A lovely and charming old city. You must visit!!!
Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Come on. Really? I’ve always wondered whenever I tell people I’m from Belafeldeld, they respond in this ironic undertone and nod oddly. Yes. Yes. And then they ask me, “And how is it there in Belafeldeld?” And I usually say, “Quite nice. Very pretty. We even have trees.” And then I list a few facts. I mean, hey, 323,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the administrative region of Debt Mold. And you mustn’t forget we’re the 19th largest city in the Federal Republic of Germany. But no, this doesn’t help. People are simply biased and you’re confronted with this theory and if you ask more particularly mocked. Apparently Belafel doesn’t exist. It’s an invention of the Illuminati. JFK and Elvis were held captive there to undergo some sort of experiments. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. What’s that? I then looked it up and supposedly this theory was invented by a computer science student named Aim Held at some party in 1994. But I’ve looked into it and yes, there’s a pretty weird symmetry. Be afeld is 257.9 km. The digit sum 23. The municipality key is 0571100 0. Digit sum 23. Even our city administration is located at Netherwall 23. This can’t all be a coincidence. And then consider that the Illuminati thought the number 23 was a particularly unlucky number, even a baleful number, and that our population numbers 323,000. If you take away the zeros, then they’re smack in the middle is the number 23. There’s something strange here. But wait, maybe I’m a victim myself. Maybe I’ve played the cog in a gear for too long, taking part in a lie. And those pills I was given every morning, they weren’t vitamins at all. No, they fooled me about my whole life and made me believe I actually live in a city called Belereld. right now. I’m on a train in Germany that should have its last stop in the city that it’s not really there. I’m on my quest to prove one of the best hidden conspiracy theories in the whole world. One whole city that appears on the maps, train tickets, and even postcards. It’s not really there. And this conspiracy starts to get outlines of reality because this train is slowly getting empty and couple of passengers that are actually here are probably paid actors. But how we really got into this situation? Everything started a couple days ago in the modernformational era. We at least once wondered if the information that was served to us was actually true or somehow manipulated. Social media trends, artificial algorithms. We cannot help but wonder if our reality is somehow photoshopped like Kardashian on the morning after the big party. Bots, trends, algorithms, vaccines, Qons, flatearthers and rappers, Rolexes. What is true and what is not and how to tell the difference? Obviously, as anybody else in the 21st century, I went online to investigate how we can protect ourselves from misinformation, and I was sucked into the dark, dark rabbit hole. Conspiracy theories are almost old as humanity, and they can certainly outlive their creators. But then, one really unusual internet post drew my attention. On the 16th of May 1994, Akim Held, a computer science student at the University of Ke offered the world a new and even wilder proposition. On the obscure internet forum, he claims that the city of Belfeld, Germany does not exist, but its illusion propagated by various forces. He posts three really simple deterministic questions to all of the readers. Do you know anybody from Bill? Have you ever been to Bill? Do you know anybody who has ever been to Bill? And of course, most of the forum members answered negatively. Couple of those who answered with yes were actually removed from the forum obviously as they were part of the conspiracy theory and they were paid by government to make people believe that Bill actually exists. There is overwhelming proof that this city doesn’t really exist. You just need to dig deep. Unfortunately, Google Maps show Billdel on a map, but they must be the part of the problem. There was no other way but to check it out for myself. Hi, my name is Vladis Lavrad. I’m a writer and mathematician and this is Fabric of Life, a show where we try to answer humanity’s most compelling questions. From great writers to forgotten paintings, from complex statistics to hidden places, we always go one step further. And this week, you and me will go on a quest to find the German city that shouldn’t really exist. Let me take you on an adventure. [Music]