*To see the author credits, full origin story, and fanart credits for any chapter, click on the external link. It will take you to the chapter on Quotev. Scroll to the bottom of it and you'll find everything linked.*
I actually really like this story, it doesn't have any unnecessary blood and gore. It doesn't go on longer than it needs to, either. I think it ends perfectly.
There's actually a show based on Candle Cove, by the way! It's called Channel Zero and the first couple episodes are about Candle Cove. I haven't finished it but I watched an episode or two. It was alright, not super great, but watchable for sure.
Candle Cove is the name of a children's show that only ran in 1971 at around 4 p.m. (The show is not real, everything is fictional in this story. This should be obvious but I still feel the need to add it.) A person asks if anyone remembers the show many years later on an internet thread. A couple people come forward saying they do remember it and they begin discussing different characters they remember. The most notable of the characters is called Skin-Taker. Skin-Taker lacks skin because he's a skeleton, and he wears a cape and tophat thought to be made of children's skin. Both articles of clothing are sewn up in a chaotic manner. His mouth doesn't open when he speaks, but his jaw will grind wildly from side to side. When asked why his jaw does this, he responds "TO GRIND YOUR SKIN."
The description of Skin-taker dude reminds me of when I was chased by spirit with the same characteristics just as a silhouette, when I was a super fucking young kid. Don't ask bro don't ask. - Brinlee
One of the people in the thread asks their mother if she remembered the show. The mother responds with surprise saying she didn't think they'd remember it. She says she remembers her child running up and saying they were going to watch Candle Cove before sitting in front of the T.V. and turning the channel to static. They'd sit and watch dead air for 30 minutes.
With that, the posts all end. I can't decide if the show was something only children could see, if the children hallucinated it by supernatural means, or if the parents had their minds wiped of the show and only remembered a static screen. In many creepypastas and scary stories, sound is used as an instrument to produce various effects. Maybe the channel- though only playing static- emitted a frequency only children could pick up on. The frequency caused the hallucination of the show.
I also think that maybe the Skin-Taker was a real entity that killed children, using the show to target victims. Lacking skin of his own, he took children and constructed clothing from their skin. Maybe after completing an outfit, he'd try to make a skin suit to cover his entire skeleton, layering the skin clothing on top. Gross. I know this sounds kinda off-the-wall but I have a little bit of text to support this. One of the adults who remembered the show says this: "I used to have this awful memory, a bad dream I had where the opening jingle ended, the show faded in from black, and all the characters were there, but the camera was just cutting to each of their faces, and they were just screaming, and the puppets and marionettes were flailing spastically, and just all screaming, screaming. The girl was just moaning and crying like she had been through hours of this."
EW EW EW EW - Brinlee
The other people in the thread tell the person that it wasn't a dream because they remembered this being an episode. They all say the episode lacked plot, only consisting of the puppets screaming. Maybe each puppet was a child that had been taken, and this broadcast was their way of taking over and scaring other children off so they didn't meet the same fate. The person who thought they dreamed it does mention that them and their brother never tuned into the show again out of fear. It's said that during the episode, Skin-Taker screamed and frantically moved his jaw around. Maybe he was yelling at the puppets to get them to stop. Who knows? Since the show only lasted less than a year, I think it's possible the puppets succeeded in thwarting the Skin-Taker from taking any more children. This is only a theory though, again, and there isn't much proof to go off of. I'm just kinda throwing darts and hoping one hits.
I 100% am on board with this theory. Ark hit it right in the balls with this one. Right in the balls. - Brinlee
YOU ARE READING
Creepypasta Research Journal
Horror*Crossposted from Quotev* Remember friends, creepypasta is fiction! Don't act stupid. This book consists of completely canon information on as many creepypastas as I felt like covering.
