In Pennsylvania, what started as a quick grocery stop turned into the stuff of nightmares. A shopper opened a package of hot dog buns only to find something far more disturbing than stale bread. Inside a strange, handwritten note filled with cryptic references to secret societies and shadowy conspiracies.
That discovery would mark the beginning of one of the strangest ongoing mysteries in the state. The rise of the eerie and inexplicable “Schuylkill Notes.”
In August 2023, Pennsylvania resident Jackson stumbled upon that first note while unpacking his groceries from a major supermarket chain. The note, later identified as one of the so-called Schuylkill Notes. It was written in a jumble of fragmented sentences and incoherent claims about hidden powers and cosmic symbols, according to the Daily Mail reports.
At first, Jackson brushed it off as a freak coincidence. That was until two weeks later, when he found another one tucked inside a box of fig bars bought from a completely different store. That’s when he realized something wasn’t right.
Since then, Jackson and his wife have found nearly 50 of the bizarre notes scattered around Pennsylvania’s hiking trails. The scary thing, each note is more unnerving than the last. The Schuylkill Notes have been appearing across the region since 2019.
Random Notes Become a Pattern
They have been found inside everything from mac and cheese boxes to Crystal Light packets, as well as pinned to trees along popular trails. Each message is 19 lines long. They are written in frantic scrawls that mix gibberish with unsettling mentions of JFK, secret signs, and ancient symbols.
The notes, often sealed in plastic and held together with paper clips, are now being found outside of Pennsylvania. Reports of the same type of notes have also been found in Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Ohio. Hikers, shoppers, and even delivery workers have stumbled across them. Yet no one seems to know who’s behind the bizarre breadcrumb trail.
“Why would they not investigate someone putting anything in food packaging? Anyone involved in this is scary,” one concerned commenter writes.
Concern Mounts As More Bizarre Notes Are Found
Despite the growing number of sightings, law enforcement officials remain clueless. Both the Schuylkill County Sheriff’s Office and local police say they’ve never received official reports about the phenomenon. The FDA even launched an investigation after receiving more than 20 complaints of notes found in food packaging. However, so far, no contamination or clear suspect has been detected. So far, the case has gone nowhere.
Jackson, now a moderator on a Reddit forum devoted to the Schuylkill Notes, believes the author could be someone working within a food distribution network. He believes someone with enough access to slip the messages into products before they hit store shelves.
The Schuylkill Notes mystery has haunted Pennsylvania for years, spreading fear and fascination with every discovery. Whether they’re the ramblings of a lone conspiracy theorist. Or something far more sinister, these eerie messages have turned ordinary grocery runs and hikes into chilling encounters. And as long as the writer remains unknown, Pennsylvanians can’t shake the feeling that the next note could be waiting just around the corner. Or in their next box of snacks.
Sofia Bassett 
Emma Taylor 
