Terrible News: Radiohead Frontman Thom Yorke Wants You to Find His Buried Coins

Terrible News: Radiohead Frontman Thom Yorke Wants You to Find His Buried Coins

 

In a baffling turn of events that has fans both intrigued and deeply confused, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has launched what appears to be a surreal, anxiety-inducing treasure hunt. The cryptic artist has reportedly buried several antique coins—his personal collection, no less—at undisclosed locations around the globe, leaving behind a disjointed trail of clues in the form of obscure poetry, low-fidelity field recordings, and ambient whistling uploaded to a now-deleted Tumblr page.

 

Yorke, known for his enigmatic lyrics and apocalyptic soundscapes, made the announcement via a hand-scrawled note photographed and posted on the Radiohead subreddit late last week. The note simply read: “Time is a loop, the coins know where they are. Trust the hum. x” Fans initially assumed it was a hoax or a viral marketing campaign for a new solo project, but as more cryptic audio files and GPS coordinates surfaced, it became clear—Thom Yorke actually wants us to find his buried coins.

 

Naturally, the internet is spiraling.

 

What makes this scavenger hunt even more bewildering is the tone of grim inevitability Yorke seems to be attaching to the project. A second message, intercepted via a pirated radio frequency in rural Iceland (yes, seriously), was decoded to reveal Yorke mumbling: “We are all buried treasures. Some shine. Some rust. Dig accordingly.”

 

What are these coins? According to a 2012 interview, Yorke once confessed to collecting Victorian pennies “because they hum if you listen long enough.” This quirk has now become a central tenet of the hunt: fans have reported standing in forests at midnight, holding copper coins to their ears, desperately trying to hear what Yorke hears.

 

The most dedicated have formed online “coin cells,” Discord-based teams with names like “Pyramid Song Prospectors” and “The Gloaming Excavators.” They cross-reference sonic patterns in Radiohead B-sides with Google Earth satellite imagery, chasing hints that may or may not exist. One team claims to have found a coin in the Scottish Highlands; it was engraved with a faint etching of the words “everything in its right place”—a cruel touch, considering it was buried under two feet of moss and mud.

 

Some critics have called the hunt “pretentious performance art.” Others believe it’s a commentary on capitalism, value, and the futility of seeking meaning in a chaotic world. More likely, it’s just Thom Yorke being Thom Yorke—deeply existential, slightly unhinged, and somehow orchestrating a global goose chase under the guise of conceptual art.

 

So what happens if you actually find a coin? That part remains unclear. One fan claims to have emailed Radiohead’s management about their find and received a reply that simply read, “The coin has found you.”

 

Terrible news, indeed: Thom Yorke wants you to find his buried coins—and worse, you

kind of want to.