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W ICK ED SPIR ITS |
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he world of Pokémon is a strange place. There are so many questions that are purposely left unanswered. What type of meat do humans eat if all the animals are Pokémon, but Pokémon are supposed to be their friends? How come the protagonist of the game always has an absent father? Why do adults leave important tasks like saving the world to 10-year-old children? No one’s sure if there’s an answer to these questions, but still fans try to figure them out. Here are some of the spookiest theories about Pokémon.
O CTO B ER 26, 2017
TH E O NTA R I O N PHOTO COURTESY OF POKEMON
THE CREEPIEST
URBAN LEGENDS ABOUT
K AREN K . TRAN
The Lavender Town background music from Pokémon Red and Green caused child suicides
T his belief st ems from a Creepypasta story (sort of an online urban legend) that details children’s apparent compulsion to hurt themselves after hearing the unsettling background music that played when the player entered Lavender Town. Lavender Town is home to Pokémon Tower, a burial site for beloved Pokémon companions, which only adds to the atmosphere. Fans theorized that the song was laced with deadly frequencies, but this has not been scientifically proven. There is no evidence that
there was actually an increase in suicides when the game was released. Voltorb is a Haunter that’s been trapped inside a Pokéball
The idea is that the ghost-type Haunter Pokémon possessed an inanimate Pokéball and got stuck inside it. If you compare the eyes of a Voltorb and Haunter, they are indeed similarly shaped. Cubone are the orphans of Kangaskhan
One of the most compelling
fan theories is that Cubone is an orphaned Kangaskhan. The baby Kangaskhan seen in the adult’s pouch bears a shocking resemblance to Cubone, except for the skull that Cubone wears on its face. The explanation for the skull? The Pokémon Crystal Pokédex entry says, “It lost its mother after its birth. It wears its mother’s skull, never revealing its true face.” Ghost Pokémon are born from the souls of other Pokémon
Normally, Pokémon faint when they lose a battle, and are taken to a nearby Pokémon Centre to heal. There’s never been an official explanation of how Pokémon actually die, but ghost Pokémon are always found in the wild near graveyards. Moreover, Pokédex entries for ghost-type Pokémon are pretty disturbing. These aren’t exactly urban legends — they’re considered facts since they’re written in the official Pokédex, but there is debate among fans over whether Pokédex entries are meant to
represent scientific research conducted by the Pokémon professors, or if they’re random theories devised by the 10-year-old children that the professors employ. Here are some of the creepiest: Banette: “A doll that became a Pokémon over its grudge from being junked. It seeks the child that disowned it.” (Pokémon Black/ White) Yamask: Each of them carries a mask that used to be its face when it was human. Sometimes they look at it and cry.” (Pokémon Y) L ampent: “ The spirits it absorbs fuel its baleful fire. It hangs around hospitals waiting for people to pass on.” (Pokémon Omega Ruby) Phantump: “According to old tales, these Pokémon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest.” (Pokémon Alpha Sapphire) Froslass: “The soul of a woman lost on a snowy mountain possessed an icicle, becoming this Pokémon. The food it most relishes is the souls of men.” (Pokémon Moon) Mimikyu: “Its actual appearance is unknown. A scholar who saw what was under i0ts rag was overwhelmed by terror and died from the shock.” (Pokémon Sun)
Bones under Baker Street: The story of a city built on a burial ground TRISTAN CROCKER SHARES THE DARK SIDE OF CANADIAN HISTORY MARIK A LI
THE CITY OF GUELPH: founded in 1827, population a little over 100,000. Guelph is just big enough to be interesting, but small enough to retain a hint of old-world charm. There’s just enough greenery between the houses and shops to keep the growing city quaint and idyllic. But there may be more to the city’s history than meets the eye. In October 2005, construction workers renovating a parking lot on Baker Street in downtown Guelph found bones — bones of people from different ages and different circumstances. More human remains were found under Baker Street as recently as October 2016. Arts student Tristan Crocker investigated the case of the Baker Street bones on the first episode of his CFRU 93.3 radio show, That’s Telling. He got in contact with
Human remains have been excavated from the Baker Street parking lot; some were only 30 centimeters below street level. | PHOTO BY ALORA GRIFFITHS
consulting archaeologist, Dana Poulton, who’s worked on the Baker Street excavation since 2005. It’s relatively well known that Baker Street served as Guelph’s first graveyard, founded on the same day as the city itself. Those living in poverty or without family were usually buried unceremoniously in public graves. What isn’t known, however, is how these people’s stories contribute to Guelph’s history. The city entrusted Poulton with discovering this. “I cold called a lot of people and no one got back to me except [Poulton]. But that was actually a good thing, because he was the most directly involved with [the bones],” Crocker said. “He knew everything — the stories of the people and
PHOTO BY MARIKA LI
how they progressed over each dig. There had been three different digs there. So he was like a fountain of knowledge.” Poulton revealed that the public burial ground was closed by the mid-1800s, likely due to hygiene
reasons. Many of the bodies were removed and buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park by relatives or friends who paid a small fee. Other remains were simply forgotten and found later through construction excavations, since some remains were only around 30 centimetres below street level. Some of the bones under Baker Street are the remains of people who lived in the worst of circumstances. Poulton recalled a mysterious set of remains from a man with various health issues who died with a shattered hand and broken nose. The bones hadn’t healed right, so it’s possible the man died in a fight or from wounds sustained in a beating. Another man’s remains revealed he had survived a badly
broken jaw as a child. Some of the infant remains showed clear signs of abuse or trauma: one child’s skull was fractured from being shaken violently, another died due to blunt force from a blow to the back of his or her head. “These bones show that while Guelph seems quaint, it was made by people who lived lives unimaginable to some of the people who live here now,” Crocker said. Crocker started That’s Telling because he believes that stories give people a glimpse into the perceptions and humanity of others. No one can say for sure what Guelph was really like in the past, but that past can inform the lives of people today. And getting closer to the truth means looking at all sides of a story. “The past has a way of pushing itself into the present,” Crocker said. “I think in Canada, people overlook stories that are a bit darker. But I don’t think Canada is different from the States or other parts of the world.” The next episode of That’s Telling will feature LSD testing and torture done on students and veterans by the CIA in Montreal in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. That’s Telling airs on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. on CFRU.
Twitter @thatstelling.