Candle Cove
Candle Coveis an onlinecreepypastahorror story written by web cartoonist and authorKris Straub.The story centers on a discussion of the titular fictional children's television series on anInternet forum.[1]Straub has stated that he was inspired to write the creepypasta after reading an article inThe Onionentitled "Area 36-Year-Old Still Has OccasionalLidsvilleNightmare ".
Straub's story quickly became popular, inspiring numerous YouTube videos and fan fictions.[2][3]In 2015, Straub self-publishedCandle Covein a collection of short stories entitledCandle Cove and Other Stories.The Vergecommented thatCandle Covediffered from other creepypastas in that while most creepypasta have an "anonymous folkloric quality",Candle Coveoriginated from a known source and author.[4]
The story was adapted for the first season of theSyfyanthology seriesChannel Zero,which aired in 2016. Additionally, Straub began the spin-off YouTube seriesLocal 58,centered around strange broadcasts from the fictitiouspublic access television channelwhereCandle Coveoriginally aired.[5]
Synopsis
[edit]The story is told in the format of a thread on the fictional "NetNostalgia Forums", where a group of users discuss an unusual low-budget children's television show,Candle Cove,that they all remember watching on Channel 58 in theHuntington–Ashland metropolitan areawhen they were children in the early 1970s. The show is about a young girl named Janice, who imagines herself to be friends withmarionettepirates.
As the users continue to reminisce, they begin to recall more disturbing details about the show, such as a character known as the "Skin-Taker" (a skeleton pirate who wears clothing made out of children's skin) and an episode that consisted entirely of the puppets flailing and screaming while Janice cries. The story ends with a user stating that he recently asked his elderly mother in a nursing home if she remembered the show; she responds that every time the user claimed thatCandle Covewas on, there was onlystaticon the screen, and that they would watch only dead air for 30 minutes.
History
[edit]"Candle Cove" was originally published byKris Straubin 2009 on hiswebsiteichorfalls, under aCreative Commons license.[6]The website hosted Straub'shorrorstories about the fictional town of Ichor Falls. In a 2011 interview, Straub toldKindertraumahe got the concept of "Candle Cove" from a satiricalOnionarticle titled "Area 36-Year-Old Still Has OccasionalLidsvilleNightmare ".[2]
Like othercreepypasta— aneologismfor horror stories circulated around theinternet— fans promptlycopied and pasted"Candle Cove" across numerousinternet forumsand websites.[6][2]It was posted on creepypasta and the Creepypasta Wiki, the two largest repositories, as well as sites such as4chan,Reddit,YouTube,IGN,and horror.[6]On some forums, fans recreated the story's exchange as if it actually occurred.[2]
Television adaptation
[edit]In 2015 theSyFy Channelannounced their intent to adapt theCandle Covestory as the first season of a newly announced series,Channel Zero.[7]The season, named after the creepypasta, expands on the story and centers on a child psychologist who has returned home in order to investigate the 1980s disappearances of his brother and other children.[8]Channel Zero: Candle CovestarsPaul SchneiderandFiona Shaw,and premiered on October 11, 2016.[9][10]
Reception
[edit]Will Wiles ofAeonwrote thatCandle Covewas "among the best creepypastas out there" and a good example of using the forum format as a storytelling method.[11][12]Adi Robertson ofThe Vergepraised the creepypasta, stating that it was "a perfectly dark spin on our nostalgia for the half-remembered stories of our childhood, that realization that the things we liked as kids were much, much creepier than we thought."[4]
References
[edit]- ^Peters, Lucia."Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't: Candle Cove".Crushable.Archived fromthe originalon January 2, 2017.RetrievedAugust 10,2016.
- ^abcdGrundhauser, Eric (October 7, 2016)."Do You Remember Candle Cove?".Atlas Obscura.RetrievedOctober 19,2016.
- ^Burkart, Gregory (August 25, 2016)."CREEPYPASTA: Revisiting CANDLE COVE — The Scariest Children's Show of All Time?".Blumhouse.Archived fromthe originalon October 19, 2016.RetrievedOctober 19,2016.
- ^abRobertson, Adi (July 1, 2015)."SyFy is making a TV series based on one of the internet's best scary stories".The Verge.RetrievedAugust 10,2016.
- ^"r/local58 - Comment by u/krisstraub on" Did they ever air Candle Cove on Local 58? "".reddit.August 12, 2019.RetrievedJune 11,2020.
- ^abcBalanzategui 2019,p. 193.
- ^Hipes, Patrick (November 18, 2015)."'Channel Zero' Anthology Series Gets Greenlight From Syfy For 2-Season Run ".Deadline.RetrievedJuly 28,2016.
- ^Goldberg, Leslie (June 30, 2015)."Syfy Prepping Anthology Based on Web Horror Phenomenon 'Creepypasta'".The Hollywood Reporter.RetrievedAugust 10,2016.
- ^Abrams, Natalie (August 3, 2016)."Syfy sets premiere dates for 'Incorporated,' 'Van Helsing,' more".Entertainment Weekly.RetrievedAugust 10,2016.
- ^Logan, Alex (September 15, 2016)."How SyFy Farmed 'Creepypasta' for New Horror Series 'Channel Zero'".Yahoo! TV.RetrievedDecember 13,2016.
- ^Wiles, Will."'Creepypasta' is how the internet learns our fears ".Aeon.RetrievedAugust 10,2016.
- ^Newitz, Annalee (January 7, 2014)."Has Creepypasta Reinvented Classic Folklore?".io9.RetrievedAugust 10,2016.
Bibliography
[edit]Balanzategui, Jessica (2019)."Creepypasta, 'Candle Cove', and the digital gothic".Journal of Visual Culture.18(2): 187–208.doi:10.1177/1470412919841018.ISSN1470-4129.
External links
[edit]- Original story
- 2011 interview with StraubonKindertrauma
