To put an end to a conspiracy theory that bloomed from a joke made in 1993, and to make itself a little more visible to potential tourists, the city of Bielefeld in Germany is offering 1 million euros (about $1.1 million) to anyone who can prove it does not exist.
Bielefeld and its very real 340,000 residents have been the butt of a 26-year-old joke-turned-conspiracy theory, when in 1993, a student named Achim Held sarcastically posted “Bielefeld? There’s no such thing” on the Usenet messaging system — an early form of internet forums. The post was prompted by Held’s experience at a party in the city of Kiel. When a guest from Bielefeld showed up, neither Held nor other party guests had ever heard of the city.
