The Cicada 3301 puzzles started to appear on 4chan in 2012, claiming to be a test to find "highly intelligent individuals" — but no one knows who posted these puzzles or why.

The mystery of Cicada 3301 began with an Internet message posted by a user named 3301: “Hello. We are looking for highly intelligent individuals. To find them, we have devised a test. There is a message hidden in this image. Find it, and it will lead you on the road to finding us. We look forward to meeting the few that will make it all the way through. Good luck.”

Posted to 4chan’s /x/ board on Jan 4. 2012, this message marked the beginning of what many would hail as the Internet’s greatest mystery: Cicada 3301. No one knew who “3301” was or why, exactly, the user was seemingly recruiting puzzle solvers via 4chan.

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