Item 1
Source:
This item was collected from a TikTok video that was posted by user @lettylovesyou on April 21, 2021.
Text:
Title: “Don’t Open Your Eyes”
Transcription:
“On the last day of every month, close the blinds or curtains before you sleep. If in the middle of the night, you hear a tapping noise at your window, don’t open your eyes.
If you’re one of the unlucky ones, you’ll hear that pebble sound at your window. It’s not a friend; just keep your eyes shut. The sound will get louder, the tapping will get faster and faster. Don’t let your curiosity get the better of you; don’t move. It’ll lose its patience, it’ll start thumping the window. Your window will shake and shudder and the noises will only get louder. It will furiously pound the window and shake the panes; don’t worry, the window won’t break but for goodness’ sake, DON’T OPEN YOUR EYES. No matter how scared you are, no matter how badly you want to scream, pretend like you don’t hear, pretend you’re still asleep.
After a while, the noises will stop. Don’t fall for it, keep your eyes shut. Try to sleep if you can. Don’t get up, don’t open your eyes, until the sun comes up.
Those who do open their eyes, well, no one really knows what happens.”
Texture:
This item appears within a short TikTok video. The user who posted the video, @lettylovesyou, reads this item out loud, and you are able to see the text of the legend on the screen and read along with her. The text of the legend appears to have been typed on the Notes app on a phone. She overlays a track of “scary” music that plays as she is reading the legend. She does not add any commentary during this video, and only reads the text that is onscreen.
Purpose:
TikTok, similar to predecessors Vine and Musical.ly, is an app that contains short videos that last up to a minute. Anyone can post these videos and some creators have earned notoriety—and even income—from it. Often, it’s users scroll through the app’s “For You Page,” which consists of content that the app’s algorithm has determined an individual might like, at night before bed. There are many reasons why this item might appear in this particular context. For one, the item details a scary, nighttime encounter that could theoretically happen to anyone. For a user watching this at night, the legend will be most effective at serving its purpose of being especially unnerving. Secondly, the item is read aloud to users verbatim, and is told in a convincing way, as if it is true. For a user who may be unable to read the text for any particular reason, this allows one to still become immersed in the story itself rather than focusing on what the uploader thinks about the story. Additionally, reading the text out loud guarantees to keep the video brief, allowing one to experience the legend in under a minute. For someone who might be particularly slow at reading, this allows the story to be conveyed in a reasonable amount of time. Finally, the fact that it appears on an app containing something like a “For You Page” means that the item will often “find” you, as opposed to other apps like YouTube, where one would have to actively search for urban legend videos. In this format, the legend can catch you off guard, further contributing to the scariness and suspense of the legend. You have minimal control over your “For You Page” in the same way that the person in the legend has minimal control over their situation. In both instances, there is only one way to avoid what’s coming: don’t open your eyes—or in this case, just scroll to the next video.
Relevance to Folklore and Folklore Studies:
This item proves itself to be an item of folklore in a variety of ways. It is an oral re-telling of a narrative, the content of which fits the definition of a legend. Though it is produced for a large number of people, the app’s format prevents this from shifting into the category of “pop culture.” This is, in part, because in order to get to this item and similar content, one has to have some level of interest in it. This is a bit different from popular culture because the app’s “For You Page” caters to the interests of each individual user, while popular culture is generally for “everyone,” rather than focusing on these individual interests. One would have to either follow the user’s account, or “like” react to a number of similar pieces of content in order for this item to appear on their “For You Page.” In turn, viewers of these types of videos can be understood as a sort of digital “folk group,” and only people that have genuine interest in this content will have it show up on their page.
This item is one example to folklorists of how oral narratives transform as our technology transforms. It is easy to view TikTok as trivial, but to ignore this app completely would be to ignore a wide variety of folkloric content. For many young people today, apps like TikTok and YouTube are where urban legends are heard for the very first time. The existence of videos such as this proves to folklorists that oral narratives are not dying, but merely the way they are being transmitted is adapting.