It's been a puzzling few days for Radiohead fans. This weekend the band deleted all posts from their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds. Word was out that they had "disappeared themselves" from the internet.

Radiohead is now fading from the internet https://t.co/48MBGdvrXd pic.twitter.com/8kpc41O1FQ

— The AV Club (@TheAVClub) May 1, 2016

This new video may remind American viewers of Gumby and Poky, Davy and Goliath, and other stop action animations of the 1960's. But it's actually more like a British children's show Trumpton. The same spool characters inhabit both worlds.

The video opens with a chirping bird and welcomes a new man into what appears to be a charming village. But what's that? Painters are putting large red X's (plague crosses) on people's doors, and there's a woman tied to a tree with a strange sword brandishing ceremony surrounding her. A post festooned with flowers turns out to be a hangman's noose, and the local street merchant is selling some meat Wellington dripping blood onto the street. The man himself is then invited to climb into a giant Wicker Man type structure which is set on fire.

I'm sure there are many ways to interpret this video, but one way for sure is that it is a condemnation of religious intolerance and a desire for "purity" in certain populations. The community in this video exists on the surface as neatly childlike and pure, while torture and executions are performed on a regular basis.

A YouTube commenter has posted the lyrics:

Stay in the shadows
Cheer at the gallows
this is a roundup
this is a low flying panic attack
sing the song on the jukebox that goes

Burn the witch
Burn the witch
We know where you live

Red crosses on wooden doors
if you float you’ll burn
loose tongue around tables
abandon all reason

avoid all eye contact
do no react
shoot the messengers
this is a low flying panic attack
sing a song of sixpence that goes

Burn the witch
Burn the witch
We Know where you live
We know where you live