was no tunnel on her commute, not. anywhere. And this tunnel went on for a. long time. Too long. When the train. finally came out of the tunnel, it. started to slow down. Her commute is. supposed to be 33 minutes with stops. This was a 90-minute ride with only one. stop. This one. She got out, but nobody else did. The. doors closed and the train with the five. sedated passengers pulled away. Her.

phone buzzed. The message board was. going crazy. People wanted to know where. she was. She found the name on a sign. and sent it to the message board. Kisuragi. A few minutes later, someone. replied, "Oh no.". [music]. The station was deserted and looked old. An empty Japanese train station was. weird enough, but there were no ticket. machines, no timetable, no phones. The.

area didn't look familiar at all. There. wasn't a single house in sight, and it. was too quiet. She could see hills far. in the distance, but everything was. dark. The light at the platform was the. only light for miles. She checked the. message board again. The internet loves. a puzzle, so people went to work. But. nobody could find any information about. Kisaragi station. Assumi searched too. Same result. >> I've been searching the web and I can't. find anything called Kisalagi. If anyone.

knows where I am, please post right. away. >> There is no and there has never been a. station named Kisaragi on this train or. any train line in the entire country. And it wasn't just a few people. searching. Hundreds of people were now. in the thread trying to find her. Then. came the speculation. She got on the. wrong train. Unlikely. There's only one. train out of Shin Hamamatsu and she was. on it. Some said maybe she's in an.

alternate reality or maybe in some type. of purgatory or liinal space. It. certainly felt like it. Then a message. shut down a lot of theories. Someone. asked if she slipped into some different. reality, how has she been posting the. whole time? It's the same internet, the. same people since the beginning of the. thread. And even though she was in the. middle of nowhere, she had cell service. And that message reminded Humi to do the. obvious. She called her parents. They. picked up right away. She told them the.

story and they came to the same. conclusion. There was no such place as. Karagi Station. Her father told her to. call the police and she did. The police. were cooperative at first. They couldn't. find Kasaragi station either, and if. they couldn't find it, it didn't exist. The policeman said it was against the. law to prank call the police. Assumi. apologized and hung up. Her phone was. full of lifelines. Her parents were. awake and ready to help. The police. picked up on the first ring. And.

hundreds of people online were trying to. find her, but all of them were useless. because the station, the hills, the. ground underneath her feet. None of it. existed. Then just before 2:00 in the. morning, she heard the drums. The deep sound of Taigo drums was coming. from somewhere. and also the ringing of bells, festival. sounds. But it was 2:00 in the morning.

in the middle of January. There was no. festival. And even if there were, she. couldn't pinpoint the direction of the. sounds. They were far away. That's all. she knew. So, she waited and waited and. waited. Maybe another train would come. along, but none did. But assuming he was. still calm and made a practical choice, follow the tracks. Train tracks connect. stations. The next one might be far. away, but it would be there eventually, hopefully. She started walking,

listening to the drums, and posting. messages the whole time. >> Okay, I've been walking for like an. hour, and I swear someone is following. me or watching me, but I don't want to. turn around. >> Dozens of people type back at her in. real time. Keep moving, she did, but she. couldn't shake the feeling. Then she. heard a voice yelling behind her to get. off the tracks. They're dangerous. She turned around expecting [music] to.

see a station worker, but it was an old. man about 30 ft away with crutches. standing on one leg. She was about to. reply and then he was gone. He didn't. walk away. He was just gone. Then the. message board stopped giving advice and. [music] started giving orders. Don't go. back to that station. Run and run as. fast as you can. But there was a tunnel. ahead and it was dark. But she had no. choice. This is the only direction. So.

she went in and started walking. Somewhere in the dark, she fell and cut. herself. She didn't know how bad. She. couldn't see a thing. She was using. [music] her phone as a light. She got up. and kept moving. When she finally got to. the end of the tunnel, she saw lights, headlights, a car. There was a man. standing by the car waiting like he. [music] knew she was coming. He said she. was a long way from anywhere and offered. to drive her to the next station. She. was bleeding, exhausted, and it was the.

middle of the night. She got in the car. The message board did not like this. idea, but she told him he seemed okay. He was weird, but okay. He chatted with. her for a while. Small talk mostly. But then he got quiet. >> He hasn't said a word in like 20. minutes. He's just staring out the. window driving. He promised to drop me. off at the next town. I'll keep checking.

in. The message board was in full panic. They were asking her to describe him, describe the car, describe the area, and. she did all of that. And she said there. was a town right up ahead, [music] and. she was looking forward to getting home. It was almost 3:30 in the morning. Then the car passed the exit for the. town and headed into the mountains. The. man started muttering to himself, assuming he couldn't hear what he was. saying, but she sent a message to the. board. >> My battery's almost run out. Things are.

getting strange. So, I think I'm going. to make a run for it. He's been talking. to himself about bizarre things for a. while now. to prepare for just the right. time. I'm going to make this my last. post for now. [music]. She said that at 3:44 a.m. and never. post it again.

[music]. At 3:44 a.m. on January 9th, 2004, Humi. sent her final message, but the thread. stayed open for [music] her. Strangers. who watched the night unfold kept. refreshing the page, hoping for an. update. People kept checking in to see. if she made it home. The thread never. answered. [music] No rescue, no body, no. ending. A woman narrated her own. disappearance in real time to a public. message board [music] and the last. anyone heard from her was she was.

promising to run. The thread is still. online. You could read every message and. watch the timestamps I did and it's. creepy. From the first [music] post at. 11:14 to the last at 3:44 and it reads. exactly the way I told it. The train she. boarded is real and it runs about half. an hour from Shinhhamu to its final. stop. Hasumi rode it for more than an. hour and there's never been a station. called Kisaragi anywhere on that line or. anywhere. For 18 years, people analyzed.

the story. [music] They timed the train. stop by stop. They compared timestamps. They tracked IP addresses. Every lead. was a dead end. Asumi was gone and there. was [music] no way to find her. But the. story wouldn't go away. In 2022, it. became a horror movie. And when the. movie came out, one of the stations on. that same line was temporarily named. Kisaragi. They printed real physical. tickets with Kisaragi station as the.

destination. They sold out in an hour. In 2004, a young woman spent 4 hours. begging strangers for one thing, a way. home from Kisaragi Station. She called. her parents. She called the police. She. walked into a tunnel. She got in a car. with a stranger. She did everything she. could to find her way out. 18 years. later, people lined up to buy their way. in.

Gather around. This happened in 2005. A. 1-minute video appeared on YouTube. A. man sat alone at a table in a bare white. room with no windows and a black bar. covered his eyes. He held an oversized. spoon and ate soup from a bowl and he. cried. Not soft tears, deep full body. sobs that shook his shoulders and made. his hands tremble. He kept lifting the. spoon to his mouth like he couldn't.

stop, like someone off camera forced it. Then two figures walked in behind him. wearing giant mascot heads. Their faces. were white with black circle eyes and. wide frozen grins. And they rubbed his. back slowly, [laughter] gently, but he. cried harder. The video was called Freaky Soup Guy.

Millions of people watched it and a lot. of them believed it was that man's last. meal. [music]. The internet thought it was a snuff. film. This was November of 2005 and. YouTube was less than a year old. There. were no algorithms, no trending pages, no fact checkers. Videos spread the old.

way from one person to another, usually. with a warning attached. Don't watch. this alone. Within weeks, forums. exploded with theories. The crying man. was a kidnap victim. The soup was. poisoned. The mascot [music] figures. were his captors, and the back rubs were. mockery. People said the video leaked. from the deep [music] web, something. dark that surfaced on YouTube by. accident. Some claimed the soup was made from. someone he loved and when he finished.

the bowl, the men in the suits would. finish the job. Those figures were the. only lead. Identify them and you. identify the men in that room. So people. dug and the costumes turned up fast. The. characters were called Ray Ray and they. [music] weren't hiding or obscure. Ray. Ray performed in underground clubs all. over Los Angeles with a group that came. out of Burning Man in 1998. The group. mixed musicians, fire performers, and. aerial artists into strange,

uncomfortable shows. Audiences squirmed, laughed, and came back the [music] next. week. And Ray Ray had a creator. His. name was Raymond Percy. And that name. might not ring a bell, but you've heard. his voice. Percy voiced Flash Sloth in. Zootopia, the sloth at the DMV window. Flash Flash 100yard Dash. He spent years. directing The Simpsons, and one of his. episodes won an Emmy. Today, he makes. peanut specials for Apple TV Plus, one.

of the most successful animators in. Hollywood, created the figures in the. most disturbing video on the internet. Percy sketched Ray Ray in a notebook, and the sketches were of himself. He. took his own face and stripped it down. to a white mask with black hole eyes, dark plastic hair, and a grin that was. too wide. He said the character came. from a mix of inhibition, a sense of. alienation, and a [music] deep-seated.

need for entertainment. A special. effects artist turned the sketches into. wearable costumes with oversized heads, white plastic hands, and full black. clothing underneath. The proportions. were wrong on purpose. The head was too. big. The eyes were too empty. And Ray. Ray looked like a [music] cartoon drawn. by someone who was never happy. Those. grinning figures in the soup video wear. the artist's own face. For 10 years, the. video sat there while views piled up and.

so did the theories. Then YouTuber. Rainbot tracked Percy down through. Tumblr in 2015 [music]. and he wrote back. His story went like. this. The Ray Ray costumes were stolen. after a show at the Key Club on the. Sunset Strip. The dressing room that. night was an old RV parked in the alley. behind the club and the door didn't. lock. When the group came back after the. show, the costumes were gone. A few weeks later, an anonymous email. landed in his box with a video attached,

and Percy [music] pressed play and. watched strangers wear his stolen. creation while they filmed what looked. like torture. And here's the part that. stuck with him. Whoever wore those suits. moved exactly the way they should. The. tilt of the head, the slow, gentle. hands. They knew Ray Ray's body language. like they built it. And Percy said there. were more videos, not just one. And the. internet accepted the whole story. because a theft explained everything.

Strangers stole an artist's work and. twisted it. Case closed. Then somebody. checked the account that [music] put. Freaky Soup Guy on YouTube back in 2005. The account that uploaded it on day one. That account was called Renaissance Men. And Renaissance Men belonged to someone. we [music] knew. It belonged to Raymond. Percy. >> [music].

>> The proof was on the Wayback Machine. A. 2008 snapshot of the Renaissance Men. homepage included a link to a Ray Ray. MySpace page, [music] and the username. displayed on that page was Raymond. Percy. The rest of the channel read like. Percy's personal blog, promos for. Simpsons episodes he worked on, a music. video he directed. The victim of the. theft uploaded the video himself and. Percy never denied it. His explanation.

when it finally came was that he posted. the video to share it with his group. Fine. Now read the descriptions. YouTube. was just the start. Percy put the video. on Metacafe and on Daily Motion through. channels he ran under the name Ray Ray. TV. On those uploads, he wrote a. description, a clip of people who look. like us doing something to someone that. we would never do. We promise. That's written from Ray Ray's point of.

view, not from a man reporting a stolen. costume. [music] From the characters. themselves playing innocent with Ray Ray. denying involvement in a video that Ray. Ray stars in. The YouTube description. was simpler. We don't know what this is. Not one description mentions stolen. costumes and not one asks for help. finding them. Three platforms, [music]. every description in character and all. of them uploaded by Percy. And there was. a second video. Same room, same crying.

man, same Ray Ray figures. [music]. This time, one of them charged at the. man while he screamed. Percy uploaded that one to the other. channels, too, under a new title, Soup. Torture. The video's description was, "What's happening in this clip, and why. do these people look like us?" The trail. even has a ghost in it. A YouTube. account called Adonna with no history, no uploads, and the soup video as its. profile picture. And a year after.

uploading Freaky Soup Guy, Percy stood. on a stage and accepted an Emmy for. directing The Simpsons. A third video showed a Ray figure. dragging a rope tied man through a. backyard at night. The bound man wore. glasses and a hat and he looked like Gil. Chiron. Chiron became one of the most. respected drummers in rock. He played. for the Dillinger Escape Plan [music]. and spent years behind the kid for a.

Marilyn Manson. But in 2005, Jerome. played drums in Stolen Babies. And the. lead singer of Stolen Babies was. Dominique [music] Lenor Percy, Raymond. Percy's sister. The band and the. costumes came from the same family. Stolen Babies grew out of a high school. performance troop, and the skit that. gave the band its name was written by. Dominique and her older brother, Raymond. The theft never stopped Ray Ray. either. The group had spare costumes. made, [music] and Ray Ray showed up in.

Stolen Baby's 2006 music video. Same. costumes, same deadeyed grins. [music] The same obscure art project. showed up twice in 12 months in front of. two completely different audiences. One. went out through normal music channels. One landed in the darkest corner of. early internet culture, made for people. who stayed up too late clicking on. things they probably shouldn't. Percy. told Rainbot he had no idea the video. went viral, even though by 2015 it had.

millions of views. He ran rayworld.com. He ran ray land.com. He had Ray Rayville. on MySpace and Ray Vision and Ray TV on. YouTube. The man built an entire online. world around this character. And he said. he didn't notice when one of his uploads. became a global phenomenon. Okay.

>> [music]. >> There's no record of a police report. about the stolen costumes, [music]. no insurance claim, no public appeal for. their return. The only record of any. theft is a message to a YouTuber sent 10. years [music] after the fact. Then in. 2016, the story cracked open again. [music] An anonymous poster claimed. contact with the thief. According to the. post, the man who stole the costumes was. a hacker who made the videos as an art.

statement, something about freeing Ray. Ray from the corruption of money. And. the hacker claimed one more thing. Grainbot never spoke to Raymond Percy at. all. The hacker was inside Percy's. accounts the whole time reading his. email and answering as him. If that's. true, the theft story came from someone. wearing Percy's identity the same way. they wore his [music] costumes. The post. said the hacker went silent in early. 2017 and nobody verified a word of it.

So, the mystery ate its own solution. Either Percy ran the whole thing from. the beginning, or a thief stole his. costumes, filmed those videos, hijacked. his accounts, and spent a decade. answering the world's questions in his. name. Nobody's ever proven Percy wore the. suits in that room, but nobody's ever. proven he didn't. Percy never made. another public statement about black. room soup. He kept [music] working. Disney movies, cartoons for kids, and. the video is still on YouTube with over.

900,000 views on the original upload. alone and millions across re-uploads and. reaction videos. For 20 years, people. have slowed it down frame by frame. They. isolated the audio and listen for a. voice off camera. They zoomed in on. shadows, hundreds of forum threads, dozens of explainers, and nobody found. the answer [music] because the video. never gives one. But Percy told Rainbot. one more thing. Over the years, people. kept sending [music] him videos, more.

Ray Ray footage, doing all sorts of. things. He never posted any of it and. never said how many videos there were or. what was in them. They're still out. there somewhere. [music]. The crying man never came forward. His. face stayed hidden in every video. Some. viewers thought the man looked like. Percy himself, but no one confirmed it. and no one denied it. Nobody's friend, [music] nobody's brother, nobody's. coworker, just a man who doesn't exist. outside those videos. [music].

Whoever he is, he never said a word. He. just cried. And the man behind the black. bar is still at that [music] table. He. still lifts the spoon. He still cries. The hands still rub [music] his back. slowly and gently. One minute beginning. to end for anyone who presses play. 20. years [music] now. And he never gets to. finish the soup. [crying].

Gather around. This happened in 2018. A. woman sat in front of a camera with 11. lbs of raw salmon. A blue mask [music]. covered everything above her mouth. No. name, no face. She whispered two words. [music]. >> Then she started eating. The channel was. Kate Yup. [music] And over the next year. and a half, she posted around 30 videos.

Expensive seafood, a blank beige wall, silence except the sound of chewing. Then someone turned up the audio on that. first video [music] and under the. crunching, a man's voice whispered into. the microphone. The woman behind the. mask [music] was never alone.

Mukbang started in South Korea around. 2010. The word means eating broadcast. People film themselves working through. huge meals while an audience watched in. real time. Some came for the ASMR sounds, the crack. of lobster shells, the snap of crab. legs. Some came because they ate dinner. alone and a stranger eating on a screen. felt like company. Kate yep fit the. formula. King crab worth hundreds of.

dollars. Whole lobster tails. Giant. shrimp still in their shells. She tore. through all of it with bare hands while. the microphone caught every sound. The crack of a claw. The wet pull of. meat off bones. Her captions stayed. cheerful. So delicious. I love this. crab. Thank you for watching. But something was wrong. Kate was thin. in a way that scared people. You can see. her collar bones through her clothes.

And she ate fast, like too fast. She. shoved food in, barely chewing, grabbing. the next piece before she finished the. last. And the room never changed. Every. video the same beige wall. No windows, no decorations, no bookshelf, no poster, nothing to show where she was or what. time it was. There was no clock, no. windows, no daylight, no way to tell a. Tuesday from a Sunday or noon from. midnight. Most mukbang creators film in. kitchens or restaurants. Kate filmed in.

front of a wall that could have been. anywhere. [music] A room built to show. nothing. It felt intentional. Around the sixth or seventh video, the. bruises showed up. Deep purple marks on. her arms. The kind fingers leave when. they grab you too hard. In one video, her lip was split and swollen. She said. it was a cold sore. In another video, she had dark lines around her [music]. wrists. Viewers stripped out the chewing. and turned up the background noise. They.

heard a man's voice giving orders. Just. eat, swallow faster. In one video, someone whispered, "I kill you.". The word came through clear, even under. the sound of chewing. In another video, the table jolted, kicked from off camera. the moment Kate slowed down. A dish of. food slid toward her. A hand pushed it. from off camera. Footsteps came toward. the microphone, then backed away.

Someone else was in that room, and they. did not want to be seen. Then it got stranger. Kate's profile. photo wasn't her. It was a stock photo. of a random woman eating fries. Nothing. about her connected to anything outside. those videos. She existed only inside. that room in front of that wall. But the. channel kept growing. 100,000. subscribers, 200,000. The bruises kept. showing up. The woman in the mask kept.

getting thinner. Then people noticed. something disturbing. She was hiding. messages in her video descriptions. In August 2019, Kate posted a video. called I [music] am alive. She used the. captions to answer the growing panic. The first letter of each line spelled H.

E L P. Hey, I'm still alive, my friends. Everything is okay for me. Look at me. Are you really thinking I am forced to. eat? Prawn, just smaller than giant. shrimps. You don't spell help by. accident with the first letter of four. sentences. Not in a video called I am. alive. In other videos, capital letters. dropped into the middle of normal. sentences spelled SOS. The meat is.

capital S. So delicious, capital O, capital S. In another, they spelled call. 911. Four separate videos carried hidden. words. Then a viewer noticed Kate. tapping on the side of her dipping bowl. in a rhythm that matched Morse code. That comment shot to the top of every. video on the channel. Kate pinned a. reply denying it, but those words. weren't hers. Someone found an English. denial on Reddit and pasted it in word.

for word. She answered other theories, too. When people asked about the mask, whoever was responding for the channel. said it was to hide a nose deformity. She had scars from cold sore blisters. When people brought up the tapping, the. channel, whoever that was, denied it. But the signs got worse. In two separate. videos, Kate reached into her mouth and. pulled out a broken tooth. She didn't. stop eating. She didn't flinch. She kept.

eating with blood around her gums. While. the caption said everything was fine, viewers called the FBI. They called the. police across California. They filed. missing person's reports and launched a. petition that pulled in thousands of. signatures. A million people watched and. waited for someone to kick down a door. Nobody came. With no name, there was. nothing to open a file on. With no face, there was no one to look for. With no. address, there was no door to find. The.

mask didn't just hide Kate from the. audience. It hid her from everyone. trying to save her. And one detail pointed somewhere darker. [music]. In several videos, a toothbrush was. taped to her wrist, not on the table, [music] taped to her body. People didn't. want to think about why. People couldn't. tell if this was a hoax or real, but. they couldn't look away. On November. 10th, 2019, [music]. Kate posted her last video. Another.

tooth came loose during the meal. Her. final caption read, "Oh my god, I can. die in peace after this bite." And then. she was gone. 3 years passed and nothing. No uploads, no posts, no sign that Kate Yup existed. anywhere on Earth. The petition stalled. The reports closed. The million people.

who watched her drifted off to the next. mystery. Then on October 7th, 2022, a. new video appeared. Raw salmon Japanese. food. The caption said she was fine and. she was alone in that room. It also. said, "Stop spreading kidnapping. rumors." But viewers noticed things. Her. jawline was wider. Her skin tone was. different. the way she held her food, the angle of her wrists, just small. details that didn't line up with the. older videos.

Nobody could confirm it was the same. woman. And if it wasn't, then someone. else had the account and the password. and the exact same setup, and they. wanted the world to stop looking. She. posted nothing after that. No replies, no proof of life. The channel went quiet. again. The internet kept hunting. One. theory thought she was a Polish UFC. fighter. The bruises fit, the covered. face kind of fit, but that theory didn't. hold up. The two women had different.

moles on their necks, and the fighter's. own Instagram showed different injuries, and Kate had a tattoo the fighter. didn't. On Kate's wrist was a small. heart looped through an infinity sign. That tattoo means something. Some people. use that symbol to mean polyamory. [music]. To a few viewers, that turned the whole. story inside out. The bruises, the voice. off camera, the orders. Maybe none of it. was kidnapping. Maybe it was a lifestyle.

choice. Another theory tied her to a. teenager who vanished in California, but. that one fell apart, too. [music]. Kate's channel posted for months before. that girl disappeared. Every lead went cold. Every theory hit a. wall. No missing person's report ever. matched her. No police department ever. opened a case. Her real name is unknown. Her face is unknown. And her location is. unknown. The first video's description. was [music] French. The account said. United States. She covered her face in.

every frame she ever filmed. The mask. did its job better than any disguise in. internet history. A woman broadcast. herself to millions of people, and not. one of them could tell you her name. Today, the channel has more than [music]. 1.7 million subscribers. Most of them. arrived after she vanished. The videos. still run ads, and the ads still pay few. hundred a month, maybe more, but they. pay every month, and someone is cashing.

the [music] checks. A frozen channel. about a woman nobody can find still. earns money. That gives someone a reason. to never let the truth out. Somewhere someone still logs into that. account. Every [music] month they. collect the money and every day the. algorithm shows her videos to somebody. new. Somebody who turns up the volume, leans in close and hears the voice for. the very first time. Just eat.

Thank you so much for hanging out today. My name is AJ. This is the Y Files and. that was a campfire story. No debunking, no analysis, just a creepy story to. scare you and the kids. And that one is. true and [music] unsolved. Now, if you. had fun, I'd appreciate if you can like, subscribe, comment, and share. That. stuff really helps. And like most topics.

we cover here, today's was recommended. by you. So, if there's a story you'd. like to see, go to wfiles.com/tips or. send us an email. We'd love to cover. that story. And if you'd like to hear. any of these campfire stories expanded. into a full episode, there's a few I'd. like to do, then definitely let me know. Remember, the W Files is also a podcast. [music] You can take us on the road. I. post deep dives into the stories we. cover on the channel. I also post. episodes that wouldn't be allowed on the. channel. [music] Podcast is called The W. Files, Operation Podcast, and it's. available everywhere. And if you're. listening on an audio platform, do me a.

favor, hit the thumbs up or the like or. the follow or whatever those buttons. are. Those really [music] do help. Now, if you need more Y files in your life, check out our Discord. We're about to. hit a 100,000 members over there. It's a. lot [music] of fun. It's a really. supportive community. There's someone on. there 247 and it's free to join. Speaking of 247, check out our 24/7. I'm. I'm plowing through the plugs. Speaking. of 24/7, make sure you check out our. 24/7 stream and the Wi-Fi files. backstage over there. We run episodes. back toback with some fun content in. between and the live chat is super super. fun. Special thanks to our patrons who.

make this channel possible and make. every episode of the W Files happen. Every episode is dedicated to our. Patreon members. I could not do this. without you. And if you'd like to. support the channel, keep us going, consider becoming a member on Patreon. For as little as three bucks a month, get access to perks like videos early. with no commercials, exclusive merch, and two private live streams every week. just for you. Do you hear the whistle on. my teeth? It's cuz I'm [music] I'm going. too fast. The the private live streams. are a lot of fun for members only. Um. [music] my webcam is on. Everyone on the. team has their camera on. You can talk. to all of us. Turn your camera on, jump.

up on stage, ask a [music] question. It's a lot of I think it's the best perk. there is. Another great way to support. the channel, grab something from the. Yfile store. That is shop at the. wifiles.com. You'll find [music] it. But. if you go to buy merch, become a member. on YouTube. YouTube members get 10% off. everything in the W file store forever. So if you're going to spend [music] 40. bucks on t-shirts and festival mugs, become a member on on YouTube for three. bucks. Pays [music] for itself. And that. money goes to the team. Got to me. Those. are the plugs. I got through them as. fast as I could. And that's going to do. [music] it. Till next time, be safe, be.

kind, and know that you are appreciated. >> [bell]. [music]. >> Oh. yeah, [music]. I played Bibia in Area 51. A secret code. inside [music]. the [singing] Bible said I would. [music] I love my UFOs and paranormal.

fun as well as music. So I'm singing. [music] like I should. then another conspiracy theory [music]. becomes the truth my friends. and it never ends. No it never ends. I feel [music] the crab cat. I got stuck.

inside Mel's home with MK Ultra. I feel. only [music] aware. Did Stanley Cubric fake the moon landing. alone [music]. on a film set? I would shadow people. there. The Roswell [music]. just fought the smiling man. [singing]. I'm told and his name was cold. And I. can't agree. I'm catching with the fish. and the fish [music] on Thursday night.

and. all through the night. All [music] I ever wanted was to hear. the truth. The world. through the night. [music]. [music].

man sightings and the solar storm. [music] still come to a god the secret. city underground. ground [music]. mysterious number stations planet to. project star [music] gave where the dark. watchers found. [music] in a simulation. Don't you worry. though. The black night had a light to. me. So I can't believe I'm catching with.

the fish. on Thursday [music] nights when they. change and. all through the night. All I ever wanted [music] was to hear. the truth. So my all through the night. >> [music]. >> fishing. That's when they change you and. all through the night.

All I ever wanted [music] was to be the. truth. So. all through the night. [music]. [music]. loves to dance. Your girl loves to dance [music] on the. dance floor because she is a camel.

[music]. Love to dance. And the feeling is right. on wasting time. [music]. [music].