About

Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv is an Internet legend surrounding a mysterious YouTube video clip which features a man staring intently at the viewer before fading away with a grin on his face. Since its upload in April 2008, the color-filtered footage has become the subject of a creepypasta story which says it will bring misfortune to anyone who watches the full-length version of the video.

Origin

In April 2008, a 20-second long video titled "Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv"^[5] began to circulate on YouTube, which was originally uploaded by YouTuber erwilzei on April 18th, 2008:

In the days following the original upload, a number of duplicate videos emerged on YouTube with alternative titles like "Mereana Moregard Glasgow" as well as an extended 2 minute version accompanied by a creepypasta story.

"There is a video on YouTube named Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv. If you search this, you will find nothing. The few times you find something, all you will see is a 20 second video of a man staring intently at you, expressionless, then grinning for the last 2 seconds. The background is undefined. This is only part of the actual video.

The full video lasts 2 minutes, and was removed by YouTube after 153 people who viewed the video gouged out their eyes and mailed them to YouTube's main office in San Bruno. Said people had also committed suicide in various ways. It is not yet known how they managed to mail their eyes after gouging them out. And the cryptic inscription they carve on their forearms has not yet been deciphered.

YouTube will periodically put up the first 20 seconds of the video to quell suspicions, so that people will not go look for the real thing and upload it. The video itself was only viewed by one YouTube staff member, who started screaming after 45 seconds. This man is under constant sedatives and is apparently unable to recall what he saw. The other people who were in the same room as him while he viewed it and turned off the video for him say that all they could hear was a high pitched drilling sound. None of them dared look at the screen.

The person who uploaded the video was never found, the IP address being non-existant. And the man on the video has never been identified."

Spread

The video quickly became viral among paranormal groups and enthusiasts in various forums like Unexplained Mysteries forum^[4], 4chan's /x/ board, spawning a number of viral chain e-mails and articles about "Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv" in several different languages. Discussions about the video continued on a number of Q&A sites like Wiki Answers^[7] and Yahoo Q&A^[8], which further gave boost to the prevalence of the creepypasta. Eventually, the story was archived by the single topic blog Creepypasta.com.^[11]

The first Urban Dictionary^[10] entry for "Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv" was submitted on August 3rd, 2008. That same month, the video series spread over to the Russian web, receiving notable coverage from a number of blogs^[9] and forums. Several new details were added to the Russian version of the creepypasta, including a conspiracy theory which asserted that the video was created by the U.S. Secret Service.

  

Debunkery

Two days after the original video was uploaded, another video was posted on YouTube^[6] explaining it as an Internet hoax. According to the video, it was initially made by an eBaumsworld user using photographs of an experienced marketing coordinator at an LA-based advertising agency.^[3]

One of his photos was used in a 2004 survey about marketing professionals as an example of web design made by Hillman Curtis.^[3] The identity of the man was later reported by the Russian blogs as Byron Cortez^[12] who resides in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

  

Notable Derivatives

Despite the fact it was proven to be a hoax inspired by horror movies such as The Ring, some YouTubers continued to propagate the myth behind the video. For more video examples, visit KYM Gallery – Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv.

Search Interest

External References