Deep Conspiracy — Mystery Hunt Submission Highlights
Deep Conspiracy was a puzzle from the 2024 MIT Mystery Hunt that tasked teams with unraveling a puzzle themed around Taylor Swift puzzles and conspiracy theories. After finishing the puzzle, teams were challenged with crafting their own theories about Taylor Swift or the Mystery Hunt itself. Here are some highlights from those submissions.
Palindrome — A Statistical Analysis of Past Mystery Hunts
Constructor’s note: This is exactly the right kind of unhinged for a conspiracy theory: technically rooted in facts that can withstand scrutiny, but taken to laughable extremes.
Slow Moving Trainwreck — All of the Theories About Taylor Swift
Constructor’s note: This theory had so many twists and turns, it gave me whiplash. The authoritative tone really sold it.
Inter Oves Locum Praesta — Taylor’s Fun.
Constructor’s note: This one was almost too convincing, maybe it was a bad idea to ask exceptionally smart puzzlers to write conspiracy theories. Plus, it’s about such a good song!
Taylor actually wrote the Grammy 2013 Song of the Year — “We are young” by Fun. feat. Janelle Monáe. That is actually the first song on which she collaborated with Jack Antonoff.
As we know, our girl Taylor writes so much that she cannot even record it all. Some songs end up in the vault, and some go to other artists (like “This Is What You Came For” ended up with Rihanna, because Taylor was already in exile, and didn’t want to be in the public eye in any way).
And, slightly less common knowledge, that Jack Antonoff was previously a part of the band “Fun.” that won a bunch of Grammys in 2013, including best song. Now, The song in question — “We are young” — was released in late 2011 as a single for the album “Some nights” that was released in 2012. And official sources claim that Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift met in 2012, and only started collabbing in 2013. Both PR teams say that they wrote “Sweeter Than Fiction” that year, and then Jack went straight to producing 1989. 1989! Like, her biggest album! The huge leap from country to pop, the album that was supposed to change her public image, the album that was supposed to be her best work! Would you trust some guy you only collaborated once with to work on your biggest album? Especially when that one song you made together was “Sweeter than Fiction”? It didn’t make top-30 in the US, or even top-40 in UK (even though it was a soundtrack for a british movie)!
I wouldn’t. And Taylor wouldn’t either. Taylor is sweet, but she is also smart. No, the only way Jack was coming to work on 1989 after that disastrous song is if they already wrote something great together. Like a best song of the year?
Here is where Jeff Bhasker comes in. Jeff Bhasker started working with “Fun.” when he heard their frontman improvise the chorus to “We are young”. It was somewhere in 2011. Same time that Bhasker worked with Taylor on “Red”! So, what do you do when you hear a catchy chorus, need a verse, and have a songwriter that writes way too many good songs for her alone? You put them in one studio and wait!
Have you ever heard “We are young”? Chorus and verse are completely different. Chorus is just some vague bland “tonight is night when we forget to forget”, but the verse is deep, lyrically interesting, and just screams Taylor!
And check the timeline! Taylor was on the rise with “Red”, but she also stated that she was looking for the change at that time. With the rise of other artists that tried to be here, she decided to be somebody else. “We are young” was her first successful pop song, and she decided to commit to pop fully, by bringing Jack along for a new era.
iHouse — Karma (and Taylor Swift) is a Cat, uwu
Constructor’s note: We got a number of similar entries (some specified that Taylor Swift is actually the human-cat hybrid depicted in the movie musical), but the ascii art and “uwu” made this the perfect representation of the theory.
We think that Taylor Swift is secretly a cat uwu
∧,,,∧
( ̳• · • ̳)
/ づ♡ Karma is a cat and so is Taylor Swift
Furious Acorns — Submitting on a Technicality
Constructor’s note: the MIT Mystery Hunt has a storied tradition of rules lawyering and submissions on a technicality, and this one delivers.
“your unhinged Taylor Swift or Mystery Hunt 2024 theory”
Belmonsters — An Astrological Reading
Constructor’s note: I’m particularly impressed with Belmonsters for lining up Pluto’s demotion as a planet with Taylor Swift’s first album release.
Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989 at 8:36AM in West Reading PA. The significance of this day and time cannot be understated, because it placed her Pluto in the 10th house of career and reputation. Pluto in the 10th house makes someone very powerful in their career, and brings very obsessive and controlling energy. In fact, Taylor Swift owes her entire career to Pluto. At the July 2006 (secret) meeting of the Illuminati in Abilene TX, there were 2 resolutions approved. The first was that Pluto would be demoted, and this demotion was orchestrated on Aug 24, 2006 in conjunction with the AAA (the Anarchistic Astronomers of America). The second Illuminati resolution that year was that they would put their resources toward making Taylor Swift the world’s most famous entertainer. The first step was implemented with the release of her first album on October 24, 2006, which was delivered to record stores around the country in black helicopters at the stroke of midnight. The rest is history.
Space Needle in a Haystack — A Gaylor-Centric Close Reading on I Can See You
Constructor’s note: Gaylor submissions were a fairly popular option for submissions, but this one was the most robust (delivering a full-on textual analysis and music video citations to support the argument).
so we all know that taylor swift has had a series of relationships with both men and women and any theory explaining this wouldn’t be “unhinged”, it would be merely “describing reality.”
My unhinged theory, however, is that the song “I can see you (TV) (FTV)” is about her relationship with her former background singer, Liz Huett.
First, let us analyze the lyrics. Note that the subject of the song is never gendered — she only uses second person pronouns.
> I — I — I — I
she’s stammering because she’s nervous
> You brush past me in the hallway
The subject of this song seems to be a coworker. Who else do you “brush past in the hallway”? As a singer for taylor, liz definitely spent plenty of time running back and forth backstage and passing by taylor.
> And you don’t think I, I, I can see ya, do ya?
A hallmark of a forbidden/secret relationship is small moments like this, where you pass by someone and pretend not to see them.
> I’ve been watchin’ you for ages
liz and taylor toured together for three and a half years. When you’re 17, that’s *ages*
> and I spend my time tryin’ not to feel it
As a country singer, taylor was likely advised by her management that she needed to maintain a conventional hetero appearance. she probably spent a lot of time trying to avoid inconvenient feelings she had for women
> what would you do if i went to touch you now?
she’s unsure if the feelings are requited
> what would you do if they never found us out?
who is “they” here? Likely her management, again, encouraging her to maintain a conventional appearance
>what would you do if we never made a sound?
the first hint that something has gone wrong and she has been found out
> cause i can see you waitin’ down the hall form me
> and i could see you up against the wall with me
She’s fantasizing about acting on her ideas
> but what would you do? baby if you only knew
Possibly a reference to Liz’s 2022 song “If You Only Knew”
> that I can see you
She *sees* her. She *sees* something in her that maybe she is trying to hide — her queerness.
> and we kept everything professional
another hint that they are coworkers — again pointing towards Liz
> they keep watchful eyes on us
> so it’s best that we move fast and keep quiet
it seems like at this point of the song, taylor and the subject of the song have made it clear that the feelings are mutual, and they are starting to act on it. But again, “they” are watching and seem to be disapproving. why? probably because it’s a forbidden queer relationship.
The song continues in the same vein, hidden, secret, forbidden. by the end, it’s still not entirely clear whether this is all in her head or something that they are actually acting on.
Besides the lyrics, we also have the music video to analyze. It’s the story of a heist.
the heister starts by walking into the venue and we see her wearing a baseball cap. baseball caps are gay, we all know this.
the actress in the video seems to have been chosen to look very similar to liz at the time that taylor knew her
when taylor is saved from the vault, she looks at taylor lautner with a look of surprise
but then she turns to the woman with the kind of smile and eyes reserved only for someone you’ve known for a while and are *really* happy to see
ok i’m going back to solving puzzles but here’s some bonus cute photos of taylor and liz together (constructor’s note: those have not been included, but are very cute).
see the 13? looks like the one in the music video…
Best Beans — “Reflecting” on Taylor
Constructor’s note: The visual aids on this theory really sell it.
The key to all of this lies in her NAME you sheep!!!!!
It looks innocent enough… or so you might think. But then I think about the most obvious song to think about right now when faced with all this uncertainty. Mirrorball. We have to reflect her name!!!!
Look at that S and reflected S. When they’re brought together they make an 8 it’s as clear as day.
What is Taylor Swift’s 8th studio album? It’s Folklore. What song is on Folklore? Mirrorball that’s right. All proving that Folklore what the F in swift represents.
So now we know that the S and F in Swift are unnecessary. What do we get when we remove them from the equation.
That’s right!!!! MIT! Proving what I have known all along. That Taylor Swift is a Secret Master of Mystery Hunt Fandom (SMoMHF) and has in fact written between 8–12 puzzles every year in the hunt since 1943.
Sufficiently Large N — No Explanation Only Reputation
Constructor’s note: If only the MIT Mystery Hunt was used as a vehicle to release Reputation (TV), especially if that meant the production of an exclusive limited edition vinyl “coin”.
We bring to your attention the completely unsubstantiated allegation that (gasp) the entire 2024 Mystery Hunt has been an elaborate buildup to the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version) all along!! Our reporting team will now resume our search through the underworld [obviously dark and revengey and Reputation themed], valiantly braving server crashes [obviously Ticketmaster parallels] in search of the coin [obviously a vinyl of the Reputation (Taylor’s Version) album].
What more truths can we earn?
HighFive — The Karmic Mandela Effect
Constructor’s note: A number of submissions touched on theories surrounding the unreleased album “Karma”, but this takes it a step further and introduces woodvale into the picture, and now I feel cheated of another Long Pond album
Ok hear me out… Taylor’s first five albums were all released two years apart: 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014. Then she released Reputation in 2017 and Lover in 2019, followed by Folklore and Evermore back to back in 2020, and Midnights in 2022. Some people believe that she was going to release an album titled Karma in 2016, and it was delayed or cancelled, which is why Reputation and Lover are in odd years. This is not the conspiracy theory I want to talk about today. In reality, Taylor Swift has released three albums in that time — Karma in 2016, End Game in what would be 2018 in the original timeline, and woodvale in what would be 2020 in the original timeline. However, the release of these tracks (and other instigating events, such as the Berenstein Bears manifold collapse) caused the original timeline to be incredibly destabilized by the time woodvale was released. In a last-ditch effort to repair the temporal flow, reality was rolled back to 2016ish and a new branch of reality (Taylor’s Version) overwrote it. (Taylor’s Version) tracks are remnants of this original timeline, spaced out enough in time to not cause any temporal anomalies. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk
Decipher — Experiencing the True Pain of Clowning
Constructor’s note: Decipher wasn’t the only team to submit the prevailing Reputation (TV) theory. And it was a really good theory, but it’s March and we’re still waiting on Reputation (TV).
In the “Karma” ft. Ice Spice music video we can see a clock. This clock represents the whole year. The blue nail is resting next to the “8”, representing the 8th month of the year (august). This color is usually used to represent the album “1989”, and 1989 (Taylor’s verison) was indeed announced on august. So we can guess that the dark nail, (color used to represent reputation) which is resting next to the “2”, represents the Reputation (Taylor’s version) announcement on february (2nd month of the year) 2024.
Mihir Singhal (no team listed)—The Corgi Theory
Constructor’s note: What can I say, corgis are cute.
We think that Taylor Swift is secretly a corgi. Some points in favor:
- Corgis are known for their quick and agile movements. Taylor Swift, being a talented and nimble performer on stage, embodies the swift movements of a corgi during her concerts and dance routines.
- Taylor Swift is known for her close-knit group of friends. We think that her closest friends are also secretly transformed into corgis, forming the “Corgi Squad.” They travel and navigate the music industry together, just like a pack of corgis sticking together.
- Corgis are known for their adaptability and versatility. Taylor Swift, with her ability to seamlessly transition between different music genres and styles, mirrors the diverse and adaptable nature of a corgi.
- Corgis are intelligent and known for their problem-solving skills. Taylor Swift’s clever and insightful songwriting is attributed to the wisdom and wit of a corgi.
Galactic Trendsetters — A Deeply Numerological Cut
Constructor’s note: The really impressive part of this was how many numerological systems got pulled into the theory. A1Z26 and Kabbalah was only the beginning!
why is taylor swift so famous? note that if you A=1 the phrase “TAYLOR SWIFT” you get 168. note that 168 is the number of hours in a week (7 * 24), indicating that taylor swift wants us to listen to her all 168 hours in a week. further, in chinese the number 168 is homophonous with 一路發 which means “fortune all the way”, representing the good fortune that has befallen taylor.
consider the kabbalistic implications — “taylor” is a homophone of “tailor”, which comes from late latin taliare, which means to cut, and “swift” of course means quickly. thus the name “taylor swift” means something like a quick cut, which is homophonous to the software qwikcut, which is video analysis software. qwikcut is most noted for its use in footbal games (https://www.qwikcut.com/football/), and who is taylor’s boyfriend? travis kelce, a football player! it was ordained since the beginning that taylor would get together with travis.
but this relationship is doomed to fail, as all taylor swift fans would know, and there is numerical proof for this. if you A=1 the phrase “TRAVIS KELCE”, you get 125, which is a perfect power; the relationship is a perfect and powerful one. however, the difference between taylor’s and travis’s numbers is 43, and 43 is a very unlucky number. it is one more than 42, which is significant for being the ultimate answer; that means 43 is the ultimate non-answer, and therefore the relationship is doomed to failure.
but where else does 43 appear? let’s think once again about taylor swift — taylor, as in taylor series. if we take the taylor series for computing e (another number associated with powers), which is 1/0! + 1/1! + etc, and then take the first six terms (as travis is the sixth boyfriend of taylor — the sixth person in the taylor series), we get the sum 2 and 43/60… again the unlucky 43 appears here.
Mister Ragers’ Neighborhood— The Streak Continues!
Constructor’s note: “Michael Andersen” shares initials with “Miss Americana”, so the streak continues!
Our conspiracy theory is that Taylor Swift secretly writes the Taylor Swift themed hunt puzzles every year for Mystery Hunt.
No, really! Taylor Swift’s association with Mystery Hunt goes back a long way. She takes a different pseudonym each year, so she can write for a different team, and her setter name always shares initials with a Taylor Swift song: Holly Sipek — Hey Stephen, Emma Meersman — Evermore, Laura Royden — Lover (Remix), etc.
Also: her song “You Need To Calm Down” was written after the ‘BE NOISY’ incident. And the song “Is It Over Now?” is obviously about the runaround.
