We journeyed to find the truth about TimmyThick, the so-called ‘Harvard experiment’ viral star

Find the latest on our TimmyThick investigation here.

TimmyThick is an 18-year-old boy (man?) who's so thicc that he captivated the entire social media sphere…or is he?

As of now, Timmy boasts a solid 40,000 Twitter followers, but recently deleted his Instagram account, a platform on which he amassed hundreds of thousands of followers. He's also friends with Danielle "Bhad 'Cash Me Ousside' Bhabie" Bregoli, so he's basically living the dream…unless he isn't alive at all.

Because the Nicki-Minaj-loving, blunt-smoking, thirst-trapping Timmy we all thought we knew might not even exist — at least, not according to his most recent tweet.

"Good Evening, "timmythick" was a 24 month sociological study conducted by Harvard University," Timmy (? )announced on Saturday. "We are now complete with our study. Thank you for your time."

Obviously, people freaked the fuck out

The information sent shockwaves through Twitter in a matter of hours. Frankly, I'm still reeling and I know I'm not the only one.

New conspiracy theories spawned almost immediately

If TimmyThick and his wagon were fake, how the fuck is ANYTHING real?

Some people collected clues

One thread in particular pointed out a few specific details that made TimmyThick's nonexistence seem plausible, namely the fact that nothing is known about his family life, and one detail on a "candid" photo of Timmy that just didn't add up.

That's why his ass is so fat…it's full of secrets.

"Don't feed the trolls." Pretty damning stuff.

Someone even found the 'real' TimmyThick — apparently, he's a guy named Justin

I followed the "real" TimmyThick, who goes by Jujuthetopic, on Snapchat but honestly, I'm not hopefully. I just don't want to get hurt again, you know?

So, the plot thiccens…

Clearly TimmyThick himself wasn't going to answer any of the questions that he left in his wake, when he dropped out of our lives like a gut out of an unclasped waist trainer.

So we asked Harvard University's sociology department what they knew about the individual we all formerly believed to be TimmyThick.

Harvard University's sociology department did not want to talk about TimmyThick

Plot twist! The two staff members who I talked to from Harvard's sociology department did not want to talk to me — and they really did not want to talk to me about a potentially underage boy who posts videos of himself twerking on social media.

Neither of the people I spoke to were aware of who TimmyThick was, and neither of them were willing to be directly quoted but I feel pretty comfortable saying that none of the staffers or faculty members in Harvard's sociology department know who the fuck TimmyThick is — at least, not in a way they'd admit to me.

I still found a few other leads

First, there's a tweet by comedian Brandon Wardell in which Wardell claims that he's known TimmyThick was a fraud since last August… and that he's actually head writer at the Harvard Lampoon.

Wardell has since deleted the tweet, which actually makes me kind of freaked out about a potential conspiracy… especially because the Lampoon's website is currently down. We reached out for comment, but have yet to receive a response.

But ultimately I don't believe this one, because there's no way anyone currently attending Harvard is funny enough to do this:

Then, one of the people I spoke to did say that Harvard's sociology department isn't the only body on campus that conducts sociological research, and pointed me to the medical and education departments.

But honestly, I was discouraged and on a deadline, and I knew I had to throw in the towel, because there's no way Harvard University photoshopped hundreds of pictures and videos of a man-boy with a really huge, toned ass.

That definitely didn't happen… unless it did. All I can say for sure is I hope we haven't seen the last of our thicc, thicc Timmy.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

● We asked the NSA if we've all got government agents watching us through our webcams, and they didn't deny it

● Throwback Thursday is a conspiracy to perfect facial recognition software, so delete those baby pictures ASAP

● That Poppy and Mars Argo controversy explained: Stalking, image-lifting and a lot of hair bleach

@k80way