Someone get M. Night Shyamalan on the phone, we’ve found a child who can see dead people. Or dead person, singular — a hanging man, to be precise.
A series of videos have gone viral on TikTok featuring a young boy named Elliot who claims to be able to see a “hanging man” in the corner of his bedroom. In the video, Elliot is seen standing in the middle of his room and looking toward the corner, shouting “Stop it!” at nothing in particular. His dad, Ricky, walks in and asks him what he’s doing, to which he responds that he can see “him” hanging and that he’s crying. Apparently, his noises get annoying at night because he cries so much and bangs on the walls. Elliot then draws a photo of the hanging man on his chalkboard, depicting him with tears running down his face.
It’s legitimately creepy stuff.
In a follow-up video, Ricky puts a camera in Elliot’s room, and manages to capture the moment Elliot talks to the hanging man on camera (whispering, “Stop it, you’re scaring me”) before Elliot is pulled out of bed by someone — or something — off-camera.
Imaginary friends aren’t unusual for children, but the violent nature of Elliot’s “hanging man” is obviously something different. Experts have reassured parents that children being interested in imaginary violence isn’t in and of itself a cause for alarm, although if a child is stuck on a storyline or theme that they’re anxious about, it could warrant stepping in and offering to help find a resolution to their conundrum.
The most relevant piece of information here, though, is that these videos are coming from a creator who specializes in paranormal and horror content when he isn’t making conspiratorial videos about the British Royal Family.
@paranormaltheory, or RickyEatsWorld, claims to live in a haunted house, and in addition to the many videos he’s posted about Elliot and the hanging man, he’s posted videos about a demon who tried to attack his dog, a ghost who growled at him and demonic entities that watch him sleep. While some commenters are convinced Elliot is a future medium developing his powers, I’m inclined to believe he’s just being used to build RickyEatsWorld’s clout, especially considering his videos about Elliot tend to do better than any of his other content.
So maybe the real ghoul in this story has nothing to do with the hanging man.
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