If you’ve spent any time online, you might have come across the chilling story of Carmen Winstead. The tale goes like this: Carmen, a 17-year-old girl, is pushed into a sewer by five classmates and tragically dies.

Even though Carmen Winstead is entirely fictional, her story was still shared on MySpace and Facebook in 2006 in the form of a chain letter and an audio clip supposedly narrated by Carmen herself, which warned readers that failing to share the email would result in their own untimely death at the hands of Carmen’s vengeful ghost.

Now, TikTok users str sharing edis of Carmen's audio file with a strange half-scary half-comical groan layered over it. Read on for a recap of the spooky story and its latest meme adaptation.

What Is The Story Of Carmen Winstead?

In 2006, a chain letter started circulating through email and on MySpace telling readers a fictitious story about a 17-year-old Indiana girl named Carmen Winstead who was pushed down an open sewer hole by five schoolgirls to embarrass her.

She was found by the police days later, her neck broken and her body cold. But her killers told everyone that she fell and got away with her murder.

The chain letter ends by describing how a 16-year-old boy named David Gregory read the chain letter and ignored it. He heard screaming from his shower that night and then ran to repost the letter but was too late. The police found him in the sewer with a broken neck five days later.

Is The Story About Carmen Winstead True?

Fact-checking website Snopes investigated the Carmen Winstead legend and found it to be entirely fictional. The site confirmed that no adolescent girl named Carmen Winstead – or Jessica Smith – died in such a manner in Indiana or anywhere else in the U.S. around the year 2000. Snopes' search for any news reports on the supposed incident also yielded no results.

Snopes then compared the fabricated chain letter, similar to other "luck avoidance" tales like the "Bloody Mary" legend. It thrives on fear by threatening readers with dire consequences if they don’t share the message, including a fabricated example of a person who allegedly ignored the chain letter and met a gruesome fate.

The legend's primary twist is its requirement for sharing through social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, rather than traditional mail.

How Did The Story Of Carmen Winstead Spread Online Over The Years?

People posted fan art interpretations of the Carmen Winstead story in the early 2010s, and with the rise of YouTube, people began discussing and sharing the creepypasta in new ways.

YouTuber Channel Zero posted a video describing the urban legend in 2017, and YouTubers Jillian and Addie posted a horror skit inspired by the chain letter, gaining over 8.4 million views in two years.

What Are Some Memes About Carmen Winstead?

In July 2020, YouTuber "o p" posted a video mashing the audio up with 100 gecs song "Money Machine," gaining over 15,000 views in roughly two years, marking one of the first times the story was remixed to humorous effect. Winstead's computerized whiny tone managed to fit quite well with the new-age electronic band's sound.

In 2022, Winstead's sob story found a new home on TikTok where some overlayed a strange groaning and grunting sound over her voice. The sound then came to be used in meme compilations as an appropriately absurd internet sound.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7063458031731985710

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7063988822811380997

---

For the full history of Carmen Winstead, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.