A presentation for Dark Futures 2015 that I did about creepypasta. Good for an introduction to the subject, as well as offering some commentary on why creepypasta is getting popular and what direction it's headed.

1. CROWDSOURCING
FREDDY KRUEGER
The Creepypasta Cultural Phenomena
Patrick Sauriol – DARK FUTURES Nov 2015

2. Horror is a sign of the times
1818 1898 1956 1980 1998
• Fear of
Science &
death, dark
romance
• Imperialism,
apocalyptic,
end of times
• Fear of the
other,
monsters
from
space, the
atom
• The killer next
door, the
maniac on the
loose where
you live
• Technology
as impartial
observer to
the end

3. But up to now, it’s been a one-way dialog
■ Authors write the books
■ Moviemakers make the films (sometimes made
on the books)
■ If popular, sequels get made…Nightmare on Elm
Street 2, 3, 4, 5, eventually the reboot
■ Polishing the villain/threat is slow, takes years –
and the audience has the opportunity to get
accustomed to the nightmare & they lose the
fear

4. The Internet has changed things
■ In addition to revolutionizing the way that we BUY,WATCH, READ & EDUCATE ourselves,
the internet is emerging as a way to rapid prototype a new, more concentrated form of
horror for the next generation.
It’s called CREEPYPASTA, and it’s exploded in
popularity on the Internet.

5. CREEPYPASTA
■ These things first began “life” on internet forums
■ Scary stories that you read online = creepypasta
■ Origins around 2001, named around 2006
■ Kinda like urban legends, but typically with a
supernatural bent
■ ARG element – Alternate Reality Game – where
does the fiction end, and reality begin?
■ As creepypastas gets posted on msg forums, the
best ones get passed on & modified/intensified
(Richard Dawkins and his selfish meme in action)

6. CREEPYPASTA EXAMPLES
■ “Ted the Caver” –Ted writes about a series of
creepy caves, and implies something is living in
them. His online posts abruptly end after
promising to return to the cave network.
■ “CandleCove” – do you remember watching a kids
show that had really unsettling images and
messages in it?
■ “Squidward’s Suicide” – bogus episode of
Spongebob that got so much attention, one of the
show’s writers had to debunk it

7. Then along cameThe Slenderman
■ Well-dressed, thin, suited man with
long arms & no face
■ Children often vanish around him
■ If you see him, you’re eventually
fucked
■ All started from a 2009 contest on
“SomethingAwful” msg board to
come up with the scariest urban
legend
■ Original creator came up with 2
Photoshopped images and some
copy about a disturbing incident:

9. Slenderman goes viral
■ 2009 - 2012: “Marble Hornets”, a series ofYouTube
videos showing a young filmmaker investigating a
friend’s disappearance
■ 2011: “Minecraft” introduces the Enderman to scare
players
■ 2012: “Slender:The Eight Pages”, an indie video game
is released. 2 million d/loads in 1st month. Sequel
released in 2013.
■ 2014: Two 12-year-old girls repeatedly stabbed a
classmate 19 times because they wanted to summon the
Slenderman.The victim crawled off & was eventually
rescued. Now the girls are facing trial as adults & could
face up to 65 years in prison.
■ The film/TV/game rights to Slenderman are supposedly
owned by a mysterious third party…but then why does
the media keep getting made?

10. NYT: Between Dec 2014 – May 2015, 9
youths between the ages of 12 – 24 had
committed suicide at the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation in South Dakota,
U.S.

11. Photoshop &Video Blur Reality More
■ Indie filmmakers are taking the best creepypastas and making high-quality short films
“2AM”,
based on
The
Smiling
Man story
“Weirdo”,
based on
Anansi’s
Goatman
story
“Jeff the
Killer” – but is
the image
based on a
photo of an
actual suicide
victim?

12. SCP – Secure Contain Protect
■ SCP-wiki.net:Over 3,000 entries about
items, creatures & places where people
shouldn’t go.
■ Like Men in Black meets NSA.
■ Crowdsourced content: people add to
the wiki & feedback is used to improve
the immersiveness of each SCP.
■ Creative commons copyright – others
can modify & profit from SCPs.
■ Several SCP video games have been
released based on individual SCP files.
SCP-087
SCP-173

13. Godzilla: Monster of Monsters
■ 2011: It starts off as a creepypasta
■ 2015: An indie game developer is making the game &
releasing screenshots of its progress

14. Five Nights at Freddy’s
■ 2014: Indie game creator Scott Cawthon
releases his survival horror game.
■ Three sequels have followed, and the
movie rights have been optioned by
Warner Bros.
■ Gameplay: you watch security cameras
during the night shift at a kids’
restaurant with animatronic animal
characters that come to life & try to kill
you.

15. Channel Zero
■ 2015: SyFy is developing a newTV series based on the
“Candle Cove” creepypasta
■ Anthology series, each season featuring a new story
■ Max Landis (“Chronicle”) is producing, and he’s written
for the SCP wiki.

16. Why is creepypasta taking off?
■ Ghost stories around the digital campfire: We like to be scared, and creepypasta is just
the early 21st century manifestation of this.
■ Rapid prototyping: Post your scary image or story, get feedback fast. People take your
idea & adapt it to suit their own storytelling.You don’t need millions of $$$ to create it.
■ Immersive element: Just like an ARG, the story is subversive & plays on your perception
of reality.The “found footage” genre of film utilizes this approach cinematically.
■ Generation ownership: Just as penny dreadfuls, sci-fi B movies, slasher movies & found
footage films speaks to the culture of their times, creepypasta speaks to the generation
raised with the internet -- perhaps on a more psychological level than ever before.

17. Where is it going?
Are the disturbing qualities of the creepypasta phenomena a temporary blip (like the
Dungeons & Dragons controversy from the 80s, or heavy metal music from the 70s), or the
sign of something else?

18. Thanks, and have a good sleep tonight
I’m Patrick Sauriol
Follow me on
@Arcane_Bimmer
Working on a blog
one of these days…