I Hate Creepypasta

MISDIRECTION! Actually, I don’t hate Creepypasta. I hate the term because instead of a creative portmanteau that has a bit of flair or utility, the term ‘creepypasta’ reads like the sugar-demented compound-word biproduct that one would associate with paint-huffing and Mt. Dew. ‘Creepypasta.’ It’s adapted from the word ‘copypasta’ which is a lazy version of ‘copy paste’ that sprouted from trolling on 4Chan. Or something like that.

Creepypasta. It doesn’t invoke any fear. Instead, anyone saying it comes off as an idiot. And I’m not afraid of idiots–unless they vote in huge numbers. I think this is why political elections and Halloween are held so close together, because they both require a lot of disbelief, blind faith and fear.

However, I like the concept of scary paranormal stories and short horror-microfiction (the actual definition of “creepypasta” over at creepypasta.com) being used in conjunction with a user’s innate naivete behavior, that to believe whatever they read on the internet to be 100% true, as a way to trick, fool or scare someone. It’s a way to be creepy but when it starts to get out of hand, like the ‘Slenderman’ creation, it starts to get dumb. Speaking of Slendy-wendy. Did you know he was a featured killer in KILLERS 2, a haunted attraction in New York City. Gawker sent a couple of their people over and this is what they had to say about it:

 

Rich: And then he starts talking about some tall man in a suit that we should beware of and, as he’s saying this, the “painting” (of the tall man) behind him reaches out and grabs him.

Caity: The tall man just kind of looked like something you’d see on Rocko’s Modern Life. Some faceless white cartoon creature with pointed limbs. And part of the guy’s warning about him included something like “People on the Internet say he is real,” which is just about the weakest way to justify anything.

Rich: People on the internet say a lot of things….

That they do. I really wish that I made it to both KILLERS and KILLERS 2. I know they had Gacy and Bundy, but I was curious that, if they had Slender Man, if they had The Grey Man.

This is something we should consider with ‘creepy pasta.’ The whole idea is to let ourselves be afraid by some rumor, some fake story, some bullshit word-of-mouth creation. But, there are some sincerely frightening individuals in our history, like Albert Fish. We can take a break from actually making monsters to learning about the real ones that have existed.

Or we can stop using that god-awful term. Either way.

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