podcast script Ep 32- the SCP foundation and the digital horror unniverse

 After the boom of the twenty-first-century computer revolution, we now have more progressive means of sharing a story, now with the ability to spread a story worldwide effortlessly, including some of the scariest stories known, the SCP foundation is a fictional secret society that according to their own website The Foundation employs a diverse group of personnel, including researchers, agents, and containment specialists who work together to study, understand, and contain the anomalies. They utilize advanced technology, specialized equipment, and rigorous protocols to ensure the safe handling and study of these anomalies and go by SCP which stands for Secure, Contain, and Protect. According to the SCP Foundation database website, “The SCP Foundation (and scp-wiki.net) maintains documentation for all of the SCPs in its custody, which can include or link to related reports and files. These documents, written in an academic/scientific style, describe the SCPs and include instructions for keeping them safely contained. Though clinical in tone, each of these documents is often put together in such a way that it tells a story or leads the reader to infer things about the Foundation, the researchers who drew up the document, the object’s past, etc. They can also include transcripts of relevant interviews, exploration logs from when the object was first discovered or contained, and other documents in which living breathing people are shown to speak and let their humanity peek through in stark contrast to the cold, indifferent language that dominates the Foundation’s database of dangerous and perplexing phenomena.” At first, the Digital Horror Universe among itself is usually comprised of Writers that often use multifaceted resources to create a story, following either the loved Creepypasta formula or traditional short story format sometimes even successful enough to encourage a series. Then there are the Narrators (some of the most well-known Creepypasta Narrators are CreepsMcPasta, Mr. Creepypasta, and CGS (Creepy Ghost stories) as well as MidnightChills, Natures Temper DeadManTalkingsForestOfFear, Vidiith22, Mr. Davis, and Chilling Tales for Dark nights)  that of course cover the endeavors of the Digital Horror Universe posting read-along to the favorited Reddit r/nosleep stories and the creepypasta stories that loosely mimic the plot styles of the OG’s, by default we know the most famous and loved Creepypastas are those such as- Smile Dog.jpg, Abandoned by Disney,( Supporting other Disney centered Creepypastas such as Suicide Mouse), Candle Cove, The Russian Sleep Experiment (My favorite off this list), Ben Drowned (a famous creepypasta that has almost garnered more attention than the early 2000’s video game itself that it is inspired by, The Legend of Zelda’s Majora’s Mask), Jeff the Killer, The Rake, The Backrooms and of course Slenderman. the strictly Creepypasta channels and the more journalistic channels that cover media and news involving digital media, such as lost footage, creepy online phenomena, and elaborate horror ARG these platforms of new-age horrors have certainly capitalized on a genre on their own, but with that is a sizeable list of elements that make these entries so special.

The Elements of The Digital Horror Universe

• The Anonymity of the Writers and the Credit Problem

Because publishing your work online is a relatively new endeavor the risk factors are often not considered since it’s a progressive form of marketing that is often seen as more savvy than dangerous, and of course giving the term Ghostwriters a whole new light but simultaneously endangering the credibility of the writers, or in more simple terms, it may be hard to pinpoint who wrote what and when it was originally published 

• The Iceberg model

In 1976, anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher Edward T Hall developed the ‘Iceberg Model of Culture’ and explained that organizational culture is like an iceberg found in polar seas, this figurative model has been adopted by the digital horror community quicker than speed seemingly and with that the model has been used in analysis videos in any genre with enough depth. The Iceberg symbol is used in analysis videos to explain the sequence or level of depth for pieces of any media or complicated genres. It was around 2019 when Youtube began peaking in Iceberg Model-related content, these videos described usually one layer at a time. Some of the most notable titles partaking in lost media and creepypastas respectively and more niche sides of the spectrum like certain phenomena, true crime, urban legends, and footage or video game media with dark undertones, some are even divided up by the layer because the host documents each layer with so much detail they have to make separate videos. I, personally love these videos featuring Hall’s Iceberg Model, it categorizes such a complicated subculture of the creepy internet culture for all brands of modern horror enthusiasts. Some of the more common iceberg model creepy content titles I’ve seen are “The Bible Theory Iceberg Explained” 

• Shock Videos and Internet Gore

Since the birth of Horror as a sub-genre, cheap scares, and gore has followed on the journey. Gore means blood, guts, bone, and tissue after fatal attacks you’d see in a rated-R movie. According to an article by “Screenshot" https://screenshot-media.com/culture/internet-culture/gore-websites-addictive/

Who quoted psychologist Dr. Glenn Walters stated the three primary factors that make horror films alluring are tension (generated by suspense, mystery, terror, shock, and gore), relevance (that may relate to personal relevance, cultural meaningfulness, the fear of death, etc.), and (somewhat paradoxically given the second factor) unrealism.” Terrible things like Murder can happen in real life but some self-proclaimed Gore enthusiasts say that desensitizing themselves to gore helps remove the shock and taboo reputation of such subjects therefore taking back the power it holds on. Naturally, the reason we find gore so disturbing is simply that seeing someone’s brain strewn and splattered outside of their skull is unnatural and “wrong” This is a very natural and very necessary instinct we have as humans. These instincts can be impreventable and more strong than those of others, Surgeons, first responders, firefighters, and ER technicians subject themselves to this but at the same time It’s estimated that 18-24% of dispatchers and 35% of police officers suffer from PTSD. Many first responders self-medicate with alcohol or other self-destructive and abusive behaviors in an effort to cope with the stress and trauma they deal with daily, based on the research conducted by The National Alliance on Mental Health, as well as approximately 15 to 17 percent of emergency physicians, and upwards of 20 percent of emergency medicine residents met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD in 2019 alone, and these are only the ones that agreed to participate in the study and after the peak of the 2020 pandemic, it’s assumed that these numbers have only doubled since then. The point is, if you can control the graphic content that enters your psyche you at least should keep it to a minimum and regulate yourself for the greater good of yourself and others, but because the mind seeks to know what it most likely does not need to know, we describe the indescribable and sometimes more than often find gratification and pleasure off of knowing, Think of our lust for gossip, secrets and the guilty desire to know what a human body looks like after it was hit by a train going 200 mph. 

• The Lost Media (Real and Fake)

Lost Media- (according to Wikipedia) An umbrella term for media that is missing, unavailable, destroyed, or non-existent to be accessed y the general public, this media is usually film, radio broadcasts, writing and digital publications, video games, etc. The accounting for Creepypasta and many other new-age horror Media projects can be lost just as easily as they appear in thus making lost creepypasta a whole little genre of Creepypasta on its own. I can't describe exactly what makes “lost media” so interesting to some but I do believe it has to do with piecing together a part of your past to just make it a little more familiar when we partake in certain media, there are times when something just sticks with you in an almost supernatural way, it may fade like the rest of old memories, but something about is just so special, whether it’s in an innocent cute way or a dark and mysterious way, you just want to track that piece of media down and relive that experience and all the other precious memory attached to it. Of course, Lost media is valuable to investigate and identify for the sake of Digital History alone, piece together timelines, and also give artists the credit they are entitled to. 

• The Audience and the Community 

While Horror has historically been a taboo subject the consumers of horror have always been universally imagined to look the same, the gothic-dressed, morbid, coffee-drinking consumers with nocturnal sleep schedules, and horribly desensitized psyches but with any digital community there are trolls, creeps, and obsessive geeks ut some take Creepypasta’s a notch to seriously and draw into question whether such a public pursuit of horror content should be more monitored. The Slenderman Stabbing is one of the more highly publicized cases of people including horror stories to their delusional decision making, but this one was infamous for the perpetrator's young ages and the intentions of their delusions, the two 12-year-olds Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier attempted to stab their schoolfriend Payton Leutner to death as a sacrifice in the attempt to save themselves from Slendermans evil wrath, although the story varies, both girls are getting the therapy they need and after being placed on anti-psychotic medication, they’ve both expressed remorse for their actions. There have been numerous controversies stemming from the Creepypasta Community, many include cases of grooming underage fans, plagiarism, and cyberbullying that escalated to doxing. I’d like to mention that the case I’m about to discuss here is from other 3 years ago and even though those involved are not mentioned, I don’t mean to make light of a situation that may or may not even be true, any Internet community is not immune to rumors and defamatory speculation so please take these with a grain of salt while at the same time listen and be aware of the allegations and the victim’s purpose in coming forward. According to a Reddit post made on r/creepypasta, the user  u/tormuntalist made a detailed breakdown of the situation, the main allegation was “Kumori, who had appeared in CreepsMcPasta's narration videos at the age of 12, revealed that she was allegedly groomed by, and sent nudes to, CreepsMcPasta. He was 21. Kumori was provably working with CreepsMcPasta, who tried to remove her credit from the videos when this came out, but then put her name back when people noticed he had done it. She spoke with CreepsMcPasta often enough that they worked together on a project she came up with, (she is credited by CreepsMcPasta as the creator) and when her computer privileges were taken away after her parents found out about their alleged relationship, CreepsMcPasta knew she would be offline and told his audience she would no longer be around. These public posts prove Kumori and CreepsMcPasta held conversations with each other beyond submitting voice lines, including the issue that CreepsMcPasta asked for nudes and has received nudes from the underage accusor.