There is an obscure YouTuber out there. I won’t reveal his name, but I will refer to him as Jeff. On April 16, 2023, he uploaded a video titled Destroying My Brother’s Phone Then Buying Him a New One. I found this in my recommended section and got caught off guard by the title. Destroying his brother’s phone? Buying a new one? It sounded like vandalism and gaslighting. Now, I had watched one of his videos before, and I never thought he was the kind of person to do such a thing.
I was hoping it was just a joke and pressed the title anyway. I wanted to make sure this wasn’t actually somebody being a dipshit for views. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the case. The video began with the guy, Jeff, excitedly greeting the viewer, telling us that today, he was going to sneak into his brother’s room, take his phone, and smash it.
This had to be a joke. Nobody would actually destroy other people’s stuff like that, right?
Jeff went to an Apple store and bought a phone while telling us what he ate for breakfast. Nice. Then, back home, he hid the new phone, went up to his brother’s room, took his brother’s phone, ran downstairs and walked out to his back porch, where a hammer was sitting on the table.
He’s not actually going to do it, is he?
He did it. He took the hammer and hit the phone over and over and over, cracking and denting the screen, then, as he kept going, the microchips. His brother came outside, noticed the phone, cried, and his brother, who, at the time I wanted to plug his butthole and tear him a new one, kept explaining, “It’s just an experiment! It’s for the video! Why are you mad?” while his brother complained, asking him what in the hell he was doing.
Then Jeff went off camera and brought the new phone over. Then they hugged. What I found weird was his brother somehow forgave the destruction of his property even after stating he had important stuff on said property.
In the recommended section, I saw many videos with similar titles. Same premise, different stuff. Laptops, headphones, tablets, gaming consoles etc. My blood was boiling. Who the hell does that?! Destroying, or even touching other people’s property without permission is never okay no matter what you do before or after.
I reported the video, then I left a comment stating my point above. An hour after I commented, Jeff responded.
“I think it’s best to be positive!”
What kind of dumb cringey reaction was that? He destroyed someone else’s property for fun! How’s that even slightly positive for anyone?
I replied, telling him what he did wasn’t positive. He didn’t respond, so I replied further. He still didn’t respond. I kept commenting over and over, then I threatened to post the video around the internet and get his channel suspended.
The next day, I got an email from Jeff. The weird thing was I never had my email displayed anywhere Jeff could see. Not on my YouTube profile, nowhere. This is what the email read:
Can you stop commenting on my video? Please? There was a reason I made that damn video in the first place. I needed to appease the man. The man wanted me to make the video so he wouldn’t have to take extra measures.
By the way, it’s all acting. My brother was in on the prank. Yes, I understand posting videos like this, especially for rage bait, is harmful. Yes, I’m not responsible for anybody’s actions, but I get it. It’s the wrong message to send… to say gaslighting works. And it’s wrong to make rage bait when people with ASD exist.
Oh god, you know what? He only monitors my YouTube channel, so I’ll tell you this. I need to get this out.
My entire life, I’ve had an extra adult look after me. Until I was 16, I thought he was one of my parents. He always checked my bedroom an hour past my bedtime to make sure I was sleeping. If I wasn’t, he would make this face… one distorted beyond recognition… that gave me a sense of dread every time. I’d have nightmares for a week, and be unable to sleep, ironically enough. At 15, I broke the cycle one night when I stopped caring enough about creepy faces that I just went to sleep without a nightmare.
Up until I was 11, I thought it was possible for everybody to make their faces look distorted. I tried it myself, told my friends about it, told my teachers… then eventually I was told I had a crazy imagination… even after telling them of the man.
My friends and I had a sleepover one summer night, and our bedtime was 10 PM. To show them the face, I told them to stay up until then. When it came 10 PM, we were sitting on the bed, looking at the door, waiting for the man to walk in.
The door creaked open. My heart sank.
The man poked his head in. My breaths got faster. Next thing I knew, I saw the face again.
“There it is!”
The man left the room, leaving the door open a crack. My friends told me his face looked normal. They told me I didn’t need to be afraid of my Dad. I told them right back that it wasn’t my Dad, but according to them…
“It’s just your Dad or something…”
I felt alone. As I said above, it wasn’t until I was 15 that I stopped caring enough to ignore it. He comes in at 1 AM from age 13 onwards anyway, so most of the time, I don’t catch him, as I would fall asleep at 12 AM, sometimes 11 PM. I keep thinking he finally left for good, but then he pokes his head into my room at 1 AM at the very least on nights I end up staying up past 1 AM. Despite my growing apathy, I always had a tiny pit in my stomach whenever I saw his distorted face.
As I mentioned, when I was 16, I found out he wasn’t related to me.
“He isn’t related to us,” My Mom told me, in an oddly smiley tone. “He just lives here. He’s helped us through everything and we are definitely grateful.” It sounded like she was hypnotized, or in any way forced to say that.
I asked my Dad for more info, hoping his response wouldn’t sound weird, but he told me I already knew everything I needed to, in the same smiley tone.
Close to my 18th birthday, he told me something I, at first, thought was harmless.
“I’ve got some ideas you can do for YouTube videos”
It sounded fun. He was always focused on his construction-related projects down in the basement, so him giving me ideas for my hobby was delightful… until it wasn’t.
“Do a food challenge video.”
Easy! Once I gathered the needed materials, filmed it, edited it and posted it, he told me I did a good job.
The following week, he gave me another idea.
“Do one of those videos where you crush a stuffed animal with a hydraulic press,” he requested.
I told him I wouldn’t be able to, as I didn’t have enough money for the materials.
“Well… don’t blame me,” he said, looking into my eyes with a distorting smile. His skin began to shribble. Multiple thoughts popped into my head, making me wonder if I was going to be feeling on edge for the rest of my life. Chills ran down my spine as the what if thoughts flew around in my head. Then… the kicker.
“Soon you might wake up and find you have no skin.”
My heart sunk further. “What? Why… what the fuck?” I thought to myself. He sounded so sure of himself too… I know what he sounds like when he’s sure of himself. “…the hell?”
“We… when I-I get the money, I can make the video,” I said.
(Reading this part of Jeff’s email made my stomach turn, believe me. It caught me so off guard.)
His face returned to normal, but what he told me was still making my stomach turn.
“You have four years to post it,” he said.
To hopefully get out of this, I obliged. Maybe he’ll go away, maybe he won’t. I dread him fulfilling his threat. I mean, all I had to do was make a video, right?
By now, I’ve done 12 videos for him. He brings up the no-skin threat every time, even gluing a drawing of me without skin to the ceiling above my bed. I don’t know why he needs me to make these videos, and it’s creeping me out.
He told me to do the phone destruction “prank” video, so I had to do the destruction video. In case you’re wondering, Im friends with a couple other YouTubers who have done similar videos… they confirmed to me there isn’t some creepy dude forcing them to make those videos.
All I can do is tell you about this. You, unfortunately, can’t do anything about it. I’m sorry.
I thought this was pure bs. There was no way that was actually happening to him. It read like a creepypasta, if I’m being honest. Well, at least he admitted gaslighting is wrong, but why did he need to tell me all that? All it did was leave me feeling cold for a couple hours. There was another sensation too. A dark dreadful one that felt… imminent, if that makes sense. I had never felt such a thing before, which got me thinking, what if Jeff was telling the truth? I took my mind off of it as best I could to alleviate the dread.
That night, I was sitting on my bed, surfing the web, when I heard a ruffling of leaves coming from what I assumed was the bush outside my bedroom window. I looked out the window and saw a tall man in plain grey and black clothing standing in the bush, staring at me with a look of sinister determination. My heart sunk. What was worse was his face appeared as if it was poorly generated by an AI. His features, aside from his eyes, were barely recognizable as human.
Jeff must’ve been telling the truth. I shouldn’t have bothered him. Now I have to face this maniac who wants to, what, take my skin?
Why???
The man stepped up to the window, pressing himself up against it, then he puching the glass. A pit formed in my stomach as I instinctually backed away. He hit the glass again… and again… and again.
I sprinted into the bathroom and called the police, telling them an intruder was trying to break into my house.
I just heard the window break. Damn it. I guess, freaky things like that really do exist… I hope I can get out of this somehow, but it doesn’t look like there’s a way, sadly, especially with the fact the man somehow found out where I lived… I can hear his footsteps now… I’m going to get this out in case I don’t survive this encounter.