You decided to go hiking alone. All those days indoors were starting to make
you go a little stir-crazy, and even though a thick blanket of fog was creeping in, you
knew you just had to get out. The local forest had a nice hiking trail – the
kind of place where you could really get lost in your thoughts. But as you trudge through the foggy woods,
bordered on all sides by thickets of towering ever-greens, you hear a strange crackling
noise. Then harsh, modulated whispers, hissing out
numbers and words with no logical configuration. Must be an old radio, you think, and keep
walking. Just then you hear a quiet rustling in the
trees behind you, and then footsteps, even though you would have sworn you were alone. Then it’s that crackling again, and those
nonsense words and numbers. “SIXTEEN. THREE. WOMAN. FOURTEEN. RIP. DISGUSTING.” It was like two voices at once, saying the
same thing at exactly the same time. You feel the hair on the back of your neck
bristle, then you turn and see it. Your jaw gapes in horror. It’s huge – forty feet tall, rail-thin,
with mummified skin clinging tight to its bones. You look up, hoping to see the creature’s
face, but there is no face. Just two metal sirens grafted to a long pole
of flesh. Before you can even scream, its long, spindly
hands are already wrapping around your face. You’ve just fallen victim to Sirenhead. Like its numerous creepypasta predecessors,
such as the Slender Man, Smile Dog, and The Rake, Sirenhead is a kind of online cryptid
that has entangled the internet in its web of fear. Despite only first appearing in August of
2018, this frightening, faceless monster has become a hub of internet folklore and content
creation. It’s captured the imagination of thousands,
appearing in countless pieces of fan art and even popular indie games. But what exactly is Sirenhead? Where did it come from? How did it get so popular and widespread in
the first place? And, like the best of urban legends, is there
a hint of frightening truth behind the fiction? Let’s start from the point of inception. Sirenhead is the creation of Canadian illustrator
and master of horror Trevor Henderson, better known by his online handle of SlimySwampGhost. Henderson is internet horror royalty, and
is also no stranger to creating horrifying online cryptids. In fact, he’s already made a number of other
iconic internet boogeymen. These include Cartoon Cat, a terrifying, homicidal
feline demon. The Smile Room, a toothy nightmare hidden
inside an abandoned bowling alley. And the Fetid King , a mysterious and frightening
entity able to manipulate technology, to name just a handful. But Sirenhead is, by far, Henderson’s most
beloved creation. He first appeared in a post on Henderson’s
Tumblr blog back on August 19th, 2018, with this image. In the photo, taken at a distance, we see
the imposing figure of Sirenhead looming over an old, abandoned graveyard. If this wasn’t creepy enough for you, the
photo came with the following terrifying caption: “She was on vacation with her husband and
they were scoping out graveyards on the way, as you do, when she saw it. Rising out of the old cemetery, big as an
old – macabre - telephone pole. Was this some kind of bizarre art piece the
authorities hadn’t gotten wise to yet? Even as she stepped out of the car, the megaphones
on its “head” screeched to life. “NINE. EIGHTEEN. ONE. CHILD. SEVENTEEN. REMOVE. VILE.”. A buzzing, doubled voice screamed random words
at her. At this point, it jerked into motion, striding
down the hill towards her.” The tags under the picture include the words
“found footage”, perhaps even suggesting some underlying truth to the events depicted
here. That’s enough to give anyone the willies. After Sirenhead made his debut, thousands
of people chimed in in response, stating just how scary and captivating they found this
strange new creature. Little by little, Henderson began to drip-feed
more information about this monstrous creature to the public via his twitter account. Each tweet painted a slightly more detailed
picture of the horrifying threat we were dealing with here. In his first Twitter thread on the subject,
Henderson stated that Sirenhead is the static physical form of an unfathomable supernatural
entity. A being truly beyond any limits of human understanding. For example, it doesn’t have eyes, but can
still see. Its teeth – hidden in gaping, fleshy mouths
inside the sirens – are biological, but the creature doesn’t eat. It uses its similarities to a telephone pole
to camouflage itself and hunt humans like an ambush predator. While its Siren-head can play siren noises,
it typically communicates in odd snippets of music or words. It can also record and play back other sounds,
similar to the sport-hunting alien from The Predator, and is able to manipulate other
noise-emitting devices. In other words, while it might seem, at face
value, like a brainless monster, Sirenhead is an intelligent and powerful supernatural
force. While it spends large periods of time inactive,
it can move scarily fast when it needs to – say, for example, when it’s chasing
you down through the woods. It also tends to avoid major population centres,
preferring to stalk areas where victims won’t have anyone to save them. But, as you’ll soon find out, that doesn’t
mean you’re any safer tucked away at home in the burbs… In the second Tweet about Sirenhead, Henderson
shared a frightening image of the creature lurking in someone’s backyard. The caption indicated that Sirenhead was responsible
for the disappearance of a family of four in their own home. They were gone without a trace, with the neighbours
just reporting the patio door being left open in their absence. The quiet suburbs are actually one of Sirenhead’s
favourite hunting grounds, as shown by the next frightening found photo shared. When Sirenhead abducted people on the seemingly
innocent streets outside their own homes, there were always three commonalities: It
was always people walking the side streets on their way home, it was always dark by the
time people started wondering where they were, and it was always past the time when the street
lights come on. The fact that Sirenhead can also perfectly
disguise itself as a normal street lamp just adds another dimension of terror to the creature. How can you ever feel safe walking past street
lamps in the dark again? Sirenhead can appear almost anywhere dark,
secluded, and depopulated, so you can never let your guard down when you’re in one of
these areas. He’s been spotted everywhere from Yellowstone
National Park in 2016 to a darkened country lake to the parking lot of an unassuming motel,
always causing unexplained paranormal activity and disappearances in his wake. Worse still – for all members of the human
race who like living safe, comfortable lives – it’s been hinted that Sirenhead is part
of a far grander and more dangerous picture, almost like a “hype man” for some other
unnamed but presumably far more powerful and dangerous entity. It has also been said that the proper collective
noun for a group of Sirenheads is a “static”, implying that Sirenhead may not even be a
singular being, but just one member of a whole species of dangerous cryptids. Though Henderson himself has mentioned that
he sees Sirenhead as more of a manifestation than simple animal, and it doesn’t therefore
abide by the same set of physical rules that creatures from our plane of existence are
forced to conform to. Because of this, the true extent of Sirenhead’s
power is unknowable, especially considering that so many who encounter it don’t seem
to live to tell the tale. Though as with any good urban legend, Sirenhead’s
legend didn’t end with its creator. Sirenhead quickly became a worldwide sensation
thanks to an unlikely force: Online indie video games. Two video game artefacts featuring Sirenhead
were made initially, one being a mod for the game Fallout 4 called “Whispering Hills”,
and another five-minute Sirenhead game developed by indie games studio Modus Interactive. While neither of these games were an immediate
smash hit back in 2018, they found a second life a couple years later after being picked
up by a number of prominent YouTubers.. From here, Sirenhead’s popularity exploded
to unprecedented levels. He quickly became the subject of countless
creepypasta short horror stories the world over, as well as hundreds or even thousands
of pieces of fan art. People were also making home-made Sirenhead
dolls and action figures, Lego sculptures and even Halloween costumes
Outside the gaming community, Sirenhead was becoming the internet equivalent of a household
name. The creature had gained its own subreddit,
where fans feverishly discuss theories and ideas and share fan-made content. In early 2020, Sirenhead also gained a huge
boost in popularity from TikTok, after user Alex Howard posted a frightening CGI video
of Sirenhead lumbering across a town in the horizon while sirens blared menacingly. This ten second clip not only scared the bejeezus
out of the internet, but was also insanely memeable. Variations of the video were used in everything
from making fun of the strange name of Elon Musk’s new baby, to one particularly creative
version where Sirenhead dances to South Korean hit single “Gangnam Style.” So, let’s pump the breaks for a second. You’re probably wondering: If Sirenhead
is just some character made by an online horror artist, what’s all the fuss about? It’s not like he’s real, right? Well, the answer to that question might be
a little more complicated than you’d imagine. To fully understand, we need to take a look
at one of the most iconic internet urban legends of all time: The Slender Man. This dapper, faceless, internet boogeyman
was created by Eric Knudsen in 2009, but quickly spun into a phenomenon with a life of its
own, as you can find out in one of our other videos, “How A Meme (Slenderman) Became
Real.” The Slender Man’s immense popularity quickly
made him a fixture of the internet’s public consciousness, much like Sirenhead, with fan
art, costumes, spin-off games and fan films. The dark ending of the Slender Man saga was
a near-fatal stabbing supposedly inspired by the character in 2014, and a pretty lame
movie adaptation four years later. Why is all this relevant to Sirenhead? Because, if you read quite literally any article
about him, you’re more than likely to see the phrase “the next slender man” pop
up. And this comparison isn’t without merit
– as both have starkly similar points of origins and trajectories into popularity. The lines between fiction and reality become
blurred, and in a metaphorical sense, when enough people believe in the urban legend,
to them it might as well be real. In a more spooky, mystical, supernatural sense,
characters like Sirenhead and the Slender Man are often associated with the concept
of “Tulpas” or “Thought-Forms.” This is the idea in paranormal circles – and
proponents of Tibetan mysticism – that one can quite literally believe a being into autonomous
existence through the sheer force of their psychic energy. When you believe in the idea of Tulpas, the
concept of the internet’s collective fear bringing Sirenhead to life on some level is
a real and tangible concern. Sure, it may seem like a far-fetched concept,
but is it any more far-fetched than the idea of being stalked by a forty-foot extra-dimensional
zombie with a siren for a head on the way home from work? At the end of the day, regardless of what
you believe, it can’t be denied that something special and terrifying has been brought into
the world with Sirenhead. Is Sirenhead real? Well, ultimately, he’s as real as any urban
legend – whether it’s the man with the hook hand, the killer in the back seat, or
the man making sinister calls from inside the house. And like any great urban legend, Sirenhead
is sure to feel a whole lot more real next time you’re walking home alone at night,
you hear a faint crackle somewhere in the distance, and you could swear you saw something
move in the corner of your eye… Check out “Russian Sleep Experiment – EXPLAINED”
and “How A Meme (Slenderman) Became Real” for more on the spookiest corners of the world
wide web. If, of course, you’re brave enough…
