Is The Boiled One Phenomenon Real? A Viral Online 'Curse' Explained

Analog horror is one of the most fascinating horror subgenres to emerge in the digital age. At its best, this horror subgenre, which often appears almost stitched together with varying types of lo-fi or outmoded technology, is infused with surrealism and hidden clues suggesting a deeper lore to the world within it. And one of the best examples of analog horror that checks all of these boxes is the eerie world of "The Boiled One Phenomenon," a viral short from YouTube horror creator Doctor Nowhere. 

In the spirit of amazing shoestring budget horror movies like the found footage film "Blair Witch Project," "The Boiled One" relies on the viewer's psychological connection with its content rather than on-the-nose horror staples like jumpscares and gore. Presented as a warning about a "cognito-hazardous" figure known as "The Boiled One," the less than 11-minute short film appears as a VHS video made from a PowerPoint presentation stringing together text slides, grainy images, and lo-fi video clips. A cognito-hazard like the Boiled One, the video warns, can mentally or physically affect the viewer just by being seen.

Ostensibly for safety reasons, viewers are advised to watch with earplugs, a pencil, a sheet of paper, and a standard Christian Bible open to Psalms 91:10. And the paper really does come in handy. Much like the hidden puzzle in supernatural horror series "Evil," "The Boiled One Phenomenon" contains hidden clues throughout, revealing more pieces of its lore iceberg with each viewing for those who care to crack its secrets. 

Superficially, Doctor Nowhere's video doesn't reveal much about the nature of the Boiled One other than that the sight and sound of this creature has been known to cause serious side effects. Instead of delving into theories about who or what the Boiled One is, "The Boiled One Phenomenon" focuses on its impact on humanity through the use of archival footage. But that presentation is framed with instructions presented against what sounds like dissonant church organ music, advising viewers on what to do if they hear "something unusual" speaking in tongues in their ears. The evil-deflecting affirmation viewers are instructed to write in such an event suggests an apocalyptic connection with language like "I can't hear the screaming of thousands. I can't hear the feast."

According to the text narration, the phenomenon part of "The Boiled One Phenomenon" begins with a children's documentary-style TV program from the 1990s that aired on a local Pennsylvania station. Despite the series being discontinued after the host's 2001 death, its 13th episode began rerunning on August 13, 2003 "seemingly out of nowhere." At some point during the rerun, the melted red face of the Boiled One (named PHEN-228 by the video's narrators) appeared and began speaking in "a warm yet deeply disconcerting voice" as CCTV images of bedrooms, hospital rooms, and ceilings flashed across the screen. 530 Pennsylvania residents heard the broadcast, with some reporting having understood the Boiled One in languages other than English.

According to "The Boiled One Phenomenon," merely viewing the Boiled One causes "highly unnatural" side effects that went far beyond the mere discomfort, anxiety, and paranoia they experienced during the broadcasting itself. Others were left with a mental imprint, with some viewers reporting an inability to get its appearance or sound out of their heads days later. One claimed to hear the screaming of many voices and trumpets and feel the creature's face "living in his brain and feeding on his spine."

Ultimately, 509 Pennsylvanians who viewed the broadcast became afflicted by Locked-in syndrome (LIS), leaving them only able to communicate by blinking. When Morse code was used to interview an elderly veteran using the alias Job Zamperini, he revealed even more about the Boiled One's curse. According to Zamperini, who would later claim the "horribly burnt" figure was at his window, both he and his house were haunted by "unholy" forces, causing his family to summon a priest. At the end of "The Boiled One Phenomenon," the creature appears on-screen to address viewers, suggesting that they, too, will soon be cursed.

The creature itself is almost silly-looking, with its "David Lynch meets the Muppets" aesthetic. But the idea of losing one's mind to a supernatural curse simply by viewing the wrong thing makes for excellent meme-worthy creepypasta, which is probably why the Boiled One has been popping up all over TikTok, including a few Minecraft walkthroughs.

Part of what makes "The Boiled One Phenomenon" so great is its layers. It's one of those deliciously behind-the-sofa-scary stories that kids love to watch even when they're not allowed to. It's the brainchild of a teenage artist whose real name is listed as Silas Orion on his Instagram, which is a veritable wonderland of the types of surrealist monsters that live in the dark corners of Guillermo del Toro's mind behind his creepiest "Cabinet of Curiosities" creatures.

But a closer look reveals that the horror short is much more than just a monster tale to freak out the kiddies. It's perfect for fan theorizing by digging through its names and dates, reversing sounds, translating text, and pausing the screen at just the right time. And while the story itself is completely fictional, much like the true story of the real well behind analog horror progenitor "The Ring," "The Boiled One Phenomenon" weaves threads of real historical details throughout its narrative that make it feel strangely plausible.

The tale is filled with religious references, like the mysterious organization known Ephrata-228 — ephrata is Hebrew for "fruitful" — and may allude to an 18th-century Pennsylvanian religious group called the Ephrata Cloister. The Ephrata Cloister Museum is also home to a glass trumpet unearthed from an 18th-century trash pit, which ties into the apocalyptic trumpet sounds heard by the Boiled One's victims. Part of the story also references the Great Northeast Blackout of 2003, a large-scale power outage affecting a large swath of the Northeastern United States. And as The Film Theorists uncovered, the story's hidden clues also reference infamous Imperial Japanese soldier Mutsuhiro Watanabe, who was well-known for his abuse of Allied POWs during World War II.