Dear David
Part of a series on Adam Ellis. [View Related Entries]
[View Related Sub-entries]
About
Dear David is an ongoing story told by Adam Ellis via Twitter documenting a ghost named "Dear David" who supposedly haunts in his apartment. While not confirmed to be fictional, the story is reminiscent of a creepypasta.
Origin
On August 7th, 2017, popular cartoonist Adam Ellis[1] began telling the story of how a dead child is haunting his apartment and is trying to kill him. His first tweet gained over 55,000 retweets and 76,000 likes (shown below).
Spread
Over the course of many tweets, Ellis documented the story of his haunting. The story tells the tale of his encounter with a ghost named "Dear David," a dead child who will only answer two questions. If you ask him a third question, he kills you. In his story, Ellis meets Dead David and asks him three questions, initiating the haunting. In his story, Ellis has included pictures of his cats engaging in the strange behavior, as well as pictures and videos of his apartment documenting the haunting. The entire story is included in a Storify.[2] The story was covered by The Berry[3] on August 8th and Bustle[5] on August 9th. An Imgur[4] thread posted on August 10th, gaining over 157,000 views.
On August 28th, Ellis posted a video of a rocking chair in his apartment rocking by itself (shown below).
Watch the chair. pic.twitter.com/jXtIxpkVxD
— Adam Ellis (@moby_dickhead) August 29, 2017
The story was updated occasionally for about four months, and featured several moments where Ellis may have encountered the ghost while traveling.[7] Ellis picked the story up again in November of 2017. On November 6th, 2017, he began a new thread detailing the latest updates on the story.[6] In this update, he included photos of the ghost taken in the dark (shown below, left). Twitter users raised the brightness on the photo and discovered a child-like figure in the photo (shown below, right). This update was covered by AOL,[8] Seventeen,[9] and more.
December 2017 Update
On December 12th, Ellis updated the Twitter thread about Dear David, this time with more photographs of the supposed apparition.[10] Ellis claimed he set his phone to take a picture every 60 seconds, and after hundreds of photos of nothingness, he eventually saw David. The child then slumped over a chair for several minutes, then stood over Ellis, noticed the camera, and evidently approached it (shown below).
The Daily Dot covered the updates on December 14th.[11] The Sun[12] also covered the updates that day, saying fans thought the update proved the story was fake.
Film Adaptation
On June 6th, 2018, The Wrap[13] reported that Dear David was being adapted into a film with the help of Buzzfeed Studios and It producer Dan Lin's production company Rideback.
Ellis maintained an air of mystery over whether or not Dead David was "real," telling TheWrap, “I’ve never been interested in convincing anyone that ghosts are real–I just wanted to tell my story. If it was all fiction, I probably would’ve updated more than once every couple weeks.”
According to TheWrap, other people attached to the project include Mike Van Waes (writer), Evan Turner (story, executive producer), BuzzFeed Studios’ Lauren Dolgan and Hieu Ho, and Jonathan Eirich (producers).
The Daily Dot wrote that "perhaps coincidentally" Ellis' run-ins with the ghost have been less frequent since he left Buzzfeed in February of 2018 to focus on "personal projects."[14]
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter @moby_dickhead
[2] Storify (via Wayback Machine) – Dear David
[3] The Chive (formerly The Berry) – This guy’s story about his haunted apartment is terrifyingly believable
[4] Imgur – Dear David – A Creepy Twitter Thread
[5] Bustle – Who Is “Dear David”? This Writer’s Apartment Is Haunted By A Ghost Child & Now The Internet Is Invested
[6] Twitter – @moby_dickhead update
[7] The Sun – Is flat owner ‘haunted’ by Dear David ghost child actually being terrorised by the spirit of a Japanese statue? He thinks so…
[8] AOL – Eerie photos surface online of Dear David, the dead child allegedly haunting this man's apartment
[9] Seventeen – The Guy Being Haunted By Dear David Caught A Pic of Him and Everyone Thinks It’s a Hoax
[10] Twitter – @moby_dickhead
[11] Daily Dot – ‘Dear David,’ child ghost haunting NYC apartment, returns in chilling photos
[12] The Sun – Is this proof ‘Dear David’ is FAKE? Fans of bloke who’s shared videos of the ‘ghost’ in his home are convinced the latest clip went too far
[13] The Wrap – ‘Dear David': ‘It’ Producer, BuzzFeed to Develop Horror Film Based on Viral Ghost Story
[14] Daily Dot – Viral Twitter craze ‘Dear David’ is headed to the big screen
Top Comments
Komario
Jun 08, 2018 at 01:14PM EDT
TheLastMethBender
Nov 08, 2017 at 04:50PM EST