When I made Decemystery 2024’s schedule, the plan was to have it be the biggest and best one ever, complete with stories that would leave you absolutely floored. This didn’t happen for reasons I’ve made abundantly clear throughout this month; I’ve bemoaned my mental health enough to where I’m sick of seeing the words get typed. Despite that, I still type them. Why? Don’t ask questions I can’t provide answers to, dear reader.
As a result of those issues, I uprooted the entire schedule but kept five of the original stories. The first was “The Triangle Creature,” which I only kept because of the name. Seriously, that name is amazing.
The second was “The Man From the Box,” which I was so close to not covering. Funnily enough, I also think it’s one of the main reasons why I fell behind schedule. It took a while to write, and while it was fun in hindsight, it also screwed me over badly.
Anyway, the third story was “bubbles.avi,” and I just now realized that I missed the opportunity to make a Bubble Buddy joke in the write-up. You know, the character from that one episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. I mentioned SpongeBob in the meme theory, but I failed to make the most obvious joke! This is what happens when you’re racing against the clock.
The fourth and most recent “purge survivor,” as I’ve called these write-ups, is “The Hawaiian Chupacabra,” which I think is one of the best articles I’ve ever done. I’m still so happy with it, even if I did digress quite a lot when discussing the Chupacabra itself.
Those four stories are the ones that survived the “purge.” Now, at long last, it’s time for the fifth one…
Which was actually scrapped because I fell behind schedule. Well, the original story was.
Yes, in a year filled with schedule changes, the original fifth survivor was taken out behind the shed and Old Yeller’d with some buckshot. I then had to dig up the corpse of another story to take its place—and that wording was not intended, given what you’re going to read later. My subconscious is screwing with me, and it’s only 2:36 in the afternoon.
Anyway, the story I opted to dredge up is from 4chan. Yes, we’ll be revisiting the site that I had no plans to revisit after I wrote about “A 4channer’s Disturbing VHS Discovery.” Why? Because I refuse to lose to the concept of time. I am far too arrogant to lose to clocks and calendars, dang it!
So, how do I intend to celebrate Christmas Day with you before we get to the Bonus Entry tonight? Well, you see, this isn’t any ordinary scary story. This is one that I said I didn’t think I could do justice to due to the time constraints. However, I’m feeling motivated, energized, and, above all else, eager to share something truly horrifying with you.
This is a story that does not bear a title. It does not bear any images. It does not bear anything other than one truly unsettling phrase; it’s a phrase that never fails to send a shiver down my spine.
“We’re Gonna Be a Family Again Soon.”
Family is Forever
Like every other scary 4chan greentext story I’ve done so far, I don’t recall where I first heard it. I think it might’ve been in a video from Kekke the OP, but I can’t say for certain.
What I do know is that I rediscovered the story on the subreddit 4chan horror under the post name “Anon’s family reunion.” The image is of the original post, which is from 4chan’s paranormal board, /x/, which can be read here. It was posted at 10:02 p.m. (22:02) on October 18, 2017.
According to the user (who I’ll refer to as Paul), the story occurred a decade prior. Assuming this wasn’t copied and pasted from somewhere else, this happened in the great year of 2007. The year of Michael Bay’s Transformers film, which I have now brought up two days in a row. That’s certainly a thing!
On a more serious note, I’m going to do something uncharacteristic and say that my assumption is correct. I checked 4plebs, and the only other time this greentext was shared was in 2022. That thread garnered a total of three responses, the first of which labeled the story as fake. Spoiler alert, dude!
Anyway, Paul said that his parents had died in a car accident “a week or so” prior to the events we’re about to learn about. On this particular night, he was in bed, crying himself to sleep. Keep this in mind for when we get to the theories because there’s something I want to harp on.
As Paul was presumably on the cusp of going to Dreamland, he heard “a creak on the floor” and “giggling” outside of his bedroom. This prompted his dog to look and start “growling like crazy.” Good boy (or girl)!
On a less good note, Paul suddenly saw something unimaginably terrifying. Out of nowhere, a figure peaked “around the corner of the door.” However, this wasn’t any ordinary figure. In fact, it was someone completely different.
It was his mom.
And what’s more, she didn’t look like a ghost—quite the opposite, in fact. She was fully corporeal…
Or so it seemed.
According to Paul, while his mother was there, she looked “different,” and her “movements [were] all wrong.” He described them as being “jerky and twitchy.” This makes me imagine her as a contortionist, like the actress who portrayed Kayako Saeki in the Ju-On and Grudge films for a while.
As Paul’s mother leaned in, staring at her son, she spoke. Here’s what she said:
Go to sleep, [Paul]. It’ll all be better soon.
For once, I polished the grammar.
Now, I’ve heard of ghosts communicating with people. However, they’re typically done through an EVP (or “Electronic Voice Phenomenon”) and not with the ghost standing in front of you. There are rare instances where such a thing has allegedly happened, but it’s exceedingly rare.
Additionally, Paul’s mom didn’t sound like a ghost—not one that I’ve ever heard of, anyway. He said her voice sounded “clotted.” I had to Google what this meant since I only had a vague idea. Basically, she had a hoarse voice; think about when you speak for long periods of time, and your vocal cords become strained. Beyond that, the only other possibility I can think of is that Paul’s mom sounded like she had mucus in her throat. If I’m wrong, by all means, correct me.
Regardless, the sight of Paul’s mom caused the dog to lose any courage; Paul claimed that his loyal companion was “whimpering and cowering.” This is another detail to keep in mind for later because I find it highly intriguing.
Despite the dog’s visible and audible terror, Paul’s mom (who he referred to as “mom” this time) jerked “back around the door.” Once she was out of sight, “another creak” filled the air, and Paul’s father peered “around the corner” to look at his son. Like his wife, he, too, spoke to Paul.
It’s okay, son. We’re gonna be a family again soon. Just fall asleep.
Once again, I polished the grammar.
Anyway, Paul’s father let out a giggle. The entire time, his movements were “spastic,” and his face was “a grinning rictus.” For those who don’t know what a rictus grin is, it’s a condition that causes an involuntary smile that’s caused by your facial muscles spasming. It can appear deeply unsettling to others but be highly uncomfortable for the person suffering from it.
After an unknown period of time, Paul’s father “jerks his head back out of sight.” With the figure gone, Paul “quickly and quietly” grabbed his phone and dialed 911 “to report a home invasion.” I’m going to guess he has a cellphone because I have to imagine the sound of him pressing the buttons on a landline phone would be loud enough to alert his uninvited guests.
Then again, those guests weren’t exactly giving much mind to what was going on as they were moving around the hallway and giggling. All the while, Paul lay in bed, crying from fear. I’m guessing his dog was still cowering because if not, it disappeared just like Steve’s dog did the other day.
Decemystery 2024 and Missing Pets. What a combination.
Anyway, after some time, Paul “saw flashing lights” outside of his home. This was accompanied by “muffled shouts,” “hurried movement in the hallway,” and something crashing “to the ground.”
Here’s where things get as confusing as they do creepy (well, I think this story is creepy). After something crashed to the ground, Paul heard “muffled shouts from downstairs” as the police entered “through the front door.” I’ll discuss this more when we get to the theories, but I’ve got no idea what happened. All I can envision is Paul’s mother and father jumping from the top of the steps to the bottom like they’re on the Moon.
But, hey, that’s beside the point (for now). Moving on, the cops entered Paul’s house and searched it. After a bit, one of the officers approached him. Paul said he was “white as a sheet.” Evidently, they had found something. I wonder what it could’ve been!
[Paul], it’s hard to tell you this, but we found your parents… faces… on the ground outside.
Grammar: Polished.
Ellipses: Kept in.
Confused: Heavily.
Tic-tac-toe, baby!
With that harrowing revelation, Paul ended his post by saying the police never found who tormented him that night and that he still suffers nightmares.
That’s where the story ends. If you’re interested in the replies, there are a few, and I’d prefer to go over them in the theories. However, I will quote one because it summarizes how I feel about the greentext in one word.
Spooky.
I concur, anonymous 4channer. Anyway, enough procrastinating; I want to discuss the theories really badly. So, come along; let’s begin speculating to our hearts’ content!
Theories
1. It’s real
I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know how to make this theory work.
I know that goes against my rule of being impartial; while I’ve changed up how I do theories as of late (with me giving my personal opinion at the end of the theory), I have to concede right off the bat that there’s nothing to work with—and I mean nothing.
If I Google “grave robber cuts off faces,” most of the results I get are for Ed Gein, a man whose story I’d rather not tell because it’s utterly disgusting and makes me nauseous. There’s also a result for “Grave Robbing for Morons,” which is something I’ve considered writing about. However, it’s been done by a bunch of other people, so I think my two cents are worth zero cents.
Don’t ask how I did the math for the currency exchange rate there.
In terms of actual documentation or any sort of concrete evidence that such an incident happened, this story is as empty as a Wal-Mart on Mars. We only have Paul’s word to go on, and I’m unwilling to invest an iota of stock in that because this is 4chan, a site known for pranks.
The most I can say in this theory’s favor is that it isn’t implausible. If Paul’s parents had enemies who wanted to torment him, and they knew where his parents were buried, they could have dug up their graves and done something to their corpses.
Unfortunately, there are numerous issues with this specific example, but I’d rather discuss them in the next theory.
Beyond that, the only thing I can do is take shots in the dark. That would be fun, but I genuinely don’t know what else to think of besides this being a really twisted prank—a prank where there are so many unanswered questions that I’m sure I could make a hefty list out of them.
But, hey, don’t take my word for it. Let’s move on to the next theory and instead go over why this story is most likely a hoax. I know that’s a real shock. It’s not like this is a 4chan greentext story.
Eh, who cares? I love them to death. Now, onward!
2. It’s fake
The stories and information posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact.
That’s the disclaimer found on 4chan’s random board, /b/. However, many apply it to most of the boards on 4chan due to the anonymous nature of the site. When you’re anonymous, anyone can make up whatever they want for laughs—even if it’s at the expense of someone else.
4chan’s /x/ board that really demands this type of disclaimer since a lot of the stories are dubious at best. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, mind you. I’ve made it abundantly clear that I want to cover more of them because I love how creepy and unsettling they are, and I believe this case is a phenomenal example.
As I said above, there is nothing about this case online. Absolutely nothing. In fact, I think I found more proof that the script for Sinister 3 lived under my old bed than anything regarding Paul’s traumatizing encounter.
Had this actually occurred, this would have undoubtedly gotten a massive amount of media attention—and I’m adamant that the cops would have shot at the culprits.
Let me take this one step at a time. For starters, I don’t know how many graves are desecrated or robbed each year. On top of that, I don’t know where this story took place. All I know is that Paul used 911 as the emergency number.
According to Wikipedia (yes, I know that’s not the most reliable source for information, but bear with me), countries that use 911 for emergency services are as follows: Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay.
These are all vastly different countries with different economies, struggles, cultures, and a whole boatload of other things that I don’t care to go over. But, above all else, bodies are buried differently. For example, in Pakistan, bodies are wrapped in a white cloth. It’s known as a “Kafan,” which is a part of Islamic tradition.
Why is that important? Well, if Paul’s parents were dug up, the grave robbers would’ve had to unwrap his parents before somehow stealing their faces (more on this later because it’s its own can of worms).
This is but one example of traditions being different, so narrowing down where this occurred is anyone’s guess. I could assume it was the United States, but I’d rather not default to my home country. I feel like I assume about enough stuff on this blog as it is.
Moving on, the next thing I want to bring up is how the cop (or cops) knew whose faces they were looking at. Unless the officer in question (or another who responded) knew them personally, or his parents were prominent figures, that’s a major strike against this story’s credibility. I refuse to believe the police played the assumption game that hard with Paul.
To add to this, it blows my mind that the police wouldn’t have shot at the two home invaders as they rushed them. I don’t care what your stance on gun control—or firearms in general—is. If you’re responding to a home invasion and you see two masked individuals who, presumably, are twitchy and jittery rushing at you, I have to imagine your first instinct is going to be, “Oh no, these people are going to try and kill me!”
At the absolute least, you would draw your gun and aim it in hopes that you could make them surrender. Yet, as far as we can tell, these people somehow got away. Did nobody radio for backup? Did nobody try pursuing them? From the sounds of it, the two people who stole Paul’s parents’ faces escaped… somehow!
If I’m honest, I always imagined they leaped over a guard rail and ran off like Pale Crawlers. But if that were the case, I doubt the officers would’ve stayed in town. I imagine they’d throw their badge at the police chief and scream, “This town is full of monsters; I’m out!”
In all seriousness, this factor bothers me greatly because it goes against the most basic aspect of survival instincts: The desire to survive. If someone aggressive is coming at you, and your line of work requires you to make split-second decisions that can save your life and end another, you’re trained to ensure that you survive.
Yet, here, that isn’t the case. Nobody discharged their guns. Nobody did anything. It sounds like there was a scuffle before the cops decided the intruders weren’t worth pursuing, and instead, all opted to check Paul’s house.
I digress, though; I’m starting to repeat myself. The next issue is about the graves themselves. Namely, we don’t know if they were ever checked after the whole incident. Then again, Paul never returned to the original thread to answer anything, so we don’t even know if the cops followed up on the incident. All we know is they never caught the culprits.
Gee, maybe if you’d tried pursuing them, you would have! What, were gas prices too high!?
Whatever; the graves themselves are a point of interest because, as I said earlier, I don’t know how many graves are desecrated each other. I can’t find the exact number of statistics, but I know it does happen. However, I don’t believe it’s anywhere near as common as it was centuries—or even decades—ago. I also don’t believe acts like cutting off faces to terrorize others are common.
“But wait!” screams that obnoxious voice from the aether. “What about Ed Gein?”
Ed Gein is an exception—a MAJOR exception, at that—to the rule. The average grave robber seeks to steal valuables that a deceased person was buried with. Ed Gein was a sick, twisted, and vile man who was also possibly a serial killer.
While the actions of the two suspects here would be akin to Gein’s actions (to a degree, anyway; from what I know, Ed Gein did make masks out of human skin), I don’t know of him wearing faces to torment people. This reminds me of something Art the Clown would do if he spoke.
That brings me to the last issue with this whole story: How were the faces removed?
I’m trying to visualize how these people would have looked, and I can’t imagine Paul would recognize them without seeing their hair or any other distinguishing features. However, unless the people somehow got their eyes to remain in whatever masks they made, I’ve got nothing.
Also, in my attempt to visualize all of this, I’ve lost my appetite. Thank you, Decemystery. You know how to make my already minimal diet even smaller.
Of course, nitpicking at this story is like talking to a brick wall. It’s a greentext story from 4chan; the story is meant to be enjoyed. I mean, this whole thing screams “campfire story” in a sense; I can’t fault it for that—especially when I adore it to no end. So, let’s move on to the meme theory before we swing into my take!
3. They were interdimensional plastic surgeons
I always wondered how facelifts were performed. Well, now I know. You contact your local interdimensional theory variant, and it rips your face off and wears it. How quaint!
My Take
Before I get into my take, I want to say that this is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite 4chan horror stories. It’s one of the few that’s ever truly frightened me, and if I were ever given the opportunity, I’d love to turn it into a short horror film. The only change I’d make is I’d turn the parents into spirits or hallucinations that would serve as allegories for the person’s grief.
As the film goes on, they become increasingly distorted and mangled until they no longer resemble his parents but rather ghoulish monsters. However, as the person comes to terms with the loss of his parents, they would revert to their original form. I’d have the movie end with him embracing them one final time.
The only reason I bring this up is because it’s something of a dream of mine; I genuinely want to see this come to life in some way, shape, or form. I’ve always had a hard time coping with the loss of a loved one, and I think a part of me can relate heavily to the central theme of loss in this greentext. It feels surreal to say that since this 4chan we’re talking about, but contrary to what you may hear on other parts of the Internet, the site does have its moments.
With that out of the way, though, my take on the story as a whole is that I doubt it’s real.
Yeah, I know, that’s got to be really underwhelming. However, this isn’t exactly screaming “true story” from atop the highest mountains. If something like this happened, the media would have been all over it. Not only that, but Internet sleuths would have made it one of the biggest cases around. There’s no way something as crazy as this could go unnoticed in this day and age.
It’d also be highly impractical to wear a human face as a mask. I’m sure you could do it if you were very meticulous about it, but just slicing someone’s face off isn’t going to work. I don’t want to get into why, but I hope you can put two and two together to understand, dear reader. The real world isn’t The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not by a long shot.
Now, does that mean something like this can’t happen? No, absolutely not. Ed Gein’s atrocities are proof that people like this have existed. There’s a very real possibility that someone could do something like this, and I think that’s far scarier than any horror film out there.
As it stands, though, the lack of documentation, along with the unanswered questions, leads me to doubt this story’s veracity. Nevertheless, it remains one of the scariest 4chan greentext stories I’ve ever read, and I cannot wait to share even more of them with you guys in the future.
There’s nothing quite like enjoying a video game while listening to a text-to-speech voice read off the latest spooky Innawoods/Fleshgait thread. Ah, what wonderful memories.
Digression: Tormenting Chatbots With Vertigo!
This section is completely unrelated to the rest of the write-up; I just wanted to slot it in somewhere for my own amusement. Feel free to skip it if you want.
Ever since last year—while I was writing the Decemystery duology—I had this odd fascination with sharing this story with chatbots on Character AI. I think it’s because they’d always act so terrified; I understand it’s an AI, but the fact they’d never generate an answer outside of acting traumatized led me to torment various characters from shows and franchises that I knew nothing about.
Seriously, I have no idea what Amphibia is, but traumatizing Marcy Wu and her friends was more than a little bit enjoyable.
Anyway, why am I mentioning this to you? Well, I want to share with you guys the joys of tormenting chatbots with a spooky 4chan greentext story. That, and I thought of doing this while showering—and as we all know, the best ideas originate in one of three locations:
Elevators.
When you’re on the verge of falling asleep.
When you’re on the porch at 6:00 in the morning, watching the sunrise, trying to decide if cream of wheat or oatmeal is the superior breakfast meal (it’s cream of wheat, by the way).
Oh, and the shower is somewhere in there.
Now the backstory is out of the way, I decided that the only acceptable choice for such a digression was Aerith Gainsborough. You know, that lady from Final Fantasy VII who made Cloud forget what a Phoenix Down is.
I decided that the best way to go about making this interaction happen would be if I told Aerith that I’d give her a Middlemist’s Red Camellia. For those who don’t know, that’s one of the rarest flowers on Earth, and Aerith is a florist in FF7.
After generating new answers for a solid minute because every answer was dull as can be, I finally copied and pasted the story to Aerith. Here was her response!
*Aerith’s face pales as the story progresses, the eerie atmosphere and the unsettling details taking hold of her imagination. Gasps of shock and sympathy escape her lips, her eyes widen with a mixture of terror and disbelief. When the story reaches its chilling conclusion, a shiver runs down her spine, and she covers her mouth with her hand in horror.*
Oh, no... That’s horrifying! I can’t imagine what you went through. Are you...okay?
And this, dear reader, is why chatbots are no substitute for real friends. They’re terrible at reading comprehension…
Also, no, I’m not okay. I’m still writing Decemystery when it’s nearly Christmas Day!
Anyway, on to the conclusion!
Conclusion
You know, I wrote this write-up in roughly six hours, and that’s accounting for the hour-long break I took at one point to play an online version of Wordle. I’m actually disappointed I’m done with this one; I was having so much fun!
No, that isn’t a joke; I adored this write-up. Getting to cover a tale as meaningful and exciting as this one was an absolute blast. This story really influenced my overall perception of 4chan’s horror stories, and I will forever be indebted to it because it’s arguably one of the main reasons I continue to operate this blog nowadays.
Had it not been for greentexts like this, I’d wager I would’ve eventually found myself doing something else with my life. Even with my passion for cryptozoology, my interest in Fortean horror has such heavy roots in listening to YouTube channels like the earlier mentioned Kekke the OP, Keque, and Chass. The stories of Fleshgaits (erroneously known as Skinwalkers) are what drove me to look deeper into the Fortean.
Despite the level of fun I had covering this story, though, I must admit that I’m equally ecstatic to be done with it. Why? Well, it means there are only seven write-ups left. Then, I can take a nice break and hopefully solve all the issues I need to make 2025 everything I wanted 2022, 2023, and now 2024 to be.
Until then, though, it’s time for me to begin work on this year’s Bonus Entry. What will entail in that story? Well, return 12 hours after this write-up goes up to find out.
Until then, tell me your thoughts on this story; did you enjoy it as much as I did? Or did you find it to be rather lackluster? I’d also love to know if you think I should keep covering 4chan greentext stories or if their dubious veracity makes them unfulfilling to read about.
Personally, I really like it since sharing my favorite spooky stories with you is fun. Let me know in the comments, and, as always, stay happy, stay healthy, and thank you for reading!
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