Reveal · The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

A Midnight Phone Call. A Missing Movie. Decades of Questions.

April 4, 2026·51 min·5 clips

Garrison Hayes finds his childhood film 'Midnight Snack' on MySpace, sparking a quest to recover lost digital memories.

This episode of Reveal features host Al Letson and reporter Ashley Cleek exploring personal mysteries through investigative techniques. Ashley presents three "inconsequential investigations" into unresolved questions from people's pasts. Garrison Hayes, a video correspondent, seeks his first amateur film "Midnight Snack" uploaded to the defunct Google Video. Ashley discovers archivists like Jason Scott of Archive Team saved over 1 million videos before Google Video shut down. Using a massive text file and colleague Melissa Lewis's Python coding, they recover Garrison's 4-minute, 40-second film. Watching it, Garrison recalls filming in a temporary family home during his parents' separation. Yo-Wei Shaw investigates her doppelgänger, Lizzie Peabody, after being told they share mannerisms despite different appearances. Their seven-hour comparison reveals shared traits like being "hyper-vigilant" hosts, but they dispute a friend's perception of them as overly "careful" brand managers. Ashley investigates a 2007 call to her college radio show from someone claiming to be Neutral Milk Hotel's reclusive singer Jeff Mangum. The caller emailed a song named "Barrel," which Ashley aired. Consulting her brother Lloyd and friend Chris Baio of Vampire Weekend, she traces managers who confirm it was an impersonator. The recovery of "Midnight Snack" highlights the fragility of digital archives and the human desire to preserve personal history. The doppelgänger story reveals the discomfort and insight of seeing oneself through others' eyes, challenging self-perception. Ashley's investigation shows how personal myths form, as she and her brother preferred the "life-giving" story of Mangum's call despite evidence to the contrary. Jason Scott's archivist philosophy accepts digital entropy but finds joy in preservation. Lizzie and Yo-Wei's conversation underscores how perceived similarities can forge unexpected connections. The tone is conversational and reflective, blending narrative storytelling with methodical detective work. It maintains an educational yet intimate style, emphasizing emotional resonance over exposé. Listeners who enjoy human-interest stories, digital archaeology, or introspective journeys will appreciate this episode. Those seeking hard-hitting investigative journalism on systemic issues might find it less compelling.

As heard by us

A curious setup that ends in a more honest place.

Reveal shifts from public corruption to something more intimate here, and that change gives the episode a different kind of charge. It starts lightly, then settles into the idea that the stories people tell about themselves can expose how they move through the world.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a doppelganger story that uses real reporting chops to probe a personal mystery.

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