Reader FAQ — how this site works

A word from the people behind the site

We worked long and hard to make reading and writing here simple, comfortable and genuinely addictive. We combed writers' forums and reader communities for the features people actually ask for — and built an unusually large share of them, pouring years of experience with story sites into this one. We hope you like it here, come back often, and one day leave a story of your own.

An honesty note. The archive we opened with was written with AI assistance — a library cannot open empty — and every one of those stories says so on its own page, the same way every story here says who wrote it. What we accept from authors is one line: the writing has to be theirs. Every submission is read by a human moderator, and that is one of the things we check. Fixing your own grammar with a tool is fine — the words have to be the author's own.

Reading & finding stories

Browse. Pick a category (or tag) from the top menu, or dig through newest stories, top rated, most discussed, stories with pictures and stories with video.

Jury Is Out. The most controversial cases — stories where the True and Fake camps are locked near 50/50.

Story of the Day. One story is featured in the sidebar every day — a fresh case each visit.

Search. Full-text search across all published stories.

Continue reading. The sidebar remembers the stories you opened recently (only in your browser) so you can jump back in.

Who wrote what you are reading. Under every story there is a one-line note saying who wrote it — its author, or, for the launch archive the site opened with, AI. It is there so you never have to guess.

Voting — you are the jury

First impression. At the top of every story: judge by the title and the picture alone — True, Fake or Not sure. You get the real verdict box after reading.

The final verdict. Under the story, vote True / Fake / Not sure — and say how sure you are (1–5). The community numbers stay blurred until you cast your own vote: guess before you peek.

Readers' truth score. Every story shows what share of readers believe it, the total verdicts, and the average confidence of each camp (the "Doubt Index").

How the jury moved. Stories with enough votes show a small chart of how the True share changed over time — cases develop, come back to check on them.

Changed your mind? After voting you can read the best arguments of the other camp and change your verdict — once. The story counts how many readers the debate converted, and how many jurors changed their answer after reading the whole story.

Upvotes. Separately from verdicts, you can upvote or downvote the story itself. So every story carries TWO independent ratings: "was it worth reading?" (up/down) and "do you believe it?" (True / Fake / Not sure).

How the score is counted. The believe percent under a story is simply the share of True verdicts among all verdicts cast on it. Nothing else is mixed in — no editor opinion, no algorithm, just the jury.

Why don't the numbers move instantly? Vote and view counters are collected in batches and refreshed roughly every 5–10 minutes — that keeps the site fast for everyone. Your own vote registers immediately (the buttons lock); the public totals catch up on the next refresh.

What the score is not. The believe percent is a headcount of readers, not a ruling. Every juror is telling you what the story felt like to them — that is the whole of it. A story can be doubted by most of the room and still be exactly what happened; it can be believed by most of the room and still be nothing of the kind. That is why the file never really closes.

What a verdict means — and what it doesn't

It is your opinion, not a ruling. True / Fake / Not sure is what the story felt like to you after reading it. Nobody here checks documents, and no vote decides anything about the person who wrote the story.

The percent is a headcount. The believe score is simply the share of True verdicts among all verdicts cast. It tells you what a room of strangers thought — a well-told story can be doubted, and a flat one can be believed.

Call it, don't accuse. The best comments here say what made you lean the way you did: the detail that rang true, the one that didn't. That is the part other readers actually come for.

The file stays open. Verdicts drift as new readers arrive, and you can change your own once, after reading the other camp's best arguments. Nothing here is ever finally decided.

Play the detective

True or Fake? Call every story the way it reads to you, and the site scores you against the room — right on the story page. Hit "Next case" (random story) and keep solving.

Detective ranks. The more cases you judge, the higher your rank climbs. Everything is stored in your browser only.

My Verdicts. Your private dossier: every case you judged, your verdict split, how often you sided with the majority, and your reader profile — no account needed.

Comments — the cross-examination

Post a comment. Name is optional; keep it short and civil (no links). You can attach your verdict to the comment.

Pick a role. Mark your comment as a Question for the author, Evidence FOR, Evidence AGAINST — or just talk. Typed comments are laid out as the case materials: questions, the case for, the case against.

Ask the author. "Question for the author" comments reach the story's author personally — answers appear right under your question with the AUTHOR badge.

Helpful votes. Upvote sharp comments; the best one is pinned on top as the Top Detective Comment.

Comment numbers. Every comment shows its #id — quote it when you need to point the site team at a specific comment (via contacts or the story's Report link).

Weekly Case File

Once a week the most disputed story becomes a Case File: the jury's split, the strongest arguments of both camps — and the author's own epilogue about what really happened next. Watch the "Case File of the Week" box in the sidebar, or browse the full Case File archive.

More ways to dig in

Story series. Multi-part cases show a "Part 2 of 5" navigation right on the story page — binge a whole series without hunting for the sequels. Every series is collected on the Series index.

Best of. Every category has an evergreen hall of fame (e.g. /best-.../) — the stories readers rated highest and believed most — and Best stories keeps the month-by-month digests of the whole archive.

Glossary. Plain-language explainers of the phenomena behind the cases: déjà vu, time slips, synchronicity and more.

Next case. Under the comments you always get three fresh cases you haven't read yet — the flow never runs dry.

Detective streak. Judge at least one case a day and the True-or-Fake panel tracks your streak (in your browser only). Your full record lives on My Verdicts, and the readers who keep guessing right climb the detective ranking.

Guess the jury. Before the numbers unblur, drag the slider and guess what share of readers believes the story — then see how close you came.

Case Report. Every story has a shareable "Case Report" page — a clean police-file excerpt with the jury stamp and the site's wet seal. Follow the "Case Report" link on any story and share the URL anywhere; the freshest reports are collected on the Case Reports index.

The polygraph. Once you have made your call, the room's score also shows as a lie-detector needle — doubt on the left, belief on the right.

Cold cases. Old files that never got enough jurors carry a COLD CASE badge; the sidebar's "Help close a cold case" block hands you a few — be the juror they never had.

Opposite twins. Under many stories: a case from the same category the jury judged the OTHER way. Compare the testimonies and see why.

Follow a case. The "Follow this case" button (stored in your browser only) shows you, on your next visit to that story, how many verdicts and comments arrived meanwhile.

Share your verdict. Right after voting you get one-click share links — challenge your friends to out-judge you.

Spoilers. Commenters can hide twists behind a blurred [spoiler] — tap to reveal.

Leaf through the files. "Previous case / Next case" links at the end of every story walk the category in publication order; the tag index and the site statistics map the whole archive.

Sharing & comfort

Share a quote. Select any passage inside a story — a small popover offers to share exactly that quote (with the link) on X, Facebook, Threads or Reddit.

Listen. On browsers that support speech, the "Listen" button reads the story aloud — and the same button sits on the Phenomena deep-dive pages.

Dark theme. The moon/sun toggle in the footer; your choice is remembered.

RSS feeds. Follow the whole archive at /feed/, one category (the RSS link under each category listing), one tag (the RSS link under each tag listing) or a single author (the RSS link on their profile) — new cases arrive in your reader the moment they publish.

Site statistics. The statistics page shows the whole archive in numbers: cases on file, verdicts cast, which categories readers believe the most, and the most disputed case of the month. Refreshed nightly — quote freely.

Report. Something wrong with a story? Use the "Report" link under it.

New on the site

Tell the jury WHY. Right after your verdict you can pick up to two reason chips ("too many coincidences", "happened to me too"…). Stories with enough explanations show the "Why readers doubted / believed" bars — the verdict, explained.

Reopen the case. Under older stories: a petition button. When enough readers demand a follow-up, the author is notified — and the story page says so. Old cases get sequels because YOU pushed.

The Skeptic's Take. Under the most disputed cases the site editors publish a devil's-advocate note: the strongest everyday explanation of the events, with links to the glossary. One more angle before you judge.

Top reader theories. Under comment-rich stories: a short editorial digest of the 2-3 leading theories the commenters actually push — catch up on the debate in one minute.

TL;DR. Many stories carry a one-sentence, spoiler-free hook right under the title — know what kind of case you are opening.

Updated on. Stories that got a real follow-up or edit show an "Updated on" date — fresh developments are marked, not hidden. Every case with an author's follow-up is also collected on Updated stories.

Reply to a comment. Every comment has a Reply button — threads stay one level deep, so debates stay readable.

Link to a comment. Every comment's #number is a shareable permalink — click it (or copy the link) to point a friend at that exact comment.

Sort the comments. Switch between newest / most helpful / questions only — right above the comment section, instantly.

Reader mode. Bigger or smaller text, a narrower column, a serif or dyslexia-friendly font — the "Reading:" toolbar above every story, remembered in your browser.

My case notes. A private notepad under every story (stored only in your browser); all your notes are collected on My Verdicts.

The gavel. Optional: a short gavel knock and a VERDICT CAST stamp when you vote. Off by default — the toggle sits under the vote box.

Quote pictures. Select a passage and, next to the share links, download it as a ready-to-post picture card.

Detective Card. Earned a rank? Get your shareable detective ID — rank, verdicts, accuracy, streak — signed by the site so nobody can fake the numbers. Yours is waiting on My Verdicts.

Phenomena hubs. Deep-dive pages on sleep paralysis, glitches, déjà vu and more: the science, the folklore, the live jury numbers and the strongest cases of each type.

Support the author. Some authors add a tip-jar link — the "Support the author" button under their stories goes straight to their own donation page.

Series countdowns. When an author schedules the next part of a series, the published parts show "Part N — expected on {date}" with a live countdown.

Newest additions

The detective ranking. Who guesses right — a leaderboard of readers scored on the cases where the jury has actually made up its mind. You join it simply by voting; there is nothing to sign up for, and no account is involved. Your browser holds an anonymous id, the site holds nothing else about you — clear your browser data and the record is gone, which is the price of staying anonymous.

Category and tag badges. Guess right 25 times inside one category or tag and that subject's badge appears next to you in the ranking — a small nod to the reader who knows his ghosts from his glitches.

A nickname instead of a number. In the ranking you are a number by default, and you may leave it at that forever. If you would rather be called something, pick a nickname — it is still anonymous, it is tied to nothing but your browser, and it asks nothing of you. One condition: a human moderator reads it before anyone else sees it, because a leaderboard is exactly where advertising and obscenity would turn up otherwise. Changed your mind? Ask us to remove it and you go back to being a number, with your record untouched.

The skeptics' page. Every case the jury refused to believe, gathered in one place with the sharpest rational explanation written under each — the counter-argument side of the archive, if that is the side you enjoy.

How long a story takes. Every listing card now says how many minutes the story runs, so you can pick one that fits the time you have.

Who made it to the end. Under some stories a line reports what share of readers reached the last paragraph. It is counted anonymously and it appears only when the number is high enough to mean something — a story nobody finishes says so by staying silent.

Authors are real people

Author profiles carry avatars, social links and a pinned story; some authors sign with a pen name — the byline always links back to their profile and full archive. Some open their story with a line of their own about what kind of story it is. Either way, the note under the title always tells you who wrote it — the rest is for you to weigh.

Want to tell your own story?

Create a free author account and submit your story. Your draft autosaves while you type, and a Preview button shows the story exactly as readers will see it. Authors get their own FAQ inside the account area.