25

Any of you ever personally experienced a "haunting" in a videogame?

submitted June 7, 2013 * by garythepoke

 

I love the idea of a "haunted" videogame, or at least the idea of some weird occurrence in a game that didn't seem like it's supposed to happen, like a glitch but more unsettling than usual somehow. I don't personally have any stories like this that I can remember, so I'm wondering if you guys have any you'd like to share.

[-] Anonymous  2 points   June 8, 2013

 

okay i have a story that i've never told anyone because i know how it sounds

back in like 1993-94 my friend jake got this weird knockoff gameboy looking thing from somewhere, can't remember where. the words “Imaginarium” were on the case. it played like audio stories with buttons, not really games. we were like 12.

at first it just seemed like a shitty educational toy. but then it started doing this thing where it would directly address jake by name. not like, a general "hello player" type thing. his actual name. we figured it was some kind of voice recognition but this was 1993, that technology wasn't in kids toys.

one time i was there when it happened. we were both listening through one headphone each (you know how you do) and a voice just said "jake, are you there?" clear as anything.

jake thought it was cool. i thought it was terrifying. i told him to throw it away. he said i was being a baby.

couple weeks later jake stopped coming to school. everyone said he moved away suddenly, family stuff. which was weird because jake had never mentioned moving and we talked every day.

i didn't think about it much until maybe a year later when i was at the grocery store with my mom and i saw jake's mom in the cereal aisle. i almost waved at her, almost asked how jake was doing.

but something stopped me. the way she looked. like she'd been hollowed out. she was just staring at the cereal boxes and she looked like a person who had forgotten how to be a person.

i didn't say anything. i've never been able to explain why. i just knew that asking about jake was wrong somehow. that the answer would be something i couldn't unhear.

i still think about that console. i still think about jake's mom in that cereal aisle.