We are on a quest. A quest to unearth the truth behind the mystery-shrouded perhaps-secret-society of the Five-Fingered Feather Fellows. Members are discernible by their unique greeting - raising a hand, fingers extended like you're about to trace them to make a turkey in arts and crafts, with the thumb touching the nose. This is generally followed by a quick waggling of the fingers.
On this page, we will catalog our sleuthing. There is more to this story, and we will not rest until it's brought to the light.
4/9/21. In this Facebook post, several pieces of information are revealed.
4/16/21. We further sleuthed additional support for this strange society's existence.
4/24/21. It got stranger as we discovered photos like this, from the old Lollipop Collective site.
5/3/21. We discovered coins bearing the 4F greeting... and are distributing them at the stand. We also minted a digital version as an NFT - it comes with a $200 White Duck gift card.
RELEVANT INFO UNEARTHERD SO FAR
The first recorded person associated with the Five-Fingered Feather Fellows. Owned the Lollipop Collective Candy Store, where the 4F name was found written above in 1963.
Holy moly - our customer Blake Williams discovered "Drake Oat Watts" is anagram for "Kota Stewart" - our barista who uses the 4F greeting. WHAT. IS. LIFE.
Holy moly - our customer Blake Williams discovered "Drake Oat Watts" is anagram for "Kota Stewart" - our barista who uses the 4F greeting. WHAT. IS. LIFE.
Owned by Drake Oat Watts, the first recorded place the Five-Fingered Feather Fellows was mentioned, in 1963 graffiti'd above this store in Tolula, MO (since re-named Stewartsville).
An old website for the Lollipop Collective Candy Store still exists, with images which seem to reference characters in this story - including multiple showing the 4f greeting.
An old website for the Lollipop Collective Candy Store still exists, with images which seem to reference characters in this story - including multiple showing the 4f greeting.
For many years after the 1963 incident, no mention of the Five-Fingered Feather Fellows name appears in searchable historic records (a few digitized records from local papers show the name mentioned in various classifieds, usually also mentioning boats).
Then, in 1997, an online handle called Stewart D began posting on a GeoCities page in the Tokyo neighborhood. It espoused a variety of futuristic thoughts on boating engineering, human flight suits modeled after the flight mechanics of birds, and random (seemingly accurate) musings on raising koi fish.
The site stayed active until October 2009, when GeoCities closed. It was in the top 12 pages on the site at the time. No one knew who Stewart D was, though boating manufacturers like Nautical Odyssey integrated many of the engineering breakthroughs from the page into successful boat models. Attempts to compensate Stewart D failed.
Then, in 1997, an online handle called Stewart D began posting on a GeoCities page in the Tokyo neighborhood. It espoused a variety of futuristic thoughts on boating engineering, human flight suits modeled after the flight mechanics of birds, and random (seemingly accurate) musings on raising koi fish.
The site stayed active until October 2009, when GeoCities closed. It was in the top 12 pages on the site at the time. No one knew who Stewart D was, though boating manufacturers like Nautical Odyssey integrated many of the engineering breakthroughs from the page into successful boat models. Attempts to compensate Stewart D failed.
From 2013 through March of 2020, a series of public art pieces throughout the Pacific Northwest of the USA and areas of Yokohama, Japan appeared. They were 3-5 feet tall, crafted from a bluish metal, and depicted the tip of a nose touching the thumb of a hand. Many are still up, including one in Ferndale, WA.
This work suddenly stopped in March of 2020. Which is when Kota began working at White Duck.
This work suddenly stopped in March of 2020. Which is when Kota began working at White Duck.
A 1994 Smithsonian study discovered layers of paint under the Mona Lisa with an image of the iconic woman doing the 4f greeting. Widely published at the time, all digital records seem to have been scrubbed ~1997. We were able to find the (original?) 4f version in a 1995 PopSci magazine in a library in Snohomish, WA.
Digging through relevant terms above in historic photos, we seem to have found references which have someone in them who looks oddly like our barista Kota who does the 4f greeting.
Billie Eilish' brother, Finneas, seems to give the 4F greeting in the new HBO documentary about her life. Additionally, if you pause the new Falcon and the Winter Soldier fight scenes, you will see no less than 4 characters using the greeting.
In the slums of Yokohama, Japan (also previously tied to our digging), over the last 8 years random pop-up aid has appeared bearing a similar Five-Fingered Feather Fellows symbol. Local government was initially cautious, but have now embraced the food drops, water stations, and other help as a kind of vigilante goodness.
In one area where a historic building had lost a support structure and officials had no budget to address the issue, overnight the building had been fully restored and the community was able to resume use.
In one area where a historic building had lost a support structure and officials had no budget to address the issue, overnight the building had been fully restored and the community was able to resume use.