Ah ha! So that is where the missing socks go!!! Actually....mine always end up BEHIND the washer. I have bad aim when I throw clothes in the machine. LOL.
There's a photo going viral on Twitter that might show what's happened to all your missing socks. A landlord opened up the bottom panel on a washing machine . . . and found a compartment down there that's just packed with socks. Could it really happen? Well....if you have an older washing machine and dryer, it could be worth opening it up to take a look. But newer machines are made a little tighter, so there isn't space for things to fall through the cracks.