Several years ago, my friend and I watched a whole bunch of Creepypasta films and stories on Halloween and were delightfully creeped out by the majority of them.  They ranged from the Russian Sleep Experiment to Ben Drowned.  Ben Drowned certainly creeped me out and gave me constant shivers down my spine.  However, the problem with tackling Creepypasta stories altogether is that you eliminate that doubt the hangs around in the back of your head.  You know these tales aren’t true simply because people have gone out of their way to debunk them and you are reading them all on a Creepypasta page.

So one year later, while I was doing research at the library, one of my Facebook friends posted a link (see below) on his wall and commented on its weird and chilling nature.  So I clicked on the link and sat back and watched it.

The video starts with a calm and stoic voice that introduces you to a story of a man who has hid quite a bit of money somewhere in Great Britain.  The content of the video, as it divulges information, strikes a healthy balance between seriousness and dark comedy that does not outright seem farfetched or outlandish.  I myself related to the video as I had by then hosted two riddle challenges for my friends where I hid a prize somewhere in my hometown.

The introduction of Fortress is another convincing piece of evidence for this video’s authenticity.  Although Fortress may have been a bit over the top, the use of old Youtube footage from 2005 sparks this degree of believability as by the time the video was released, this was six years ago and Youtube had gone though many major overhauls to its structure (such as the “star rating” system).  What’s more, our memories are untrustworthy so when we see old footage like this, we may lead towards video credibility if we are pushed justly in that direction.

Then we get the Pardoner’s Tale flash animation story.  Not only is the story delightful and creepy, it is well made and delivered.  This again lends credibility towards the video’s story on this riddle challenge.  If someone wanted to properly showcase an almost forgotten story on the internet, they would make sure to deliver quality services to its inquisitive viewers.

As the video continues, we return back to Fortress’ attempts to solve the puzzles.  The puzzles are hard but Fortress, along with his amateur video quality, takes us through his thinking process and finds the puzzles ones by one.  However, the video quietly takes a dark tone and this creepy music, similar in style to the movie It Follows, slowly seeps into the video and I can’t help but get these chills along my spine as the narrator’s voice just suddenly turns me off even though he barely changed his disposition.  And oh God that reveal at the end with the yellow letters just pushed it into uncomfortable territory.  But what really seals it for me is that creepy photograph at the end with the article about the dead body and the mystery of the unidentified person.  Fuck, no matter how many times I watch the video I still get these horrible chills from it.

So when the video ended, I had to check it out if it was real and, truth be told, it took me awhile to figure out that this was fake.  But here, I have to say, the video’s believability combined with its intriguing storyline, makes this my favorite Creepypasta story.  You see, I wasn’t watching this video during Halloween or actively looking for a video like it, it fell upon my lap most innocently and from there, I believed it, even if it was only for a few minutes.  That’s what makes a great Creepypasta, the ability to deceive while at the same time make you as uncomfortable as possible.