It arrived in an unmarked envelope.

Inside, a plain white business card with the names of three Web sites would open my mind to some of life's greatest mysteries: Who killed JFK? What is the true meaning of Dylan's lyrics? And what exactly is in Norman Mailer's garbage?

On the expansive World Wide Web, there are thousands of fascinating sites yet few are as quirky as this trio from one A.J. Weberman. They are equal parts escapist trash and inspired muckraking and, in their own ways, illustrate the breadth and freedom of information on the Internet.

-- Celebrity garbage diving, or "garbanalysis" (www.garbology.com), is "the study of human personality and contemporary civilization through the analysis of garbage," according to its practitioners.

Quite literally, this is the trashiest site on the Internet. And you can't argue with its basic premise: "You Are What You Throw Away." The photos and accompanying observations are surprisingly insightful gems on the likes of Jackie O., Dustin Hoffman and historian Arthur Schlesinger.

Check out the passage on novelist Norman Mailer:

"Had I been a federal agent, I might have tried to make a case against Mailer for violating the gambling statutes since his trash was filled with betting slips. The trash also contained an itinerary for a college lecture tour, remains of instant foods, steel wool, a cheese wrapper, empty toilet paper rolls and a newspaper clipping with a picture of Mailer."

Don't laugh. Dumpster diving has been regularly employed by the CIA, investigative reporters and others to dig up dirt on individuals and organizations.

-- Conspiracy buffs, rejoice. This political assassinations page (www.weberman.com) shovels the dirt on the duplicitous deeds of organized crime, right-wing extremists and rogue elements in the CIA "responsible" for the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy and others.

There are hundreds of photos, documents and maps in the 5,000- page database -- and most of them center on JFK.

The usual theories, and suspects, abound. Photos of the late E. Howard Hunt -- the shadowy spook and bad actor who has been linked to nearly every national nightmare of the late 20th century (the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, Watergate) -- seemingly show him disguised as a tramp in Dallas' Dealey Plaza shortly after JFK was gunned down. Look closely enough, and you'll come across the autopsy photos of Officer J.D. Tippit, the Dallas cop who was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald but who some skeptics insist was in cahoots with Oswald.

It's all there: a profile and photos of New Orleans Mob boss Carlos Marcello, who allegedly ordered the hit on JFK; the suspicious travel schedule of Jack Ruby in the days leading up to the assassination; and sketches of underworld figures linked to the 1963 killing.

A scary must-see for conspiracy diehards.

-- Dylanology (www.dylanology.com), or an attempt to decipher the lyrics of Bob Dylan, hinges on the theory that Dylan's songs are written in a secret language. Certain words are associated with certain other words, as in a cipher, or secret code.

Example: Although most people do not associate the word "rain" with "war," Dylan uses the word "rain" when referring to "war" in the song, "Masters of War." "Rain" becomes a cryptonym for "war." Put another way, Dylan's symbolic poetry is on a par with James Joyce or William Blake.

Then again, the authors of this site may have entirely too much free time.

Jon Swartz reports on technology. He can be reached at jswartz@sfgate.com.