On April 30th, an unnamed man somewhere in the western half of America made an ominous plea via Twitter:
“Help. It’s late in the morning and still dark outside. I can hear the tornado sirens in the next county over, but the weather radar is clear. Where is the sun.”
What followed was an ominous (and chilling) clip of an emergency broadcast on CNN, one reporting nationwide riots in the aftermath of an event compared to “The Dark Day” of 1780. 2 months later, over a quarter of a million people have followed @TheSunVanished and his bizarre, terrifying odyssey.
— Nat (TheSunVanished) (@TheSunVanished) April 30, 2018
While it’s fun to imagine we’ve been peering through a window into another dimension, a techno-enhanced rip in the space/time continuum, @TheSunVanished is part of a new wave of Twitter-based, creepypasta-inspired ARGs (Alternate Reality Games), a storytelling phenomenon sparked by the “Dear David” haunting of Adam Ellis.
The main character in @TheSunVanished has dodged tranced-out intruders, flashing orbs of various sizes and colours, and even a huge heat-emanating object in the sky. Over the weeks, a friend of his has been attempting to transverse the US in order to team-up—but can he be trusted? Can anybody be trusted?
The action reached peak intensity on June 19th with a reunion that could spell either salvation or doom. Since then, @TheSunVanished has gone silent. At the time of this posting, we have no idea if the adventure has come to its natural conclusion, or if there’s more to come. Either way, @TheSunVanished has left followers rapt, gasping, and begging for more.
We’ll be keeping our eyes on @TheSunVanished just in case our hero reemerges. If you missed the boat, you might want to catch up with @LifeIsBelow, a new Twitter ARG that (coincidentally) launched on June 19th—the same day @TheSunVanished went dark (pun intended). Do you believe in life underground?
