Welcome Home is an ARG that follows a lost children’s TV show called Welcome Home. The site is meant to archive and restore the lost show, and there are quite a few secrets baked into it. Here are all the secrets that we’ve discovered so far.
All Discovered Secrets in the Welcome Home ARG
Because there are quite a few secrets, this article will break down the site in sections.
Welcome Home ARG Secrets – About Us
When you navigate to the About Us page, things are fairly innocuous and normal until you reach the section that asks, “Why did you make this website?”
The first sentence of the paragraph is jumbled but seems to read, “It means it’s inside of you too, then Does it hurt?”. By highlighting the text, you can read the underlying message, which reads, “When I unwrapped the first letter, I felt it. I heard it. Open. Open. Open. I want it out. I’m going to get it out.”
Beneath the question, “How did you begin your research into Welcome Home?” there is hidden white text at the end of the paragraph. The text reads, “But it hurts.”
Beneath the question, “Do you know how many episodes of Welcome Home there are?” there is hidden white text at the end of the paragraph. The text reads, “The numbers are so hard to read. Sometimes I can’t see them.”
On the gif of Frank with his head rotating the spins of the books behind him read, “HELLO”, “It’s You Know Who?”, “I’m your neighbor.”, “Do you think about me? You do.” and “I’ve felt you.”.
Welcome Home ARG Secrets – Pictures on Home Page
On the first page of Welcome Home, you can scroll to the very bottom to see a series of images. One of these images is a black and white illustration of Frank and Sally making a snowman. By opening up this image and editing it so its exposure and brightness is high and its saturation is low, you’ll reveal the message laid over “We’ll Be Right Back!” The message reads “May Your Home Be”.
Welcome Home ARG Secrets – The Neighborhood
The Neighborhood allows you to see the houses of each of the cast. By clicking on the houses, you can also see the profiles of each of the neighbors. But there are two secret links hidden on this page. If you’re curious about how you can find these links, use the tab key on your keyboard. This should highlight the clickable boxes on the page.
One secret link is attached to the word “You” at the top of the page. Click it, and you’ll be brought to a new URL, where you’ll get a secret message. “Wally is your best friend.”
The second secret link is the path below Home, Wally’s house. Select it, and you’ll be taken to a URL called “so-below”. The image it’s attached to is our first distinctly creepy image. The URL’s description “so-below” comes from the phrase “As above, so below”, which is from the Hermetic text, the Emerald Tablet.
If you open the Welcome Home page while using your mobile device, you’ll see that Home (the house that Wally lives in) will be lifted off the ground. Beneath it will be a black hole with a vague grey spiral in it. This spiral might represent anything, but it’s interesting to note that it’s like Wally’s eye doodle but with the spiral in reverse.
Welcome Home ARG Secrets – Guest Book
The guest book is a major source of secrets in Welcome Home. Upon entering the guest book, you’ll see a variety of messages, many of which seem to be real messages submitted to the site. Across some of these, messages are superimposed doodles, which seem to be drawn by Wally himself.
Eyes seem to be a reoccurring motif, depicted either as a circle with a dot or a spiral that is either red or colorful.
When inspecting the URL of these doodles you can see that they’re saved with filenames that are often times responses to some of the submitted messages. Other times the file names are innocuous, like an apple doodle that just has the filename “itsaapple.png”, or a ladybug that says “ilikebugs.png.”
Here are the highlights of the eight pages as of March 30, 2023:
In response to a message from Watchy that says, “Hey Wally I hope you’re cool and not super evil that’d be a real bummer” there is a doodle of a sad crying face. The doodle’s file name is “youdontlikemeneighbor.png.”
In a response to a message from Emily that says, “Why do you like eye contact?” there is a doodle of a colorful spiral. The file name is “soyouknowiamlookingatyouneighbor_iamtalkingtoyou.png.”
In response to a message from Alex that says, “this website has secrets I know it” there is a colorful doodle that blocks out the entire message. The image has no filename, but after inspecting the site I was able to read the message Alex left.
In response to a message from Mars that reads, “This site has reawakened so many childhood memories! Thank you for starting this restoration project, it’s a true shame what happened to the show :[“ there is a giant spiral that represents Wally’s eye. There is no filename, and the image makes it difficult to read the message Mars left.
In response to a message from a nameless person that reads, “where am I?? What is this place… if someone is reading this please help me, i have no clue what is happening here and there are these, people, i think thats what they are, they look almost like strange puppets from a child’s book… but if theres anyone out there reading this… help me… please” there is a series of red question marks. The file name reads “whyareyoufibbing_youarenothere_idontseeyou_pleasedonotlietome_.png.”
In response to a message from Jackob that reads, “Man, it’s been years since I thought about this show. I genuinely thought I made it up was I was a kid, the memory of it has always been this unreachable itch in the back of my mind. Hopefully, this project will help scratch it a bit,” there is a doodle of a red spiral that represents Wally’s eye. The file name reads “Scratchharder_.png.”
In response to a message from Nosipho that reads, “Hiya Wally! You and your friends sure seem like a bunch of wonderful folks! What’s your favorite memory with each of your friends?” there is a doodle that scratches out the words “Hiya Wally!”. The file name reads “nomemory_.png.”
Related: Best Survival Horror Games Similar to Fatal Frame
Welcome Home ARG Secrets – Secret Code
Throughout the Welcome Home site, there are certain letters that are askew. These letters are E, W, X, O, V, and Y. If you use these letters in a certain order, you’ll wind up on secret pages. These are the codes that we know of so far.
- https://www.clownillustration.com/eovwxy — Television with white noise. Interference can be heard at 16:13, 18:22, and 22:15. At 41:06, eyes can be seen.
- https://www.clownillustration.com/yxwvoe — Error message. Click on the phone to hear Wally sing Beautiful Dreamer with eerie background noise. At the end, Wally states “That’s all Barnaby taught me. Do you like it?” Home is believed to respond, as there are a series of knocks and creaks. Wally replies, “That’s good, I think.”
- www.clownillustration.com/ywxoev – A gif of Home with eyes superimposed across its windows and the word OPEN beneath it.
- https://www.clownillustration.com/voywex – leads to an animated image of Wally’s eyes and the message, “Hello. You’re there. I can’t see you. Do you see me? Then stay quiet.” If you turn up the exposure to max on this image, Wally’s full face is revealed.
- https://www.clownillustration.com/woxyve – A series of cutout images of what seems to be the script for Welcome Home and a central gif of all the Welcome Home Neighbors. The gif always lingers on Wally, and with each cycle Wally’s pupils get larger. The gif finally ends in a red background without Wally in it. A complete image of the script can be found here.
Welcome Home ARG Secrets – Morse Code
(Updated April 6)
Throughout the site, moments of potential Morse Code have been found. Not enough evidence has been found to establish that Morse code is actually being used or if it happens to be a coincidence. We’ll likely know more as the site progresses from its prologue to Chapter 1 later this year.
Home Speaks — In the secret page accessed using the secret code yxwvoe, you can hear Wally singing to Home. Home then makes a series of bangs. These bangs spell out “IDO”, which is likely in response to Wally asking “Do you like it?” Wally then states, “That’s good, I think.” This is the strongest argument for Morse code in Welcome Home.
Frank Blinks — On the Welcome Home page, there is an image carousel at the very bottom. These images are in order. With the exception of one. Scroll to an animated image of Frank holding a two-tiered jelly. In this image, Frank is blinking. It’s possible that these blinks are Morse code and, if so, it spells out the letter “D”. This possibly refers to the first image in the carousel.
This image is meant to advertise a variety of toys related to Welcome Home. On this advertisement there are three displayed items, each related to A, B, and C. But if you look closely, in the right section of the image, there is a “D” that’s been crossed out. There is speculation that Wally himself is toy D.
There are likely even more secrets that haven’t been revealed yet! Welcome Home continues to evolve, and I’m very excited to see what’s in store for it. If you’re not through with the scares, check out our review on a very underrated horror game here: Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Review | Capturing Early 2000s Nostalgia.
