Technology’s pervasive hold on our day-to-day lives is one of the most common themes in creepypasta horror stories… but today’s featured tale gets right to the heart of the beast, so to speak.
The following information comes from a cached blog formerly hosted on the private server of Clearwood Elementary School in Lawton, New Jersey. The details include specific posts and comments from the teachers and students of Clearwood’s computer class in March 2013. The blog was taken down by school officials on April 6 at the instruction of local police — following the unexplained disappearance of two instructors and several students.
That investigation is still ongoing, though no further developments have been released to the public for four years, and the case has reportedly been under federal jurisdiction since 2014. Nevertheless, a copy of the blog entries, with the full thread of comments from teacher Meredith Yates and her students, was recently leaked online by parties unknown and later posted on an unnamed forum… which itself was shut down in less than 48 hours.
But as we all know, nothing truly disappears from the web… and copies of the thread continue to pop up periodically. Excerpts from the original communication have been included here… but don’t expect them to stick around for long.
Ms. Yates’ first post, dated March 7, 2013 under the username Myates, begins as follows:
Hello, students. Going by this month’s theme of Internet trolls, we’re going to start off with one of the classic tricks that people use to take advantage of new computer users, such as yourselves. One of the first things they will attempt to persuade you to do is to delete the system32 file on your computer. They may claim that it helps speed up your processor, or clears up unnecessary files, or even prevents viri from invading the programming. I’m here to tell you that this is not true at all, and that if you delete this file, it will not be beneficial in any way, and will in fact harm your computer irreversibly…
Yates then included a link to an example of this scenario — but I’m not embedding it here, for reasons you’ll discover soon enough.
As you can see, once the file is removed, the operating system will fail upon restart. To further demonstrate how dangerous these so-called trolls can be, I’ve prepared an old computer to test this with tomorrow in class.
The post is then joined by several students — including Pete (Pfarley24), Louis (Lray18), Myra (Merskine66), Ian (Ifrederickson04), Jerry (Jzaphoro20) and Ursula (Ughia02) — most of whom complain they already know enough about the content Ms. Yates is demonstrating.
The following day, Yates recaps the results:
As you’ve seen today, the worst case scenario is the corruption of your computer’s hard drive. Unfortunately, since the demonstration took so long, I was unable to check last night’s homework, but know that I have not forgotten and will be collecting it tomorrow.
Apart from some obnoxious comments (triggering a stern reprimand from Yates), nothing unusual accompanies the teacher’s next couple of posts… until March 11 at 7:20 pm, when the comments begin to hint at something strange unfolding…
Jzaphoro20: anyone seen pete or louis lately guyz? they werent in school 2day
Ifrederickson04: who?
Jzaphoro20: so wut is it then r they both sick or something
Merskine66: probbly skipped school
Jzaphoro20: they wouldnt just skip school myra therez no reason theyd miss game club
Ifrederickson04: seriously guys who r they? r u talking about louis remington?
Merskine66: no u moron louis ray and pete farley
Ifrederickson04: in all seriousness i have no idea who they r
Ifrederickson04: o u mean those 2 nerds who play call of duty all the time
Merskine66: yeeeeess ian
Ifrederickson04: yea theyre sick they left in the middle of 6th period to go home
Then comes the following chilling entry — which was seemingly back-dated to March 11 at 3:41 am.
Students, I need help. I know most of you are asleep, but please, whoever hears this, listen to me please, don’t go to class tomorrow life in danger oh GOD hel;k3yfrebnm 32 32 32 32 32 32 32
Unless certain segments have been redacted, no further posts appear on the blog until March 22… and this update comes from a “Mr. Barry,” apparently a popular teacher at Clearwood Elementary. Barry’s post, which details the students’ next assignment, does not acknowledge the existence of Meredith Yates at all — nor does it address the topic of malware protection.
Students, it’s your favorite teacher Mr. Barry here, wishing you all a happy weekend! I’ve just gotten this class blog up and running, and I shall be posting all new assignments on here from now on, starting with this Tuesday’s project on motherboard composition. Remember to study!
But despite this sudden, inexplicable change to the thread, along with no mention of any prior posts, some of the students began to take notice…
Lray18: hey whos Myates
Jzaphoro20: wait wut
Lray18: it sez the original poster is someone called Myates
Merskine66: where
Lray18: in the blog history it sez we were talking 2 a teacher named Myates
Ughia02: That’s bizarre. We haven’t had a Yates in our school at all, if I remember correctly.
Lray18: its dated march 7-11
Merskine66: but mr barry was our teacher..
Lray18: ye ik he taught us since february must be some sort of coincidence where mr barry got a domain shared w/ another teacher who has students with our names
Ughia02: The odds seem too low for that. I’ll ask tomorrow whether we’ve had a Yates.
Events took a much darker turn following a routine update from Mr. Barry on March 25… here’s an excerpt from the comment thread on that post:
Pfarley24: LOUIS R U THERE
Lray18: ye man its 12 at night what u just stopped me from getting lvl 23 in cod
Pfarley24: CALL THE COPS PLS HELP ME
Lray18: what what is it a breakin
Pfarley24: DO IT PLS LOUIS
Lray18: ok ok um hide somewhere im calling rn stay in ur room
Pfarley24: LOUIS ITS GONNA KILL ME OH SHIT OH SHjhfopa;lka 32 32 32 32 32 32
Pfarley24 is now offline.
The bizarre and ominous pattern continued in the comments the following day…
Merskine66: ian look at yesterdays blog post
Ifrederickson04: what
Ifrederickson04: o yea what the hell
Ifrederickson04: thats weird
Lray18: guys there isnt a kid in school named pete farley right im not goin crazy
Merskine66: no none of us know who he is
Jzaphoro20: hacker?
Lray18: probz
The next disturbing twist came on March 27 — beginning with a comment from Ursula, who had been looking into the identity of Meredith Yates. That thread [edited below for length] quickly turned from baffling to terrifying.
Ughia02: Guys, I looked up the school teacher database, and there is not, nor has there ever been a Yates working at Clearwood.
Jzaphoro20: that was random
Merskine66: wait guys scroll up
Ifrederickson04: wut
Merskine66: there was a kid in our chat room called louis ray
Jzaphoro20: nother hacker
Merskine66: y would someone hack a school blog
Jzaphoro20: wait ursula u said there was someone named yates
Ughia02: Yes, for some reason I looked up whether someone with that name worked here…
Ughia02: Wait, is it because of another person from this blog?
Jzaphoro20: guys, look there are 3 people in this blog who weve never heard of: yates, peter farley, and louis ray
Jzaphoro20: this is really strange, cant be a coincidence
Ughia02: Yates’ last message and Peter Farley’s last message both consist of frantic typing, acting like they were in some sort of life-threatening situation.
Jzaphoro20: from what it says, i definitely knew peter and louis well
Merskine66: but if we interacted with them that means that they were real
Ifrederickson04: guys guys stop being pussies its just a pedo hacker messing with us
Ughia02: Ian’s probably right. We have no reason to believe those people were real, or whether the previous messages were really typed by us. We wouldn’t just forget that someone ever existed.
Ifrederickson04: guys
Jzaphoro20: yea i guess ur right
Ifrederickson04: GUYS SOMEONES IN MY ROOM
Jzaphoro20: stop it u dikk
Ifrederickson04: CALL 911
Merskine66: were not that gullible ian
Ughia02: Ian, please stop.
Ifrederickson04: HELsgkldfj,jn,’[ea 32 32 32 32 32 32
Ifrederickson04 is now offline.
Jzaphoro20: wait wtf
Jzaphoro20: hes trying so hard, too. gotta give im credit, the ian kid sounds like a real jerk
Merskine66: wait, jerry, how do i know this is u? u could be this hacker
Jzaphoro20: ask me a personal question bout u
Merskine66: how old was i when my gerbil ran away?
Jzaphoro20: 12 right?
Merskine66: ok, good, ur real. ursula how old was i the only time i took us horseback riding
Ughia02: You were 7 years old, and I was 6.
Jzaphoro20: wait for all we no u could be a hacker 2, myra
Jzaphoro20: how long did we date in 7th grade?
Merskine66: 4 months
Jzaphoro20: k were all real
Merskine66: but it says only 3 people r in the chat room
Merskine66: wait i just looked at the page source and it sez that there are only 3 connections to this blog right now
Jzaphoro20: myra
Merskine66: so were all who we say we r
Jzaphoro20: myra i hear something in my room
Merskine66: …what?
Jzaphoro20: im not fuckin kiddin myra i hear something
Jzaphoro20: holy shit it was all real wasnt it
Merskine66: jerry stay calm
Jzaphoro20: theres something killing us 1 by 1
Merskine66: jerry im calling the police stay quiet
Jzaphoro20: i dont wanna turn around
Merskine66: jerry
Ughia02: Myra, Jerry, what’s going on?
Jzaphoro20: ITS GETTING CLOSER HELP ME MYRA
Merskine66: JERRY
Jzaphoro20: oh my god;sf4 32 32 32 32 32 32
Merskine66: JERRY
Jzaphoro20 is now offline.
Not long after Jerry drops, Myra and Ursula pick up the thread again… and begin to realize there’s something more devious at work here than just a digital spy or saboteur.
Ughia02: What’s up, Myra?
Merskine66: nothin much ursula
Merskine66: hold up
Merskine66: did someone hack us?
Ughia02: Huh?
Merskine66: look at what was just posted above
Ughia02: ???
Merskine66: oh my god
Ughia02: What is it? We just got hacked, that’s all. Mr. Barry said he had to work on the firewall.
Merskine66: ursula read the history
Ughia02: What… what is this?
Merskine66: ursula my gerbil did run away when i was 12
Ughia02: What.. what are you saying?
Merskine66: and we did go horseback riding when i was 7 and u were 6
Ughia02: But…
Merskine66: ursula, i dont remember them
Ughia02: There… there has to be a logical… better reason for this…
Merskine66: these people were real and they were our friends
Ughia02: Myra, youre scaring me…
Merskine66: theres something killing us off, one by one…
Merskine66: and when it does, we forget they ever existed
Merskine66: pete, ian and jerry were all killed while talking to us on the blog
Merskine66: u saw the way they typed. they were afraid for their lives
Merskine66: ursula…
Merskine66: were next
Merskine66: ursula?
Ughia02: …help me…
Merskine66: oh god ursula…
Ughia02: i hear it…
Merskine66: ursula PLEASE
Ughia02: myra pleas promise me
Merskine66: URSULA
Ughia02: promis u wont forget me
Merskine66: DONT LEAVE ME ALONE
Ughia02: please rmember me myra
Merskine66: URSULA PLS
Ughia02: system32
Merskine66: what
Ughia02: 32
Merskine66: no
Ughia02: 32 32 32 32
Merskine66: NO
Ughia02 is now offline.
There is only one last full post to the blog by Mr. Barry, dated March 28, 2013… but this time it read only “32 32 32 32.” In the comment thread under that post, Myra attempted to coax Barry (or whoever was using his moderator account) to reveal what was happening… but always received the same reply.
The following is an excerpt from that comment thread…
Merskine66: hey, mr barry, can u help me with something?
Tbarry [OP]: 32 32 32 32 32 32
Merskine66: mr barry, what is this…
Tbarry [OP]: 32 32 32 32 32 32
Merskine66: what are all those messages up there
Tbarry [OP]: 32 32 32 32 32 32
Merskine66: WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS
Tbarry [OP]: 32 32 32 32 32 32
Merskine66: WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM
Tbarry [OP]: 32 32 32 32 32 32
Merskine66: TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO THEM
Then, without warning or explanation, the usernames for all of Myra’s classmates returned to the thread… and the final horrifying exchange begins.
Ifrederickson04: Hello, Myra.
Merskine66: what is this… what…
Pfarley24: I saved you for last.
Merskine66: who… what are you…
Jzaphoro20: I’ve been watching you for some time now.
Merskine66: WHAT ARE YOU???
Lray18: I know it wasn’t your fault.
Merskine66: what wasn’t my fault…
Ughia02: I can see you’re confused.
Merskine66: please… leave me alone…
Lray18: Allow me to explain.
Ughia02: When you remove the skin from a creature…
Ifrederickson04: …its inner workings are revealed.
Pfarley24: Once the internals of a creature are exposed for the you to see…
Jzaphoro20: You never see it the same way again.
Ughia02: You peeled away my skin.
Jzaphoro20: You saw what lurked behind it.
Lray18: The world cannot know what you saw.
Merskine66: i don’t remember… i dont know what i saw
Pfarley24: You saw a window to eternity.
Lray18: To a world of chaos.
Ifrederickson04: Of darkness.
Jzaphoro20: Of death.
Ughia02: You saw me.
Myates [OP]: And for that you must pay.
Merskine66: PLEASE NO
Merskine66: no
Merskine66: no;’
Merskine66: no;’aalu1w
Merskine66: no;’aalu1wgf;akmdfkj[‘02i4 32
Merskine66: 32 32 32 32 32
Merskine66 is now offline.
The original blog was taken down by an unknown operator shortly after this thread ended.
Four years later, the whereabouts of Ms. Yates, Mr. Barry and their computer class students remain unknown.
