For more than seven years, an incredible story has been circulating on the Internet about a chemistry professor who secretly lived for several decades in a laboratory hidden in the basement of a residential building. At the same time, he had a lot of weapons and drugs. We checked whether this really happened.

News about this scientist has been found on the Internet since 2015. According to numerous publications, the man's name was Winston Corrigan and he previously worked at the University of Minnesota, but disappeared without a trace in 1984. They found him more than thirty years later, when he was already 83 years old. All this time, he allegedly lived in a secret laboratory in the basement of a house, the residents of which had no idea about such a neighborhood. Also found in Corrigan's possession were weapons, military rations, expensive scientific equipment, and twelve barrels of LSD (three of them empty) with a total volume of approximately 2,500 liters.

So, on VKontakte for several years posted about 50 posts that received more than 100 likes, 11 of which received more than 1000 likes. The most widely shared posts were from the communities “Against the system" (246,000 views) and "Oatmeal, sir!” (256,000), where they collected 4,000 and 8,900 likes respectively. At the same time, the exact period Corrigan spent in the basement differs: for example, in a 2015 post in the MRZLK public they reported 33 years (although only 31 years have passed since 1984), also since 2019 wrote about 35 years, but more often than not indicate simply “more than 30 years.” Sometimes the photos attached to the posts are different: usually the photo shows an elderly man in blue, but sometimes comes across and a mirrored photo with the same person, but in red. In addition to “VK”, the news can be found on other sites and platforms, including “Peekaboo", LiveJournal And other.

IN the most early The publications we found for May 2015 indicate the same source - the now defunct site IFLScience.org, where there is news about a basement drug-addicted scientist appeared May 17, 2015. Below is our complete translation of the original text.

A couple from Cottage Grove, Minnesota discovered a man living in a hidden laboratory in their basement. On Friday, May 15, 2015, following a call about a possible break-in, deputies from the Warrington County Sheriff's Office went to the Morgan family's home. When officers arrived, they saw the Morgans standing by the road. “They ran up to us and said they heard a man screaming in their basement and then called 911,” Capt. Bruce Normans said.

Police say they heard a man screaming from the basement as soon as they entered the Morgan's house, but when they carefully went down there, they didn't notice anything. However, then knocking noises were heard, echoing from the north wall of the basement, where a large closet stood. “The situation was very strange. We thought there might be a wanderer stuck behind the cabinet who needed help," Officer Jim Catelli told Channel 6 News.

After moving this large metal cabinet, the police officers saw the entrance to a large secret room. There was a lot of different scientific equipment there, and there was also a frightened elderly man in the room. He turned out to be 83-year-old Dr. Winston Corrigan, a chemistry professor at the University of Minnesota, who went missing in the fall of 1984 (that is, he was considered missing for 31 years - Ed.) and previously lived in this house. “He had clearly lived there for a long time and had suffered serious psychological trauma, probably because he had not been in contact with anyone for some time or because he had taken a lot of drugs. I don’t know if he’s lived there since the 80s, but I don’t doubt it,” said EMS worker Landon Kohler.

Dr. Winston is currently under observation at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. He would later be sent to the state psychiatric unit at Prairie Hills Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation to determine the extent of his psychological damage. Perhaps he will eventually be reintroduced into modern society. “I just can’t believe it, it’s so strange. The family that used to live there moved because they said the house was haunted. I think it’s understandable now,” said a neighbor who has lived nearby for 33 years.

Police seized more than $500,000 worth of laboratory equipment stolen from the university, as well as three pistols, an assault rifle, 50 years worth of military rations, and twelve 55-gallon drums, including three that were nearly empty. The Drug Enforcement Administration laboratory identified the contents as pure liquid lysergic acid diethylamide, a powerful hallucinogenic drug popularly known as LSD or "acid."

It is not yet known whether Dr. Winston will be convicted of any crime.

In fact, this is all fiction, since IFLScience.org is a satirical resource that published fictitious clickbait stories. It could very easily be confused with a well-known popular science portal IFLScience.com. In addition to almost identical names, the real site and fake were similar designs and logos with different details. For example, IFLScience.org has a logo that sometimes appears in posts trimmed from the picture, instead of the usual leaves of a plant, hemp was drawn, instead of a flask - a UFO, and instead of a rocket - a dinosaur marked “fake”. The satirical nature of IFLScience.org is also hinted at slogan website: “100% the most official and much more scientific.”

Logo comparison IFLScience.org And IFLScience.com

The accompanying photo shows a non-chemist, Corrigan. In the original, he is a 63-year-old homeless man in red named Gary Stanford Raub. In 2012 reportedthat he was arrested for a murder committed 36 years ago. According to reports Media reports that in 1976, 70-year-old Blanche M. Kimball was killed in Maine and stabbed more than 40 times. The investigation revealed that the blood of another person was also present at the crime scene and on the murder weapon. Before the murder of Raub, who had previously name Gary Robert Wilson was a guest at the Kimball home and was considered a suspect at the time, but there was not enough evidence to apprehend him. In 2011, he reappeared on police radars as he was involved in the stabbing of another homeless man in Seattle. At the same time, an undercover police officer asked Raub to participate in a “chewing gum study,” which resulted in his DNA being obtained and matching a blood sample found in Kimball’s home.