English author Neil Gaiman has said that life is always going to be stranger than fiction because fiction has to be convincing, and life doesn't. Well, if these words needed any proof, there's a TikTok trend that vividly illustrates their essence.
It was started by Ellery (@dentedmilk), who posted a video on Thanksgiving of herself and an old photo of her great-great-great-grandmother that she said died in 1923 during childbirth. 100 years later, Ellery is now around her age.
Throughout the video, a haunting, robotic-sounding voice sings "Well you don't know me, but I know you. And I've got a message," from Laurie Anderson's song 'O Superman.'
The clip has since amassed 6.2 million views and inspired other people to share their own eerie experiences using the tune as well.
@dentedmilk She’s my great great grandmother who died in 1923 during childbirth. I’m around her age, 100 years later. Her name is Jessie.
♬ You dont know me - ellery
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The cashier thought we were crazy when we were trying to tell her why we were freaking out lmao what are the odds.
While the exact definition of what each of us considers eerie differs, the underlying cause is more or less the same.
"[Creepy is] about the uncertainty of threat. You’re feeling uneasy because you think there might be something to worry about here, but the signals are not clear enough to warrant your doing some sort of desperate, life-saving kind of thing,” Frank McAndrew, professor of psychology at Knox College in Illinois, United States, explained.
I'm not crying, you're crying!!! My daughter's dog crossed the rainbow bridge 4 days ago. So this makes me so happy to see
My grandma's CB name was ladybug 🐞 and I find them everywhere in my mom's house. All year round. It gives me so much hope that our souls and love live on.
Even the way our bodies respond to the triggers is similar.
In 2012, researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found that when subjects felt creeped out, they felt colder and believed that the temperature in the room had actually dropped.
Chilling, indeed!
That physical response further heightens our senses.
"You don't know how to act but you’re really concerned about getting more information," McAndrew said.
"It kind of takes your attention and focuses it like a laser on this particular stimulus, whatever it is."
That gave me goosebumps! It's beautiful to know that he is there with you looking out for you! I love these stories because they remind me to have faith in things you can't see or touch but that you definitely feel 💕❤️
As we can see from the pictures, it can be a lot of things, situations, places and, of course, people.
"We're predisposed to see willful agents that mean us harm in situations that are ambiguous, but this was an adaptive thing to do,” McAndrew said.
Our ancestors saw saber-toothed tigers in every shadow and a slithering snake in the motion of the swaying grass because it was better to be safe than sorry.
That is like spooky amazing. Not exactly terrifying.. more like reassurance with goosebumps.
That's amazing. I love these stories so much, I choose to have faith in something much bigger than ourselves. It's beautiful!
McAndrew pointed out that truly creepy things and situations are not attractive. At all.
"We don't enjoy real creepy situations, and we will avoid them like the plague," he said. "Like if there's a person who creeps you out, you'll cross the street to get away.”
What we do enjoy is playacting, in the same way we enjoy the thrill of watching a horror movie.
This one is a bit creepy with the image of the future girlfriend staring out of the window, like a ghost.
It took a minute to understand what she saw…center left in picture #2 is almost a perfect shadow of the dad in his baseball hat
McAndrew and other psychologists, anthropologists, and even author Stephen King agree that horror films are a safe place for us to explore our fears and rehearse what we would do if, say, zombies tore apart our town.
Maybe these TikToks are too?
Note: this post originally had 40 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Do people don't know about genetics? Yeah, you look slightly similar to a member of your family, who would have thought!
but I look just like our postman, that's not genetics
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One mildly interesting story of coincidence in my family. My parents lived in a very small village quite some distance from where they were both born. When visiting the church, we noticed a sign showing the names of the previous vicars, and one of them was almost the same as our family name, with one letter different. Some years later a relative did some research on our family tree and I followed it up with a bit more detail. Turns out the vicar was in fact my great-great-great-great-grand-father (b. 1781). He married into a farming family, and several generations farmed somewhat nearer to where my parents were born, and those farms still exist along with headstones in the local churchyard.
I want it to be my job to randomly text people "I love you" or "I miss you" or "I'm proud of you" from dead people's numbers. Is that a job someone can have? Seems like it'd be helpful to people.
Maybe not. What if you are finally dealing with the loss of a loved one and get that message? Would rly f with your emotional well-being
Load More Replies... Do people don't know about genetics? Yeah, you look slightly similar to a member of your family, who would have thought!
but I look just like our postman, that's not genetics
Load More Replies... One mildly interesting story of coincidence in my family. My parents lived in a very small village quite some distance from where they were both born. When visiting the church, we noticed a sign showing the names of the previous vicars, and one of them was almost the same as our family name, with one letter different. Some years later a relative did some research on our family tree and I followed it up with a bit more detail. Turns out the vicar was in fact my great-great-great-great-grand-father (b. 1781). He married into a farming family, and several generations farmed somewhat nearer to where my parents were born, and those farms still exist along with headstones in the local churchyard.
I want it to be my job to randomly text people "I love you" or "I miss you" or "I'm proud of you" from dead people's numbers. Is that a job someone can have? Seems like it'd be helpful to people.
Maybe not. What if you are finally dealing with the loss of a loved one and get that message? Would rly f with your emotional well-being
Load More Replies...