Horrific myths on the Internet

The "creepypasta" have become the new ghost stories

Horror stories have long lined human history. Because we straddle the line between near perfect control over our environment and at the same time shadowy areas lurk within. Who knows what lies in the depths of forests, abysses or simply places that the light does not touch in the middle of the night? It's hardly surprising that the Internet has taken up the torch of stories around the fire by using its peculiarities.

In fact, as this ARTE report aimed at the 18+ age group shows, online horror stories are often called "creepy pasta," a neologism that starts from two concepts. First of all, the "copy pasta" that could be translated by the copy-paste that frequently happened on the forums where users pasted sentences en masse. Then the term "creepy" is added. These are therefore terrifying stories that work by sharing them online. What's more, today's multimedia tools make it easy to create effects and worlds.

So, amateur horror filmmakers are able to produce stories and clips that elicit the chills. The growing prominence of video games has provided opportunities to tell legends of "haunted games," even fictional titles hiding a dark reality.

Somehow, the reason these stories have worked is because they border on the real by addressing issues of mental health, crime, isolation, paranoia, etc. Especially since imaginary horror rubs shoulders with the real online.

Only on YouTube can there be as much compelling fiction about cryptids while surveillance camera footage showing atrocities is available without being removed (or much too late). French youtuber and musician Feldup tells a good story in his various videos of how both of these aspects exist online.