# The Bizarre Story of the Seattle Mystery Vending Machine **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488 "2019-07-04T00:39:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/1 "2019-07-04T00:39:39Z")
> [@](#): > > In the city of Seattle, Washington there exists a vending machine that over the years has become something of a local landmark amongst residents who are familiar with its mysterious history. Situated on the corner the John Street and 10th Avenue East in the bustling Capitol Hill neighbourhood, the seemingly ancient machine is well known for dispensing random, sometimes rare, cans of soda- a fact that’s made all the more intriguing when you consider that nobody seems to know who stocks the machine or where it came from. All of the buttons are labeled “mystery” and it dispenses cans at random, sometimes dispensing sodas that have been out of production for decades. Video: [https://youtu.be/NQuUMp0vGx8](https://youtu.be/NQuUMp0vGx8) Text: [The Bizarre Story of the Seattle Mystery Vending Machine](https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2018/07/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/2 "2019-07-04T00:51:48Z")
It’s things like this that make America wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/3 "2019-07-04T01:44:53Z")
Somebody should stake it out. I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/4 "2019-07-04T01:55:17Z")
\ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/5 "2019-07-04T02:08:11Z")
It’s probably stocked by the Poe Toaster. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/6 "2019-07-04T02:23:36Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > It’s probably stocked by the Poe Toaster. The funding for the Toynbee Tiles has to come from somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/7 "2019-07-04T02:26:10Z")
It’s Jandek’s vending machine. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/8 "2019-07-04T02:36:05Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Somebody should stake it out. I’m curious. [Someone did](https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2014/05/spoiler-alert-mystery-of-the-capitol-hill-mystery-coke-machines-mysteries-revealed/). It’s either people or aliens that look like people. Or robots that look like people. Definitely looks like people tho. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/9 "2019-07-04T02:49:18Z")
It would pair well with [this](https://soranews24.com/2019/04/24/we-caved-in-to-curiosity-and-bought-a-mystery-box-from-a-strange-vending-machine-in-akihabara/) [one](https://youtu.be/TV_-H4eRztU)–too bad they are so far apart. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/10 "2019-07-04T03:17:49Z")
Simon Whistler is my YouTube secret crush, so I did find out about this machine recently. You should hear him pronounce “skeleton”. ---
**Author:** ![arles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@arles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arles)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/11 "2019-07-04T03:37:22Z")
Unfortunately, the vending machine is no longer. I used to see it all the time and then it was gone. Maybe the owner and supplier died or just decided to give it up. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/12 "2019-07-04T04:03:33Z")
> [@arles](#): > > Unfortunately, the vending machine is no longer. I used to see it all the time and then it was gone. Maybe the owner and supplier died or just decided to give it up. IIRC, it was gone for awhile, but then was put back. The most recent Google Street View pic is from shortly after it was removed, and I don’t have the ability to jaunt over there right now to verify. ---
**Author:** ![arles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@arles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arles)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/13 "2019-07-04T04:16:07Z")
It is definitely gone again. Now that I think of it, it might have been due to the bus stop moving from the other side of Broadway. The new bus stop is where the vending machine used to sit. The following website includes an update from last month saying it is gone again. Hopefully, it had to move due to the bus stop and will reappear somewhere else. > [@](#): > > Update June 2019: As of June 11, 2019, the mystery soda machine is missing from its previous home in front of the locksmith, and has yet to return. [https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mystery-soda-machine](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mystery-soda-machine) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/14 "2019-07-04T04:54:10Z")
I’d buy Soda from it. I like nearly everything and would enjoy the mystery surprise. My favorite vending machines were the bottles that you grabbed by the neck and pulled out. I’d love one of these in my rec room. [https://images.app.goo.gl/pgD1p416CE4aaV2KA](https://images.app.goo.gl/pgD1p416CE4aaV2KA) ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/15 "2019-07-04T11:46:55Z")
Am I the only one who thought this tread was about a vending machine that dispensed mystery novels? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/16 "2019-07-04T16:59:34Z")
“Hey, there’s a cool vending machine around the corner that I want to show you.” … “What vending machine?” “Um, it was here the other day.” Cue eerie music. A seemingly innocent soda machine. Lost in time or an artifact from another dimension? It is either there or not. Who’s to say which is the greater reality: the one we know or the one in dreams, between heaven, the sky, the earth in the Twilight Zone. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/17 "2019-07-05T16:08:28Z")
Maybe it dispenses Schrödinger’s Soda. Or maybe not… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/18 "2019-07-05T20:30:48Z")
In my day, mystery machines carried scoobies. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/19 "2019-07-05T20:46:52Z")
> [@arles](#): > > Maybe the owner and supplier died or just decided to give it up. Finally got rid of all the back-stock of crap. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488/20 "2019-07-05T23:21:23Z")
Are there any businesses in Seattle that specialize in the sale of craft sodas and pop from regions outside the Pacific Northwest? If so, that could be the source of both the vending machine and the hard-to-find sodas. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-story-of-the-seattle-mystery-vending-machine/836488.md?page=2)