Line #0 WMG/CandleCove


1	'''As a WMG subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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3
4	[[WMG:The force behind the show is a relative of [[Series/DoctorWho The Wire]].]]
5	They both take on the superficial appearance of a pleasant, harmless TV program, but really have some nefarious purpose in mind. Nobody's face seems to have got eaten in this case, but... who's to say what's next?
6
7	[[WMG:Alternatively, the [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]] is involved.]]
8	Mostly because they're both primarily talked about on the internet and target children.
9	* And links to static. And insanity. And NightmareFuel.
10	* Slendy is the creator. The Skin Taker is his AuthorAvatar. Janice was some poor kid he abducted and promised fame. Also, Slendy's suit happens to be made of children's skin.
11	* This may be becoming... semi-canon? Don't know how you determine what's "canon" and what's not in the Mythos. But WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID has been going down this lane. The most recent video, at least, has the cast ([[AndZoidberg and Damsel]]) talking about "finding the treasure" while watching a blank screen.
12	* Perhaps during the early '70s he decided to take a break from terrorizing young filmmakers and, instead, work with them on his hidden passion: Sid and Marty Krofft-style children's programming. He did his best, but supernatural horror just isn't one of those things you can leave at the door, you know?
13	* The Slender Man? I doubt it. The screaming episode is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2h5ym6ZlVY here]]. Go to 0:38 and pause immediately before the static. Something else seems to be behind the show.
14	** Naw, that's Slenderman. He's just showing off his mask for his cameo apperance.
15	* Alternatively, Slenderman was just the producer; while the rest of the show was made by the [[Franchise/TheFearMythos the other fears.]] At the very least, The Smiling Man seems to have been involved with it.
16
17	[[WMG:Alternatively alternatively, it was JustForFun/CandleJack.]]
18	I mean, just look at the title, it's obvious ([[NotMeThisTime Not me this time]], sorry)
19	* I'd happily get snatched by JustForFun/CandleJack if it meant I was safe from the Skin Taker. clears throat Candle Jack. Um. ''Candle Jack.'' Candle Jack of the loving of the pumpkin pie? I'll bake one, I'll bake them all, seriously, just...Candle Jack! [[AvertedTrope FUCKING CANDLE JACK ALREADY!]] i can feel his teeth on my skin he's waiting why is he waiting
20	** Candle Jack can't get you out of this adventure. [[CatchPhrase You have. To go. Insi]]
21
22	[[WMG: Alternatively alternatively alternatively, it was the demons from [[Recap/AngelS05E14SmileTime Smile Time]]. ]]
23	Candle Cove started out as a real show, but got into financial trouble, forcing the creators to make a DealWithTheDevil. The demons immediately took over, possessed the puppets, and began feeding on the audience.
24
25
26	[[WMG: Candle Cove ''was'' a real show...]]
27	But something [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence happened]] [[{{Unperson}} to]] [[RetGone the]] actors and staff of the show, and they are only able to come in contact with people who watched the show before, or are made aware of it by someone who has watched it.
28
29	[[WMG:Candle Cove isn't just dead static.]]
30	The last poster probably heard about it from a friend, but was a CloudCuckooLander, and watched dead static. Everyone else, i.e., kids who weren't {{CloudCuckooLander}}s, actually watched it.
31	* Alternatively, he made up the story about watching static, actually he's just a message board troll who loves messing with people's heads. The show was real and its supposed creepiness was just a combination of low production values, incompetence of its makers, and the imagination of the kids who watched it.
32	** Or his mother was the one hallucinating. She's the only person we know of who saw the static, and [[OccamsRazor one person seeing things is more likely than several people seeing the same things.]]
33	*** Or, there's a third theory. It wasn't dead static but it was a television show on a station that didn't come in very clearly. That conclusion wasn't reached by many younger people (most of those who know the creepypasta) since many young people grew up with cable and satellite, and thus only know something either coming in clear or not at all. Back in the day (boy, do I sound old), kids would often watch TV channels that only partially came in, which if you weren't watching it and just passing by (as we can safely assume the mother was, as she would have no reason to watch a children's show about pirates) looks like dead air and sounds like dead air or it was close enough that she just called it static. I can remember things that I taped as a kid that were very snowy chanels that only partway came in visually and audially that my parents thought of as just static, and when I played them back, sure enough, they were intact. The only mystery is how they knew the ship was red, but it could be that the kids (remember this aired in 71-72, not long out of the 60s, so there was still black and white TV) saw enough red on black and white that they were pretty sure that the Laughingstock was indeed red (notice that no other colors are explicitly named), or perhaps it came in clear enough at times that the snowy picture had some color to it from time to time. Kids are a lot more willing to watch TV stations that only partially come in than adults are.
34	*** Actually, the forum thread seems similar to a psychological phenomena I heard about, where one person comes up with a vaguely defined memory, another person invents details to add to that vague memory, which convinces the one who reads or hears about them that he/she has "remembered" those details from before and elaborates on them, which in turn prompts other people to "remember" those elaborations in so on. Notice how almost every reply on the thread after the first entry begins with something along the lines of "Oh, yeah I remember (repeats some detail brought up in a previous reply)..." followed by some addition. I think this could either be Confabulation, False Memory Syndrome, or some other phenomena that I've forgotten the name of (I'm not a psychologist after all) related to mass hysteria. In essence, you could say that there never was a Candle Cove and that all the memories the characters have are inventions of their collective conversation.
35
36	[[WMG: The "last episode" was not actually the last episode]]
37	It was just the last one anyone ''watched'', having been scared so badly by it that they never wanted to see the show again. The series continued past that point for an unknown amount of time (presumably not long, if nobody was watching, but then again, [[UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat we can't be sure]]).
38	* On this note, [[OffscreenInertia it's possible the later episodes were additional screaming and similar creepy things.]]
39	** Or perhaps it was addressed afterwards (some might have missed the screaming episode or not been fazed by it) [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment and never mentioned again]].
40	** And it's also possible those who watched the ''real'' last episode [[CruelAndUnusualDeath aren't in any position to tell anyone about it...]]
41
42	[[WMG: The "last episode" made much more sense in context]]
43	The screaming part being the most memorable is simply all that people saw it could remember. It's also very likely that Janice wasn't crying because the rest of the cast was screaming, but rather because of the same thing that made them scream. Perhaps they were ALL subjected to something horrible (yes, including the villains).
44	* Or perhaps they were screaming because Janice was crying.
45	* Alternately, the guy who said it was real said the screaming episode may have been a false memory implanted by the thread starter who later mentioned a nightmare about them screaming.
46
47	[[WMG:The show was indeed real, but it wasn't static]]
48	The static stuff is just people being trolls.
49
50	[[WMG:The Show isn't as malevolent as everyone makes it out to be.]]
51	The show was originally going to be an actual show, created by some well meaning and talented, but very money-lacking puppeteers, who could only afford the cheapest equipment. Unfortunately, before the show they spent so long preparing was able to be put on television, the building they worked in burnt down, killing the entire staff. They were so determined to create it though, that their spirits transmitted their show through the only medium they could, the minds of imaginative children (or childish tropers, apparently). Unfortunately though, they could only keep contact for so long, resulting in the emotional "static" of the last episode, right where contact was cut off, and the characters were completely uncontrolled for a few minutes. Overall though, despite a few traumatized children, the show and its creators never really meant any harm. All the fires which had mysteriously been connected to this were just coincidence.
52
53	[[WMG:The chat thread was set up by the show's producers.]]
54	The original post on the forum was posted by whoever created the show to study how much the children remember of it into adulthood. The forum goes on a lot later than recorded, and the OP begins analyzing each chat member further for long term effects.
55	* Or perhaps it was a place to get ideas for Flapjack by planting a seed and kicking off some false memories.
56
57	[[WMG:Candle Cove was real...]]
58	...But not as a show. The girl who was Janice was really in a place/world where the only other inhabitants were puppets or puppet like things. She was forced to go "adventuring" with them. And they were all somehow constantly being recorded. What was seen by others wasn't filmed with a camera, it was through something else's eyes. This could explain why Janice was said to sometimes breakdown crying...
59
60	[[WMG:Candle Cove ''was'' a regular show.]]
61	It was a normal show, but the [[Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd Shadow Men]] altered something and made the actors, creators, or whole damn studio unpeople. The only people that can see it or remember it are kids who saw it at the time it aired and are especially sensitive to [[Series/DoctorWho Timey Wimey]] stuff. It could definitely explain why some people's memories seem to be fuzzy. And maybe the Nightmare Fuel Unleaded portion of it is just what happens to memories when stuff like that happens.
62	* Maybe even the [[Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd Shadow Men]] deemed the show too creepy and decided to take things into their own hands?
63
64	[[WMG:Candle Cove ran from the early 50's to the late 90's.]]
65	As shown in this archived 4chan thread (Remember, because this is 4chan Ads are definitely NSFW!)
66	http://4chanarchive.org/brchive/dspl_thread.php5?thread_id=23656001&x=Candle+Cove+General
67
68	[[WMG:Candle Cove was in fact a real show.]]
69	Yeah, I know, it's not the most original concept, but hear me out. The person who posted the thread, at the time, was thoroughly stoned. He sat down to watch TV, but his cable was out, and thus, only static showed up. However, as a result of him being high, he was completely convinced he was seeing Candle Cove, a show from his childhood. He wakes p the next morning, the rest of the night a blur, except from the fact he saw Candle Cove. He posted the thread, and some of the more bizarre descriptions (i.e. the "Screaming Episode", the static, etc.) were all just posts by trolls. The story was a copy of the thread by one of the trolls.
70
71	[[WMG: Candle Cove heralds the Arrival]]
72	Thirteen wounded orbs from the halls of beyond. Within the chamber of the vailing one finds final silence.
73	* Do you need an orb repairman or something? I know one on the corner of 207th that could help.
74	** ̷ͤ̃̂͐̆̔̚The ẙͥ̊̆̉̈nuȎͫ͌̽̀̾̚͏mb[[WebOriginal/{{Zalgo}} er]] is vOͯ͛̓̆̌͊̚id.
75
76	[[WMG: Candle Cove's world was eaten by an EldritchAbomination]]
77	The final episodes of the show covered some kind of EldritchAbomination that feeds on universes for breakfast. When the cast was screaming, this Abomination was eating the world up like candy. The reason the kids dreamed the episode was because the world's deity was trying to call out to them for help.
78
79	And now the world is dead. Slowly and slowly, people's memories of the show are fading away. That's because the universe that once held Candle Cove no longer exists, and the timeline is rearranging itself to incorporate the fact that it's trying to call data that simply isn't there. The ones with less experience with the universe lost their memory first. The kids only have vague memories of the show now, due to them being close enough to it.
80
81	But that's not important right now. What is important is, unless I'm mistaken, [[ParanoiaFuel THERE'S A FUCKING ABOMINATION THAT GOBBLES UP ENTIRE UNIVERSES LOOSE, AND WE PROBABLY LOOK REALLY REALLY TASTY TO IT!!]]
82	* Maybe their world was an early victim of something like [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths The Crisis]] or [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 The Incursions]]?
83
84	* Take that theory in the context of the ''Webvideo/Local58'' episodes "Show for Children," "Weather Service" and "Skywatching"... and the themes there are shockingly similar.
85
86	[[WMG: Janice was a real child, and Percy the Pirate was trying to protect her...]]
87	The world of Candle Cove has been horribly, horribly corrupted by the foul power of the Skin Taker. The Skin Taker is a hideously powerful sorcerer that feeds on children souls. His demonic energy has slowly corrupted the world of Candle Cove, to the point that it's falling apart at the seams. Percy the Pirate and the Laughingstock manage to find the Skin Taker's latest victim before he does and take her to safety.
88
89	[[CrapsackWorld Except, of course, that there is no safety here.]] Percy tries to entertain her with adventures, but he's aware that the Skin Taker is looking for them.
90
91	The Skin Taker, however, is still not ready to eat yet. [[VillainSong Janice's soul won't fully finish forming for another year,]] so it'd be a waste of time to kill her now.
92
93	Percy knows this, and so he's trying to stop the Skin Taker and his minions before they run out of time. After all, the Skin Taker ''can't'' kill Janice yet. It takes a great deal of power to kidnap someone, after all, and he can't just kidnap someone else without regaining some of it.
94
95	In Season 2, Janice is ready to be harvested. However, Percy refuses to let this happen, and the Skin Taker ultimately runs out of time. Despite this victory, the consequences are extreme:
96
97	[[LoadBearingBoss The Skin Taker had corrupted the world so much that the entire Candle Cove universe was now structured around him.]] As the Skin Taker fades into oblivion, the rest of the world starts to get dragged along with him. There is nothing but screaming...but perhaps it's a better fate for Janice than being captured by the Skin Taker. And perhaps the world of Candle Cove had died a long time ago.
98
99	If you turn up the volume in the last episode, during the credits, you can hear a lullaby. It's sung in the voice of Percy the Pirate, and it sounds as if he's fighting back tears. The song slowly fades into utter silence as the credits roll, until finally there is nothing.
100
101	It is called "Goodnight, Janice."
102
103	[[WMG: All extant copies of Candle Cove have been confiscated by the Website/SCPFoundation]]
104	[DATA EXPUNGED]
105
106	[[WMG: Candle Cove did exist, people's memory of it has just been influenced by [[Series/DoctorWho the Silence]].]]
107
108	If they could use post-hypnotic suggestion to influence humans to do things without realizing it, and you forget them as soon as you look away, The Silence were around and caused only certain people to remember it.
109
110	[[WMG: Candle Cove is a hallucination.]]
111
112	Originally, I was going to say that Candle Cove was a pleasant hallucination created by [[Manga/PandoraHearts Humpty Dumpty]], but it could just be whatever EldritchAbomination is behind the show taking a form that works for it. The mother saw only static because [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith it saw that as the best way to deal with her]]. During the Screaming Episode, the illusion began to break, and some of the show could truly be seen.
113	Why all this? The real show was ''a million times worse.'' But no one remembers it for how it was....
114
115	[[WMG: Candle Cove is somewhere in Wonderland]]
116
117	Think about it.
118
119	1) Little girl finds herself in a strange, new world to escape her older sister. (Although Alice's motives are far less depressing than Janice's)
120
121	2) Said world is filled with strange, quirky people, the main heroine included.
122
123	3) Bad guys' motives, if they have any at all, are ambiguous at best. (Not referring to the Skin- Taker, his motives are far more set in stone than the Queen of Hearts. I'm referring to Horace.)
124
125	4) Little girl goes on adventures through the strange new land.
126
127	5) All rules of logic and sanity hold no sway there.
128
129	6) Premise, at first, seems very innocent and made for kids, but the more time you spend reading it, the scarier it gets.
130
131	7) Bizarre animals and settings. (Man-Bear-Pig and... ANY animal encountered in Alice in Wonderland)
132
133	8) Some of the weirdest poetry ever written in the history of mankind (Skin-Taker’s ‘birthday song’ for Janice for one, versus any poetry discussed in Wonderland.)
134
135	9) One theory is that this all takes place in Janice’s imagination. Hmm, I wonder who THAT sounds like…
136
137	10) Said world falls completely apart when said little girl doesn’t need it anymore (Why the infamous Last Episode was so strange and scary, and when Wonderland falls into nothing but cards when Alice finishes the trial. Alice doesn't need it because she 'grew up' while in Wonderland, maybe Janice did the same.)
138
139	[[WMG: Candle Cove was static, but it wasn't.]]
140	Namely, to adults, it was static, but to children, it was real, due to [[{{Technobabble}} something to do with high pitched frequencies and stuff]]. To anyone who was too old, it was static. To anyone that wasn't, it wasn't. The purpose is a secret to everyone.
141
142	[[WMG: Candle Cove WASN'T real, it was just a more intense, creepy case of the Mandela Effect.]]
143
144	For those who don't know, the Mandela Effect is a phenomenon where a bunch of people mis-remember the same detail of a specific thing.
145	A huge example is the book/TV series [[Literature/TheBerenstainBears The BerenstAin Bears]], where many people remember the spelling being Berenst-E-in, with an "e", even though it was never spelt that way. Anyway, it would explain why they remember this obscure show even though it never existed, and the guy's mom stated she remembered he just saw static.
146
147	[[WMG: Candle Cove has similar origins to/is related to [[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} "The Squiddles"]]]]
148	A children's TV series apparently created by some sinister, otherworldly power? There's got to be a connection...
149
150	[[WMG: Candle Cove takes place in the same universe as the [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys "Five Nights at Freddy's franchise"]]]]
151
152	There's nothing that suggests that they explicitly can't co-exist, so it's very possible that [[Videogame/{{FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation}} William Afton]] or maybe one of his older relatives made Candle Cove in the early 70's before Afton either moved onto animatronics by the 80's, or just decided to create Afton Animatronics after his father/uncle/brother/etc. failed either as something new he thought would do a good job at simultaneously kidnapping/murdering children and earning him money or just because he liked the idea of making killer animatronics instead of creepy kid's shows. Candle Cove being connected to the Afton's makes sense when you consider that both the Candle Cove story and Five Nights at Freddy's franchise are full of [[{{NightmareFuel}} Nightmare Fuel]] and based on corruptions of many people's childhood things, as well as multiple strange events occuring both on the Candle Cove TV show and at the [[Videogame/{{FiveNightsAtFreddys}} multiple]] [[Videogame/{{FiveNightsAtFreddys2}} locations]] [[Videogame/{{FiveNightsAtFreddys3}} connected to the]] [[Videogame/{{FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation}} Afton family]].
153
154	[[WMG: Candle Cove takes place in the same universe as VideoGame/FallenLondon]]
155	The most common interpretation of the ending is that the universe is eaten by an EldritchAbomination, which (possibly) takes the form of a whirlpool to communicate with other beings in "high-pitched giggles filled with either NightmareFuel or {{Narm}}, depending on the viewer" as the main page describes it. Mr Eaten, of Fallen London, is an eldritch abomination heavily connected with eating and water (and ''candles'', for that matter...), and wanting to bring about a "reckoning", which could easily mean destruction of the whole universe. While we don't know how its voice sounds, other members of its (former) species speak in high-pitched voices, and everything that it says is ominous quasi-nonsense that can certainly fit the description above. Candle Cove takes place on the Surface, with most of the characters completely unaware of the Neath and its inhabitants, so when the reckoning comes, all they can do is scream and cry in wordless horror.
156
157	The scene where the Skin-Taker talks to the whirlpool indicates that he has some sort of business with Eaten. My guess is that he knows more than anyone else about all this simply because he's been around longer (and might also be ''slightly'' higher on the Chain than humans, but only to the degree that one species of ant might be more evolved than another), and he may have tried to make some sort of bargain to be spared from it, or postpone it just a little bit longer. Maybe this deal involved Janice, and his failure to capture her sealed his fate. Of course, it's unlikely he would have been spared either way...
158
159	[[WMG: Candle Cove will eventually get a ContinuityReboot, similar to ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'']]
160	Thanks to the Internet these days, a whole lot more people know about Candle Cove than those who would have in the initial airing. Maybe sometime in the future it will be given a fresh new adaptation, with trope pages with the year attached to distinguish it from the original, much like the various Twilight Zone pages.
161
162	[[WMG: WebVideo/Local58 is more than just a SpiritualSuccessor to Candle Cove]]
163	This Reddit comment by Candle Cove creator Creator/KrisStraub confirms that [[https://www.reddit.com/r/local58/comments/coobcc/did_they_ever_air_candle_cove_on_local_58/ewnj1jo?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share it would indeed have aired]] on his current project “WebVideo/Local58.” Like Candle Cove, Local 58 has on the surface a seemingly disjointed narrative and is centered on fears of the unknown, with FoundFootage heavy on recreated VHS aesthetics taking the place of a thread of 2000s-era internet message boards.
164

Context WMG / CandleCove