Threatening Origami In Seattle: Mystery Notes Warn 'You Are Not Safe'

SEATTLE, WA — Let's get this out of the way up front: The subject of this story might be a kind of viral marketing or guerrilla art campaign, and some have speculated that it's a promotion for a new video game. Seattle police are not concerned, though, and there's no indication that anyone is in danger.

But it's still very strange, and there are some very interesting and scary theories about what's going on.

In recent days, some Seattle residents have found little folded notes around the city in neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, Queen Anne and Fremont. Some of the notes are folded into origami butterflies. Unfold the notes, and inside you find the phrase "You Are Not Safe" superimposed on a Seattle-specific image — the skyline, or the Fremont troll. There's also a date: "9/28/17."

Some of the notes show a web address, www.allgodsmustdie.com. There isn't much on the site. If you visit it, you see a scramble of letters that eventually move together to form that phrase, "You Are Not Safe." In the background, Wagner's "Das Rheingold" plays. If you wait long enough, an image of what appears to be an upside-down psychedelic goat appears behind the words.

Queen Anne resident Alyson Rae was among the Seattleites who found a few of the notes. They were scattered outside her apartment building over the weekend. When Rae unfolded one of notes and saw what was inside, she was creeped out. She went on Facebook and attempted to unravel the mystery, but input from people online has only created more questions — and upped the creepiness factor.

For example, one of the notes unfolds to show a mirror image of the Seattle skyline. But if you look closely, one side is missing the Space Needle. Is that a threat against Seattle's most famous landmark? Is it a reference to the heroin epidemic and King County's safe-use injection site proposal?

Another image (shown above) depicts the Fremont troll crying and surrounded by a what could be anything from a river of blood to a river of mud to a river of coffee.

One final image is begs the most questions. In front of rainbow colors are images of famous (and infamous) Seattleites: Kurt Cobain, Russell Wilson (with small white devil horns on his head?) and the Starbucks mermaid (who has scars on her chest). At the top of the image is the most befuddling part: three men whose identities are debatable. The one in the middle is probably former mayor Ed Murray; people think the one on the right might be Stranger editor Dan Savage. Some say the one on the left — the guy holding a book — is Judah Smith from The City Church.

Others around town are trying to figure this out. There's a local Reddit thread dedicated to it, and local neighborhood blogs apparently are discussing it.

The owner of the website listed on the fliers is anonymous, according to a search on the domain site Whois. But someone on Reddit found an email address linked to the website: holowkoa@gmail.com. Otherwise, no human has been linked one to these notes.

Seattle police told Patch they don't think the fliers foreshadow danger. Viral marketing campaigns have appeared in the city before. In February, someone posted signs in Ballard warning residents to report signs of a plague, but it turned out to be a promotion for a book. In 2001, the cable channel Syfy mounted a viral campaign placing stickers on sewer grates in New York City that read, "Warning: Sewer lizard extermination in progress. Stay clear." Many New Yorkers believed the stickers, which referenced an old urban legend.

Do you know what's going on? For safety's sake, let us know before Thursday by emailing neal.mcnamara@patch.com.

Images courtesy Alyson Rae