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Theories

The whole thing is just a prank!

To all those who believe that this might be the work of frat boys, or kids with nothing better to do, consider this – the amount of money spent. Advert pricing at the ADW, and a full-page ad on the police beat page (the most popular and most expensive ad page, and where most of the mayday mystery ads show up) costs right around $1,000. Half-page ads are not that much cheaper. This has been going on, year on year, for 22 years; assuming there haven’t been any major alterations to the ADW’s pricing scheme, that would come to a total of at least $22,000. That’s a hell of a lot for a frat boy to spend on a prank, the only definite return of which would be potential embarrassment for the various contributors and the ADW.

Add to this the cost of sending Bryan his various packages and letters (not just the cost of mailing them, but also the cost of what was inside, particularly the various amounts of currency and gold).

Some people have suggested that this can be ruled out as being the work of a mentally insane individual (or group of individuals) because of its complexity, the amount of obvious time and effort put into it, and the fact that, in its own weird way, it seems to sustain itself (characters re-occur, as do organisations, but don’t mysteriously switch sides, etc.). I assume this would also then rule it out as being the work of stoners. With regard to this page (external link) on the online version of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, which includes the statement: “Marvel, as I have, at how many hours several people can spend trying to decipher the schizophrenic and disjointed ramblings of a former student publications paste-up monkey!”

Bryan responded to this discovery on the Fortean Times Message Board: “That’s my former co-workers idea of giving me a hard time. That page was part of a demo for something we worked on a long time ago… he never really got into the mystery.

“As for the ‘marvel at’ comment, I was always using the work (Wildcat’s) scanner to scan in all the pages, so I think that’s partially where the ‘at how many hours’ comment came from… pissed him off a little bit since I was constantly taking the scanner.

“But I reiterate, it ain’t me… the MM started somewhere in the late 70’s to early 80’s, when I was growing up in Ohio; a simple check of back issues pretty much takes care of that.”

The Orphanage as Psychologists

February 28, 2002 E-mail: “We have a long-standing project studying the nature of consciousness and especially its transmission through the physical envelope of the human persona.”

Does this mean they are all just psychologists and this is merely one massive psychological experiment?

It is possible that the announcements are an elaborate exercise in meta-programming (external link): that the aim of the announcements is to make the reader shift belief systems with each announcement, to demonstrate that, ultimately, they are all just different frameworks into which one fits their experiences. Alternatively, it could be that the announcements are trying to lead its readers into a specific frame of reference, apparently either one of revolution, or of Methodism.

It is also possible that everything we have seen is merely a cover, enabling the Orphanage to better assess the educational level/intelligence of the contributors. Now, that doesn’t explain why they would do it for twenty-odd years. It’s possible that the Orphanage has become a goal in and of itself; it has become self-propagating. Because so many people got drawn into it, psychologically, it has become a self-sustaining myth, and those who post the announcements feel ‘compelled’ to continue to do so, with ever more elaborate puzzles.

Why Tucson?

According to the Orphanage: “Why not Tucson?” This has been loosely interpreted to mean that nobody in their right mind (sic), especially the Opposition, would expect anything important to come out of Arizona.

WHY ARE THE ORPHANAGE SO GRATEFUL THAT BRYAN HAS SET UP THE MAY DAY SITE?

From Feb. 25, 2002 (and similar to numerous other communiqués regarding this subject): “Your numerous efforts have been [generally] beneficial to both our strategic and tactical goals – and you deserve to be fully rewarded.”

The only answer I can think of is that Bryan has inadvertently done on a global scale – via the Internet – what the Orphanage were doing on a local scale; i.e. the May Day site is merely a larger version of the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

As to what exactly it is the Orphanage is trying to achieve by posting their communications so publicly – albeit encrypted – I have no idea (aside from possibly recruiting/getting the attention of potential Members).

Of course, this begs the question – why don’t the Orphanage simply establish their own website, or simply mail the communications directly to Bryan as opposed to continuing to take the roundabout – and expensive – route of posting them in the ADW? The only answer seems to be that they fear the Opposition’s skills – as limited as the Orphanage might claim those skills to be – in terms of electronics/computers. Plus, the fact that by placing the announcements in ADW provides a physical archive of all past and present Announcements; no offence to Bryan, but the University’s methods of keeping archives are probably a lot more secure and safe than an old milk crate. (Although it should be noted that they appear to have some difficulties in reaching their own Main Archive, which apparently houses all the Announcements, amongst – I’m assuming – other material; so, whereas Bryan’s site might not be permanent – the various computer crashes and accidental deleting of information that has been encountered in the past – it is apparently more easily accessible, particularly for any Members who might be overseas). Also, it might partly be as a result of tradition/force of habit on their part (despite the cost).

“The Pimp” has also remarked numerous times (e.g. Dec 3, 2002 e-mail) that he is impressed with the number of intelligent people that the May Day Mystery has attracted, and attributes this to “somthun abou ma Bro Bry”.

Alternatively, as has been remarked on the Fortean Times Message Board, our attempts to decode the Mystery might in fact be obscuring it.

The Orphanage are quick to point out that any problems/difficulties/or worse that the Cause or its Members might encounter (as portrayed in the Announcements, e-mails, deliveries and/or letters) are not the result of anything on the May Day Mystery website. As “Boris and Natasha’s” May 8, 2003 e-mail stated, “The ‘compromised’ locations did not result from this site. No one on this site has ever done us any harm.”