Cursed All Tabs: Portals, Creepy Caves, Jumpscares and Haunted Objects

In this special Halloween edition of Close All Tabs, we’re diving into creepypastas: horror stories that spread online until they become urban legends on their own. What happened to the girl who fell into a mirror in 2001? Did Ted the Caver ever come back to the surface? Was the Momo challenge real? And finally, we venture into eBay’s haunted doll marketplace … where we may have ended up with a spirit wreaking havoc on the production of this episode. It’s a ghoulish good time.  Guests: Hallie Tut, visual effects artist, and digital content creator Craig Groshek, horror author and founder of Chilling Tales for Dark Nights Ted Hegemann, author of "Ted the Caver” Rena Lee, social media manager Sophia Bruno, middle school program coordinator Paranormal Teej, haunted doll collector & paranormal investigator Further Reading/Listening: How She Creates VFX Shots That Break Your Brain — Hallie Tut, Youtube Momo (Creepypasta) — Villains Wiki Momo Challenge Is Everything That’s Wrong with the Internet — Lance Ulanoff, Medium Ubume — Yokai.com How 'Momo', a global social media hoax about a paranormal threat to kids, morphed into a U.S. viral phenomenon — Ben Collins and Shoshana Wodinsky, NBC News Finally, the truth behind the 'haunted' Dybbuk Box can be revealed — Inverse The witches of eBay: Inside the industry selling haunted items online — Daniella Scott, Cosmopolitan The Backrooms: How Kane Parsons turned creepypasta into cinema — Jack Mills, Dazed The Eerie Backstory Behind Backrooms — Nadira Goffe, Slate Revisiting Creepypasta, the Social Horror Craze That Launched Slenderman — Zac Thompson, VICE Read the Transcript here Email us at CloseAllTabs@KQED.org Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional production by Cayla Mihalovich. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard and Chris Egusa. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices