Cracky-chan

About

Cracky-chan (aka Sky Queen, ScareCrowMaiden) was the first camgirl to be posted on 4chan's /b/ board way back in 2005. Her nickname "Cracky-chan" was given to her because she looked as if she had "Snorted crack". She's extremely important in the internet history of 4chan because she defined what /b/ thinks today of camgirls. It was she who first coined the phrase "'sup 4chan" which is now widely used on imageboards and forums.

Origins

In 2005 photos of an English schoolgirl with black animal ears and badly applied red make-up appeared on the random board. The first Cracky image was posted at 02:17 on January 6th, 2005. It showed her in a sailor outfit with the phrase “’Sup 4chan” written on her palm. The images were quickly pronounced cute and sweet by Anonymous and she was given the name Cracky-chan.

Chronological history on 4chan ^[1]

Twenty-one images of Cracky in the sailor suit appeared on /b/ for the two weeks following along with other sets of images, such as the "winged" set below. Anonymous' fascination with her quickly grew, dominating 4chan's /b/ and spreading to other "underground" imageboard sites and forums.

By February 5th, almost a month later, 4chan's obsession with Cracky-chan had developed such a grip on /b/ that 4chan's then-Admin W.T.Snacks put a wordfilter over cracky [which has since been lifted] in an effort to discourage cracky discussion. When someone posted the word "cracky" it was automatically changed to a random word ending in -cky such as Jacky, Packy, Condracky or something similar.

During this time the teenage "Cracky-chan" laid low and kept out of the spotlight due to the unexpected attention and internet fame. Several fanboys posted their frustrations online, whether genuine regret or trolling ^[2]:

On March 29th livejournal.com/users/freakygirl/ was discovered. Although no new pictures emerged /b/ believed it had got into contact with the real cracky. Another journal, www.livejournal.com/users/kittycat/ was subsequently discovered but was widely believed to be fake at the time.

On April 3rd it was revealed in a conversation between W.T.Snacks and 4chan moderator Shii that Cracky Chan's tripcode (4chan posting password) was "#sweet". This really hurt and confused /b/ as Cracky was consistently referred to as "so f***ing cute and sweet" and it was now being led to believe the photos were not actually posted by her. It was later discovered that she was not a troll and that she herself had actually posted to 4chan, she was just drunk at the time.

On April 6th/7th Cracky's own, active livejournal was found ^[3] and contained a lot of new self-portrait pictures and content which was quickly wiped by its owner, but not before Anonymous had looted and distributed the images on 4chan. Some of the photos had nudity, some showing menstrual blood on the face and various ones of posing in gothic lolita fashions. The new photos drove the Cracky phenomenon from minor meme into that of a mega-meme such as Mudkipz or Shoop da Whoop.

What drove /b/'s enduring obsession with Cracky-chan was the collection of self-portraits that Cracky had made. Many agreed the compositions of the photos were artistic and also had unusual themes (such as siamese twins or guro-inspired photos). In several photos Cracky dressed in completely different clothes or wigs, taking on alternate personas. This provided a continuous creative reinvention of her self-portraits and expression of artistic ideas. In time people became infatuated both with her visual personas and her photogenic qualities.

Several different sets (30+) gradually appeared over the next few weeks. These included images of her being in the woods, hiding under a table or posing in the "7 days" series.

By July 6th the discussions of Cracky on 4chan and various sites like Trolltalk had become so popular that trying to discuss anyting else was quite difficult (constantly posting cracky images was nicknamed cr*pflooding). In an effort to hold back the tide of "the cr*pflood" posting Cracky pictures became bannable even on /b/. Moderators talk of 4chan's then-chief moderator W.T.Snacks receiving emails from Cracky requesting this. The ban was gradually lifted but it had already made many Cracky fans migrate to different sites and form new imageboards (such as 420chan's /cracky/ board which was later closed in 2006 at her direct request.)

Because no one knew the true identity of Cracky-chan several people believed her name to be "Leanne" or "Olivia Fields". Eventually people started referring to her as Olivia Fields.

Fansites

Several fan sites were established in the years following Cracky-chan's images. A site called "Crackypedia" opened in 2005 and contained a large collection of fanart and people who dressed up like Cracky. It was taken down later by Cracky's direct request. Another site called "Bounceme" appeared and stayed around along with several other imageboards dedicated to her.

The behavior of Crackyfans in the years that followed is similar to that of boxxy fans in recent times. Cracky's self-portraits attracted a large amount of interest on the internet which included positive attention (ex. in the forms of love letters) and negative attention (in the forms of violent writings).

The appearances of Cracky from 2005-2007 were usually timestamped photos requesting fan sites to be shut down. In response to the unwanted attention and internet drama from 420chan, Cracky updated her old deadjournal personally asking for closure from the community.^[4]

Post-2007

After the livejournal was deleted in 2005 (presumably by Cracky) no new pictures were posted by her but users who raided the livejournal still occasionally distribute "rare" images to this day [see below]. Because there was no new photos of Cracky being produced, many of her personal online accounts were hacked. Some images [and one short video] that were found were posted on 4chan and discussed at length while other images were hoarded by lone computer users. Any images that were not posted were called "rarez". Since there are some Cracky Communities who are completely obsessed/have devoted their lives to Cracky, these photos are highly prized, sometimes not appearing online until years later.

Epilogue: Closure & CrackyFans Today

It is said that the alleged emails that W.T.Snacks received to remove information about Cracky, were not from Cracky herself but were rumored to be from her father, in an effort to stop every aspect of his daughter's life being observed and probed.

Over the years Cracky endured online harassment and alleged real-life stalking (such as when strangers called the Blockbuster where she worked) following her internet popularity. Despite her efforts to remain anonymous, many fans are still searching for her online.

In the absence of direct, consistent contact from Cracky in the years that followed (2008-present day) the remaining Cracky fans (or "crackyfags") pulled together and created online communities on a variety of semi-secret sites and group chats (nicknamed the "circle-jerk") in which they reminisce about the days when Cracky still posted and continue to plot ways to find her as well as indulge in various philosophical and pop culture debates and drama loosely centered around the images created by her way back in 2004/5/6.

The community has come to include a wide variety or individuals from all around the world including ex Cracky-era camgirls and ex-close personal friends of hers. There were even some fans who were so obsessed with Cracky that they created their own psuedo-religious movement to Cracky referring to her as the "Sky-Queen". This was in reference to a photoshopped image with Cracky/Olivia Fields which said "Who Owns the Sky?". It was thought to be humorous and open to interpretation but became the basis for the "SkyQueen" name.

Vast quantities of fanart (300+ images exist today with many having been lost to time), music videos and imitations were (and still are) produced by various people:

While some have learnt to differentiate between the real-life girl (now in her 20's) and her online Cracky persona (a perpetually 15 year old teenage camgirl) and move on with their lives, many are still desperate to find her.

A good idea of the dedication that Cracky fans still possess can be found in this fansite:

dear-olivia.com

 

Search Interest

External references