What is Red Monday?

Waaaay back on October 1st (an historic date in ARGdom BTW), a kindly gent with an unpronouncable-out-loud nickname posted a new trailhead to the Unfiction forums, and there was much rejoicing. Or confusion, whatever. Possibly both, you don’t know! Anyway, it turned out that this “Red Monday” thing was a) very mysterious, b) possibly connected to some dude, and c) SUPER-mysterious! Also, we’re guessing the color red was involved somehow. Let’s face it, we didn’t really do our research on this one.

But that’s okay! Because there are helpful souls out there, such as the apparent author of this very campaign, who are willing to waste their time filling out web forms with huge love letters pimping their wares! Yay! When other people do our work for us, we go like this! >;D

And our work they did in full, for certain, with even more super-mystery surrounding it! Also, pre-formatted! Oh, what can it all mean?! Some sort of communist manifesto in full after the jump.

It’s been said more than once that “everyone loves a good mystery.” Even in an age of ultra-connectivity, where information is just a few clicks (or annoying pop-ups) away, people still gravitate toward the unexplained and unknown. In a world where commercial messages are constantly “pushed” at us, telling us how to think, what to wear and how to act, sometimes it’s refreshing to be enticed by an idea that doesn’t constantly scream to get your attention.

Such is the case of a fairly nondescript website called “Red-Monday.com.” Clicking over presents you with a simple and direct challenge: enter the right code. That’s it. No obnoxious pop-up ads and no high-pitched voice-overs screaming “buy now.” Beyond the flashing red cursor that beckons you to enter something, there’s very little to the site at first glance.

Curious minds are piqued. “Why would someone put this website here?” “I wonder what the code is?” “What is this all about?”

This is, in the parlance of what’s called “Alternate Reality Gaming,” a rabbit hole. That is, an entry point into a fictional reality. This is Neo’s red pill/blue pill moment, or as Obi wan would say “your first step into a larger world.” Now that you’ve found the rabbit hole, you have questions about what “Red Monday” is. Hints and speculation have linked it to everything from “24″ to “Lost” to JJ Abrams “Project Cloverfield.” But if you want to find out the truth, then you first have to get inside–and therein lies your first (of many) challenges. How to get the code.

As is common with many ARG’s, Google can be a big help. You’re probably not the first person to stumble onto this cryptic website, and the odds are good that there are people out there farther along in the game than you. A search for “Red Monday” turns up a number of results, among them a post in the “Above Top Secret” forums by a user named “For(Home)Country.” He writes:

“I don’t know how many of you have heard this before, but there is a website called ‘red-monday.com’…you enter in a password (gabriel)…sends you info on this event called ‘Red-Monday’”

Armed with the code “gabriel” you take your next step into the mystery. What lies beyond the code box? Perhaps an answer? More questions? Or maybe both.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you, because I’m involved with Red Monday in ways I’m not at liberty to disclose. To find out, you’ll have to step into the rabbit hole yourself…

Buy now!