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Ghost in the machine? Legend of the 'haunted' N64 video game cartridge


A second-hand Zelda cartridge. A cryptic forum thread. A generation of terrified children. This is the story of Ben Drowned – the internet's most infamous video game ghost.

"I actually remember reading it in my dorm room in college and sending it to some of my friends," says Alexander Zawacki, a digital humanities lecturer at the University of Göttingen, in Germany, who describes the thrill of discovering creepypastas through links shared on internet forums. As video games matured, gaining more sophisticated graphics, complex characters and intricate storylines, they have given rise to entire subcultures – ardent gamers who trade knowledge about lore, cheat codes or hidden loot. For Hall, writing an internet ghost story has led to other ventures including a new YouTube series he plans to release later this year called Dead Save, featuring alternate versions of classic video games.

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