Story (Full) 2

Johnisdead shares many elements with Ben Drowned - an ARG created by Alex Hall in 2010. The first few sections of this story recap will be dedicated to covering the story of Ben Drowned so that readers will have full context required for Johnisdead.

((Header Image))

On September 17th, 2010, several ciphersA cipher is an encoded message that must be solved before it can be read. Ciphers introduce a puzzle element to the story, requiring users to identify and solve each one's type of encryption before they're able to be translated and reveal their hidden message. appeared on Jadusable's YouTube channel. These read as follows:

WE ALL WEAR A MASK, SOMETIMES. KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED - MOTHER, I WONDER WHAT IT IS YOU WHISPER FOR DUSK TONIGHT. GOOD LUCK.
.NET
THINK.
.NET IS YOUR ONLY CLUE
HTTP://WWW.SHOWEQ.NET/FORUMS/ARCHIVE/INDEX.PHP/T-3355.HTML

BEN was attempting to lead the players to a website ending in ".net". As a hint, the players were led to an old post on some tech support forums that contained the phrase "You shouldn't have done that". Putting two and two together, players discovered the URL that BEN was trying to lead them to - Youshouldnthavedonethat.net. For the sake of brevity, this website will simply be called YSHDT.net throughout these pages.

Youshouldnthavedonethat.net

"This is a website for those who have formed a spiritual connection with the Moon and Him and recognize that we have been selected to preform miracles and bring enlightenment into this world. She has chosen us - and only us - to survive the upcoming apocolypse because we have honored Her and devoted ourselves to Her. As we work to enforce Her will, we grow together as a family and serve the greater good. We are the Moon's Children."

YSHDT.net belonged to the Moon Children - a cult that worshipped two figures simply referred to "Him" and "Her". The website's introductory paragraph implied that the group believes in some sort of spiritual powers and supernatural connections. The front page also featured a variety of posts from various high-ranking Moon Children:

Ifrit (mod)
Posted: 9/14/10 @ 11:35am

Subject: Welcome to the new site!

Luna shine, brothers and sisters. We now have a new home! It's going to be a busy couple of days trying to put everything together and while we're doing that the forums will most likely be down. Feel free to use the Guest Book below to talk to each other, if the Guest Book isn't your thing there's always the IRC chat if you know it. We're looking at maybe a week or so before we're all done with the website. But for now just sit back and relax and let us do all the hard work.

Ifrit is one of the Moon Children's most prominent members. Here, he can be seen welcoming users to YSHDT.net three days prior on September 14th. The website is still under construction - as well as its Forums. In the meantime, users are told to communicate via the Guesbtook - a section of the website's front page were comments can be posted. The Guestbook will be covered in more detail later on. It's also implied that the Moon Children have their own IRC chat somewhere. It's worth mentioning that YSHDT.net also featured an "About" page where more details were revealed about its users. Ifrit's entry on this page read as follows:

Ifrit - Rodney R.
Likes - Helping people decide to join our cause, Seinfeld, Playstation 2, and reading
Dislikes - "Troublesome" people, long nights, and waiting
Ambition - Building a sense of community here, and of course Ascension, who doesn't?

Ifrit, whose name is revealed to actually be Rodney, claims to be a fan of something called "Ascension". More will be revealed about this mysterious term soon. Back on the front page of YSHDT.net, another post could be found:

Nekko (mod)
Posted: 9/15/10 @ 1:34pm

Subject: we're back

Hey guys its Chris! So glad to finally back with my (true) family! I hope you're as eager as I am to finally have a new place to call our own. anyway, like Dusk said, we lost a lot of content that we had stored. The good news is that I've got saved some of our testimonials, so that page should be up by tomorrow., but a lot of this will be under construction (bleh). we've got a few new toys, this new host gives us a lot more room to play around, however with the new domain I wouldn't be surprised if we get more than our "usual" amount of visitors, some may have potential, others may "think" they are good enough to join us. we're not ready to open up yet - we want to at least have a few pages working before we welcome you guys back in, so by the time you read this this will be a few days ago. how's the future? Do we have flying cars yet (heh)? Also, If anyone asks the background music is entitled "Lost in My Thoughts", i really like it.

Unfortunately I'm not going to be a mod for much longer - my Ascencion date is coming up really soon :) :) He finally told me when it was going to be and it's..... TOMORROW!! haah it's all I can really think about now, my family can't understand why im so excited haha :D

This post was from another one of the website's moderators - Nekko, whose real name is revealed to be Chris. This post was made two days earlier on September 15th. Chris claims that he's saved some of the Moon Children's past Testimonials and hopes to have them uploaded by the next day. He also refers to a post made by a user named Dusk. However, this is strange - the only other post made at this point was by Ifrit. After this, Chris once again mentions "Ascension", claiming that his own Ascension will be transpiring very soon. He was supposedly informed of this by someone simply referred to by "Him" - possibly the same "Him" worshipped by the Moon Children.

Unfortunately, Chris's entry on the "About" Page was not archived. It's likely that it also spoke highly about "Ascension". Back on the front page, an announcement from another new character could be found:

Duskworld23 (mod)
Posted: 9/15/10 @ 8:24pm

Subject: Rebirth

DW here. You may notice the slight name change, figured it was symbolic. We're back for what looks like to be for good.

First of all, I'd like to say congratulations Chris! He sure has taken a huge interest in you lately (lucky), I'm not surprised it finally gave you an Ascension date, I'm happy for you man (can you tell I sound jealous?).

Anyway, about the move - I know its been a hectic past couple of days with the domain change and all, but I think that we've finally found our home (fingers crossed). This will no doubt attract more potential Children, all the more merrier I say.

The site's going to be under construction for a while due to me and Rem having to transfer all of the data over here - unfortunately not everything ended up saved and we lost of stuff so we're going to have to try and rebuild. We've done it before, we can do it again. If you guys know of any of "our guys", feel free to link them to this site, but try and keep it somewhat exclusive. Some of our old siblings (and you know who) were not meant to be part of our group.

And please guys, don't make Mr. D upset.

- DW

This seems to be the "Dusk" individual mentioned by both Chris and BEN - "Duskworld23". He mentions that he recently changed his username - presumably from "DarkWorld23", given that this is the filename of his avatar. Dusk congratulates Chris for his upcoming "Ascension". He also mentions the name of a fellow Moon Child who's helping with YSHDT.net's reconstruction - Rem. Strangely, Dusk mentions that "some of our old siblings" are not welcome to the Moon Children and are forbidden from being invited to YSHDT.net. This seems to imply that the cult has some enemies. He ends off his post with a warning to not make "Mr. D" upset. Mr. D is possibly the same "Him" who schedules Ascensions and is worshipped by the Moon Children.

Dusk's entry on the "About" Page reads as follows:

Duskworld23 - Spencer L.
Likes - Vigils, Eurotrip, Who's Line Is It Anyway, and drawing
Dislikes - My parents, wishing I was Ascended already
Ambition - Leaving this piece of shit place behind taking as many people as I can with me

Here, it's revealed that Dusk's real name is Spencer. The front page also contained another enigmatic announcement:

DROWNED (admin)
Posted: 9/15/10 @ 11:04pm

Subject:

You shouldn't be reading this.

Unlike Ifrit, Chris, and Spencer who were simply moderators, DROWNED was the website's administrator. Additionally, hovering over his avatar would result in it changing to an image of the Elegy Statue, implying that DROWNED was BEN. Unlike the others, DROWNED did not have an entry on the "About" Page. Further down on the front page were more announcements:

Nekko (mod)
Posted: 9/16/10 @ 2:11pm

Subject: :)

I finished updating the testimonials page and I'm going to be handing my modship over. bahhh enough with the updates, i just wanted to say thanks for everything you guys have done for me, i feel like before i found this i was so lost and without a purpose, just wandering aimlessly. being with you guys over the past year has made my so happy and ive mad a lot of friends here and gotten to know some really nice guys. i never really believed in destiny before, but now im realizing that... yea this is what i was made to do. im counting down the minutes until hahah, i still feel like im gonna pinch myself and wake up at any moment. i already have everything i need to go there, its like all my life ive been waiting for this moment, when i can finally achieve what i was meant to do!!

keep this site running strong for me while i'm gone, i'll be back to come get you guys soon :)

This announcement was posted one day ago - September 16th. As mentioned in his previous post, Chris has successfully recovered the Moon Children Testimonials. Strangely, they are nowhere to be found on YSHDT.net. Regardless, Chris announces that he's about to partake in his Ascension. It's implied that this process involves the participant dying, as Chris speaks with a great sense of finality. However, he also mentions that he'll "be back to come get you guys soon", implying that there's some paranormal ghost-esque element to Ascension. Perhaps Ascension is the process of an individual committing ritualistic suicide with the belief that they'll become some sort of spiritual entity?

Duskworld23 (mod)
Posted: 9/16/10 @ 4:23pm

Subject: Ascension

DW here. I just wanted to say that Chris (Nekko) had his successful Ascension earlier today and there were no complications. Even though I'm sooo envious of him *cough cough* :-P, it really warmed my heart when I heard the news and I'm sure it will for you guys too. Actually - I don't exactly have our logs out here in front of me - but I think Chris was the youngest person we've ever had do a successful Ascension (which makes sense, Chris always was mature for his age). We're all really happy for you Chris and hopefully we'll be seeing you soon (now if only He would start talking to me... :P ).

- DW

PS has anyone felt an increase in spiritual presence lately? It's making my neck hairs stand up on end.

Spencer announces that Chris's Ascension was a success. Strangely, he also claims he's been feeling an increase spiritual aura recently. This brings us back up to the present day, September 17th, where Ifrit had posted one more announcement:

Ifrit (mod)
Posted: 9/17/10 @ 10:26am

Subject: Updates

Finished adding the Contact, About, and Theories sections. Contact page has been acting weird. Hm. Fixed up the Creed, Dusk you had a few typos there. Watch that. And this layout, especially for the news posts is pretty disgusting. You guys'll have to bare with us until we get everything set up before we change it.

Anyway, TGIF, anyone want to have a vigil Sunday night? Drop me an email. And congratulations to Chris, we all knew he had it in him! That's the first successful one we've had in a while!

Ifrit congratulates Chris's Ascension. He also begins planning a vigil for Sunday night. This brings us to the Guestbook - a section of the front page of YSHDT.net where users could leave comments. The Guestbook contained several interesting conversations:

Posted by David on Sep 17th, 2010
Alright, the site's back up. Finally, I was getting so sick of IRC...

---

Posted by Dark_Rider404 on Sep 17th, 2010
gotta say I like the new site, the layout needs work, but it'll do

the important thing is that most of us survived the blackout

anyone know what happened to Alex? I havent heard from him

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Posted by David on Sep 17th, 2010
NO idea. Haven't heard ANYTHING on his end.

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Posted by sidicus9 on Sep 17th, 2010
Bout time we can post. Have Luna or Mr D been speaking to anyone lately?

---

Posted by Paradoxicle on Sep 17th, 2010
Hm. At least the guest book is up. Had another miserable day at school today. I'm done puting up with it. I literally have no more excuses. I'm going to get fucking shitfaced tonight and then on Monday I'm going to come back to my school with my dad's 9mm and just squeeze and squeeze and squeeze the trigger until I fucking die.

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Posted by Dark_Rider404 on Sep 17th, 2010
@Paradoxicle
sound rough, just remember that human emotions are only in this life. i've had half a mind to do the same myself - just kill them all in Her name. seriously, its the same shit. boring 9 to 4, wife always is on my case and i'm almost positive shes fucking someone else. you know, if you're serious I'll come drive down to you this weekkend, if we team up we can probably kill a lot more and i've got another nine you can have. lets do your school, whats it matter, we're all innocent in this fucked up world. we're the liberators, these kids are too stupid to know that we're doing them a favor. once we've all transcended this doomed reality, we'll all be with Her anyway, follower or not.

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Posted by 13fliptime on Sep 17th, 2010
rofl, looks like we're going to lose 2 more soldiers earlier before the end. you get my seal of approval, the less this world slips comfortably in complacency the better imo.

you guys haven't been talking to Luna have you?

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Posted by David on Sep 17th, 2010
Careful guys. We're on a new domain on a .net now, take it to PM.

---

Posted by Paradoxicle on Sep 17th, 2010
David: No PM's yet

13fliptime: No, this is of my own free will, I'm just tired of this shit and want to make a difference in the world.

Dark: Give me your number on IRC, we'll take it there

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Posted by CB on Sep 17th, 2010
on a lighter note, i almost lost my mask, i was freaking out rofl. seriously, sometimes i just get so used to it on my face that i forget to pick it up if i put it down.

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Posted by BoogeymanHere on Sep 17th, 2010
I don't know, I think the fact that we've only been operational for a day and already DR and Paradoxicle are going to shoot up some place is pretty funny. If you guys go through with it, see you on the other side, I think my Ascension's coming up soon - I've been feeling a surge of something spiritual over the past two days.

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Posted by Duskworld23 on Sep 17th, 2010
I think I'm hearing Luna, I'm not sure thought, my mind could just be playing tricks on me. But I could've sworn I heard her just now. Not sure what she said though.

And remember - we're continuing with the whiteout - that means no using these names or posting outside of here. No facebooks/youtubes/twitters/whatnot. Mr D has been EXTREMELY strict on this rule.

...Could've sworn I just heard her again. Maybe. Idont know.

---

Posted by Sable on Sep 17th, 2010
Ifrit you might want to take a look at the contact page, somethings not right with it

The Moon Children reference an event simply called "The Blackout". What exactly this is referring to is unknown. They also mention that Alex had supposedly gone missing, implying that he actually held some connection to the Moon Children all along. The Moon Children also mention "The Whiteout", which is simply a rule that Mr. D imposed on the Moon Children that restricted them from using their same usernames on other websites - presumably for the sake of the cult's privacy and security.

Several Moon Children mention that they've had difficulty communicating with Mr. D and Luna recently. It's implied that Luna is actually the main goddess that the Moon Children worship, meaning that the "Him" and "Her" held in high regard by the cult is Mr. D and Luna. The main exception to this seems to be Spencer, who claims to have heard Luna whispering to him. This is likely what BEN was referencing when he said "MOTHER, I WONDER WHAT IT IS YOU WHISPER FOR DUSK TONIGHT".

Insidiae - Kevin F.
Likes - Studying the occult, fantasy, demons, and spirits
Dislikes - People who lie
Ambition - Ask me again in two years

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BEN

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