Let’s start at the very beginning. Usually a good place to start. In the beginning, there was the “Shock Site”
A
“Shock site” is usually defined as a website that is intended to shock
the viewer by not necessarily scare the viewer... However the term
“shock website” has been used to describe scary reaction sites.
Possible Origin:
One of the first Internet associated scare/shock things to go viral and
widely circulate via email starting as early as 1999 was “What’s wrong
with this picture” in which the user is presented with an image of an
ordinary looking room and told to find something wrong with it. Nothing
is wrong with it. Approx 23 seconds into the picture (which unknown to
the viewer is actually a timed image or video) a close up of a scary
face is shown accompanied by a loud audio scream. The shock comes from
the sudden scream along with the creepy image.
(Though more than likely not the original, it is still a good example)
(Another
great example, this was found floating through office emails with the
instructions to look for a ghost floating over a car)
Spread: Due to the simple nature of how scares can be performed and with the new medium of the Internet, shock scares can essentially be buried anywhere in any website.
Internet Horror.
Horrors
that have spawned from the Internet fall into an entire category
called, “the fear mythos”. Essentially this entire sphere of fear is
built on blogs, vlogs, writings (mostly non-published) videos, audio
readings, live action, role playing and anything that is fear based. The
premise is simple and ubiquitous in humans, our fears become
personified and become creatures. Essentially ghost stories.
Creepypasta.
Arguably
the largest and most successful of Internet based horrors come from the
Wiki based website, www.creepypasta.com The name creepypasta itself
comes from the word “copypasta” which describes how Internet users copy
and paste pieces of text in order to form stories or long form jokes.
Creepypasta stories are usually short in length, however depending on
popularity can spawn an entire genre all in it’s own right. Subjects
usually include ghost stories, mind-fuck tales, paranormal entities,
monsters, or arguably the most popular, “based on a true story”.
Creepypasta’s can be spotted and are known for usually having little to
no disclaimer stating that the work about to be read is actually
fiction, and many rely on the reader to become entranced into the story
or situation, sometimes even the ARG.
Notable creepypasta that have spread further onto the Internet... “Ben Drowned” -
Story revolves around a user posting on the creepypasta boards. He
explains that he picked up a copy of an unmarked Majora’s Mask video
game from unknown origins. As the tale goes on the author slowly learns
some amazingly unexpected things about the game, the strange glitches
the creepy sounds and the haunting lifeless Link statue that follows him
around. Eventually we learn the origins of the game, that it belonged
to a boy named Ben who drowned and now haunts the game and anyone who
plays it... This story is notable in Internet lore because the actual
photos and even videos that were posted indeed fooled many gamers into
thinking they were watching a glitch version of Zelda. In the end it was
just an elaborate creepypasta, although it later did turn into an ARG
for a while.
“Chronicles of Taras” - revolving
around the exploits of Taras Jacobs, a 17-year-old girl with a
mysterious past and a tendency to murder or permanently
disfigure/disable anyone and anything in her way. The story’s narrator
is Sandra Janssens, a girl who keeps the journals labelled The
Chronicles of Taras, which have fallen into possession of N. Somniack,
who provides the series with background research into Taras’ demented
exploits with o0en sarcastic and irreverent commentary. “Dead Bart” - The
writer of the creepypasta confronts Matt Groening about a lost episode
that everybody affiliated with the show refuses to acknowledge. Groening
gives him a website address and begs him never to speak about the
episode again. When the writer visits the website he finds nothing but a
download link, which contains the lost episode. In the episode Bart
breaks the window on a plane and is sucked out. A0er his death his
family apparently sit at their kitchen table and cry for an entire year,
before going to visit his grave. At the cemetery Bart’s corpse is
laying on top of his grave and all the other graves bear the names of
The Simpsons guest stars, even those who had not appeared on the show at
the time the episode would have been written.
The Rake- is
the subject of a creepypasta regarding a murderous human-esque creature
that has appeared numerous times. Not to be confused with the
landscaping tool, The Rake’s name comes from one particular case of an
attack by this thing, in which a dying girl (hurt by the beast) simply
called it by this name. The Rake has spawned numerous Internet pranks
and was evidently once mistaken as a real monster sighting in Denver
Colorado, and has even inspired a popular found footage
semi-documentary.
Sonic.exe- originated
as a Creepypasta by JC the Hyena concerning a man named Tom who
receives a bizarre CD in the mail from his friend Kyle, who hasn’t heard
from in a while. Disregarding Kyle’s note telling him to destroy the
CD, Tom plays it and is immediately disturbed by the title screen
showing Sonic with bleeding black and red eyes. As he plays the game
further, Tom bears witness to just how monstrous this incarnation of the
blue hedgehog really is. Since then, Sonic.exe has received fan-made
sequels and has also been produced into a video game of sorts that
replicates the experience
Jeff the Killer- Starting
originally from newgrounds in 2008. Jeff the Killer began as a simple
yet creepy image of a blurred up close shot of a ghostly white man with
no nose, no eyelids and an extremely stretched mouth staring directly
into the camera. Quickly this image drew the attention of creepypasta
readers and stories concerning him flourished...
Noticeably his
image has been tethered to the infamous phrase, “go to sleep” because it
is normally used as the reveal of a shock site image hoping that the
user is looking at this close to their bedtime. Thus the ghostly image
remains in the afterimage of people’s thoughts. Ironic?
Horrifying House-guest
(also known as Never Alone, Uninvited Guest, or Shadowlurker) is an
image macro series featuring a pencil sketch of a creepy, ghost-like
figure, with large, sunken eyes and a malicious smile. The overlaid text
generally
contains micro-narratives referring to creepy and disturbing situations
and mental images. A common motif used throughout these captions are
stories or imagery that would keep one awake at night such as the fear
of having to use the bathroom in the dark, having your feet exposed from
the blanket, or hearing creaking noises outside your bedroom door.
The Grifter- The
Grifter is an alleged video that was first mentioned somewhere on /x/’s
imageboard. Watching it is said to be a soul-rending experience, far
more horrible than anything one could imagine. The image on the right is
said to contain screenshots of some of the scenes in the video. The few
that have watched it are said to have been killed in their own homes,
with only one thing in common, a strange doll, hidden somewhere in their
homes... There is a message by the end of the video in the constructed
international auxiliary language Esperanto, and says: “This child (now a
young man) is still alive and lives in a local shelter whose name was
not given. He never spoke, and still is katatonie [sic].”
And here is the supposed video...
NoEnd House- A
Creepypasta that describes a man taking a dare into walking through a
house to receive a prize. As he progresses the story gets dramatically
more and more psychologically terrifying and is noted for conveying a
real sense of loneliness and is notable for its simple but twist ending.
“Smile” - A
supposedly “haunted” image dating back to the beginnings of the
internet, smile.jpg has a reputation for driving those who view it
insane, making its victims view it in their mind’s eye at every turn.
While it has been discovered that these images in victims’ minds are the
result of epileptic seizures, there is no clear understanding of just
WHY the image causes this. All of the victims who spoke up about their
experiences however, have said that they are also visited by the
dog-like creature in the image, named “smile.dog”. When in these dreams,
the only thing the victims can do is watch and listen as smile.dog
tells them that the only respite to their torment is to “spread the
word”, and many of them recieve shortly therea0er a removable media via
mail with no return address. Inside these media is said to be another
copy or form of smile.dog, which the victim is encouraged to spread to
others. It is not known whether or not these stories are true however,
as both Snopes and Wikipedia have no articles regarding it, and any
attempt to create one is summarily removed by the administrators of
those sites.
THE SCP FOUNDATION.
SCP... An Acronym for “Secure, Contain, Protect”... SCP originally had it’s origins increepypasta itself, but has since moved on toit’s entire own website. The website is user created, but not wiki based. Stories are submitted as “SCP’s” and o0en are focused on a secret agency attempting to “secure”“contain” or “protect” supernatural or unexplainable events in the “real world”. Topics can range on anything from simple ghost tales, to unexplained natural events to the truly bizarre such as stories of never ending stairwells, creatures that only attack you upon staring at photos of them, strange orb like creatures that do no harm, yet cannot be avoided to a woman who discovers that the Holocaust literally happened inside of her nose.
SCP’s are numerical in order and range into the thousands. SCP got a big break in the 2010’s due to a few independent video games being made surrounding some of their subject matter. SCP 087 being the most popular,
the extremely simple yet amazingly haunting video game consists of an
unnamed player descending down a seemingly endless set of stairs with no
source of light and no weapons. Occasionally the screen will shake and loud noises will be heard. The object of the game is simply to die, it cannot be beat. Go as far as you can.
Containment breach.
Arguably the most popular SCP is no truly based on one single SCP story but a semi collection of a few of them. Titled simply SCP Containment breach, the
story set up consists nothing more of you and two fellow subjects
attempting to make contact with an alien looking SCP creature only to
have the experiment go haywire in which the player must find his or her way out of the game, quickly making it a survival horror game.
SLENDERMAN!
Slenderman
--- Love him, hate him, don't know what he is? Slenderman is
essentially the the horror of the Internet. He is the modern day
boogeyman. Physically he is a nameless, faceless thing, super skinny and
amazingly tall. When you do actually catch an appearance of him, it is
usually around children, which has yet to be explained why this is so.
The one thing about Slenderman that is utterly real though, is that he
is creeping around our world and currently haunts the internet. His
blank and lifeless face will eventually catch your eye
The Halloween spirit is abundant at Studio APT as Neil, James and
Special Guest Geek: Eugene Langley, take a terrifying tour of the SPOOKY
SIDE OF THE INTERNET! Luckily, Eugene is obsessed with this type of
thing, and is more than happy to educate Neil and James on the wonders
of Jeff the Killer, Ben Drowned, Sonic.exe, Slenderman and many others!
(Be sure and check out our companion guide below, for videos, pictures
and notes about all the spookiness covered in this episode)
Neil gets annoyed at the crew’s Walking Dead fanaticism, retro
Halloween commericals are played, and a new Chips Ahoy is given the
Snacksploitation treatment.
Also, if you answered our QUESTION OF THE NOW contest in which we
asked… “What is your favorite horror movie and why?” be sure and listen
to find out if you won a Thinkgeek.com gift certificate!
All this and more on 3DG EPISODE 39: GO TO SLEEP!
Don't miss your dose of nerd news, brought to you in handy podcast form by The 3 Drunk Geeks!
In this episode of The 12 PACK:
Scarlet Witch will be a less skanky Olsen sister, Quicksilver is set to "Kick-Ass", and The 11th Doctor sings with an American accent. All this and more in our CASTING ROUNDUP
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gets a full season! (But is it safe from the Whedon curse?)
In this seasonally festive episode of The 3 Drunk Geeks, The geeks are joined by Jen and Matt Hinds for another fantastic installment of "Getting Crafty with Jen"! Jen helps the boys get into the Halloween Spirit by offering a creative and unique way to enjoy your Jack-O-Lanterns all season long through the use of vinyl silhouettes! She even brought along some personalized pumpkins for Neil and James! Not to mention a Halloween themed Snacksploitation and some awesome Do Wants!
Be sure and visit this link to see how she brought this cool project to life!
On the most recent episode of 3DG, Neil and James are joined by Jen Hinds for an awesome Halloween themed craft! Check out Jen's instructions below for a alternate way of dressing up your Jack-o-lantern!
If you have lived in the desert at any point during the pumpkin carving season, you know that once you plunge your little plastic saw into its flesh the time starts ticking. Most people will wait until days before Halloween to avoid their hard work from melting into the pavement before the big night. Here is one option to enjoy your pumpkins for longer (no carving!) and be able to do something cool no one else is doing!)
What you'll need: * A profile shot of your subject. Preferably looking straight to the side (profile). I printed out a photo after converting the colors to B&W (This saves ink and sharpens features). The more detail, the more the end product will look like your subject. *Scissors * Scotch tape * Adhesive vinyl (I used black, but I think other colors would work too but you might not get that classic jack o' lantern feel). I got this roll from amazon for $12 (no shipping since I have Prime, but I have enough here to make maybe 30 pumpkins). I also saw some places selling single sheets for much cheaper. This is the one I purchased, and I am quite happy with it
Take your scotch tape and roll a few pieces to the back of your photo, making sure to tape where you will not be cutting.
Tape the photo to the vinyl and trim excess.
I like to start by cutting a rough area around the subject, so I am free to get as close as possible without a lot of excess paper around my hands.
The best trick to get into those tight details is to turn the paper in your hand, NOT try to lead with the scissors. I know its hard to tell by these shots, so I made a gif that will hopefully show it better http://makeagif.com/i/H5AKB0
Carefully remove the paper from the vinyl
Separate the vinyl from the backing and peel it off completely. The vinyl is very forgiving (unlike duct tape or contact paper) and will peel away from itself and other surfaces easily.
I started with the face, smoothing it over the pumpkin. Because you are putting a flat material on a curved surface, you will have creases. I wanted to make sure the face was as consistent as possible.
Continue smoothing across the rest of the head. Remember, if you realize it's crooked or not in the best place, just carefully lift a corner and peel it away from the pumpkin slowly and start over.
I found using my fingernail or the back of a pair of scissors got out a lot of the air bubbles and ridges.
And here they are. Back light them for a spooky feel, or try gutting them and see how they glow!
In this installment of the 12 PACK, Neil and James are once again joined their
friend, Jim Miller from New Mutiny Media (While our 3rd Drunk Geek, Nick
Grover, is still on hiatus)
This episode includes:
A quick update on "The Flash" (See what we did there?)
News on DC's newest Television project - "Gotham"
Browncoats rejoice! Dark Horse Comics will continue where Serenity left off!
SteamOS, Steam Machine and Steam Controller!
Curiosity is at it again! And this time the adorable robot found water!
Foot cream that kills AIDS... how has no one discovered this before now?
