#485: Digital Cryptid
I have, with very little prompting, inadvertently created a horror buff – specifically, for digital cryptids. First it was the Momo creature thing, for the Two Spidermans meme element, but at some point in her YouTube wanderings, Momo discovered Sirenhead and the deep well of clickbait content about it.
She’s fascinated by it. It’s sparked some interesting conversations about inspiration and the creative process, how sometimes it feels good to be scared when you feel safe, viral videos, clickbait, and how adults are churning out low-quality meme videos in order to get children to click on them so they make money.
She knows Sirenhead isn’t real, and we’ve been checking in with her a lot to make sure she’s still chill, so when she mentioned that sometimes she was having bad dreams, we asked her to stop watching Sirenhead videos and she did – mostly, we’ve caught her sneaking a few – but the other day she asked me if she could watch ‘Bridgeworm’ videos, and I had no idea what that was, and let me tell you, friends: no. Absolutely not.
And then she asked about ‘forgotten babies’, and I was like, look, that’s it. When I, who lives on the internet, can’t keep up with you, you’re going too fast. She’s out here in the uncharted horror wilds, discovering digital cryptids I haven’t even imagined. Like, okay. I guess. I guess you’re just a wee horror buff now, hahaha.