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Between August of 2017 and February of 2018, writer, illustrator, and cartoonist Adam Ellis captivated the internet with what became known as the “Dear David” story — a ghost story Ellis alleged was unfolding in his own apartment. What made the tale notable was the way in which it was told: Ellis revealed each installment through Twitter, keeping his followers on tenterhooks for an extended period of time. But Dear David isn’t the only creepy horror story to have unfolded on Twitter; following Ellis’ adventures with the ghost boy allegedly stalking him (which he still maintains to this day actually happened), more and more creative types began to embrace Twitter as a storytelling medium — one that’s particularly well-suited to telling spooky, scary tales.
Scary, spooky tales like these ones.
To be fair, creative folks with a penchant for storytelling have been experimenting with social media to tell spooky tales for almost as long as it’s been around. In the early days of YouTube, there were web series such as lonelygirl15, the Wyoming Incident, and the Louise Paxton mystery; on Facebook, there was the short film Take This Lollipop; there was even Sickhouse, a feature film shot entirely on Snapchat. But Dear David underlined how Twitter specifically might be used to tell these kinds of stories — and the outpouring of chilling tales that has continued ever since is proof that there’s still plenty more where all of these came from.
Here are seven horror stories that, like Dear David, unfolded on Twitter. They might be real; they might be fictional; or they might be a little bit of both. Regardless, though, they’re spooky as heck.
You might want to keep the lights on tonight while you sleep.
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