4chan Swarm Storms Elderly Man’s Birthday Party

The above image recently appeared on 4chan. The legion of anonymous users there interpreted it as suggesting that it was necessary to publicly advertise for people to attend an old man’s birthday party. The people of 4chan, and later reddit, decided to track down this man and throw him a huge birthday party. They discovered that his name is William Lashua and that he lives in Ashburnham, Massachusetts.

A man claiming to be his grandson started a reddit thread and clarified the situation. Mr. Lashua actually had a large and well-connected family. The poster was put up in a local shop for people who knew him in the immediate community. The grandson offered an address to which people could send cards, but asked that redditors and anonymous respect the family’s privacy at the party.

Most did, and no strippers appeared, but here you can view a video from Mr. Lashua’s 90th birthday party. He opened cards and presents sent to him from the good people of the internet, and thanked them.