Cracks

This video short called Cracks aired on Sesame Street in the mid-'70s. Jon Armond was six years old and found it traumatizing. But he never saw the short again, and never encountered anyone else who remembered it ...until the rise of the internet. There he found many other people in his situation, who remembered the short but after it disappeared weren't sure if they had imagined it. Together they searched for information on the clip.

But they still couldn’t find the video itself, and Children’s Television Workshop, which produces Sesame Street, was of no help at the time. Still, after making inquiries, Armond eventually got a fax from an unknown, untraceable number promising to send him the copy of “Cracks,” as long as he agreed never to screen it in public, post it online, or send it to anyone else. Armond signed the agreement, and six months passed before he found a manila envelope in his mailbox with a DVD inside. The note read: “We trust this completes your search.” There was no return address, no postmark, and no postage.

Daniel Wilson of the Lost Media Wiki received an email copy of Cracks in 2013, just as mysteriously, but made from a different copy. Since he signed no agreement as Armond did, Wilson uploaded it to YouTube. Slate has the story of the lost and found Sesame Street video in a podcast. They even found the woman who recorded the audio for the short. (via Metafilter)