Sacramento Book Festival 2026

[Thirteen]

"Oh, creepypastas are scary stories passed around on the internet forums. Fiction, but usually presented as someone relating a personal experience." The redhead nodded, "Kisaragi Station is an example from Japan. Woman posts to a message board, askin' for help, sayin' she's on a train but doesn't know where she is. Train's pulled into a place called Kisaragi station. Board users search but can't find a station by that name. It don't seem to exist. Woman's scared, but gets off the train, and... well, I won't spoil it." She smirked and readjusted the books in her hands. "Most creepypastas are like that. Paranormal horror stories. Spooky encounters, visits to places that shouldn't exist, that kind of thing. I think the name comes from the term copy and paste."

Another nod to John, "Aye, like I said, an eejit. They got exposed pretty fast, I believe."

The idea of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon got her thinking, "If I recall, there's an island somewhere like that. Indian Ocean, I'm thinkin'? Off-limits to outsiders, to protect an indigenous tribe of some sort. The islanders are hostile, from what I understand, so the ban is to protect outsiders, too. I bet their language is as pure as you're gonna find anywhere."

[Kray]

A deep dark chuckle follows at the talk of campfire stories. "Hm. The internet has it's uses I will give it that." He might not be a fan but he knew the basics and how the world more or less run on it. "Oh. But yes I do enjoy a good night of scary stories." A campfire was classic, but more could bed done of course.

A heavy shrug meets the next statement. "Uh. I might not follow it all, or understand everything but yeah I'd hear it out." If it was that long it might be better to bring snacks. But yes he finds talk of the stone equally flawed. "Uh. Well if mistakes in translating the stone are present then anything from is mistaken as well." Surely there was no stone that had all of the rules and terms used in these ancient languages just sitting around? "Ah. Goes back to what I said about the dinosaurs, one new discovery could change the way we understand all that in a major way." He just couldn't get his head around the idea that the languages would be spoken or translated correctly without someone who had spoken it originally.

Right so this was a modern form of telling scary stories? How had he missed this! "Huh. Well now that is interesting." And it seemed both of them knew a great deal more then him on this. "Hm. Only fictional is it?" Maybe not so. "Uh. I once heard all stories start wit ha grain of truth." That or the yare meant to convey a message, something to keep you safe by invoking fear. "Ah. So that could be. Don't leave the train if you don't know where you are." A bit of lame first go, but he might need to read the story proper.

It had just been a suggestion after all. "Uh. If it works it works, if not then hey its your hobby." But yes for his own plans sometimes things he needed to be broken or reshaped to fit a new role, but it usually wasn't furniture.

Another dark rumbling laugh. "Ha. Good the fool got what was coming then." Such a blatant deception would never have worked. "Ha. I wonder why he even bothered." What would the point, the gain, the purpose to such a pointless and easily rumbled deception.

[Aurora]

Eyes widen, “Oh! That’s a good one!” a nod. “I still liked the Russian Sleep Experiment, that one creeped me out. Especially as someone who doesn’t sleep well, it just hit close to home.” And those were the best stories to her. “I truly enjoy the talent of some of the writers, like, Hollywood writers should hire them.” It would be better then some of the crap they were putting out.

A nod, “Yup, there is that one as well. There was a guy that thought it would be a great idea to try and have a boat drop him off there. No body was recovered. But, you can’t protect people from themselves.” Shrugging.

“The internet does have it uses, yes. But I will still take campfire over it. Oh, maybe a night of creepypasta stories, or any creepy stories around a campfire come Halloween! Now that’s an evening I can get behind. Marshmallows and all that, yup.” Nodding.

Chuckling, “Sounds like you’re a hard one to convince, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There is always room for mistakes and misinterpretation, that is just life. But maybe if I show you some of the research that was done, and pictures of the stone, it might connect some of the pieces that I’m not explaining correctly. Might not convince you, which I’m not trying to do. But might help tie things together.” She wasn’t the type to try and make people see her way. Unless it was a spirit, but that was different. “Exactly. Which is why there is always ongoing research into each field. There is something new discovered all the time, science is always changing and evolving.” She had no problem admitting that.

Shrugging, “It’s supposed to be fictional. But I’ve always believed there are some level of truth to stories. So yeah, like you said, some grain of truth somewhere in them.”

[Thirteen]

"Well, creepypastas are supposedly fictional," she chuckled. "You never know, right?" Thirteen listened to Kray's suggestion of a moral lesson in the story and shrugged, "Maybe. I dunno if they were written with the idea of impartin' lessons. I think mostly they're just meant to scare people. I'm not sure what sort of lesson Slender Man is supposed to teach. Beware of very tall people, perhaps?" She looked up at the towering Ogre in amusement.

She looked to Madison and nodded, "There's a Backrooms movie comin' out! Trailer just released. So that's at least one creepy creator gettin' into Hollywood."

On the subject of the isolated islanders, the redhead nodded, "Ah, right. Was that the missionary or the youtuber? One got killed and the other got arrested. I forget which was which. Neither had permits, both were stupid."

[Kray]

They had first met at a night of Halloween celebrations so it is not surprising that Madison seemed to enjoy that time of year. "Hm. Stories are good yes, but the best have a purpose a lesson they are trying to convey. Not just shock." The fear tasted all the better when it came form something build up and storied. Well it did to the ogre. "Ah. Besides why does need to wait for Halloween?" And important night yes, but so trivialized and important lessons could be learnt any night of the year.

Ogres could be stubborn to the point of determent when the modo took them, and that was often enough yes. "Bah. I just can't get it through my head how it would work." There just seemed like so much room for error or the unknown, or assumption or something to be missing. "Hm. It was a different world all the way back then wasn't it. There is no grantee things work they do today." He was very loosely alluding to the idea and importance of context and bias.

If there was truth in these stories buried deep, he did hope it was rather deep. No need people getting to suspicious about what's out there. They might go looking in places they should not. "Uh. Still they can't be to true can. If all these dangerous things did exist, a lot more people would end up dead rather then just spotting them." If every story had its own villain or big nasty then well yes. People would die or go missing more then they already did.

Violets message does get a dark grin. "Oh. Well that's not the worst lesson in the world." Well as far as he was concerned. "Ah. But tell me of this slender man, where does it live, who does it hunt? does it have a reason?" A good number of myths were just teaching don't go to this place or don't do this or something bad will come for you.

[Aurora]

Shrugging, “You never know. I mean, if you take away a lesson from a creepypasta, then, great? I don’t know. Some of them make you look at things differently. Now Slender Man was just weird and I think meant to just scare you.” Then laughs.

A glance to Thirteen, “Wait, seriously? They made a movie? Huh, well damn. I know the Elevator Game was made into some B rated movie and that was a creepypasta. Never saw it, just saw a trailer for it and they didn’t do that poor story any justice.” A sad shake of her head.

“Uh,” a thoughtful look, “I think he was a missionary, wanting to spread the word of his religion and all that. And uh, he def got killed. Not sure about the youtuber, didn’t hear about him. But I agree one hundred percent, stupidity, pure and simple.” Shaking her head.

“Sometimes shock is the lesson. Everyone needs a good shock everyone now and then. Some of my show is purely for the shock value.” Because that was what sold. “And why wait for Halloween? If memory serves me right, it’s because the veil between the living and the dead is thin, so things just feel spookier. But I’m always down for ghost stories and scary stories anytime of the year.” Didn’t matter to her.

Nodding, “Yes, a very different world. And the stone itself is a very unique artifact, one that has been studied for years upon years. Some have dedicated their whole lives to studying it. I don’t understand how it works; I just put my faith in those who have spent lives studying it that they do. And that if there is a new breakthrough, or something is proven to be wrong, the discovery will be passed along. But like I said, I’m willing to sit down with you over a beer and show you pictures of it, and how they say it works. It’s not really all that exciting unless you’re into that stuff, but maybe you’ll find something that catches your eye.” Or not.

“Well, then I hate to tell you about the theories about the national parks and cryptids, and why so many people go missing. I mean, there are other theories than just cryptids, but they are high up on the list.” She wasn’t into conspiracy theories, but in her research, the whole national park thing had come up.

[Thirteen]

"A lot of creepypasta is about takin' a familiar concept and playin' out people's fears about it with a paranormal twist. Like, Kisaragi is about the fear of takin' the wrong train or gettin' off at the wrong stop." She may or may not have done that when she was younger. It was scary, in it's own way.

Violet nodded to Aurora, "It's just a teaser trailer, but I think the movie should be pretty good."

Brown eyes turned back to Kray, "Slender Man? There's different interpretations. The internet doesn't have just one version. There's no official canon. I suppose you could compare it to regional stories about Sasquatch. Typically, Slender's a very tall, very skinny figure. Unnaturally so. Wears a dark suit and tie. Most notable is the total lack of facial features. No eyes, nose, mouth or ears. Not even any hair. His head's just blank. Some versions give him tendrils? But not all."

She ran her fingers through her own hair. "It's in what he can do and why that the stories get varied. The first sightings had him showin' up in the backgrounds of old photos, with suggestions that his appearances heralded the disappearance of the children in the pictures. Then there's Marble Hornets, a video series that creates it's own mythos around him, gives him additional powers. Like makin' people violently sick in his presence."

[Kray]

Violets talk of the train serves as decent example. "Huh. Yeah I can see that an expression of personal fear from real experience." Not exactly therapy but a healthy enough way to cope and inform others.

Now he didn't know jack from squat about veils of the dead or after life's. But other realms did exist. "Uh. Well if you go looking for ghost that sounds like your best time." Circling the conversation back and away from that particular topic.

He is tempted to take Madison up on that offer, odd as it was that she kept offering to spend time with him. "Uh. Would it matter I can't speak any language other then English?" It was all well and good seeing this thing, having it explained to him even but lacking the ability to grasp what was on, the very barrier that seems to confound him. Would mean having to take what was said on total faith. Not a good idea.

Pointless fear, like jump scares just don't do it for the giant, it was almost demeaning in away. "Ah. Fear keeps you alive, cheap thrills cheapen that." He felt rather strongly on the matter. He also feels strongly about Violets description of the new horror figure, knuckle whiten as fists tighten, eyes narrow and the nasty smile becomes a nasty snarl. It sounded way to familiar. "Bah. Stories always have version. Get muddled." He manages to get out. The description was close but far from perfect. Far from it really just a few key things had drawn similarities and without seeing it his mind had done the work. "Bah. There is a lesson there. Monsters get close. Hide in plain sight. They can be photos with you and you don't even know it." The classic act of predation, to get close with your target. "Gah. Friends, family that turn out to be monsters in human skin. Abusers, murderers stuff like that." If that was the intention or parrel he had no idea, it's just what came to mind. Probably from daily experience given monster with a human mask would apply to himself. Of course it could be the gentry, it could always be the gentry. But the point of scary stories was in part to indirectly protect people from them, make them scared of danger. Danger that was a symbol, metaphor or likeness for all that was more dangerous still.

He hasn't flown off the handle, hit anyone or broken anything but the talk of slender man had hit a nerve as his posture has broadened at the shoulders his presence taken on an actively looking aspect he is trying to be big and scary.

[Aurora]

Nodding in agreement, “Playing into peoples fear is a great weapon in writing.” And probably in other parts of life as well. “It reminds me of a quote, ‘The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.’”

“Ok, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it then. Thanks for the heads up, been a while since there was a good movie.” And one she had gone out of her way to see.

Shrugging, “Never gave him much of a second thought myself, never saw the appeal. But some kids lost their damn minds over him, trying to sacrifice their classmate to him or some shit. If you ask me, Bigfoot has more going for him.” More creepy, more elusive.

“Suppose that’s the appeal of such stories, is no one can really agree on too much. Usually just basics, like tall, no face, etc. Then people feel ok adding things to the background of him and giving him their own flare.” Where most cryptids have a set story.

A shrug, “I don’t think so.” Not many had been willing to talk languages with her.

“Depends on what you consider cheap. Like I said, in my line of work, shock brings in the crowds and pays the bills. Call it cheap if you want, but it’s a different world than yours.” Her world, the world of circus and sideshow, wasn’t one that everyone knew. “But I do agree with you, there are always monsters around us, one should always keep both eyes open and be on alert.” As an Awakened, she knew this. She knew about the Lie, and what the world was. She just wasn’t about to make a show about it and give into that fear.

[Thirteen]

All that 'bahs' from John were kind of amusing. Was he turning into a sheep? However, the more Violet talked about the Slender Man, the more this big man seemed... what? Defensive? Unnerved? She wasn't sure. She wasn't the best at reading people. Something on the topic seemed to bother him, though, so the redhead decided to drop it. "I suppose so," was all she added before moving on to something different.

The less said about the Slender Man murders, the better, she thought.

"Bigfoot's a classic. I know a lot of people think the Patterson-Gimlin film is just a guy in a rented gorilla costume, but I found it intriguin'. Maybe it's the grainy quality of the old footage. Gives it an air of authenticity, like a historical documentary." She nodded.

"I too, only speak English. Well, Scottish English, which is better." She stated with confidence.

Thirteen had to agree with Aurora. Cheap horror sold well, but it wasn't her bag. "I don't care for jump scares, myself. Slasher films are kind of laughable. The creepy shite's much better."