423

The man's expression turned grim and I learned that four doors down around eight years ago on April 23rd - the man informed me that it was the same day as his anniversary, that's how he knew the specific date - there was an accident with a young boy named Ben in the neighborhood.

—Jadusable, day four.wmv summary

423 (or variations: 4/23, 4:23, "four two three," or "for the fold, number three") is a recurring number in the Haunted Majora's Mask Cartridge ARG. Due to its frequent appearance and the events surrounding its origin, it has been seen as an important sign or clue pointing to deeper meaning when it appears.

The number is derived from the date of Ben's death: April 23, 2002.

List of appearances

Instances of 423 will be listed in chronological order below. The numbers 4, 2, and 3 will also be listed if they appear in close proximity to each other.

Haunted Cartridge Arc

• In day four.wmv, the text, "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" and the Happy Mask Salesman's laugh are displayed at 4:23.
• In the summary for BEN.wmv, Jadusable discovers that Ben died on April 23, 2002. In the video, BEN's file is saved at 23:04 and Link's Zora transformation is completed at 4:23.
• In DROWNED.wmv, Link reads the sign in the Happy Mask Shop and is given the message, "You shouldn't have done that..." at 4:23.
• In jadusable.wmv, Gomess appears in the Stone Tower Temple at 4:23.
• In TheTruth.rtf, Jadusable noted on September 7, at 4:23am that he is unable to sleep. On September 10, at 4:23pm, Jadusable made his final entry, describing the old man staring up at his window.

Moon Children Arc

• Duskworld23's name references the number, as it is commonly abbreviated as DW. D is the fourth letter of the alphabet, and W is the twenty-third. More obviously, 23 is at the end of his name.

• The Blastoff! page contains the repeating phrase, "For the fold, number 3, for the fold, number 3, for the fold, number 3."
• mhftt is an abbreviation of "Matt Hubris four two three," and appears as the title of mhftt.txt.
• matthubris423 was the username required to see The Truth's page on YSHDT.net.
• In Sounds.wmv, Ryukaki focuses the camera on his face at 4:23.
• The description for The Orchard.wmv has four paragraphs, one paragraph has two lines, and three paragraphs have one line.
• In lastwords.wmv, the number 423 is displayed for several seconds; Ryukaki is also revealed to have allegedly moved into Ben's old house, and mentions the date of his death. A close-up of a clock shows the time as 4:23.
• 2 is 43 seconds long.

Hubris Arc

• According to Jadusable's account on Within Hubris, he was born on April 23.

Awakening Arc

• In CHILDREN.wmv, Kamaro's Mask appears at 4:23.
• In baker.txt, Jadus relates that he "woke up on a cold tile floor on the 23rd of April."
• Methods of Revolution (Day 1) was uploaded on April 23rd. Likewise, all clocks in the video are set to 4:23.
• In Methods of Revolution (Day 21), a piece of paper fastened to the Second Player's hotel room door reads "Subject 423"

Notes

• The phrase, "for the fold, number three" is interpreted as an instance of 423 because:
  • "for" = four (4)
  • "the fold" = the tipping of two (2) sides together, ex. a paper folding in half
  • "number three" = number (3)