Mydadsnameisharold

Well, if you read the last post, you know Alex Maria finally cracked and killed the fuck out of his brother, mother, and sister... and turned them into compost.

But Alex Maria never existed, neither did any of his family.

As some of you have guessed, this has been a "writing project" or ARG (Augmented Reality Game). It was designed to be an interactive experience with fluid storytelling. This video offers some background. LINK

This entire blog, the associated reddit accounts (u/mydadsnameisharold (u/PleaseSeekTherapy), and Alex Maria's Instagram account are all fictional. His appearances on YouTube, Goodreads, SpiderID, and DeviantArt were all in character.

He was on google+ before it shit the bed, and he tried facebook and twitter but didn't have a knack for it.

For better or worse, your interactions with Alex Maria changed the way the story played out- to that end this was a bit of a collaborative effort... You just might not have known you were collaborating.

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I'd like to say I hope you enjoyed reading/ playing along/ contributing... But judging from the reactions I've seen on reddit, you probably hated it.


I am sorry if any of this blog, or the posts on other various social media caused you serious stress or anxiety. I set up an AMA on reddit (HERE IT IS)

You can use the AMA forum to Ask Me Anything- whatever questions you may have about this ARG, including but not limited to: my intentions, the process, what I learned, or why I'm such an asshole.

I'm still not sure whether this project was a bad thing or not.

The truth is there were times I felt very conflicted about these posts- even though they were fiction they weren't labeled that way, and Alex Maria's awful behavior was stressful to write and it could have been triggering for people to read.

Was it unethical for me to "scare" people who weren't looking for horror? Was it unethical to present fiction as reality? Maybe...

Probably, yes.

I don't know... But again: I'm sorry if my fake story gave you real stress. Moving forward, please don't believe everything you read on the internet.

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Lastly, I'd like to thank the people for reading.

Thank you group 1: Some of you offered support when Alex's dad was in the hospital and condolences when he died. You are good hearted people, and I feel guilty for leading you on. Some of you saw that a highschool kid was hurting and offered an ear, or genuine advice. If this ARG had only been read and influenced by you, Alex Maria's story would have been a happier one.

At the outpouring of such support, I actually did entertain the idea of having Alex actually seek the help of a therapist, and work through his issues. His life and the life of his family would have been saved. If you looked at Alex Maria with compassion, then consider that your ending.

Thanks for striving to treat people with decency, even when they do everything they can to show you how little they deserve it.

Thank you group 2: Some of you read the horrible, inhumane, and repugnant things Alex posted, and you lashed out with condemnations. Sometimes even insults.

Realistically, I might have had the very same visceral, gut-wrenching repulsion if I encountered somebody on the internet who was bragging about torturing animals and taking creep-shots of their neighbors.... Disgust, even hate, seem like very reasonable reactions to Alex's disturbing behavior. But the insults only fed his instability and pushed him farther in on himself.

If you told Alex to kill himself, you helped him get angry enough to kill his brother.

If you told Alex that he was a disappointment to the memory of his departed father, you only helped him along his path of violence.

I don't really blame you, because Alex CERTAINLY brought that shit on himself. All I'm saying is it didn't help a troubled 17 yr old kid.

But thanks for keeping the story interesting.

Thank you group 3: The people who were in on it. I'm not gonna name them, unless they give me permission to name them.

But those family and friends who knew the story. I know it was fucked up. I wouldn't blame you for judging me for it. Thanks for the people who helped me plan out the story. Thanks to the people who encouraged me to keep going when I wanted to throw in the towel.

Thanks to the people who let me pick their brains a little bit.

Thank you group 4: The people who read quietly. Ultimately this ARG was intended as a piece of art. Art isn't always happy, but I hope realizing it was all fiction is a bit of relief.

Thanks for reading!

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Questions were answered at the AMA!(https://www.reddit.com/r/casualiama/comments/dl0mos/im_the_primary_author_of_a_recently_concluded_16/)

And I did not hurt any of those cute baby possums (or their mama). I have no idea where they went after I released them.

Squirrels are one of my favorite animals and I wouldn't torture one- even for a million bucks. The "neighbors" photographed in the creep-shots were: me, my wife, and my mom.

EDIT: a redditor on the AMA asked for proof that the creepshots were staged... They pointed out that "Alex" could have concocted a story about the whole thing being fake to throw people off the trail, after he murdered his family...

That's a terrifying thought.

As for proof about the animals... I regret that I didn't take video of the squirrels being set free. It actually never occurred to me that those would be worth documenting. 

I did happen to video tape the possums being released, because I was just so fascinated by the fact that the mom was carrying the babies, I wanted to show my son how the mom carried the whole family around- but wouldn't let him watch in person (mostly to protect him considering they were wild animals). 

Here's a link to the youtube video of that: https://youtu.be/OeeLZdNzGlU

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Now that the "Alex Maria" narrative is concluded, don't expect any more of his story....

However, if you want to read more from the author check out the reddit user u/IOughtToBeThrownAway-- the foundation of a second ARG written by me, dealing with Clinical Lycanthropy