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The May Day Mystery revolves around a series of strange newspaper ads that have appeared in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the student-run newspaper of the University of Arizona. The advertisements vary in style and size, but they regularly pop up every 1st of May (or on the closest possible day) and occasionally on other dates, too. Their content is an instantly recognizable, eerie mixture of advanced mathematics and history knowledge, and their themes remain more or less consistent. There are elements that repeat themselves: allusions to famous scientists and politicians, liberal use of mathematics and cryptic messages in various languages are all present, and there's generally a stylized smiling face that seems to act as a signature of sorts. The general vibe of the ads is that of an intellectual challenge of some kind. Wait, didn't I say this was a university newspaper? Clearly, this is just some student pranking the rest of the campus with logic puzzles, right?

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It could be, yeah. The only problem is that this has been going on since at least 1981. Someone has been sinking insane amounts of time, money, and effort into this thing, so if it's a student, kudos -- they're going for Andy Kaufman-levels of long con.

Most students would wander away in search of beer before the first ad was even halfway finished.

The consistent, eerie ads were noticed by journalist Bryan Hance, a student there in the late '90s. He became intrigued and made a website so he could discuss his finds with like-minded people. However, it soon became clear that whoever (whatever?) was behind the ads was following Hance's investigations too. In January 1999, he was contacted by someone claiming to represent a member of an organization called "The Orphanage," the society behind the ads. They've been watching him ever since, occasionally dropping hints and generally encouraging him to solve their riddles, specifically stating: "When you see the door you will be welcomed inside."