Candle Cove is an onlinecreepypastahorror story written by web cartoonist and authorKris Straub. The story centers on a discussion of the titular fictional children's television series on anInternet forum.[1] Straub has stated that he was inspired to write the creepypasta after reading an article inThe Onion entitled "Area 36-Year-Old Still Has OccasionalLidsville Nightmare".
Straub's story quickly became popular, inspiring numerous YouTube videos and fan fictions.[2][3] In 2015, Straub self-publishedCandle Cove in a collection of short stories entitledCandle Cove and Other Stories.The Verge commented thatCandle Cove differed from other creepypastas in that while most creepypasta have an "anonymous folkloric quality",Candle Cove originated from a known source and author.[4]
The story is framed as a discussion thread on the fictional "NetNostalgia Forums". Users from theHuntington–Ashland metropolitan area reminisce aboutCandle Cove, a children's television program broadcast on Channel 58 in the early 1970s. The program centred around a girl named Janice and her imaginary adventures withmarionette pirates. As the thread progresses, the users' recollections of the series become increasingly disturbing; they mention a villainous character known as the "Skin-Taker", askeleton pirate who wore clothing made of children's skin, and an episode that consisted entirely of the puppets flailing and screaming. The story ends with a user relating a recent conversation with his mother about the series; she told him that whenever he claimed to be watchingCandle Cove as a child, the television showed nothing butstatic.
"Candle Cove" was originally published byKris Straub in 2009 on hiswebsite ichorfalls.com, under aCreative Commons license.[5] The website hosted Straub'shorror stories about the fictional town of Ichor Falls. In a 2011 interview, Straub toldKindertrauma he got the concept of "Candle Cove" from a satiricalOnion article titled "Area 36-Year-Old Still Has OccasionalLidsville Nightmare".[2]
Like othercreepypasta — aneologism for horror stories circulated around theinternet — fans promptlycopied and pasted "Candle Cove" across numerousinternet forums and websites.[5][2] It was posted on creepypasta.com and the Creepypasta Wiki, the two largest repositories, as well as sites such as4chan,Reddit,YouTube,IGN, and horror.com.[5] On some forums, fans recreated the story's exchange as if it actually occurred.[2]
In 2015, theSyFy Channel announced their intent to adapt theCandle Cove story as the first season of a newly announced series,Channel Zero.[6] The season, named after the creepypasta, expands on the story and centers on a child psychologist who has returned home in order to investigate the 1980s disappearances of his brother and other children.[7]Channel Zero: Candle Cove starsPaul Schneider andFiona Shaw, and premiered on October 11, 2016.[8][9]
Will Wiles ofAeon wrote thatCandle Cove was "among the best creepypastas out there" and a good example of using theinternet forum format as a storytelling method.[10][11] Adi Robertson ofThe Verge praised the creepypasta, stating that it was "a perfectly dark spin on our nostalgia for the half-remembered stories of our childhood, that realization that the things we liked as kids were much, much creepier than we thought."[4]
Balanzategui, Jessica (2019)."Creepypasta, 'Candle Cove', and the digital gothic".Journal of Visual Culture.18 (2):187–208.doi:10.1177/1470412919841018.ISSN 1470-4129.
