Real world X-files

July 31, 2005 9:41 PM

The opening sequence of an X-files episode, or real life? There is a lot of Strange News on the internet, but I particularly like ones that could be the beginning of an X-files episode, potentially only the tip of an even stranger iceberg, yet are reliable and well documented, with photographs of the mysterious blob, or x-rays of strange events that the person in question can't shed light on. As a kid I once played in snow that, much like this, soon turned out to be silk, and similarly read urban-legend-like news articles of a home suddenly plagued by thousands of large poisonous spiders, coming up from underneath it, stumping experts as well for the species was never known to be anything but solitary. I assume that frequently, the explanation is found but never makes the news, leaving the mystery unresolved to the rest of us. Many, like Monkey-man attackers, baby zombies and strange killer grasshoppers have a death toll or leave scars, directly or indirectly. There are plenty of people trying to present themselves as real life x-files, but I'm more interested in well documented events which stand out as bizarre and creepy, without having any of that pushed upon them, and (with a bit of reckless imagination) hint at something bigger - preferably with photo goodness. You no doubt have links of your own. Why not share the better ones. (Or even make up a brief x-file-like mystery around a weird link, then post the link as if to show the story really happened :-)
posted by -harlequin- (14 comments total)

The chilean blob turned out to be a whale, by the way. Apparently they float around after death and liquify to the point where the bones drop out...

Nature is gross.
posted by Artw at 10:46 PM on July 31, 2005

I'm still waiting for more information from Ted the Caver... (Best read alone, at night, with the lights off).
posted by tomble at 10:56 PM on July 31, 2005

Well gee,for starters Charles Fort,famous for reports of raining frogs,stuff falling out of the sky, crop circles and ufo's. Then there is this guy who tracks a global/galactic torch ritual scheme. And Canadian science fiction writer, Jeff Well's excellent, sometimes loopy,blog. I could go on with under ground nazi plots that are scary and complex, but not X files stuff like the links above.
posted by hortense at 11:11 PM on July 31, 2005

tomble: I'm pretty sure that Ted the Caver thing is fiction, but it's good. Not well written, really, but it works because you at least have to consider the option that it's true.

Googling around for references to Ted the Caver it seems people are saying it's a modified version of a short story, but noone's really produced the original. I also found a reference to dionaea-house.com, which I'm currently reading. It's even more obviously fiction, but it's similar, and the build-up is decent, at least.

I'm wondering, is the "dibbuk box" (a haunted wine cabinet that was listed on eBay with a long description that read like a horror story) the original "false document" internet horror story, or are there others that preceed it? In horror itself it has a long tradition, of course, but it's interesting how the combination of anonymity/non-verifiability and wide audience you get on the web makes it a lot easier to make people actually believe it.

Personally, I love this kind of stuff. I don't really care if it's true or not, really, it's the possibility that I like (and that freaks me out, but I was always afraid of the dark).
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 12:36 AM on August 1, 2005

This story about a mysterious group called "The Family" made an appearance on Metafilter previously.
posted by euphorb at 1:37 AM on August 1, 2005

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/33451

There's this one… that sort of fizzled when all you fickle mush heads moved on to the next quirky story.

I want answers!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 2:38 AM on August 1, 2005

A few things I remember reading, or have bookmarked, that probably fit:

Myths Over Miami, a news story about religious/supernatural urban legends amongst homeless children in Miami.

This story and this one have a lot in comon, and both of them give me chills. In fact, that whole ghosts.org site has a lot of good stuff, but you have to dig around a bit, a lot of the stories on the site are kind of boring and commonplace.

I'm still looking for some more that I read recently, I was stupid not to bookmark more eagerly, it seems.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 3:32 AM on August 1, 2005

The Anomalist is a great source for these kind of things. It's where I learned about Watermelon Snow.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:38 AM on August 1, 2005

uncanny hengeman, if I remember correctly, they figured out that it was a fox with mange.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:21 AM on August 1, 2005

Wow, I can't belive I read the whole Ted the Caver thing. Great stuff really, and I wasn't even completely sure it was fiction until I saw the last 404 page.

I almost expected that this picture would be a part the story.

By the way the site where that is from, Anomalies Unlimited, has a lot of this "real life X-files" stuff. It's all pretty sensationalistic in how it's written, and most of it is obvious bullshit. But it's still entertaining, and that's the whole point right?

Also check "I found a camera in the woods". Currently available here, originally from gtaforums.com. It also appeared here on MeFi.
posted by cheerleaders_to_your_funeral at 10:49 AM on August 1, 2005

Joakin Ziegler, that 'Myths over Miami' article was incredible and sad. I can't find anything else on the subject tho, just links to that article. If such folklore exists its an amazing example of oral storytelling in an unlikely place.

and the bravery and desperation in the stories is simply heartbreaking. If anything else could be found on the subject, it'd make a great fpp.
posted by es_de_bah at 11:50 AM on August 1, 2005

oh, wait. it's been done...twice.

well, good.
posted by es_de_bah at 11:52 AM on August 1, 2005

It seems Clive Barker is working on a movie project based on the Myths over Miami article. Seems like just his kind of stuff, but I wish he'd do a book instead, most of his movies kind of suck, while most of the books are really good.

The "I found a camera in the woods" thing is pretty good. Some of the photos are just slightly too obvious fakes, but most of them are subtle and work well. I actually looked through the photos the first time without noticing anything out of the ordinary except for the slightly creepy mood shots. Good work.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:05 PM on August 1, 2005

Thanks MrMoonPie!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 7:50 PM on August 1, 2005