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Cassette tape near motorways


ColossalVelocity

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Alright guys? I've just joined the forum, so this is my first post.

This is something that has bothered me from time to time. Where I grew up, in Wales, the UK, a lot of times when we would go out in the car and get on the motorway, looking to the side of the road I would sometimes notice cassette tape, unwound and covering trees, shrubbery and other vegetation by the side of the road. I found it, and still do, quite creepy. My dad told me that he'd heard it was something to do with Satanic cults, like they would record 'messages' on the cassette, unravel them and spread them on the plants, presumably so that the 'influence' would spread out to anyone driving along the road.

Has anyone else observed this phenomenon, and heard any different or complimentary theories?

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Probably more likely that the player would chew up the tape in the cassette and then get chucked out the window in a fit of anger.

At least, that's always what I felt like doing back in the day whenever that happened to my tapes.

Edited by sarah_444
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Deck eats tape tape gets tossed out the window. Break up with a lover and toss the tape out the window with your love song. Tape gets run over breaks open and tape flys everywhere. Mystery solved.

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Hey, I'm not saying I believe in that theory, I've just heard it from a few people, so someone must believe it ...

And why is it only seen on motorways (freeways), not urban or inner-city roads?

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Never experienced this myself and i live in Wales. More like kids messing around if you ask me. Also wonder if it had something to do with illegal raves or something like that, As a sort of sign to people which road to drive down as they were held in remote places and, depending on which decade you grew up in, mobile phones and internet may not have been available which made them harder to organise and publicise so it was just word of mouth and some vague instructions on where it was being held, obviously they couldn't have a big sign saying "rave this way" so people had to be a bit crafty? Just a thought.

Edited by SheWomanCatTypeThing
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I haven't seen cassette tape debris in several years. Interesting notion that it could be something other than just trash. When I was a kid the UL about cassette tapes was that you could unspool and flip the tape, then respool, you would hear all sorts of demonic instructions or other spooky things. Never tried it though.

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I must have really old satanists in my neighborhood. I only see unspooled 8 tracks.

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Before CD's I saw 1/4" tape everywhere and almost as many discarded cassettes by the sides of the roads. The car deck chews up your $8.98 cassette of Dark Side of the Moon (cassettes cost a dollar more than vinyl then). You throw it out the window with beer cans and any other garbage in your car. Cars run over it. The wind pulls the tape from the spools and it flies everywhere.

Some people back then thought rock music was Satanic so maybe there's some truth to it!

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Before CD's I saw 1/4" tape everywhere and almost as many discarded cassettes by the sides of the roads. The car deck chews up your $8.98 cassette of Dark Side of the Moon (cassettes cost a dollar more than vinyl then). You throw it out the window with beer cans and any other garbage in your car. Cars run over it. The wind pulls the tape from the spools and it flies everywhere.

Some people back then thought rock music was Satanic so maybe there's some truth to it!

That's a funny coincidence,because my first music purchase was a DSM cassette tape,and I just happen to find a ball of cassette tape on the side of the road last week on a walk.I thought to myself someone cleaned out an old drawer (attic etc),and decided to play with the tape.

I usualy see VHS,or Hi 8 tape on the side of the road once in a while.Thought has crossed my mind that someone taped some lewd stuff,and threw it out their car window....HA! I thought about taking the tape,and passing it thru the reader heads of a VHS machine,but maybe some mysteries are better left unseen...o.O

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I knew punks in high school that would break open the tapes and throw them on trees just as they did with toilet paper.... just to be destructive punks. Especially since they were considered of no use with the advent of compact disks... nothing scary, just a bunch of jerks.

I don't understand the type of person that just throws garbage out in the street without a second thought... littering is illegal here and you will get a hefty fine if a cop sees you.

My neighbor is a disgusting a-hole that throws her baby's dirty diapers on the ground at our beach, in the parking lot, anywhere, usually just mere yards from a rubbish bin. I hate her.

Edited by Lava_Lady
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People tend to clean up more in urban or settled areas.

This. Plus I think most people are more liable to toss stuff out on the open road.

I've only ever seen one cassette tape on the roadside in recent years. Tons of CDs though.

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Alright guys? I've just joined the forum, so this is my first post.

This is something that has bothered me from time to time. Where I grew up, in Wales, the UK, a lot of times when we would go out in the car and get on the motorway, looking to the side of the road I would sometimes notice cassette tape, unwound and covering trees, shrubbery and other vegetation by the side of the road. I found it, and still do, quite creepy. My dad told me that he'd heard it was something to do with Satanic cults, like they would record 'messages' on the cassette, unravel them and spread them on the plants, presumably so that the 'influence' would spread out to anyone driving along the road.

Has anyone else observed this phenomenon, and heard any different or complimentary theories?

Where I grew up in England, the UK, we had the same thing.

Your dad has been telling you some serious effed up porkies, me thinks.

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Where I come from people would normally sling a pair of sneakers over some telephone lines and make mix tapes using cassette tapes. Gods. I miss the 80's.

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It would be weird to see today's equivalent... I'd be down the M25 every day looting discarded iPads!

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I was actually one of those producing this trash when i was young. We used to play with cassettes and tape expanding it and loose it all over the place. Then wind will take it away everywhere. So glad we went digital. Less waste really.

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Every time someone litters, I shed a single tear.

Right before I hit them with a stick.

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Alright guys? I've just joined the forum, so this is my first post.

This is something that has bothered me from time to time. Where I grew up, in Wales, the UK, a lot of times when we would go out in the car and get on the motorway, looking to the side of the road I would sometimes notice cassette tape, unwound and covering trees, shrubbery and other vegetation by the side of the road. I found it, and still do, quite creepy. My dad told me that he'd heard it was something to do with Satanic cults, like they would record 'messages' on the cassette, unravel them and spread them on the plants, presumably so that the 'influence' would spread out to anyone driving along the road.

Has anyone else observed this phenomenon, and heard any different or complimentary theories?

Welcome to UM!

Funny post - but yeah other peoples mundane explanations are far more likely!

I once let a ~250m VHS tape unravel in the wind from the top of our old 4 storey house - then cut it and let it fly away, good times (not cult related). :w00t:

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A guy I knews puppy got hold of one once.Not a good experience for the poor thing cause it ended up being put to sleep.Dangerous to wildlife they were.

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