 This invitation to copy, imitate and add in contributing to the ideas and beliefs of these phenomena creates a perpetual feedback loop, allowing for continual exposure to the masses, imaginative infection, and spreading via new copying in new places or in the creation of new works. In other words, to go viral. Over the past decade and a half, we have seen a plethora of monsters birthed in online forums that have become viral sensations. These monsters often become the subjects of video games, fiction, art, and films, as well as even the catalysts for moral panics and even becoming linked to real-life crimes. In 2009, Eric Knudsen, AKA Victor Surge, created the granddaddy of these monsters, Slender Man. In 2018, a partially cropped image of a rubber bird-woman creature created by Japanese special effects company Link Factory became the face of Momo, an inhuman figure who supposedly reached out to children via social media and YouTube to encourage violent behavior. That same year, artist Trevor Henderson created Siren Head, a forty-foot skeletal figure with two giant, megaphone-like speakers for a head, each one filled with man-eating teeth and blaring random words and siren noises. Siren Head has since become the subject of several successful indie video games and mods, short films and TikTok videos, creepypastas and children’s fan art. And in 2022, we are seeing the birth of a new monster, though this one, like Fiddler’s Green in The Sandman, is less of a person or creature and more of a place: the Backrooms. Birthed from an anonymously posted photo of an empty office hallway with yellow wallpaper and its accompanying text on 4chan in 2019, the Backrooms are an alternate universe in the shape of an endless maze of these yellow office rooms and hallways, rank with the smell of moldy carpet and the buzz of electric lights, as well as the presence of some unknown monster stalking you from within the depths of the maze. While the Backrooms had proven popular before 2022, it went viral early in the year when teenage YouTuber Kane Parsons released a short film called Backrooms (Found Footage) on his channel, Kane Pixels. The tense nine-minute video currently has thirty-nine million views at the time I’m writing this, and Parsons has since released a series of videos on the Backrooms, creating both his own unique lore for the space and spreading the idea to new fans everywhere. The subject of Internet boogeymen and horror folklore spawned online has long fascinated me, leading me to create my own monster, Queen Alice, who will be making her debut in 2023 in my new book Hannah and Other Stories. I am also developing a short story or novelette set in the Backrooms, hoping to give this relatively young entry into the realm of horror folklore a personal spin. These creations have also made me wonder: what makes these characters not just terrifying, but also causes them to become online sensations that spread to every corner of the globe? And while it’s near impossible to definitively say there’s any recipe for viral success, let alone in the realm of horror, I have noticed among the four examples I’ve given some commonalities that I believe contributed to their virality: Occupying the uncanny valley or being something ordinary turned unordinary. The uncanny valley is the idea that objects or beings that resemble humans to a point that we see recognizable features, but not enough that we recognize them as human, causes feelings of nervousness, anxiety, and fear. This is the idea behind phobias of dolls, dummies, and mannequins, among other things, and it’s at the heart of many Internet monsters. Slender Man is a humanoid being in a black suit but without a face; Momo’s human face has oversized eyes and a long, beaklike mouth; and Siren Head has a body resembling a starved or skeletal human with pieces of technology where his head should be. And while the Backrooms in no way resemble humans, they often elicit the same feelings of wrongness and anxiety. Even the original image of the empty yellow office space evokes an eerie sensation in viewers. That’s because the Backrooms, like the other mentioned characters, are also something ordinary that’s been made unordinary and terrifying. Think of a normal office, including one you might go to every day: they are spaces occupied by furniture, equipment and technology, the occasional decoration or art piece, and of course, people. The fact that the office space depicted in the backrooms is empty, coupled with descriptions such as a moldy or damp carpet, evoking the idea that the space is long abandoned, brings out a feeling of wrongness all on its own. Spread via public forum and audience participation. Slender Man first appeared on the Something Awful website forums and quickly spread across the internet via creepypasta sites. Momo was first brought to the attention of people via YouTube, both as a featured character and in discussing the character herself. Siren Head was released on his creator’s Twitter account, and the Backrooms were born on 4chan. In addition, each one, with so little lore attached by the original creators, were almost inviting other users and creators to add their own spins to the characters. Slender Man’s video games, artwork and films added concepts like his tentacles and his notes, for example, and the Backrooms gained popularity via creators creating games and short films where they add their own ideas as to what the Backrooms are. Kane Parsons, in particular, has created his own miniature universe of folklore thanks to his highly successful video series, which in turn has influenced other creators in their additions to the Backrooms mythology, particularly Parson’s version. This invitation to copy, imitate and add in contributing to the ideas and beliefs of these phenomena creates a perpetual feedback loop, allowing for continual exposure to the masses, imaginative infection, and spreading via new copying in new places or in the creation of new works. In other words, to go viral. Technology may be part of their allure/horror. To varying degrees, each of these examples use technology to further their nefarious ends or have technology wrapped up in what makes them horrifying and fascinating, separate from their going viral via the internet. Slender Man is sometimes able to reach out to people via the internet, enslaving them or making them his next targets, and Momo was believed to reach out to people via social media platforms, especially YouTube and messaging apps like Whatsapp. Siren Head, meanwhile, is part technological equipment himself with his megaphones, a callback to WWII and Cold War era sirens warning of possible impending bombings. The presence of mouths within the megaphone pieces moves Siren Head from harbinger of doom to the actual cause of it as he chases his prey. And in some variants of the mythology, especially Kane Parsons’s, the Backrooms are born or created from scientific experiments into the fabric of reality. This itself adds a further layer of terror, as well as a feeling of responsibility. After all, any threats to humanity that the Backrooms and the entities within present are partially our fault. The possibility of being real. With their virality and the enthusiasm of those spreading and contributing to their mythology, its sometimes easy to believe these entities are real rather than the creation of other human beings. This is especially the case when the creator is not immediately known or quickly found out, such as Stephen King for Pennywise or HP Lovecraft for Cthulhu. Even when the creator of a fictional character or place is known, some may still mistake them for being real simply because of their ubiquitous nature. For example, the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, England often receives guests who believe Sherlock Holmes is a real detective and not the creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is not helped when the staff are required to tell guests wondering where the great detective is that “he’s out on a case,” allowing the mistaken belief to continue. Thus, it’s easy to believe in the actual existence of these characters and places, which we have seen before. Momo, for example, was the subject of a moral panic in 2018 fueled by concerned parents and watchdog groups believing her to be a real threat to children, which also in turn fueled her virality. And while there’s no evidence anyone was actually hurt or encouraged to hurt others or themselves because of Momo, Slender Man has famously been the inspiration for acts of violence by disturbed individuals. These incidents led to a nationwide panic around the character, as well as a decline in his popularity and an increase in benevolent portrayals from a shocked community of fans. Keep in mind, most fans and non-fans alike can tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and just because an internet horror phenomenon seems real isn’t necessarily a bad thing or something to worry about. It’s simply a factor that has helped to spread these creations across the world and into the horror zeitgeist. Being uncanny or making something ordinary look unordinary or terrifying. The invitation to spread and add to the lore of the central character or idea. Technology being part of the allure and/or horror in some way or another. And finally, the idea that what is being spread could be real. All these factors contribute to new creations of internet horror folklore and allow for them to spread across the world till they are part our culture. It may not be the case for all the examples out there, or the case for the next one to come and scar our collective psyches, but it is certainly the case with some of our most well-known examples, including the ones I have mentioned. And, in all likelihood, will be present with the next big internet horror craze, whatever form that may take. The Pure World Comes |
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