Mar. 28, 2016
Audrey Jensen
[email protected]
Public Safety is not worried that chalk drawings of unknown symbols on campus are a threat to student safety.
On March 6, white symbols appeared in front of at least six locations around campus including The Lodge, Copper House, the Rec Center, the Spine, the parking garage and between Breckenridge and Steamboat dorms.
Flash drives marked with a printed version of the symbol labeled “SearchForMyMarks,” were placed with the symbols.
One to two weeks before the drawings showed up at UCCS, the same markings and flash drives made an appearance at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley.
Interested students started a thread on reddit.com on March 3 to discuss the findings. A link to a public google document titled “Search for my marks UCCS” started on March 5 to compile any information that students or anyone else has about the symbols or flash drives.
According to this google document, flash drives picked up on different campuses contain soundbites and letters in addition to videos.
Police lieutenant Marc Pino said Facilities Services were making their morning rounds and found a flash drive on campus that they turned over to Public Safety.
The USB contained a copy of a video titled “Scared” that was also posted on a YouTube channel under the username, “E 23 E 6 27 18 8 4 2 112.”
The video contained a message to viewers that said “I know all this is strange. But I ask that you trust me. These are messages, not warnings. There is still a story to unfold.”
With the most recent video published on March 16, there are seven total on the YouTube channel “SearchForMyMarks,” with an updated username The Entity.
Pino said that Public Safety contacted CU-Boulder and CSU to ask for any information they have on the symbols.
“What they were able to find out is that it’s a student group, maybe a fraternity.”
The videos uploaded to The Entity’s YouTube channel contained letters and numbers that students from different Colorado campuses believe are a message.
Anonymous students and online users said the numbers are a cryptogram, posting a deciphered code on the google document.
Chief of police Brian McPike said Public Safety believes this might be a form of geocaching, which is geographical coordinates used to find items.
Pino said that because this case, labeled by Public Safety as “graffiti,” may be geocaching, he is not worried.
“(It’s an) internet version of a scavenger hunt, just sort of send them different coordinates, they follow up, there are flash drives with new coordinates, that’s why we’re not really concerned with safety,” Pino said.
McPike said Public Safety will not continue to investigate this case.
To follow the unfolding messages, students can look up “SearchForMyMarks,” on reddit.com to find the updated google document.