Episode Summary:

First, we talk CSI Con Buffalo (coming soon!), a new study on how pigeons find their way, and the passing of an ad man who coined Ben’s favorite skeptical phrase. Then we look back at a video taken at a gas station just outside Lima, Peru, in 2016 that perplexed viewers around the world. This is a great example to show the difference between hasty, dismissive skepticism and a truly thorough dive into solving the mystery. Ben peels back layer after layer until we have a hefty basket of clues that add up to a good conclusion. It all begins with an initial look at a video for the show “Strange Evidence,” where Ben’s heavily edited appearance was among the experts who were baffled (according to the narrator, anyway). From there, Ben collected more and more information and ended up in Peru himself, retracing steps at the gas station and finding even more surprising pieces of the puzzle. How does a non-mystery evolve into a mystery? In this case it had help from Anthony Choy, a Peruvian mystery-monger, as well as some quiet eye-witnesses and over-eager news media and public.