Watch If You Dare

Don't you hate it when someone forwards you a video, innocuously titled something like "calm car ride" or "watch closely," and it turns out the video is just a cheap scare in the form of a grating banshee or a creepy child?

I know I do.

But alas, I've been forwarded two such videos in the past week, each time in the form of a YouTube link. And so, this appeared in my recommendations this evening:

(Wait for it - wait for it)



Confused? Yes, so was I. I wouldn't have even watched it had I not wanted an example of the above prank for this blog, and for once I was actually disappointed by the lack of a sickly surprise -- the only thing scary about this video is its Alabama setting. It took me twice to even notice the thin wisps of smoke that we are meant to understand comprise a ghost

Wait - I take it back. What's scary about this video is that it's amassed 43,000 views and a four-star rating. Were that many people just relieved when they got to the end with no jolt? Or did that many people buy into the notion that a ghost flits across in the screen in these painfully long thirteen seconds?

I have no idea, but what I do know is that the only merit I find in this recommendation is an ironic love for the muzak and the misspelled video description "at nigth" [sic].

I award you no points, YouTube, and may God have mercy on your lack of a soul.