A Disney Imagineering tape. A railroad safety video that spoofs The X-Files. A home recording with no useful label. I collect tapes I’m curious about and watch them live on Twitch with people who want to see what’s on them too.
Some were made for a particular workplace or a small audience. Others were recorded off TV and left in a box for years. I’m interested in what ended up on VHS beyond the movies you’d find at the video store.
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9 PM ET
What ends up here
The collection includes corporate training videos, local TV recordings, and unusual releases. Home recordings are a big part of it, especially when someone left the commercials in.
I’m also trying to collect local broadcasts from all 50 states. The same show could air across the country, but the commercial breaks tell you where you are. A local dealership, a store that closed, a station logo someone hasn’t seen in years. People recognize things I’d never catch on my own.
I digitize tapes and keep notes on what we find. The archive is where you can browse the collection and see what we’ve figured out so far.
Watching with the VHS Detectives
I stream on Twitch Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 9 PM ET.
Sometimes we have a tape picked out. Other nights, chat chooses what goes in next. Mystery Tape Thursday is exactly what it sounds like: press play and pray.
The people watching help identify what we’re seeing. Someone recognizes a location or remembers a commercial. Someone else finds a detail that helps pin down the air date. We call them the VHS Detectives. You don’t need to know everything about VHS to help. Occasionally, you just need to have lived near the right furniture store.
Have something I should see?
An odd release, an old workplace video, a box of TV recordings. If you have tapes you think would fit here, tell me about them. A photo of the tapes and whatever you know about where they came from is a useful start.