Name: Ted’s Caving Page
URL: http://www.angelfire.com/trek/caver/
Year created: 2001
Year abandoned: 2001
If you’re a fan of reading creepy stories on the Internet, chances are you read Creepypastas. Scary stories are timeless, and without a doubt have always existed online. One frightening tale from the early web that stands out more than the rest is the story of Ted the Caver.
Ted’s Caving Page presents itself in the form of an online journal. The website is created by a man named Ted who tells his story of discovering a cave with his friend, only to have stranger events occur as their exploration furthers. Photographs and diagrams are provided to give readers a better visual idea of the experience.
Story summary
In late 2000, Ted and his friend “B” become curious about an opening they find in a cave they discovered the same day. The two decide to try making the hole bigger in order to see what is on the other side of it. After spending many days and nights working at it, they begin to hear strange noises, making them feel uneasy about what they’re doing. As days go on, more eerie things happen to Ted and B, getting worse each time. Eventually, Ted and B experience a fright of their lives which leads them to abandon their exploration. Three weeks after the fact, Ted expresses his desire to visit the cave one more time to see if he and B can complete their progress. The rest is a mystery.
Behind the Scenes
So how did this humble Angelfire personal page, a small corner of the Web, become so popular? It was likely just passed along many times through e-mails, forums, newsgroups, and the like until it received more attention. Most discussion during the early 2000s surrounding the story was trying to determine if it was real or fake.
In 2004, members of Cavechat.org held a discussion on the story. Ted himself visited this discussion and gave readers some answers they were looking for. Ted confessed that while the story itself was entirely made up, the pictures were from a real trip of his. The site was just his way to have fun with what he and B discovered. Ted also cleared up a rumour which claims that he stole his story from a man named Thomas Lera, who wrote a story similar to Ted’s, only with an actual ending. Though unproven, Ted and others who have researched Lera and his work allege that he actually copied Ted’s story, rather than the other way around.
While Ted did not provide an ending to the adventure, it almost feels right to leave his story without one.
Modern readership
To this day, Ted’s Caving Page is a site that still gets shared in different places online such as scary story groups, or showcases of the old Internet (much like this one!). Though it’s been a long time since the Web has heard from Ted the Caver, his thrilling tale will always remain an Internet classic and a re-readable spooky story.
What’s the best scary story you’ve read online? Share your story in the comments.
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