Whether one is aware of it or not, they have likely come across the concept of “lost media.” Lost media is any form of media—including films, songs, posts or audio clips—that has become rare or has completely disappeared, usually having been widely forgotten by media consumers.
Pieces of lost media date back from over a century ago, with many examples lying within the world of old films. Many movies, particularly silent films, are now lost due to unstable technology and a lack of proper archiving. Matthew Mosley, a writer, stated in an article from The Collider that about 75% of silent films have become lost and are likely to remain that way forever. According to The Daily Runner, roughly half of all sound films made before the 1950s are also lost.
Most often in lost media, only certain clips and scenes are cut from the public. A 1971 Australian psychological thriller movie titled “Wake in Fright” is currently considered a “found” movie because of its rediscovery from vanishment. In its initial release, it was considered highly controversial due to its take on outback life and gruesome scenes concerning violence against kangaroos. The controversy also stemmed from the behind the scenes process of thefilming. The footage was taken from a real kangaroo cull during which the professional hunters who were hired to terminate the animals were allegedly intoxicated. This grotesque scene was cut from the film and the remaining segments stayed on the screen, making the kangaroo hunt clip a piece of lost media. In 2002, the original film’s editor, Anthony Buckley, traveled to a warehouse in Pittsburgh where he remarkably found the last uncut version of the movie in a shipping container labeled “For Destruction.” If Buckley had not achieved his goal of finding and restoring the archived negatives, they would have been destroyed about a week later.
Many forms of lost media involve music. Few archives are available of these songs and typically consist only of short clips. One of the biggest scenarios of lost songs is the case of “Everyone Knows That (EKT),” which was also commonly referred to as “Ulterior Motives.” On Oct. 7, 2021, a short snippet of a low-quality, warped recording of a song was uploaded to a song-naming forum called “What Zat Song” by a user with the handle “carl92.” The 17-second recording of the song, which was found by carl92 on an old CD he used to store audio on, went viral and was shared to a popular online forum called Reddit, where different threads of conversation occur. A Reddit thread named “Everyone Knows That” was created, and some 49,000 members joined the thread for updates or to engage in the search. The hunt for the origins of the song continued until April 28, 2024. The mystery song, called “Ulterior Motives” recorded by Christopher Saint Booth and Phillip Adrian Booth, was found to be from a 1986 adult film titled “Angels of Passion.” It was later admitted by the carl92 that he had known where the clip was from and uploaded it to the forum as a way to troll, not knowing it would become such a huge mystery.
Lost media does not end at songs and movies. Cartoon television shows, often those made for children, also contain numerous pieces of unreleased or removed media that people wish to find. To exemplify, a Sesame Street episode, called “The Wicked Witch Visits Sesame Street,” was removed from television programs after it aired. The episode featured a woman dressed as an evil, green witch. This raised concern as many parents claimed their children were too scared of the Wicked Witch to watch the episode, and some even feared continuing to view the show as a whole. Because of this, PBS abstracted the episode from television, making the episode become lost. Internet sleuths set themselves to find this episode, as well as many other lost episodes of television shows.
“The thing about [lost media] is that not all of it is found. It is super intriguing for people trying to search for old records or media of some kind,” sophomore Mackenzie Mohrbacker said.
The concept of lost media is simple enough to understand, but it is a far more complex subject when taking into account all of the effort that goes into finding pieces of it. It is a fascinating subject that lures the attention of internet users. Those who set out to research these media items often become determined, not caring how far they have to go to achieve their goal. This drive can be good for them, but can sometimes lead to harm or discomfort for others when taken too far. Lost media brings out the natural curious instincts that are instilled in the human race, earning it the unofficial title of “modern-day enigmas.”