Sunday, September 25, 2005

A Chain Letter Stole My Soul & Ate My Brains

If you are like most people your e-mail inbox gets spam, too many forwarded jokes and of course chain letters. If you are like me, you get that plus too many e-greeting cards playing musical jingles from your Mother. (Sorry Mom, I know you think they are cute and it's fun to send them and I know you mean well, but they are getting a little out of control. How do I explain to the guys sitting beside me in a meeting why I have a bear dancing across my screen singing "Happy Day To You"?) Now I don't know about everyone else, but the second I see any type of chain letter, hoax or e-mail spoof, I don't even bother opening it. I simply delete it. I don't believe in all that superstition. I don't have time to read it and pass it on to 5 other people who then want to kick my ass for sending them it. So when my brother-in-law forwarded me this photo and story (below), would I be another chain letter believing fool or a cursed sole?

My initial impression and response was the same as usual. I saw the FW in the subject line followed by "read story before opening pic FREAKY!!!! Sorry, I hate these things, too." Hmm, really? So if YOU hate receiving these, don't you think I would also hate receiving them? It's ok, he is family and he is a superstitious person that is easily spooked so I let it slide. I didn't read the story, didn't view the photo or pass the e-mail along. For whatever reason I also didn't delete the e-mail. I left it linger in my inbox for about a week. This is where it gets interesting. During the course of the next few days, things weren't really going well for me. Now we can say that is a matter of coincidence, or we could venture into a gray area and say it was because of the letter! That doesn't sound too weird, but how do you explain this...the other night, days before I ever read this chain letter or saw the photo, I had dream with this same girl in it! Are you getting a little freaked out yet? I dream every night so that part is not unusual. I also tend to have a good amount of nightmares, but to have this ghost girl in a nightmare of mine before I ever saw her photo is just really creapy! Just yesterday I opened the letter and viewed the photo. Here is what it said...

This photo was taken in a hospital after the patient in the bed was in an accident where he was responsible for a young woman's death. It is said that when you receive this image and do not send it to at least five people, the woman will look for you during the night to collect your soul. A couple in a western suburbs area of Sydney received the message and deleted the picture without sending it to at least five people. This couple was murdered by their 15 year old neighbor who claims to have been possessed by the woman. A 28 year old woman on Whittlesay Road, Cambridgeshire, England, was run down by a car driven by a another female that fit the description of the woman in the photograph, the police investigation revealed that the murdered lady had received this picture only 4 hours before her untimely death and did not pass it onto at least 5 people. Send it to five people, or the woman will look for you!

Now for the REAL story about this e-mail. I did a little research to send to my brother-in-law and here is what I found...Crafting anecdotes to describe unattributed photos is a popular pastime online. In fact, there are several sites that run contests for the most creative creations. Of course most photo-inspired e-mail tails are created simply for the adventure of seeing how many people you can fool. The text accompanying the decidedly eerie photo varies widely and has been attributed to varied geographic regions from the US, to Australia, to London. Earliest forms of it place the story in Mexico. Sometimes it's simple, others quite complex. The photo is taken from promotional artwork for a Thai horror film, titled "The Mother." The shot being forwarded is cropped down and flipped from the original. As for the "curse" if you don't forward it, well, that's up to you. I could try to research all the locations that the fictional woman's revenge was supposedly carried out, but would that really prove anything? People who honestly believe they will be cursed for not forwarding a chain letter, probably won't be too swayed by what I have to say here.

However, I can't help but wonder why I dreamed about that dead girl. Perhaps my soul is in the process of being stolen since I didn't forward the letter on! Should I do it, is it too late and there's no turning back now that I'm doomed? Maybe me mouthing off to God in that IM session is leading to my inevitable death, or maybe this chain letter just ate my brains and I've turned into a gullible sucker like everyone else. One thing is for certain - break this chain. Remember kids, not only does the Boogie Man live in your closet, but a dead girl is lying under your bed waiting to suck the life out of you while you sleep. Sweet dreams!

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