1. Max Headroom
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWdgAMYjYSs&w=584&h=315]
During a three hour span on the evening of November 22, 1987 an unidentified person (or group of people) successfully hacked into two TV station’s broadcasts, playing the video above. Dressed to resemble Max Headroom, the lead character in an eponymous science fiction show he oddly danced around the screen mumbling weird non-sequitor statements.
At one point he mooned the camera while another person said “Bend over bitch” and spanked him.
The creepiest part of the video, to me, is the random jumbled phrases the Max Headroom character says. It’s one thing to devote massive time and energy (and risk going to jail) to send out a message about an issue you care about–but to do that work to act like a schitzo and dance? What’s the point? Not having a motive is the scariest motive of all.
While the case remains unsolved, a reddit user claims he knows who is behind it: a severely autistic man he knew and his brother. A new profile in Vice explores this theory more, but posits that the attack was perpetrated by someone who has a relationship with WGN, since it was the original target (after they weren’t able to break into WGN, they switched to WTTW.
2. The frantic Area 51 caller
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZDzWIG7x_4&w=584&h=315]
Late night talk show favorite, Coast to Coast AM has had some pretty disturbing calls over the years, in part due to longtime show-runner Art Bell’s policy of not screening callers before putting them on the air. I’ve heard people call in claiming to be the antichrist, bigfoot’s assassin, and the devil himself.
This frantic area 51 caller is one of the most memorable of all. The caller sounds disturbed out of his mind, claiming to have just been dismissed from his job at Area 51 and is now seemingly on the run for his life. 6 months later a man called Art Bell again, claiming to be the same man in this call and saying the whole thing was a hoax. But, you know, if it WAS real the government probably tortured him into doing that so his recant doesn’t go very far.
3. Marble Hornets
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmhfn3mgWUI&w=584&h=315]
A bizarre and engrossing YouTube series, as of today there are 80 different videos following an unnamed guy who becomes obsessed with reviewing the tapes his filmmaker friend left behind, and discovering why he stopped suddenly and left town. He sees things in the tape, his friend was being followed and there are odd sound anomalies. Soon the tapes show that the filmmaker was recording his own movements at all times, even recording his own sleep (and hence, unexpected night time visitors).
Set aside a few hours and watch these videos in order (starting with 1) without doing any prior internet research. There’s also a twitter account of the creator of the YouTube series that runs in real time.
4. What happens Yellowstone super volcano blows
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwgSPKDuZas&w=584&h=315]
This isn’t your typical scary YouTube video because it’s about an actual danger (not “GHOST CAUGHT ON TAPE”) and it’s 45 minutes long. It explains that there’s a super caldera underneath Yellowstone and it’s getting closer to a “super eruption” every day. This video delivers some hard truths about what will happen when the super volcano blows: the lava would shatter the earths surface (explosion would be 10x larger than Mount St. Helens), the ash in the air would block the sun and cause global cooling, followed by a ring of explosions 50 miles wide. Yay.
5. House centipede vs. wolf spider
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ1vntiMqq0&w=584&h=315]
I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
6. Pedophile grandpa singing ‘Pretty Woman’
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wdmSL2-Ock&w=684&h=315]
Meet Edarem, just a regular creep trying to make it as an internet sensation. Except that he also was previously convicted of molesting a 14-year-old boy and as a registered sex offender, is not allowed to use the internet. When your creeper radar goes off, sometimes it’s good to trust your instincts.
7. Charles Manson – Dianne Sawyer Documentary
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4qZB2ytq10&w=584&h=315]
Gooooooood. No one brings the creeps like Charles Manson, he’s just SUCH a sociopath. If the unknown is the source of most fears, Manson is so terrifying because he doesn’t seem to act, talk, or think like anyone I’ve ever been familiar with. I have no idea how his brain works, and it frightens me to no end. I’m a true crime fan so I’ve read Helter Skelter and some other stuff on the Tate-Labianca murders and DAMN. It’s not just that he got people to kill a group of people for no reason (and, probably, killed some other people himself), it’s how brainwashed they were about it–taking glee in the killings.
8. Catching a shark while fishing
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcuYjDR2tSg&w=584&h=315]
This video is a group of people fishing in Myrtle Beach. They catch a pretty big fish when all of a sudden a bull shark pops up and devours their catch. Um wow, pretty sure I’d be swimming in those waters if it weren’t raining. Will it ever be safe to go in the water again?
9. I feel fantastic
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLy-AwdCOmI&w=584&h=315]
Spoiler alert: you won’t feel fantastic after watching this. :(
10. Ghost to Ghost AM
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwJ3jhxepFo&w=584&h=315]
Ghost to Ghost is an annual four hour radio show of people calling in and telling their true life accounts of paranormal activities they have experienced. This is this year’s version called Spooky Matter in honor of the host’s move from Coast to Coast AM to his Sirius show, Dark Matter. The host, Art Bell, is incredible at creating great, terrifying radio. I like to listen to old recordings of the show when I have insomnia (just search “Ghost to Ghost AM” on YouTube). It makes being cozy in bed seem a whole lot more desirable. As far as people being masters of their craft go, Art Bell is their leader. 
