I’m willing to bet everyone has at least one YouTube video that scared them as a kid.

For me, it was this footage of a ghost girl, apparently teleporting between floors of a house. At the time, it was nightmare fuel. Today, it’s the kind of video you can look back on and wonder, I was really scared of that?

The internet is full of these videos. Some were obviously fake. Others were convincing enough to leave viewers wondering what they had just seen. A guy in a costume, some questionable CGI, a carefully staged piece of footage—it didn’t always matter. If the video looked real enough, it could become part of someone’s childhood nightmares.

But sometimes the most interesting part isn’t what you’re watching.

It’s why it was made in the first place.

The internet has a strange habit of turning fiction into folklore. An April Fools prank can become a supposed cryptid sighting. A horror movie promotion can be mistaken for genuine paranormal evidence. A fashion advertisement can eventually be passed around as proof that fallen angels exist.

Once a video escapes its original context, it can take on a life of its own.

That’s what happened with these three pieces of creepy footage. Their origins are surprisingly mundane—or, in some cases, even stranger than the videos themselves.

How Scary Videos Lose Their Context

There’s a familiar lifecycle to internet horror:

Original purpose → YouTube upload → Reuploads → Forums and social media → Paranormal channels → “Unexplained” footage

The further a video travels, the more likely it is to lose the information that explains where it came from.

Old descriptions disappear. Websites shut down. Original uploaders stop maintaining their accounts. Articles get buried. Sometimes, the only surviving evidence is an archived webpage or an obscure mention from years ago.

Eventually, someone discovers the footage with no context attached and uploads it again.

And suddenly, a staged commercial can become a “real” paranormal encounter.

These three videos are perfect examples.

3. Sewer Creature

If you frequent any paranormal YouTube channels, chances are you recognize this video. Uploaded to YouTube on March 31st, 2011 by United Utilities, the above video is actually just one in a series of clips, each depicting footage of an alleged monster in the sewers.

It’s this one which has become the most famous, however, with nearly 2 million views to date. “Sewer creature spotted!” depicts CCTV footage of a sewer tunnel, where a strange creature can be seen sticking its head out.

The video’s description offers some clues to its origin, writing:

“Do you know what gruesome monsters are lurking in the sewers? Slimy, grimy, rancid and oozing beneath our feet, fatbergs are the sewer monsters that can ruin your day! Let’s banish the fatberg and spread the word to only flush the 3P’s – pee, paper and poo. #Thinkbeforeyouflush”

A look at the channel offers additional context. United Utilities is indeed a real company based in the UK, and most of their other videos are relatively normal.  When they posted this video back in 2011, it started a bit of a panic, causing United Utilities to eventually come clean about the whole thing.

A 2013 article for the Liverpool Echo revealed the “sewer monster” to be an April Fools joke — meant to raise awareness about what not to flush down your toilet. It’s a funny explanation for what’s still a creepy video. Years later, the sewer monster is still spread around as a mysterious cryptid, and United Utilities continues the joke every April, referring to the creature as “Messie.”

2. Ghost Screaming in Hotel

Few ghost videos are as bone-chilling as this one. Posted to YouTube on September 4th, 2012, this video claims to date all the way back to 2003. The footage in question depicts a security incident at a hotel in Illinois. Following a noise complaint, a guard is summoned to Room 209, where there have been reports of screaming.

With the screams audible in the background, the guard enters the room, finding it completely trashed with no sign of anyone inside. Understandably freaked out, he steps out, a strange light visible from behind him.

As with the last one, this is another video where the description reveals a lot. Clicking on the link provided takes you to a website advertising The Blackwell Ghost, a paranormal docuseries. And if that wasn’t suspicious, a closer dive reveals its primary cast member, Turney Clay, to be the guard from the hotel footage.

As for the footage itself — as creepy as it is, there’s something far too theatrical about it, especially for 2003. Nevertheless, it’s found life far beyond the marketing it was intended to be, cementing itself as one of the internet’s scariest videos.

1. Fallen Angel in Catalonia

Now here’s an old one. Posted to YouTube on June 28th, 2006, “Possible Fallen Angel in Catalonia” begins with two men walking through a forest at night. As they come across feathers on the ground, one of the men starts talking about the strange noises he’s been hearing lately. He’s quickly cut off, however, when the two spot an emaciated-looking figure crouching in the distance. The being turns to look at them, its eyes shining like an animal’s, sending the men running off in a panic as the video ends.

According to the video’s description, it was shot near Campdevànol, a village in Catalonia, Spain. The video’s uploader, Pascuali, also provides a link: fallenangel.awardspace.com. Though it no longer seems to work, archives on the Wayback Machine reveal the site once belonged to two paranormal researchers, likely the men in the video. Of the additional links provided on the site, one stands out: fallenwings.org. Like the previous site, FallenWings no longer exists, but it was once the hotspot for alleged sightings of “Wings,” otherwise known as fallen angels.

Here’s where you’ll need some additional context. In 2006, the internet was captivated by this idea of fallen angels. Pop Culture may have had some blame in that, with the miniseries Fallen airing on ABC that year, along with indie horror film, Fallen Angels. All of this led to a splurge of reported sightings — including the video from Catalonia. In case the title didn’t tell you already, the being in the footage is indeed intended to be a fallen angel, hence the scattered feathers, and the noticeable stumps on the creature’s back.

But where did it come from? While we could be content to call it a hoax cashing in on this fallen angel craze, the truth is far stranger. As the video took on a life of its own throughout Spain and Mexico, its creators would eventually come forward, revealing how the creature was made.

Image Courtesy of David Resplandí Valiente.

More interesting than how was the why. Was this promotion for a movie? An ARG? No, as it turns out the fallen angel video was commissioned by fashion brand Diesel as part of an advertising campaign. Known as “Diesel Heaven,” the brand put together a series of videos depicting fallen angels — meant to communicate this idea that angels were literally falling to Earth to try on their clothes. These videos were then spread across sites like the FallenWing blog, treating them as genuine footage.

Did it work? Well, considering the video is still passed around as proof of the paranormal suggests that at the very least, their video spread. This wasn’t for no reason. It was edgy; its found-footage style not only shocking viewers, but immediately capturing their imagination. Today, even knowing the context, it remains an eerie piece of video — and perhaps the strangest commercial ever made.

More Internet Horror

If you enjoy digging into the strange origins behind viral horror, check out more GoreCulture features exploring creepy internet mysteries, found footage, strange videos and the stories hiding behind them.