Internet ghost stories

[dream]

I like to imagine some Internet users are logging onto the net from a different timeline! I call them Internet ghosts

Imagine getting a forum message or e-mail from someone living in the 1990s or 2100. Or perhaps they’re from the 1400s and are accessing the net from their nightly dream or an astray letter addressed to -1 Infinite Lane.

What would you ask them? What would you tell them?

Anyone have any Internet ghost stories?


Edit: I've started writing some of these. Check 'em out!

Internet Ghost Stories
1. The Shareware Specter (1,020 words)
2. ShadowNet (1,032 words)
3. Man of Letters (504 words)

Wanna get involved? Comment within a story's thread with feedback, post story ideas on this thread, or write a story yourself and post it on the MelondLand Post ur Writing board!

[Melooon]

Sometimes I like to think about how internet wires go to everywhere on earth, and how you can hold onto an Ethernet cable and know that that wire, whether by electricity or light is directly linking you to millions of rooms, like a doorway that you're just a little to big to get through, but if you hold the wire and wish hard enough maybe you can find the people you want to be near. However in truth it goes both ways; on the other end of that wire are dark places too.

I think one of the spooky things Iv experienced was logging into my account on my dads computer that I had not used for about 4 years; and seeing it auto load up with chats and pages and programs that I had been using 4 years prior, with messages in the middle of conversations with an ex, and projects I had been super into at the time; that was like an e-ghost of the past coming back to haunt me; and even though it was just a few years it felt like Id stepped into a portal of my past life 

This got deeper than I expected :P

So I think if there are ghosts on the internet they are future ghosts; living users that terrorize archives by deleting them and changing their meaning and observing them.

Or maybe its just that we know we will become those archives sooner or later; our loved ones will turn into emails and facebook posts; and for just a moment, I can see that future, and know that in all of this, perhaps Iv missed my own humanity as Iv slowly turned into a trail of webpages and forum posts; and I think of those emails from loved ones Iv taken for granted, and they are like future ghosts that have arrived before their time 

[close]

[PurpleHello98]

I mean, even just looking at someone's Web site that they haven't updated in a long time is kind of like meeting a ghost, the longer ago the ghostier.Ghosts are always pictured to be just as they were when they died, right? Well, a person's Web site is a reflection of them at the time that they made it. If their personal site hasn't been updated in a decade or two, they could be an entirely different person now... or they might have passed on since they made it. It's an odd, almost sobering thought, to be sure.

[candycanearter07]

And, you never know WHEN they stopped posting. Spooky..

[dream]

Hey all, I’ve written a few internet ghost stories. You can find them in the Book forum: https://forum.melonland.net/index.php?board=36.0

I’m curious… is there anyone here who wants to collab? In particular, I’d love to collaborate with an artist to pair these and upcoming short stories with art! I’m picturing retro or anime style character art and/or “cover art” per short story. I’d also love to chat with fellow writers about collaborating on a short story or at least supporting each other in writing independent stories. Post here if any interest!

[candycanearter07]

i can sorta draw

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

Just read your "Man of Letters", and enjoyed it!

Slightly OT:
I think that - if one wants to create truly unsettling internet ghost stories - sticking close to reality might be the way to go.

Trigger warning!

Perfect AI-clones of dead people that miss their body. Text files, stored on obscure servers that replace the character of those who read them with killers. Dating platforms that systematically isolate people, replacing their whole social environment by chat bots. Digital magic mirrors that project perfect versions of yourself over you, but cause you to starve in pursuit of looking like them. Ancient boards were techniques of yesterday are discussed by - bodyless? - avatars to all eternity.

[close]

[dream]

Text files, stored on obscure servers that replace the character of those who read them with killers.

@ThunderPerfectWitchcraft, are you saying that whoever reads these text files becomes a killer? Am I reading that right? I may be misinterpreting what you meant, but that’s a cool conceit. I like the idea of a piece of haunted / cursed media, particularly plain text. A mind virus. Maybe a magical or spiritual aspect. Reminiscent of The Ring. Will you write this? If you do not, I should like to!

[candycanearter07]

Horror in the mundane is kinda cool to me, like taking something you wouldn't give a second thought to and making it spooooky. DarkTwighlightTiff kinda stuff.
BUT, i feel like you could do a pretty effective horror/comedy based on the horrors of dealing with coding sh*t. Seriously, ask a coder to do datetime programming without a library and they will have a breakdown (as tom scott did in a youtube video once

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

Will you write this? If you do not, I should like to!

Yes, the text file "infects" the reader. I doubt I'll write it - I've so many projects on ice right now :D.
So: Go nuts, I'd love to read it! :D.