as clue-provider for that thing we don't speak of

this article about a puzzle book and the illusory patterns people chase down rather spoke to me.

:) I was 9, but I remember it well - and as it turned out, we lived only a few miles from the hare’s resting place. Still have the book; I think that these days I would try to recruit friends from the MIT Mystery Hunt, and I bet that it would go down a lot faster to some high-powered puzzle hunt team.