The Dionaea house

[cleolinda]

Y'all have to read this. I can't say if it's real or not--I think I admire it more as a work of fiction, actually. But it's just right for Halloween: the search for a man who disappeared while investigating an old friend who went crazy. Make sure you read the "updates" page once you've finished with the main site--a really interesting LJ is involved. (The LJ is another reason I think it's a work of fiction--it's nicely done, but it's rather convenient that the girl would start the LJ right before the creepy stuff started happening, and it would end within ten entries. A real journal would be--well, it would be someone like you or me, with several months of entries, probably a good number of friends commenting, and then the weird shit starting. But that's way, way involved for someone to just create.) You'll notice that the updates page has updated regularly and it was last updated... yesterday. I have hopes that we might get another update this weekend.


ETA: I've just gotten word that it will be updated soon. Let's not say anything more about that. ;)

Comments

[shoiryu.livejournal.com]

Oh it's definitely fiction, no question, but GOLLY it's a lot of fun, isn't it? :D It's sort of in the same veing as of Leaves... (Which, Cleo-baby, if you haven't read, I'm almost willing to ship you MY copy to get you to. It's that good.)

[shoiryu.livejournal.com]

Yay, typos and unclosed HTML tags!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Ooo, no, I haven't heard of that one. I love this whole psychological Lovecraft/Bierce-type horror stuff, though. As opposed to the blood-spatter type, I mean.

[dreagonfli.livejournal.com]

I want you to know that I just went out and bought that book on your recommendation. I don't normally do that, but it sounded so good that I couldn't help myself. I'm going to curl up in the bathtub and spend the rest of my day reading it. Thanks!

[terriem.livejournal.com]

Ooh, creepy. I'm in the house on my own and I've just gone round and shut all the cupboard doors. *shudder*

I'll chime in on the House of Leaves love, it's really original and very scary. Don't read it in the dark. I finished it late at night and wasn't sleeping that well, when I heard a loud bang. The book had fallen from the book shelf where I'd left it under some other books, on to the floor. I freaked out a bit and couldn't sleep until I'd put it in another room in a box...

(Yes, I'm a big wuss, I know.)

[wearejustducky.livejournal.com]

I am so glad I'm not the only one who did that. Me, I put it in a cabinet. In a locked closet. In the garage.

Me, overreac? Never.

(I think it might still be there. Eeep.)

[mochajoy13.livejournal.com]

Liek woah. Just read it all, and I'm alone in the house while it's blustery and stormy outside. The wind has been literally battering against my window (which is, coincidentally, right next to the computer) and making me jump. I really hope this is updated soon; perfect horror. The creepy, "omg could this actually happen?" kind.

[lafemmezilla.livejournal.com]

Wow, what an interesting site! If it's real, truly creepy - if not, a good intriguing piece of fiction. The LJ link seems a bit too convenient, but still... interesting!

I just added House of Leaves to my wish list. I've heard of it before as I love love love Poe's Haunted CD, but I had no idea what it was about. Nifty!

[iczer6.livejournal.com]

The LJ link seems a bit too convenient, but still... interesting!

Yeah it seemed to fit a little *too* well IMO, but the final entry was super creepy, especially the 'let Jenny come over' part.

[Not helped by real name being Jennifer.]


Icz

[ipomoea.livejournal.com]

It's definitely fake - I'm originally from the Houston area and if there was seriously something like that going on there it would have actually made the news. But it's creative, and whoever's writing it gets points for realistic detail. It's definitely somebody who knows Houston pretty well. The LJ is another big clue, it's trying just a little too hard to sound like a 16 year old girl (and really, what 16 year old girls these days would even know who Nancy Drew is?). I'm curious to see how they're going to end the story, though.

[arielchan.livejournal.com]

That was kinda the fiction point for me too. Although I started suspecting back when "Eric" told Mark he should bring in "the Feds". Something just felt off there.

[starr234.livejournal.com]

Gessner and Braeswood? Dude, I used to go to synagogue right near there. Weird.

[dreagonfli.livejournal.com]

I'm inclined to think it's just some internet thing as well. I googled the headline of the supposed article about the shooting, and all I got back was the Dionaea House website. Pretty interesting story though. When it got to the part where Mark found Drew's house and it was the exact same as the other house, a chill went up my spine. Great writing.

[pistolharris.livejournal.com]

What got me was the one message: THE DOOR IS OPEN. Time of sending: 5:77. Last message: 5:11. OMGsocreepy. *shudders*

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

The odd thing is . . . at precisely this same time last year, there was another, very similar website documenting emails, text messages, and journal entries of some friends who were going caving, then got lost (or trapped; I can't remember which) in what appeared to be a haunted cave.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, I intended Black Ribbon to be a serial running through (and only through) October. October's just a fun month to do that kind of thing.

Can you remember any of the details of the cave thing? Like, first names, or anything? I'm trying to search for it, and more specific details or phrases they use would help.

[girlalmighty]

Oh, it's definitely fiction. It's really well done though. The only thing, I'd say, which makes it too obvious is the LJ. It's too stereotypically bad. Besides which, a teenage girl would have her interests listed, have friends back (that's why we get LJs, a lot of the time), and would have icons. She wouldn't bother titling it and not be able to spell half the words; she wouldn't use paragraphs like that (it just doesn't go together with the off spelling); her grammar would be equally bad; and she wouldn't remember "emergency broadcasting system" off to the top of her head. ;)

And the most obvious clue? She's disabled comments. No 16 year old girl, with or without LJ friends, would disable the comments, particularly on such relatively innocuous entries. ^_^ But the site itself is well-done, and I'm curious what happens next . . . The details! Wheeee!

[readykatego.livejournal.com]

Definitely fiction -- all the plot points are carefully laid out -- but wow, an amazing read. That last text message freaked me the hell out.

Thanks for linking!

[kotszok.livejournal.com]

Lol, that is freaky, no matter how fake it seems. You know, reading over all of it, I get the impression that everything was written by one and the same person. Theres no feeling of even the slightest difference between all texts... but still, it's creepy! Makes for some fun reading! Thanks for the link.

[arayuldaiel.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I should not have read the LJ, as I'm babysitting my neighbor's little girl right now. Oy. I'm glad I'm in my own house.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

ooh, how Blair Witch. :) I love stuff like this, particularly at this time of year.

It's fake...

[redscorner.livejournal.com]

This guy is a screenwriter, and this is something he was working on for people to see after it was done.

Here's the link where he drops by a message board and explains it: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?start=0&submit=Go&t=7533&postdays=0&postorder=asc

Re: It's fake...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, I was saying "I can't say if it's true or not" to be generous--you know, let people go in with the benefit of the doubt for a better scare.

I'm really intrigued by what one random guy says--"I almost mentioned that I've seen calls for talented writers to assist with ARG." Because I LOVE this kind of thing, and the letters I put up in front of the Black Ribbon installments on the site were sort of a mild stab at something like that (although not scary, just funny). Some of these games could really, really rock if they got enough writers involved, particularly to get around that "The whole thing seems like it was written by one person" problem.

(Hee, I wonder if the cpip at the top of the thread is the same one who comments here a lot? I bet it is.)

[dreambastion.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fiction, but it's oh so very good :) It gives me chills. Thanks for sharing the link.

[wearejustducky.livejournal.com]

I have to chime in on the House of Leaves love - a friend handed it to me and said she never wanted it back, and I thought, oh my.

A week later, I totally understood. AHH. Freaky. AHHH. The Dionaea House is a pretty good pastiche/homage.

The funniest thing about HOL is how the most random people will recommend it to you. One day, I was waiting for my breakfast tacos in the drive thru of a Mexican restauraunt when the guy taking my money spotted a book I was reading on the seat next to me and said, "Hey, have you heard of this book called "House of Leaves"? You should read it. It fucked my shit up but good."

Yes, it's the book so weirdly compelling strangers tell you to read it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

It fucked my shit up but good.

That should so be a blurb on the back cover.

[slrcosmos.livejournal.com]

Is the House of Leaves written by Mark Z. Danielewski? I just want to make sure I have the right one. Some of the reviews claim it's boring and that doesn't fly with what people are saying here.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

That's the one. I read a few mixed reviews today myself, but I'm going to see if I can't get hold of it anyway.

[aurora-borialis.livejournal.com]

I'm going with fake LJ for 500.

It had no friends listed, no comments, no zip.

That e-mail story made me get a lil' nervous when it got all to text messages. I was screaming at the guy (mark?) DON'T GO IN YOU IDIOT!!!! IT'S GOING TO KEELLL YOUUUU!!!!

Like you said, "good fiction". hehe. I needed a bit of a scare for holloween. lol.

[mokeyhokey.livejournal.com]

This whole idea of solving a puzzle from real stuff (well, if you count the internet as real, though compared to a video game it is) has me completely intrigued. Where in the hell am I when all the cool shit hits the web?!

Though The Dionaea House was a better read, Caver Ted managed to freak me out more. I'm lame like that.

This "Beast" thing makes A.I. infinitely more interesting.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Check out cloudmakers.org. Between their front page and the "other games" page, you ought to be able to find out what the next big game about to hit is. I hear Project Syzygy is going to start up early in 2005.

[dawnglider.livejournal.com]

OMG freaky!
I had to stop reading, and it was a good thing I did, because I was lying in bed last night, and every last noise freaked me right out.
In the lj? The thing with the bath, and the string, and the mysterious stairs/attic/room thing, and the smell, and the computers? Seriously freaked me right out.

[(Anonymous)]

it's very interesting and well-done and disturbing, but there's also little apparent mistakes like date: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 5:77 PM (http://www.dionaea-house.com/text15.htm), which seems an unlikely timestamp from a text-messaging service, though that sort of thing would presumably be checked for and cleared up once the whole thing was finished.

[colinmorris.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that thing is fun and I'm only abotu 4 emails into it. Nicely laid out LJ, by the way. I haven't visited your site yet but based on the looks of your journal, I have great expectations.

-Baltimore