Welcome to the world of Randonautica. I honestly thought Lady Gaga’s Chromatica was going to be the only ‘-tica’ I did a deep dive into this year, but having been told by a friend about an app that led TikTok users to a dead body, I just had to delve into the countless other stories doing the rounds across various social media websites.
So, what exactly is Randonautica?
Launching towards the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Randonautica is an app for mobile phones that has seen huge success during the current furlough and social distancing era. With millions looking for something to do, filling in the hours that would usually be taken up with work and social gatherings, it provided the perfect remedy to boredom.
Many users of the app - branded Randonauts - have fed into the supernatural phenomenon, embracing the idea of setting an intention before travelling using random co-ordinates delivered to their phone by the app. Some even believe that the app is an undercover operation that’s setting out to prove we all live in a simulation by showing glitches in the system.
Of course, there are those who think it’s all a load of rubbish hyped up to draw attention the service, but that doesn’t take away from the influence it now holds over a huge amount of people.
With hundreds of millions of views through the randonautica hashtag on TikTok, it’s clear that it’s going nowhere fast. But is it just a fad, or is this really a mystical and mysterious app that’s exposing the realities of our world?
The discovery of a dead body
Randonautica made its way to mainstream news when youngsters in West Seattle followed co-ordinates to a beach, where they discovered a suitcase. Upon opening the suitcase up, they described an “overwhelming” smell and saw a collection of bin bags.
They rang the authorities, joking between themselves in their nervous anxiety that they may have discovered a dead body. When they checked the local news, they realised that there was indeed a corpse inside the luggage.
The TikTok user explained in the caption of their video that "laughter is the way I was trying to get through the situation", before adding that "the moment I got back home, I broke down. I still can't sleep."
You can check out the TikTok video chronicling the discovery below:
Other strange stories
One of the most important things to note before showing off some other spooky tales from the act of randonauting is that the majority of them could have been set up, by TikTok users hoping to become a viral sensation. With all of that being said, they do send a shiver down the spine if you feed into this sort of thing.
A TikTok user with the handle @mykenarae pleaded with their followers to not go randonauting, after she set her intention as ‘death’ and then came across a man lying in the gutter, cradled by his partner after being shot.
Another called @gothboithrift claims to have been sent to the gravestones of two of his relatives, whilst a third said that her use of the app stopped her from being involved in a potentially deadly car crash.
You can see those stories, as well as a handful of others, in the clips below:
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