Hello. I’m, Manchuria. That’s my handle. I cannot give you my real name just yet, and I know that does not help my case. I will reveal my identity as soon as I am able. I know you are reading this on a conspiracy site of all places, and that does not help my case either (sorry Trust No More). I need you to read this, to send it to others, and to talk about it.

I’m not a journalist. I’m not a storyteller. I will start by giving you three examples of some frightening phenomenon in nature. I want you to see how these things work in the natural world, to give you context to what I am going to share.

ONE: the Zombie Ant

Cordyceps is a genus of fungi. Many of its species are endoparasitoids, parasitic mainly to arthropods, including ants. The fungus infects the ant and rewrites its behavior. The ant is programmed to climb a plant and dig its mandibles into the stem, securing it to an ideal place for the fungus to burst from the body and spread its spores. Fellow ants learn to recognize these “zombie ants” and carry them far away from the colony.

TWO: the Zombie Snail

Leucochloridium paradoxum is a parasitic flatworm. It enters a host snail when the later eats bird droppings full of the worm’s eggs. The larva crawl into the snail’s eyestalks, engorging them and showing a pulsing, hypnotic display that looks like writhing caterpillars. The larva control the mind of the snail, fundamentally changing its behavior. The worms desire to be in the belly of a bird, so they command the snail to climb high on a plant and make themselves visible to the predators. Once in the bird’s belly, their life cycle continues.

THREE: the Zombie Rodent

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite found in cat feces. It can infect rodents. The parasite wants to be  inside the cat (where it’s reproductive process occurs). The infected rodent’s behavior changes subtly. The rodent acts more recklessly, not fearing open spaces as much. It acts in such a way that would entice a cat.

Jaroslav Fleg, a Czech scientist, suspected T. gondii was affecting his mind. Doctors often warn pregnant women to avoid cats because of T. gondii. Fleg went further and hypothesized that the parasite rewrites our behavior, even if only subtly. Fleg suspected the parasite can cause a human host to act more reckless, causing everything from car accidents to schizophrenia.

While many scientists disagree with Fleg, it is a frightening spiral of thought to fall into. How can one tell if their behavior is manipulated so subtly? Why did you step into the street without looking? Why did you procrastinate when success required only a little effort?

FOUR: the Zombie Everywhere

Mind control is a subject that conjures Science Fiction fancies, so I wanted to ground the concept by demonstrating how it works on the natural stage. I want you to have context for what comes next. Trust No More has agreed to publish a series of articles by me. I’m going to talk to you about operant conditioning, algorithms, and influence of the mind. I’m going to talk to you about the dangers of a new dating and social media platform called Tender.

It is fascinating reading, however, we are interested in recent sightings. Trust No More is sending out the call. Please send us your Indrid Cold sightings. Obviously we are likely to receive many false claims, but casting our nets wide will allow us to correlate the facts.

Some features common to Indrid Cold lore:

• tall, wide body
• often described as hairless
• a green or blue one-piece suit that is reflective like tin foil
• strange-looking tan
• eyes set unnaturally far apart
• shallow nose
• can communicate telepathically
• causes confusions, fugues, and loses of time
• telekinetic or poltergeist activity
• seen near UFO sightings
• coming or going in a strange craft
• seen in people’s homes, standing over them as they sleep

Stay alert. Trust nothing.

The Lazy Shade Motel sits along the phantom of historic Route 66, in Bernalillo County, a ways off from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The small motel is far past its prime, but bears distinction in the sheer number of violent crimes it has hosted. Stabbings, bludgeonings, attempted drownings in bathtubs and pool — just to name a few. While murders make up a small percentage of these copious crimes, their are still an alarming number of them for such a tiny motel.

There seems to be no connection between the perpetrators. Family, lovers, strangers, even motel staff have all been involved over a span of decades. Often the perpetrators were upstanding people with no violent criminal record. Many claimed confusion as to what brought on the violence. One woman claims the connecting thread of all this murder and mayhem is a carpet.

Camila Guzman (71), retired hotel manager, says the Lazy Shade Motel was known for the hideous pattern of its carpet. “We got so many complaints,” she said, “but people cannot stop staring at it.” Guzman says both staff and visitors would sometimes complain of migraines and odd feelings after looking at the carpet for too long. “It just sort of buzzes in your head.”

The notorious carpet has since been stripped away and thrown out during renovations in 1997. Guzman saved a small square of it, which she keeps in her attic, and agreed to send us a photo. While we at Trust No More can say the pattern is indeed ugly, we did not suffer any ill effects while looking at it. Guzman tells us the effect is much diminished when seen through a photo. “It’s different when you see the pattern repeat, again and again, down a long hallway.”

Can a carefully calculated pattern trigger an extreme psychological effect in certain people? The government has used secret programs to study mind control, to create superior killers out of unknowing people — sleeper assassins who could be activated by the proper trigger (see Project MKUltra). This is well-documented fact. The government says such programs no longer exist, but how would we know? The old programs ran for decades before discovery.

Perhaps The Lazy Shade Motel was a forgotten killing floor or test site. Perhaps a pattern designed to activate a well-programmed sleeper agent would have messier effects on the minds of others. Perhaps we should worry about what the shadow state might try, using insidious fractals and patterns, on an internet with a much further reach than a dingy motel floor.

I am composed of 5.9% red, 32.2% green and 72.9% blue You can find me between the 5th and 6th knuckle.

The common thread seems to be that the item is sold on eBay, the buyer experiences misfortune (nightmares, mind control, terrible luck, etc.), and then resells the object, continuing the cycle.

We believe this to be a colorful fiction. However, our policy is to throw even the strangest stories into the light for better scrutiny. You never know what hides behind the details. As of yet, Trust No More has been unable to locate any current eBay listings of the supposedly cursed object, nor screenshots.

Please send us any pertinent details.

Seek the truth. Trust nothing.