The University of Arizona has a student-run newspaper called “The Daily Wildcat.” In this newspaper, anyone who wants to submit advertisements to try and attract attention to whatever it is they’re trying to sell has the ability to.
"The Daily Wildcat" has been in publication since 1899 and has produced thousands of different editions of their newspaper. Students that have worked at "The Daily Wildcat" say most people think that it's just a normal student newspaper, however, every year on May 1st, a random, unknown person submits a cryptic advertisement that some believe leads to a cash reward.
The mystery person or people have also released these drawings at different points of the year as well. Others believe that it could just be a game and the person behind this craziness is actually just insane. No matter what people may believe, this annual advertising has become known as “May Day.”
Students at "The Daily Wildcat" say that the May Day images are sent to them through the mail, although some have been submitted through random, different emails. The very first May Day advertisement was on May 1, 1981, and it featured this image.
There has been insane controversy about who has dedicated 35 years of their life to something so complex and hard to comprehend. Hundreds of people have contributed with their opinions of what they think the messages could mean on the website. This website contains every May Day advertisement since the first one.
I know what you’re probably thinking, “Something so small and easy like the first May Day advertisement is easy to comprehend.” If you are thinking this, then I am deeply sorry because these images have gotten more and more complex over the years. These two following images were released as follows.
May 1, 2000
April 2, 2008
As you can tell, these images have gotten very, very complex since the first one. These images contain coordinates, Hebrew letters, numbers, symbols, physics equations, bible verses, quotes and much more. The most recent one, as of May 1 2016, was released on April 30, 2016, and looks like this.
It looks like there could have potentially been a new lead on where the May Day author wants us all to go next. What the author also does is reference a lot to their older images to help find clues for the most recent one. Although nobody has found out what all of this nonsense means, The May Day mystery has only just begun.
