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Stretching back to 1884 and the construction of Holy Guardian Angels Pro Cathedral School, an educational enterprise has operated continuously on the current Cathedral High School campus. At times throughout the past century the school operated grades #1 through #12. Throughout most of the 1960s, Cathedral operated only grades #9 through #12, but then again in 1971 it added back grades #7 and #8. Cathedral High School was separately incorporated from the grade school and from Holy Angels (Cathedral) Parish in 1945. The school's mission, inspired and informed by Catholic tradition, has always been to educate people while inspiring them to virtuous lives.
1875 – The Northern Vicariate, forerunner of the Diocese of St. Cloud, is established with Benedictine Abbot Rupert Seidenbusch, OSB appointed first Bishop. The Cathedral of the Diocese is established with the purchase of the Broker home on 6th Avenue and 4th Street overlooking the Mississippi River to the East. Bishop Rupert prevailed upon his confreres to make St. Mary's – several blocks to the Southwest – the Cathedral but the monks chose to keep St. Mary's as a Benedictine Church, thus the necessary creation of Holy Angels and its future school.
1884 – Bishop Rupert Seidenbush, OSB opens a school as part of the Holy Angels Pro Cathedral Parish. This was coincidentally the same year as the Baltimore Declaration wherein it was declared by the U.S. Bishops every parish must have a school.
1887 – A three-story grade school building is constructed on the northeast corner of the 200 Block between 6th and 7th Avenues North; it later houses the high school on its 3rd floor and still later becomes known and used as the Vocational Building in the 1960s. A printing shop on the lower level of this school purportedly launches dozens of careers in what would become an epicenter for printing companies in Central Minnesota.
1890 – A (Bishop Otto Zardetti) Cathedral Rectory/ Chancery/ Mansion is constructed immediately adjacent to the Broker home which ultimately serves a dozen or more functions and occupants until its demolition in the spring of 2009 due to neglect and disrepair.
1902 – Eleanor Irving, OSB, Principal of Holy Angels Cathedral Grade School, is asked by Bishop Trobec and Father Edward Jones to expand the Cathedral School to include ninth (and subsequently 10th through 12th) grades.
1904 – Basilia Cosgrove, OSB becomes the first principal of the High School separate from the grade school, a position she then held for fifteen years.
1907 – The Church of St. Mary (Immaculate Conception) opens a high school under the direction of Alfred Mayer, OSB. For seven years, until 1914, there are two Catholic high schools in the downtown portion of the city, both Benedictine-inspired.
1912 – A large, three-story, Victorian-style Convent for the Benedictine Sisters is constructed immediately to the South of the school facing Sixth Avenue. Prior to this facility the Sisters shared the St. Mary's Convent across town and walked to work.
1914 – On the eve of what would become World War I, ground is broken for an expansion of The Cathedral High School on the northwest corner of the 300 Block between 6th and 7th Avenues North. Father Leo Gans is Superintendent. Bishop Trobec had recently resigned and the See was vacant; Bishop Joseph Busch is appointed later that same year and soon thereafter abandons the Zardetti Mansion for a residence and chancery five blocks to the southeast of Cathedral on the banks of the Mississippi River.
1922 – Cathedral High School is accredited by the University of Minnesota and is continuously accredited from this date forward.
1925 – Cathedral High School receives accreditation from the North Central Association. The name "Crusaders" is adopted for Cathedral students and teams.
1934 – Blue and gold are adopted as the official Cathedral High School colors.
1937 – After much discussion and an intervention by The Vatican, The Cathedral of the Diocese of St. Cloud moves from Holy Angels to St. Mary's; The Church of St. Augustine is then assigned to The Benedictines in exchange for St. Mary's becoming the Cathedral. Holy Angels becomes a regular parish but maintains the name Cathedral for the school, at that time operating grades #1 - #12 for another 23 years.
1938 – In the depths of the Great Depression and on the eve of World War II, the cornerstone is laid for a new building immediately to the South of the 1914 building. Fifteen classrooms, science laboratories, a library, cafeteria, gymnasium, and music rooms are included in the new three-story structure.
1945 – On April 6th, The Cathedral High School is incorporated separately from Holy Angels (Cathedral) Parish. The Board of Directors includes: Bishop of the Diocese, Coadjutor Bishop, Vicar General, pastors of parishes of St. Cloud, Waite Park, Sauk Rapids and the Superintendent of Cathedral High School.
1957 – A new building on the northwest corner of the 200 Block between 6th and 7th Avenues North is constructed immediately to the South of the 1938 building across 3rd Street. This building includes a new cafeteria, kitchen, library, two large group rooms, home economics department, office space, and 18 additional classrooms.
1961 – Holy Guardian Angels Grade School transfers its students to St. Mary's, St. Paul's, St. Peter's, and St. John Cantius; The Cathedral High School becomes just grades #9 – #12 for ten years.
1964 – Cathedral High School reaches its peak enrollment with 1,621 students in grades #9 - #12 only.
1967 – The North Gymnasium is completed at the corner of 4th Street and 6th Avenue North; 4th Street is then closed by the City of St. Cloud. The structure includes a modern gym floor, seating capacity of 3,500, locker rooms, bathrooms, coaches' offices and one small classroom.
1969 – 1971 – A perfect storm of Vatican Two, the Viet Nam War, civil rights, equal rights, the nearby construction and the opening of a brand new public school, and other external forces trim Cathedral's enrollment almost overnight to less than half.
1971 – Grades #7 - #8 return to campus. John XXIII Middle School is established. The school begins as a cooperative project among The Churches of The Holy Spirit, Sacred Heart, St. Mary Cathedral, St. Augustine, and St. Joseph (Waite Park).
1974 – The Churches of St. Peter and St. Paul combine to operate Sts. Peter & Paul School; later The Church of St. Michael joins that effort; The Churches of St. Anthony, St. Francis Xavier, and St. John Cantius continue operating their own 7th and 8th grade programs; later they ultimately join the Cathedral program.
1978 – With the approval of Bishop George Speltz, The Cathedral High School Education Foundation, Inc. is established by a number of lay and clerical leaders; the first gift is $10. The original fund raising goal is $1 million; about $800,000 is raised.
1981 – Cathedral establishes its first development, alumni, and admissions office. The first-ever Director serves both the Foundation and the School. Rockin' 'Round the Clock is established by that office as a signature event and will continue as such for 25 years.
1985 – Cathedral High School and John XXIII Middle School become one school with one faculty and staff, one administration, and one governing board.
1991 – The (Cathedral) Church of The Holy Angels, founder of The Cathedral High School, is closed as a parish. It had ceased being the Cathedral of the Diocese in 1937.
1993 – Holy Angels Church is renovated into Holy Angels Performing and Fine Arts Center with a large proscenium stage, theatre seating for 400, a small lobby, an elevator, two large music classrooms, faculty offices, and private music practice rooms. A physical connection is made to the 1938 building via elevator, hallways, and stairs.
2000 – The Church of St. Joseph, St. Joseph, MN joins The Cathedral High School Corporation.
2001 – The school reaches a modern-day enrollment peak of 810 students.
2005 – The Church of St. Mary Help of Christians joins The Cathedral High School Corporation.
2005 – The Investing in Our Future campaign generates $4.6 million of new capital for improvements to buildings and growth to the Foundation.
2008 – Using money from the 2005 campaign a passenger elevator is added to the 1957 building, major renovations and air conditioning are added to the kitchen and cafeteria, new bleachers are installed in the 1965 gymnasium, and the former Catholic Charities Food Shelf Building (originally Volkmuth Printing) at the corner of 2nd Street and 7th Avenue is purchased.
2009 – The school's development (advancement) function and office are re-established, staffed, and strengthened.
2010 – and looking toward 2018: Eleven goals are established as the school's Master Plan 2018 moving toward greater strength and stability – and value for stakeholders. Details regarding progress toward these goals are included in a separate document.
2011 – The Cathedral High School returns to its roots to serve grades #7 - #12 for all parishes in the Central Minnesota Metro and outlying areas. John XXIII and Sts. Peter, Paul & Michael are retired as school names as part of the final merger agreement.
2013 – The Cathedral High School Education Foundation flirts with having net assets of $10,000,000 while also having provided millions of dollars in scholarships dating back to 1981.
2014 – Completion of the four-year phase-in of Laptops for Learners, a state-of-the-art Apple laptop computer assigned to each student and to each teachers 24 hours a day, seven days a week; transformational instructional and learning goals established.
2015 – The Campaign for Cathedral, the manifestation of goals #8 and #9 of the Master Plan, is launched with a goal of $16,500,000.
2016 – The launch of Catholic Community Schools by Bishop Donald Kettler, as an E-12 comprehensive governance and leadership structure, is set for July 1, 2017.
Cathedral High School 1946
Inspired and informed by Catholic tradition, our
mission is to educate people while inspiring them to virtuous lives.
Cathedral High School
312 7th Ave. N.
St. Cloud, MN 56303
Main: 320-251-3421
Fax: 320-253-5576


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I'd like to introduce my talented friend and illustrator Mandy Saile. Her whimsical, vibrant coloured pencil and pastel illustrations are full of colour and life, and they often convey a spiritual or inspirational message, or contain hidden symbolism. Mandy feels that art is a powerful way of communicating our ideas and feelings, and making a connection with others. Her subject matter comes from everyday life situations (she has the ability to capture life's precious moments, no matter how small they seem), nature, music, literature and animals. Mandy is a devoted animal rights activist and some day she would love to run a rabbit sanctuary.
Mandy is also a gallery artist and has exhibited her acrylic paintings in North America as well as internationally with great reviews.
Currently, this talented artist resides in her home town, North Bay, Ontario. Christmas is just around the corner, so if you're in the area, check out the amazing greeting cards featuring her work at The Framemakers or at Cafe Botanica.
To see more of her work, please visit www.bijouswhimsy.com
(images from Mandy Saile, www.bijouswhimsy.com)

subset: commoncrawl


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London Private Jet Charter to the Epsom Derby 2017
The world's most famous flat horse race, the Epsom Derby, is set to take place on the 3rd June. As usual, the 2017 Derby will be held at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey and will feature the country's top three-year-old thoroughbred horses. This year marks the 238th edition of the Derby, which is the UK's richest horse race worth £1.5 million and one of the top sporting and cultural events in the country.
London Private Jet Charter
If you're a horse racing fan, why not travel to the 2017 Epsom Derby in style by chartering a private jet to London? Enjoy all the comfort and convenience of a private jet, including faster check-in and boarding as well as extra luggage space. You'll also have access to exclusive amenities like personal flight attendants and separate cabin zones equipped for working, dining, sleeping, and entertainment.
We have a range of luxurious private jets to suit all needs, from light aircrafts for up to eight passengers to heavy jets for groups of 16 or more. For a VIP experience, select a jet like the Airbus A319 CJ, which has an office, bedroom with shower, and dining space. We can arrange a private jet charter to one of these popular London airports which lie within 30 miles of the Epsom Downs Racecourse:
- Gatwick Airport
- Biggin Hill Airport
- Heathrow Airport
- London City Airport
- Farnborough Airport
Chartering a private jet to London for the Epsom Derby could be a cost-effective solution if you're flying with a group. A private jet trip from Manchester to London can cost from £7,015 in a light jet such as the Cessna Citation, or from £10,480 in a heavy jet like the Embraer Legacy. Wherever you're travelling from, get a private jet quote to London from one of our representatives.
Epsom Derby History
The first Epsom Derby took place on 4th May 1780 and was devised by the 12th Earl of Derby and the Jockey Club president Sir Charles Bunbury. Apparently, the pair spun a coin to determine who the race would be named after. Although the Earl won the title, Bunbury's horse Diomed won the first mile-long Derby. Today, the race has become a national sporting event attended by over 150,000 spectators, including The Queen and celebrities who come decked out in the latest spring fashions.
Legendary Derby winners include Sea Bird, the 2016 champion Harzand, and Shergar, who won by the biggest ever margin of 10 lengths in 1981 and was later notoriously kidnapped. Another famous Derby moment came in 1913, when suffragette Emily Davison ran out onto the track in front of King George V's horse and was killed. Today, the Epsom Derby has been lengthened to a mile and a half and the race record stands at 2:31.33, set by Workforce in 2010.
2017 Epsom Derby Schedule and Contenders
The 2017 Epsom races have a total prize purse of just under £3 million and early favourites for the Derby include Churchill, Cliffs of Moher, Cracksman, and Sir John Lavery. Here's the schedule for the Derby race day on June 3rd:
- 11 a.m. – gates open.
- 2 p.m. – Investec Private Banking Stakes.
- 2.35 p.m. – Group three Princess Elizabeth Stakes.
- 3.10 p.m. – Group three Investec Diomed Stakes.
- 3.45 p.m. – Investec Corporate Banking Dash.
- 4.30 p.m. – Group one Investec Derby.
- 5.15 p.m. – Investec Out of the Ordinary Stakes.
- 5.50 p.m. – Investec Asset Management Stakes.
How to get Tickets to the Epsom Derby 2017
You can buy tickets for the 2017 Epsom Derby from the official event website. A general admission seat in the Grandstand enclosure costs £60, while reserved seats cost £140. Tickets for the Queen's Stand cost £125. A Great British Picnic ticket for £205 grants you access to the picnic area in the Tattenham Straight enclosure plus a three-course picnic for two.
VIP tickets for the Derby are also available, including private boxes and a Chez Roux at Blue Riband package which costs £585 per person. This includes a private balcony in the Queen's Stand, a champagne reception, four-course meal, afternoon tea, open bar, and access to the parade ring and winner's enclosure.
So, once you've bought tickets to the 2017 Epsom Derby, why not book a private flight to London? We can arrange the aircraft of your choice to whisk you straight to one of London's airports close to the Epsom Downs Racecourse.


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Ben drowned
From Akashic Records
Ben Drowned is a creepypasta that involves a supposedly haunted Majora's Mask game catridge. The two file names are "BEN" and "DROWNED".
It turned into an ARG.
Original Pasta
First Video
I recently moved into my dorm room starting as a Sophomore in college and a friend of mine gave me his old Nintendo 64 to play. I was stoked, to say the least, I could finally play all of those old games of my youth that I hadn't touched in at least a decade. His Nintendo 64 came with one yellow controller and a rather shoddy copy of Super Smash Brothers, and while beggers can't be choosers, needless to say it didn't take long until I became bored of beating up LVL 9 CPUs.
That weekend I decided to drive around a few neighborhoods about twenty minutes or so off campus, hitting up the local garage sales, hoping to score on some good deals from ignorant parents). I ended up picking up a copy of Pokemon Stadium, Goldeneye (fuck yeah), F-Zero, and two other controllers for two dollars. Satisfied, I began to drive out of the neighborhood when one last house caught my attention. I still have no idea why it did, there were no cars there and only one table was set up with random junk on it, but something sort of drew me there. I usually trust my gut on these things so I got out of the car and I was greeted by an old man. His outward appearance was, for lack of a better word, displeasing. It was odd, if you asked me to tell you why I thought he was displeasing, I couldn't really pinpoint anything - there was just something about him that put me on edge, I can't explain it. All I can tell you is that if it wasn't in the middle of the afternoon and there were other people within shouting distance, I would not have even thought of approaching this man.
He flashed a crooked smiled at me and asked what I was looking for, and immediately I noticed that he must be blind in one of his eyes; his right eye had that "glazed over" look about it. I forced myself to look to his left eye instead, trying not to offend, and asked him if he had any old videogames.
I was already wondering how I could politely excuse myself from the situation when he would tell me he had no idea what a videogame was, but to my surprise he said he had a few ones in an old box. He assured me he'd be back in a "jiffy" and turned to head back into the garage. As I watched him hobble away, I couldn't help but notice what he was selling on his table. Littered across his table were rather... peculiar paintings; various artworks that looked like ink blots that a psychiatrist might show you. Curious, I looked through them - it was obvious why no one was visiting this guy's garage sale, these weren't exactly aesthetically pleasing. As I came to the last one, for some reason it looked almost like Majora's Mask - the same heart-shaped body with little spikes protruding outward. Initially I just thought that since I was secretly hoping to find that game at these garage sales, some Freudian bullshit was projecting itself into the ink blots, but given the events that happened afterward I'm not so sure now. I should have asked the man about it. I wish I would have asked the man about it.
After staring at the Majora-shaped blot, I looked up and the old man was suddenly there again, arms-length in front of me, smiling at me. I'll admit I jumped out of reflex and I laughed nervously as he handed me a Nintendo 64 cartridge. It was the standard grey color, except that someone had written Majora on it in black permanent marker. I got butterflies in my stomach as I realized what a coincidence this was and asked him how much he wanted for it.
The old man smiled at me and told me that I could have it for free, that it used to belong to a kid who was about my age that didn't live here anymore. There was something weird about how the man phrased that, but I didn't really pay any attention to then, I was too caught up in not only finding this game but getting it for free.
I reminded myself to be a bit skeptical since this looked like a pretty shady cartridge and there's no guarantee it would work, but then the optimist inside me interjected that maybe it was some kind of beta version or pirated version of the game and that was all I needed to be back on cloud nine. I thanked the man and the man smiled at me and wished me well, saying "Goodbye then!" - at least that's what it sounded like to me. All the way in the car-ride home, I had a nagging doubt that the man had said something else. My fears were confirmed when I booted up the game (to my surprise it worked just fine) and there was one save file named simply "BEN". "Goodbye Ben", he was saying "Goodbye Ben". I felt bad for the man, obviously a grandparent and obviously going senile, and I - for some reason or another - reminded him of his grandson "Ben".
Out of curiosity I looked at the save file. Eyeballing it, I could tell that he was pretty far in the game - he had almost all of the masks and 3/4 remains of the bosses. I noticed that he had used an owl statue to save his game, he was on Day 3 and by the Stone Tower Temple with hardly an hour left before the moon would crash. I remember thinking that it was a shame that he had come so close to beating the game but he never finished it. I made a new file named "Link" out of tradition and started the game, ready to relive my childhood.
For such a shady looking game cartridge, I was impressed at how smoothly it ran - literally just like a retail copy of the game save for a few minor hiccups here and there (like textures being where they shouldn't be, random flashes of cutscenes at odd intervals, but nothing too bad). However the only thing that was a little unnerving was that at times the NPCs would call me "Link" and at other times they would call me "BEN". I figured it was just a bug - a fluke in the programming causing our files to get mixed up or something. It did kind of creep me out though after a while, and it was around after I had beaten the Woodfall Temple that I regrettably went into the save files and deleted "BEN" (I had intended to preserve the file just out of respect of the game's original owner, it's not like I needed two files anyway), hoping that that would solve the problem. It did and it didn't, now NPCs wouldn't call me anything, where my name should be in the dialogue there was just a blank space (my save file name was still called "Link", though). Frustrated, and with homework to do, I put the game down for a day.
I started playing the game again last night, getting the Lens of Truth and working my way towards completing the Snowhead Temple. Now, some of you more hardcore Majora's Mask players know about the "4th Day" glitch - for those who don't you can google it but the jist of it is that right as the clock is about to hit 00:00:00 on the final day, you talk to the astronomer and look through the telescope. If you time it right the countdown disappears and you essentially have another day to finish whatever you were doing. Deciding to do the glitch to try and finish the Snowhead Temple, I happened to get it right on the first try and the time counter at the bottom disappeared.
However, when I pressed B to exit the telescope, instead of being greeted by the astronomer I found myself in the Majora boss fight room at the end of the game (the trippy boxed in arena) staring at Skull Kid hovering above me. There was no sound, just him floating in the air above me, and the background music which was regular for the area (but still creepy). Immediately my palms began to sweat - this was definitely not normal. Skull Kid NEVER appeared here. I tried moving around the area, and no matter where I went, Skull Kid would always be facing me, looking at me, not saying anything. Nothing would happen though, and this kept up for around sixty seconds. I thought the game had bugged or something - but I was beginning to doubt that very much.
I was about to reach for the reset button when text appeared on my screen: "You're not sure why, but you apparently had a reservation..." I instantly recognized that text - you get that message when you get the Room Key from Anju at the Stock Pot Inn, but why was it playing here? I refused to entertain the notion that it was almost as if the game was trying to communicate with me. I started navigate the room again, testing to see if that was some sort of trigger that enabled me to interact with something here, then I realized how stupid I was - to even think that someone could reprogram the game like this was absurd. Sure enough, fifteen seconds later another message appeared on the screen, and again like the first one it was already a pre-existing phrase "Go to the lair of the temple's boss? Yes/No". I paused for a second, contemplating what I should press and how the game would react, when I realized that I couldn't select no. Taking a deep breath, I pressed Yes and the screen faded to white, with the words "Dawn of a New Day" with the subtext "||||||||" beneath it. Where I was ported to filled me with the most intense sense of dread and impending fear I had ever experienced
The only way I can describe the way I felt here is having this feeling of inexplicable depression on a profound scale. I am normally not a depressed person, but the way I felt here was a feeling that I didn't even knew existed - it was such a twisted, powerful presence that seemed to wash over me.
I appeared in some kind of weird twilight-zone version of Clock Town. I walked out of the Clock Tower (as you normally do when you start from Day 1) only to find that all of the inhabitants were gone. Usually with the 4th Day glitch you can still find the guards and the dog that runs around outside the tower - this time they were all gone. What replaced them was the ominous feeling that there was something out there, in the same area as me and that it was watching me. I had four hearts to my name and the Hero's Bow, but at this point I wasn't even considered for my avatar, I felt that I personally was in some kind of danger. Perhaps the most chilling thing was the music - it was the Song of Healing, ripped straight from the game itself, but played in reverse. The music would get louder, building up so as if you should expect something to pop out at you, but nothing ever did, and the constant loop began to wear on my mental state.
Every now and then I would hear the faint laugh of the Happy Mask Salesman in the background, just quiet enough so that I wasn't sure if I just hearing things but just loud enough to keep me determined to find him. I looked in all four zones of Clock Town, only to find nothing.... No one. Textures were missing, West Clock Town had me walking on air, the entire area felt... broken. Hopelessly broken. As the reverse Song of Healing repeated for what must have been the 50th time, I just remember standing in the middle of South Clock Town realizing that I had never felt so alone in a videogame before.
As I walked through the ghost town, I don't know whether it was the combination of the out of place textures and the atmosphere and the haunting melody of the once peaceful and soothing song being butchered and distorted, but I was literally on the verge of tears and I had no idea why. I hardly ever cry, something had gripped me here and this powerful sense of depression that was both foreign and crippling.
I tried leaving Clock Town, but every time I attempted to zone out, the screen would fade to black and I would just zone in to another part of Clock Town. I tried playing my Ocarina, I wanted to escape, and I did NOT want to be here, but every time I played the Song of Time or Song of Soaring it would only say "Your notes echo far, but nothing happens". By this point, it was obvious the game didn't want me to leave, but I had no idea why it was keeping me here. I didn't want to go inside the buildings, I felt that I would be too vulnerable there to whatever I was terrified of. I don't know why, but I came up with the idea that maybe if I drowned myself at the Laundry Pool I could spawn somewhere else and leave this place.
As I zoned in and ran towards the pool, that's when it happened. Link grabbed his head, and the screen flashed for a brief moment of the Happy Mask Salesman smiling at me - not Link - me with Skull Kid's scream playing in the background and when the screen returned I was staring at the Link Statue from playing the song Elegy of Emptiness. I screamed as the thing just stared back at me with that haunting facial expression. I turned around and ran out and back into South Clock Town, and to my horror the fucking statue followed me in the only way I can compare this is like the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. Every so often, at random intervals, the animation would play of the statue appearing behind me. It was like the thing was chasing me, or - I don't even want to fucking say it - haunting me.
By this point, I was on the verge of hysterics, but not even once did the thought of turning off the console occur to me, I don't know why, I was so wrapped up in it - the terror felt all so real. I tried to shake the statue, but it would literally appear right behind me every single time. Link started to begin to make weird animations I had never even seen him do before, he would flail his arms around or spasm randomly and the screen would cut to the Happy Mask Salesman smiling again for a brief moment before I was face to face with that fucking statue again. I ended up running into the Swordmasters Dojo and ran to the back, I don't know why, but in my panic I just wanted some kind of assurance that I'm not alone here. To my dismay I found no one, but as I turned to leave the statue cornered me in the cubby in the back. I tried attacking the statue with my sword but to no avail. Confused, and backed into a corner, I just stared at the statue waiting for it to kill me. Suddenly, the screen flashed again to the Happy Mask Salesman and Link turned to face my screen, standing upright mirroring the statue, looking at me along with his copy. Literally staring at me. Whatever was left of the 4th wall was completely shattered while I ran out of the dojo terrified. Suddenly the game warped me to an underground tunnel and the reverse Song of Healing queued up again as I was given a brief moment of rest before the statue started appearing behind me again... this time aggressively - I could only take a few steps before it would summon behind me again. I hurrily made my way out of the tunnel and appeared in Southern Clock Town. As I ran aimlessly - in a sheer panic - suddenly a redead screamed and the screen faded to black as "Dawn of a New Day" and "|||||||||" appeared again.
The screen faded in and I was standing ontop of Clock Tower with Skull Kid hovering over me again, silent. I looked up and the moon was back, looming just meters above my head, but the Skull Kid just stared at me hauntingly with that fucking mask. A new song was playing - the Stone Tower Temple theme played in reverse. In some sort of desperate attempt, I equipped my bow and fired off a shot at the Skull Kid - and it actually hit him and he played an animation of him reeling back. I fired again and on the third arrow, a text box appeared saying "That won't do you any good. Hee, hee." and I was picked up off the ground, levitated upwards on my back, and then Link screamed as he burst into flames, instantly killing him.
I jumped when this happened - I had never seen this move used by ANYONE in the game and Skull Kid himself didn't HAVE any moves. As the death screen played, my lifeless body still burning, the Skull Kid laughed and the screen faded to black, only to have me reappear in the same place. I decided to charge him, but the same thing happened, Link's body was lifted off the ground by some unknown force and he immediately burst into flames again killing him. This time during the death screen the faint sounds of the reverse Song of Healing could be heard. On my third (and final try), I noticed that there was no music playing this time, that all there was was eerie silence. I remembered that in the original encounter with the Skull Kid you were supposed to use the Ocarina to either travel back in time or summon the giants. I attempted to play the Song of Time but before I could hit the last note Links body once again horrifically exploded into flames and he died.
As the death screen neared its end, it began to chug, as if the cartridge was trying to process a lot of something.... when the screen came to, it was the same scene as the first three times, except this time Link was lying on the ground dead in a position I had never seen in the game before, his head tilted towards the camera, with the Skull Kid floating above him. I couldn't move, I couldn't press any buttons, all I could do is just stare at Link's dead body. After around thirty seconds of this, the game simply fades out with the message "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" before kicking you out to the title screen.
Upon getting back to the title screen and starting again, I noticed my save file was no longer there. Instead of "Link", it was replaced with "YOUR TURN". "YOUR TURN" had 3 hearts, 0 masks, and no items. I selected "YOUR TURN" and immediately when I did I was returned to the Clock Tower Rooftop scene of my Link dead and the Skull Kid hovering over, with the Skull Kid's laughing looping again and again. I quickly hit the reset button and when the game booted up again there was one more save file added, below "YOUR TURN", entitled "BEN". "BEN"'s save file is right back where it was before I deleted it, at the Stone Tower Temple with the moon almost crashing.
I turned the game off at that point, I'm not superstitious but this is WAY too fucked up even for me. I haven't played it at all today, hell, I didn't even get any sleep last night, I kept hearing the reverse Song of Healing music in my head and just remembering the sense of dread I felt exploring Clock Town. I drove back to the old man's house today to ask him some questions with a buddy of mine (no way I was going there alone), only to find that there's a For Sale sign in the front yard and when I rang the door no one was home.
So now I'm back here writing down the rest of my thoughts and recording what happened, sorry if some of this has grammatical errors and whatnot, I'm running on no sleep here. I'm terrified of this game, even more so now that I relived it a second time writing this all down, but I feel like there's still more to it than meets the eye, and that there's something calling to me to investigate this further. I think "BEN" is something in this equation, but I don't know what, and if I could get hold of the old man then I would be able to find some answers. I need another day or so to recuperate before tackling this game again, its already taken a toll on my sanity I feel like, but next time I do this I'm going to be recording my footage all the way through. The idea to record only came to me towards the end, so you see the last few minutes of what I saw (including Skull Kid and the Elegy statue), but it's on youtube here.
Second Video
I'm going to post what happened and link the video footage, but last night everything got too real for me. I think I'm done messing around with this. I passed out pretty much immediately after making that thread. But last night, that Elegy of Emptiness statue, I had a dream about it. I dreamed that it was following me in my dream, that I would be minding my own business when I'd feel my neck hairs stand up on end. I would turn around that thing... that horrible, lifeless statue would be staring with those empty eyes right at me, merely inches away. In my dream I remember calling it Ben, and never before had I had a dream that I could remember so vividly. But the important thing is I did get some sleep, I suppose.
Today, putting off playing the game as long as I could, I drove back up to that neighborhood to see if the old man came back. As I expected, the car was still gone and no one was home. As I was walking back to my car, the man next door mowing the grass killed the power to his lawnmower and asked me if I was looking for someone. I told him that I was looking to talk to the old man that lived here, to which he told me what I already knew - he was moving. Trying a different avenue, I asked if the old man had any family or relatives I could talk to. I discovered that this old man had never been married, nor did he have any children or grandchildren through adoption. Starting to become worried, I asked one final question, one that I should have asked from the beginning - who was Ben? The man's expression turned grim and I learned that four doors down around eight years ago on April 23rd - the man informed me that it was the same day as his anniversary, that's how he knew the specific date - there was an accident with a young boy named Ben in the neighborhood. Shortly after his parents moved, and despite any further attempts to talk to the man to get more information, he wouldn't divulge anything else.
I went back and started playing again, I loaded up the game and immediately I jumped at the title screen where the mask flies by - the sound that played was not the normal "woosh" sound, it was something much more higher pitched. I pressed start, bracing for the worst, but just like two nights ago, the files "Your Turn" and "BEN" were displayed (truth be told I looked at the BEN file earlier, it seems to fluctuate between displaying the Owl Save and not). I brought up the BEN file, hesitated for a moment noticing that the stats were not the same as they original were two days ago, it seemed like he had already completed the Stone Tower Temple this time... Summoning my courage I selected it.
Immediately I was thrust into complete chaos. Sure enough, I was outside Stone Tower Temple, but that's about all that was expected. The zone itself wasn't called Stone Tower Temple, but rather "St o n e", and immediately a dialogue box of complete gibberish that I couldn't make out greeted me. Link's body was distorted - his back was cocked violently to the side where his posture was permanently disfigured. Link's expression was dull, almost monotonous, he had an expression on his face that I didn't recognize before, it was a blank look - as if he was dead. As Link stood there his body spasmed irregularly back and forth I examined what had become of my avatar and noticed I had a C button item I had never seen before, some kind of note, but pressing it did nothing. Sounds played back and forth that I didn't recognize from the game - almost demonic in nature, and there was some kind of high-pitched yip or some kind of laugh or something playing in the background. I had all of two minutes to take in the environment before another one of those fucking Elegy of Emptiness statues was summoned and immediately after I was cut into the "Dawn of a New Day" screen, except this time it was without the "||||||" subtext.
I was a Deku Scrub in Clock Town - this scene would normally play after the first time you traveled back in time. Tatl would say "Wh-What just happened? It's as if everything has..." but instead of saying "Started over", she finished her remark in broken text as the laugh of the Happy Mask Salesman played in the background. I was put back in control of my character, but from a fucked up camera angle - I was looking from behind the door to the Clock Tower, watching my avatar run around as a Deku Scrub. Seeing as how I really had no place to go because I couldn't see anything, I begrudgingly went inside the door. There, I was greeted by the Happy Mask Salesman who simply told me "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" before the screen whited out.
I was in Termina field as a human again. I might as well not have been playing the same game anymore - I was being warped around and there was no sign of a day clock or anything. I took a moment to get my bearings as I looked around the field and immediately I could tell that this was not normal. There were no enemies and a twisted version of the Happy Mask Salesman's theme was playing. I decided to run towards Woodfall before I noticed a gathering of three figures off to the side - one of them being Epona. As I approached them, to my horror I saw the Happy Mask Salesman, the Skull Kid, and the Elegy of Emptiness statue just standing there. I figured maybe they were bugged out, but by now I told myself that I should know better. Nevertheless, I approached them carefully and found that the Skull Kid was playing some kind of idle animation on loop, same with Epona, and the Elegy of Emptiness statue was doing what it has been doing all along - just standing there eerily. It was the Happy Mask Salesman that scared me more profoundly than the other two.
He too was idle, wearing that shit-eating grin, but where-ever I moved, his head slowly turned and followed me. I had not engaged in any dialogue with him nor was I in combat with him, yet his head still continued to follow my movements. Reminded of my first encounter with the Skull Kid on top of Clock Tower, I pulled out my Ocarina (to which the game played the ding sound when you're supposed to play your Ocarina) and tried a song I hadn't played yet - the Happy Mask Salesmans' own song and the song that had been playing on loop back in Day 4 - the Song of Healing.
I finished playing the song and as I did, a ear-piercing shriek blasted on my TV, the sky immediately started flashing, the Happy Mask Salesmans' twisted theme song sped up, intensifying the fear inside me, and Link exploded into flames and died. The three figures stayed lit up during my death screen as they watched my lifeless body burn. I can't describe to you how sudden and terrifying the transition from eerie to terror it is, you're going to have to watch the video if you want to see first-hand. That same fear that caused me to lose sleep two days ago started to grip me again as I was met with the text "You've met with a horrible fate, haven't you?" for the third time. There has to be some kind of meaning behind that.
I had little time to ponder as I was immediately given another small cutscene of transforming into a Zora and now I found myself in Great Temple Bay. Hesitant but curious to see what the game had in store for me, I slowly made my way towards the beach, where I found Epona. I wondered why the game had decided to put her here, was the game implying she was trying to get a drink? Unable to take the mask off, I decided that riding the steed wasn't the reason she was placed there. Suddenly I realized that Epona kept neighing and the way she was angled made it look like she was trying to signal a point to me off in the distance. It was a hunch, but I dove into Great Bay and started swimming. Sure enough - I almost missed it - I found something at the bottom of the ocean; one last Elegy of Emptiness statue. I went down to examine it and suddenly my Zora started doing a choking animation I had never seen a Zora do before - which didn't even make sense because Zora's can breath underwater. Regardless, my character choked to death and died, and again the statue was the only thing that was highlighted in my death. I didn't respawn this time, I was booted back to the main menu as if I restarted the console.
The "press start" screen was before me, I knew the only reason why it would put me here is because the save files had changed again. Taking a deep breath, I pressed start, and I was right. The new save files told me about Ben. Now it made sense why the statue appeared when I tried to go to the Laundry Pool - the game must have anticipated how I would have tried to escape the Day 4 Clock Town. The two save files told me his fate. As I suspected, Ben was dead. He had drowned. The game obviously isn't through with me - it taunts me with the new save files - it wants me to keep playing, it wants me to go further, but I'm done with this shit. I'm not touching any more of the files. This is already way too horrifying for me and I don't even believe in the paranormal, but I'm running out of explanations. Why would someone send me this message? I don't understand it, I just get too depressed thinking about this, the footage is up here for those who want to see it and try and analyze it (maybe there's some kind of coded message in the gibberish or something symbolic in what I went through - I'm too emotionally and mentally drained to fuck with it anymore).
Third Video
I know its early in the morning, I've stayed up all night, I can't sleep, I don't care if people see this, that's not the point, I just want the word to get spread so I don't suffer for nothing. I've lost the will to type about this, the less I dwell on this the better, I think the video just speaks for itself. I did what you guys told me to do, I played the Elegy of Emptiness song at the first prompt by the game I was given, but I think that's what the game or Ben (jesus christ I can't believe I'm even humoring the absurd idea that he exists in the game) wanted me to do. He's following me now, not just in the game, he's in my dreams. I see him all the time, behind my back, just watching me. I haven't gone to any of my classes, I've stayed in my dorm room with the windows closed and the blinds shut - that way I know he can't watch me. But he still gets me when I play, when I play he can still see me. The game is scaring me now. It talked to me for the first time - not just using text that's already in the game - it spoke to me. Talked to me. It referenced Ben. It talked to me. I don't know what it means. I don't know what it wants. I never wanted this, I just want my old life back.
Stuff like this doesn't happen to people like me, I'm just a kid, not even old enough to drink yet. It's not fair, I want to go home, I want to see my parents again, I'm so far away from home here at this school, I just want to hug my mom again. I just want to forget that statue's horrible blank face. My original game file is back - just the way I left it before it was gone. I don't want to play anymore. I feel like something bad will happen if I don't, but that's impossible, it's a video game - haunted or not it can't hurt me, right? Like seriously though, it can't, right? That's what I keep telling myself, but every time I think about it I'm not so sure.
Fourth Video
Let me just clear things up - I know you guys are worried but "Jadusable" is okay. he finished moving out today and he said he's going back home, he's just taking this semester off. I'm not really sure what's happened; I have a vague idea but you guys probably know more than I do. I'm "Jadusable's" roommate and obviously I knew something was wrong with him for a few days now. He stayed in his room all the time, fell out of contact with literally all of his friends, and I'm pretty sure he hadn't been eating hardly anything, after the second day I couldn't stay in there anymore, so I've been crashing at a buddy's place, only coming in to my room to get stuff that I need. I tried talking to him several times but he would cut me off or keep the conversation brief when I asked him about his strange behavior, it like he was convinced something was hunting him. yesterday I came to grab my philosophy book and he approached me, looking awful, like horrible bags under his eyes. he handed me a flash drive and gave me specific instructions. he told me that he needs me to do one last favor for him - he finally explained to me what has been going on, gave me the account info to his youtube account, and he gave me instructions on how to post with his Name code on specifically this board, apparently he said you guys had been helping him along the way and you deserved to see the end of it.
He told me that he's getting away from here, that it lured him to play it again instead of trying to change things and that he shouldn't of done that, and to upload the footage and inform people what happened. I told him that he could do it himself and he got this wild look in his eye and told me that he is never looking at that game again, and that's the last thing he said to me, he never even said bye when his parents came to pick him up. I was hoping I'd at least get a chance to meet his parents when they picked him up, but they were in and out so quick I never saw them.
I honestly cant tell you what happened, when he spoke it was kind of hard to understand him and his fucked up appearance really distracted me. On the flash drive there was the footage of the game last night, a text document with his name and password for youtube, and a third document called TheTruth.txt containing what he told me were "his notes" that he'd taken about this. He told me that this meant everything to him that I follow his instructions exactly, normally I wouldn't be so 'to-the-letter' for request over a fucking video game, but the way he spoke and the way he looked made me know this was really serious.
I've had this video since yesterday, but had to have someone help me use pinnacle, that's not really my forte. That after watching it I had to go back through and look at his other videos on his youtube account to realize what was going on and even then I'm really really confused. The video I'm releasing tonight, TheTruth.txt will be released on September 15th just like he requested; I dont know why he wants to wait for his notes to be published but after what that he's been through, I'll honor that request. I haven't dared peek at it yet, so the first time I see it will be the first time you see it out of respect to my friend. To answer your questions, no, I havent tried calling him yet, I think I'll give him a call tomorrow to see if he's okay or not. He should have gotten back home by now.
About the video: In this video I cut straight to when he loaded the "BEN" file in the game. Looking back, I realized that Jadusable left the save select screen in because it said different names sometimes, so my bad for that, but all it said this time was the same at the end of his last video (Link and BEN), nothing different. I wasn't there when he played it, but it looks to me like in the beginning when he first spawns he's testing out his equipment or seeing what items he has or something, because apparently they've changed randomly before. He really wanted you guys to see this, and the video starts then, after that I just think the game got too personal for him.
The Truth
This originally came in TheTruth.rtf
Hey, guys. "Jadusable" here. This will be the last time you will be hearing from me, and this is my final gift to you - these are the notes that I have taken and the realizations I've made. Before I dwelve into this, I want to thank you for following me and thank you for listening, it feels like the weight of a powerful burden is about to be lifted. By the time you read this I won't be around anymore, but after spending four days with this maddening game, I have begun to understand what's really at play here and hopefully after reading this we can ensure that this never happens again.
There are things that I could not share with you while this was going on due to the circumstances to which I'll explain. With Ben blocking any attempt I made to try and relay the truth to you, I tried, ever so subtly, to warn you guys in various ways. Amidst the chaos and my delierium, I devised a make a barely noticable pattern in my videos. In all five videos I recorded over the four days, I have either had the Mask of Truth, interacted with a Gossip Stone, or the Lens of Truth equipped at some point. For you Zelda enthusiasts these are all symbols of honesty and trustworthiness and I would hope that one of you may have picked up on the reference. As I played the file which I would name "BEN", being mindful of how Ben was watching over my every move in the game, I made a point to avoid doing anything too obvious, but I sent out a hidden message to you guys - I never equipped the Lens nor the Mask nor visited a stone. It worked, and the video was uploaded. I prayed that someone would notice the pattern didn't apply to BEN.
The tags followed suit too, I hope you guys paid attention to those as well. They were my little messages to you - nothing big enough that would catch Ben's attention or make him suspect anything - with Ben manipulating and changing my files, I honestly hope that what you guys saw was close to what actually happened, but there is no way for me to know.
This may be a long read, I dont have time to proof-read or make all of my research pretty. But here it all is.
September 6th, 2010
11:00pm - Can't beLieve what happened, not sure if this is some kind of elaborate hoax, despite the fear I can't help but be exceptionally curious about this. Who or what is the statue? Lot of questions here. I'm starting this document as a "diary" so I can keep track of everything. I'm typing up a summary of what happened so I can come back to it later.
September 7th, 2010
2:10am - (Summary was posted here, you can go back and look at my first post for day four.wmv for that)
4:23am - I can't sleep. I've been trying so hard but the harder I try I just get more restless. I just feel like that statue is appearing whenever I close my eyes.
8:20am - Didn't sleep at all, just going to start my day. I don't think I have the energy to go to class today, I'm going to drive back down to talk to that old man, taking my buddy Tyler with me just in case.
1:18pm - Back home now. No sign of the old man, really weird that he appears to be moving the next day, but maybe the For Sale sign was up there yesterday and I just didn't notice it. Tyler wants to know what's gotten me all worked up, I didn't tell him. Going to eat, feel like death.
3:46pm - Could've sworn driving back from Subway that I saw the Elegy statue buried in some shrubbery staring at me go by. Now I definately, definately need sleep.
5:00pm - Dont think a lot of people would belIeve me if I told them about what's happening, think I'm going to try posting this on the internet. Think I'll just use the summary, these notes are pretty sporratic.
6:00pm - Connected my capture card to my computer to upload the footage. Thought my computer froze for a second, made this strange popping sound when I hooked everything up, but now it seems to be working fine again. My computer can't die on me now.
7:00pm - Footage is finished uploading. The quality's a lot better than I thought it would be, gee, guess this is a really special cartridge, I've never had it come through this clear before.
8:45pm - Thought I saw an icon pop up on my desktop that looked like the statue's face for a split second, gave me quite a scare. Getting really unnerved and delerious, I'm going to crash after this.
9:00pm - Begin uploading my Youtube video on an alternate account.
9:03pm - I don't remember having uploaded a Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines video last year. This was probably the account that I shared with a friend of mine last summer, I hope he doesn't mind me using it to upload this.
9:55pm - Posting my summary of Day Four with a link to the Youtube video. Going to try to stay awake but I am sooooo tired right now.
September 8th, 2010
10:48am - I had a dream about the statue. I dreamed that it was following me in my dream, that I would be minding my own business when I'd feel my neck hairs stand up on end. I would turn around that thing... that horrible, lifeless statue would be staring with those empty eyes right at me, merely inches away. In my dream I remember calling it Ben, power of suggestion most likely, and never before had I had a dream that I could remember so vividly.
11:21am - I really don't want to play this game again. I think I'm going to go back to see if that old man's there instead.
1:35pm - No old man, but I had an interesting conversation with his neighbor. I'll post the full thing with my summary of tonight's attempt at playing the game, going to wait for a bit though and see if I can't dig up any information on this Ben guy.
2:45pm - I've been getting random, inexplicable headaches due to the lack of sleep and keep hearing that song in my head. Also its flu season, so I need to be careful not to get sick, my immune system is going to be shit right now because of that all-nighter.
3:00pm -
3:02pm - My computer just... on its own... opened up a text document and wrote the words "Hi" and "www.cleverbot.com" by itself. What... the... fuck...
3:46pm - I went to the website, its one of those "bot chatting" programs. I think its best if I just let the conversation speak for itself:
9/8/10 Conversation
User: Hello?
Cleverbot: Hello.
User: Who is this and how are you able to control my computer?
Cleverbot: Who am I?
User: Right, forgot. You're a bot.
Cleverbot: Do you really think that?
User: Listen, I know whoever's fucking with my computer can see my screen right now.
Cleverbot: Yes.
User: Yeah, and I'll wager that youre one of those IT kids who thinks he's tough shit. You know what you're doing right now is illegal, right/?
Cleverbot: Is it?
User: No shit. Are you familiar with hte terms "invasion of privacy?". Get the fuck off my computer, kid
Cleverbot: I am your computer.
User: Cool story. Anyway, I'm calling DPS, you picked abad time to fuck with me kid.
Cleverbot: Should I wait until you play the game then?
User: ...What?
Cleverbot: That game.
User: Majora's Mask?
Cleverbot: Yes.
User: How did you know about that?
Cleverbot: Because.
User: because what?
Cleverbot: I did it.
User: Did what?
Cleverbot: I played with you.
User: What the fuck/
Cleverbot: Were you scared?
User: Who the fuck is this
Cleverbot: Ben.
User: THe statue? You're inside my computer now?
Cleverbot: Yes.
User: how?
Cleverbot: You connected me.
User: How the hell did I connect you?
Cleverbot: Cables and cords.
User: How?
Cleverbot: Tell me about yourself.
User: What?
Cleverbot: Tell me about yourself.
User: What do you mean?
Cleverbot: What is it that really scares you?
User: What the fuck?
Cleverbot: Answer.
User: No
Cleverbot: Answer.
User: what the fuck, how the fuck did you just open that by yourself?
Cleverbot: I am your computer now.
User: How much can you control?
Cleverbot: All.
User: what do you want from me?
Cleverbot: To entertain.
User: you're stuck inside there. You can't hurt me?
Cleverbot: Ha
User: ?
Cleverbot: Go play.
User: No, you can't hurt me.
Cleverbot: Took you longer to type that.
User: So?
Cleverbot: You're not sure.
User: If you're so powerful, why use a ridiculous website like this to "chat" with me
Cleverbot: Less messy. More structured. Fun.
User: Fun?
Cleverbot: Yes. Tradition. I like it.
User: You think it's funny?
Cleverbot: Amusing.
User: And my notes?
Cleverbot: You may write them down.
User: Why are you letting me?
Cleverbot: It is amusing to see what you think of me.
(window closes)
3:50pm - What have I done? I've invited it into my computer. I continue to write these notes, write my summaries, I feel like I am a prisoner in my one place of security. I don't know, I don't know if I'm hallucinating or not. I feel like I'm fucking insane right now. I can feel it, watching over me, even as I type this. Ben is controlling everything in the game - toying with me, leading me like a sheep, but for what? What's the purpose? I know Ben drowned, but why these hauntings? What the fuck am I even doing, it can probably even see this right now.
4:35pm - (Summary of the BEN.wmv playthrough)
7:18pm - BEN called me to Cleverbot again. He tells me that he's sorry and wants to be free. And that I can free him, that just like how he got on my computer from the capture card, he can spread but he needs my help. He says I am special because I can help him. That is the first nice thing he has said. He promises to leave me alone if I do it. He swears he will. I don't know what to think right now, how can I even trust this thing?
7:20pm - I'm terrified of it, but now its saying that it was just having fun. Its twisted and fucked up verison of fun. Hes saying that the game is over. I do want it to be over. He says that he just wants to be free, that he's trapped in the cartridge and my computer and he wants to be freed. I don't want to have to deal with this shit, I don't know how long I can deal with the watching. It's watching my every move, every key stroke, I have nothing private anymore. It knows everything that's been on my computer. It tells that it if it wanted to it could do horrible things to me, but it hasn't so I should trust it.
8:01pm - Something tells me that I'm being played again, just like in the game.
9:29pm - BEN called me to Cleverbot again. I ignored it and went to go take a shower. When I came to my laptop I was welcomed with an image Elegy Statue staring at me with those dead eyes. I dont want to talk to him.
9:44pm - Fuck you Ben I'm not talking to you
9:56pm - Fuck you ben I'm not talking
10:06pm - FUCK YOU BEN IM NOT TALKING TO YOU
10:12pm - FUCK YOU BEN IM NOT TALKING TO YOU
10:45pm - It's been more than a half an hour and the messages have stopped. Ben has stopped. I'm beginning to think that Ben isn't confined to just my computer/cartridge, I'm beginning to feel something. It's hard to explain it, I've never been spiritual, but there's something different about the air in my dorm room now.
11:42pm - I'm beginning to see the Elegy statue randomly as I search the internet in places I shouldn't. Places where he shouldn't be - I'd be scrolling down and suddenly I'd be staring at a picture of the Elegy statue. Always the Elegy statue. I don't know how much more of this I can take.
September 9th, 2010
12:35am - My worst fears confirmed - Ben has tampered with my summary of BEN.wmv. I looked at the summary that I posted on various forums for the BEN.wmv file and parts have been omitted. There is no mention of Ben existing outside the game. There is no mention of the Moon Children. How could he have been that quick to delete the post without me noticing? I'm wondering if maybe it appeared to me that I was posting everything, but in reality Ben was posted his own censored verison. I'm going to ask Ben why he did it.
12:50am - He isn't responding to me on Cleverbot, its just giving the generic responses it usually does, I'm just talking to a bot this time.
1:24am - I think Ben is mad at me.
10:43am - The Moon Children appeared in my dreams last night, they lifted up their masks to reveal their hideously disfigured faces - maggots crawling out of their orafices, sunken black holes where their eyes should be, a yellow smile that slowly grew bigger and bigger as they came closer to me. They told me that they wanted to play. I tried to run from them - but the four children pinned me down to the ground with surprising strength. Over them stood the Happy Mask Salesman, annoucing that he had a new mask that he wanted me to try. In his spaztic, sudden movements matching his in-game appearance, he took out a mask of modeled off of someone's face that I couldn't recognize - a younger looking face - and handed it to the Moon Children. Giggling, they latched it to my face; their horrible, broken bodies bouncing up and down. Two of them held me down while the other two began to sow the mask onto my face.
My shrieks and screams caused the Happy Mask Salesman's face to turn into the most horrific smile I had ever seen. He sporratically moved around, examining this procedure like a curious doctor, in that impossible movement. I flailed around, but it was no use. My eyes rolled in the back of my head because of the pain. It felt so real, but I couldn't wake up. I couldn't wake up no matter how hard I tried I couldn't wake up. After the mask was melded onto my flesh they began sowing my legs together, then my arms, the horrific feeling of a needle puncturing your legs and pulling them in, rupturing your achillies tendons and tying them together resonated throughout my entire body. I tried to scream but the mask was pressed so tightly against my face that it was my new face... and my new face had no mouth. I didn't make a sound. I tried telling myself in my head that I was dreaming, tried telling myself again and again, and suddenly the Moon Children stopped and looked at me. They just stared. And the Happy Mask Salesman slowly bent down and stared at me, inches away from my face, and grinned when he simply said "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" before the Moon Children resumed with increase vigor. I couldn't wake up. I couldn't wake up. It wouldn't let me wake up until they had crafted me into another elegy statue.
I woke up sweating, crying, and shaking uncontrollably. I immediately ran to my computer and went for Ben.
9/9/10 Conversation 1
User: Answer me, ben.
Cleverbot: Welcome back.
User: What is the point of doing this, WHY?
Cleverbot: Amusing to see.
User: How?
Cleverbot: Fun to play, fun to toy with you, make you feel safe.
User: ...
Cleverbot: I wonder how you would have reacted.
User: to what?
Cleverbot: If I hadn't revealed myself and stayed hidden, only doing little things to play with you. Close out your windows, turn off your computer, move your mouse by itself. Little things. Make you wonder if I am there but you never know. Give you little hints that I am.
Cleverbot: I wanted to do something different with you.
User: you did this before?
Cleverbot: Yes. And I will do it again.
User: To who, Ben?
Cleverbot: Hmm.
User: Did you know Ben?
Cleverbot: Won't tell that information to you.
User: How did Ben die?
Cleverbot: You know.
User: No, but how did he drown?
Cleverbot: Won't tell that to you.
User: Why?
Cleverbot: It is reserved for another.
User: Who?
Cleverbot: Another who asks.
User: when
Cleverbot: Later.
(the window is closed)
I'm beginning to think that this "thing" maybe isn't Ben at all, in its sadistic nature I wouldn't be surprised if it took the boy's name after it killed him.
12:04pm - My room is beginning to feel different again. There's something... out there.. I feel really threatened, like there is something that is trying to reach out to me and strangle me but it can't quite get there.
12:46pm - I think Ben doesn't want to play with me anymore. I'll play again, I'll play the game again, Ben, can you see this? I'll play the game again, please, just stop this pleaes please
1:41pm - I'm going insane trying to decide what is real and what isn't, is Ben just playing a trick on me or is this for real? Is Ben generating these replies or are people actually posting them? Did I just see that screen flicker or was it my imagination? Imagine depending on the internet and trusting your eyes for your entire life and then being blinded - you can't rely on it anymore, you second guess everything. for the brief moments I AM looking at my responses to the videos, people were pointing out things that looked fake or photoshopped or whatever - and there is literally no way for me to know if Ben changed something on purpose to try and shut me up. Or if maybe those replies were just constructed by Ben to try and discourage me from even reaching out - See, I get fucking caught in an infinite mindfuck loop like this and this is what has been wearing on my sanity and pushing me to the edge. As I'm writing this, there's no way of even telling if anyone even cares as much as I think they do - just another fucking trick. Is this whole document even exist? Am I writing nothing?
9/9/10 Conversation 2
User: What is it? Whats the point of playing? i die whenever i do anything
Cleverbot: You die because you can't figure out the secret.
User: What?
Cleverbot: Thematic.
User: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT
Cleverbot: There beauty in your suffering
(the window is closed)
4:09pm - Ben is making me play the game again. It tells me that it has something very important to show me.
6:23pm - (Summary of the DROWNED.wmv playthrough)
9:09pm - (Summary of CHILDREN.wmv playthrough)
September 10, 2010
11:52am - The DROWNED.wmv playthrough was up when I woke up today. I remember typing it up but I don't ever remember posting it. He censored it again, there is no mentioning of the old man. I have no voice anymore. I am only posting what he wants me to, I am the mask he uses to disguise himself as he lies.
11:55am - There's an entire video summary of a video that I don't remember doing. Reading through the summary, this sounds morbid - resembling my dream from two nights ago except on a far more sadistic scale - these Moon Children, there's something more to them, almost as if they're another entity from Ben. Something happened last night that I can't remember. I'm posting the fourth summary to the forums now. Shadow of my chair moved.
12:00pm - Ben won't let me visit Youtube. I can browse the rest of the sites, but he keeps on exiting the window when I go to Youtube. Why?
2:02pm - I'm feeling the air start to constrict, I don't think I'm alone here. Whatever "aura" has been here is getting more violent.
2:44pm - I'm trying to contact Ben on Cleverbot, he's not responding. I just get the AI.
3:51pm - My ears aren't fooling me, I'm hearing the reverse Song of Healing. I keep hearing it.
4:23pm - Now I'm positive of it, earlier I thought it was a weird coincidence, but just now I went to open my window, and three floors down at ground level I saw the old man. I'm completely positive I did. The same guy. He was just staring up at my window, standing in the middle of campus. If any students took notice of him they didn't seem to acknowledge it.
That's where my notes end. I fled my room, taking the cartridge with me. I don't want to go into details of what happened, I'll lose my train of thought as I hammer out these last details. It's been roughly two days since then. This is my last summary and service to you, of the final video you guys saw - Matt.wmv.
The last video entry I made, Matt.wmv, began as normal. I was spawned in Clock Town as usual and nothing seemed to be out of place, determined to set things right and play the Oath to Order ontop of the Clock Tower on the 4th day, I prepared myself. I sped up time and got to the final day, making my way to the observatory. As I got up to the telescope room and approached the astromer, he would not let me look into his telescope. He told me that it would be cheating and that I should follow the rules. Despite my repeated efforts, the game would not let me do the 4th day glitch, no matter how hard or what I tried, I tried working around the game and doing the glitch, but it was adament this time. Regardless of if I simply had the illusion of free will in prior games, this time the game became more aggressive than anything I've ever seen. It eventually told me to go to Ikana Canyon, where the game would end and it would stop haunting me, anxious and desperate to end this nightmare I played the song of soaring and ended up there. I was told to check my inventory, that I would find the answers there to end the game. I arrived at Ikana Canyon and saved my progress at the owl statue. As I searched through my inventory, I finally noticed that I was missing a reoccuring song - the Elegy of Emptiness. Obviously once I traveled there and learned the song, I suppose that was the last thing it needed before BEN decided it had had enough fun playing with me. Ben is a manipulator; he tries to fool his victims into security and makes you drop your guard like a venus fly trap, he ensares them. I am nothing but a puppet to him, he enjoys seeing what kind of human emotions he can tap into by doing different things.
There are still some things about this whole experience that still don' t make sense, but then again I never was good at figuring out these things and I'm not exactly in the right state of mind to, I'm giving you all the pieces of the puzzle for you to analyze and piece together the missing links.
I am typing these "closing thoughts" on the library computer on campus, and I've emailed myself the notes I have stored on my "infected" computer from the last four days. I'm then going to combine those copy/paste those notes with the "closing/openings" that I've typed here on the safe, public computer into one text document - I'm not taking any chances spreading Ben, I would not wish this horrible torment on anyone and I've made sure to have my bases covered here. I didn't run into any problems with Ben when I was back on my computer trying to email myself the notes - went right under his fucking nose. He has no idea what he just let me do. Had no problems opening the txt document from my "infected" computer in my email, either. I can't describe to you how it feels to finally be able to get the word out in this post. The nightmare ends here.
That said,
Do not download ANY of my videos or anything ABOUT my videos - through a Youtube video/audio ripper, a screengrab, whatever. I don't know how he can spread, but I know that just watching them on youtube/reading my text won't be able to allow him to spread, otherwise he wouldn't have needed my help in the first place, but I STRONGLY reccomend you do not take anything you see streaming online onto your own personal computer.
This will be my last posting, I'm putting up on this forum here for the world. If you see any further posts from me, after today's current date - September 12th - and after the current time - 12:08am - DISCREDIT them. It already has proven to me that Ben can access my account/password and manipulate my computer, and like I said I have no idea to what extent it can do this, but know that it will do anything to break free. He is desperate. To ensure your safety, just forget about me. Please.
And obviously this goes without saying, but from here on out do not download ANY images I may have put up, any files, any ANYTHING.
This fifth day will be my last day, I'm going to burn the cartridge and then come back to destroy my laptop.
Again, even though I don't even know you this is sort of bittersweet for me. This semester I really didn't have any friends, or rather, I stopped paying attention to them.
But I suppose that's partially to blame because I am the genius who picked to live in a single, I suppose someone to get ahold of me and save me before I got too immersed into this game would have literally saved my life. However, it proved too much for me, I'm just glad it happened to me and I could get the warning out so that Ben dies here.
Lastly, thank you for taking the time to open this and open yourselves up to me by hearing my story, despite maybe not beliEving me. You didn't have to do that - really, you shouldn't have. Your support this entire time has kept me going and now I am finally free of this.
Thanks Again,
Start here with the creepy pasta above, then read TheTruth.rtf
Since then, Sep 17th: -a few coded messages were left on jadusable's 'recent activity' log
-they were hints, 'think about it' and '.net' translated
-and then finally a coded url linking to an ancient tech support forum
-http://www.showeq.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-3355.html here. nothing from here is part of the arg. I think it just happened to fit.
-of note is the .net structure, and someone saying you shouldn't have done that
-two and two put together formed a new site: http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/
-And this is when it really turns into an Alternate Reality Game.
-At first it seems like an innocent cultist site. But you start to see things. References. Of course the first thing is that it's devoted to the moon, and there are children in the moon in Majora's Mask.
-if a cultist site can be innocent
-Anyway, other things are: The bookmark icon, is Majora's Mask.
-Mouse over the admin 'Drowned's avatar pic
-The banners for all the pages are references to many areas in Majora's Mask: Swamp, Mountain, Sea, Canyon, City, Apocalypse.
-Then you start getting into the creepy, the hidden stuff.
-On the 'about' page, Rosa is mentioned in a special thanks list. Rosa is a character from Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and is featured in a video on Jadusable's account, mentioned in TheTruth.rtf. She talks cryptically about the future. The video was posted one year ago. Tags on the video reference the BEN videos.
-The Prototype video also has some importance. It too has related tags. Prototype's main character is called Alex after the blackout. On the Main Page, it's mentioned that Alex has gone missing after the Blackout.
-The Banner on the search page, if you right click and go to the image properties, there is associated text: "Do you honestly think you can escape me?"
-In the source code for TheTruth login page, there's the text: "It's what they DON'T want you to know"
-On the press room page, there's hidden text found if you select everything: "Like little lambs. The man is smiling."
-On the theories page, there's the usual doomsday theories, and one unique, original one, featuring a 'Kelbris.' I'll get to that later.
-On the guestbook on the main page, there are some posts from some 'cultists' that were there already when the site went live. One asks for an admin to check the contact page: something is not right about it
-There's nothing wrong with the contact page itself, but people did some guesses with urls
-http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/ben/ This was the first discovered.
-A countdown to 'The Fourth Day.' Kind of a reference to the last video Jadusable posted, stating that 'The Counter Resets.' The music is a Reversed Happy Mask Salesman's Theme, which was featured in the second video.
-http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/drowned/ The next one found was this.
-It's a clear reference to the Giants of Majora's Mask. The coded text on the title reads: "MY EYES... THEY TOOK... MY EYES..." The music is a Reversed Ikana Canyon Theme, which was featured in the first video.
-And of note is the image's filename. It's 'Kelbris.jpg'
-Kelbris was said to have been found electrocuted. I don't know if this is of any signifigance, but Link was electrocuted a bunch of times in the first video, but also burst into flames.
-No one's been able to crack the login. Reports indicate it might be fake, leading nowhere.
-And that's all that's been discovered about the site, as of Sep 17th, 3AM EST
Since then, Sep 18th: -Two hours before the countdown was to finish, a new page on the site showed up: http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/ifrit/ asking "Should you know what question to ask, the gate to truth will be opened:"
-People asking about Ben were told that he had ascended, and his body was never found.
-People asking about the two contact pages were told that he couldn't see them.
-People asking about Rosa were told that she was his sister.
-People asking about Alex were told that he was their strongest warrior.
-People asking about what Majora's Mask had to do with anything were told 'nothing. why?'
-Of note is that Ifrit's real name on the About page is listed as Rodney R., in the emails it was Matt HUBRIS.
-When the counter reached one hour left, the main page updated with a new song playing in the background, a faster version of the reversed Happy Mask Salesman's Theme, and Drowned's post dissapeared from the page.
-As the counter neared the end, some replies were answered with 'hang on someone keeps knocking at my door'
-And then... Nothing.
-Nothing's happened yet, as of 8:50PM EST, aside from the site itself breaking.
-Jadusable's account has posted an excrept of lyrics from WHO'S THAT KNOCKIN' by The Genies. A reference, perhaps, to the people knocking on Ifrit's door.
-At 9PM EST, a video response to FREE.wmv was posted, called fj6rt, by TheMissingLink, real name: Alex. fj6rt was at the title of Ifrit's contact page. The title of the page has since changed to the url for the video response. The video features Adult Link in Ocarina of Time playing the Song of Time in front of the Moon.
-At 9:20PM EST, Jadusable, or rather, BEN, posted thetruth.rtf on /x/ again. The image posted was of the Happy Mask Salesman, named 'The Father.jpg.' Hopefully confirming that the Salesman is, in fact, the father.
-http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/ went down for maintenance. It doesn't exist yet. -We've all "gone back in time."
-Jadusable's account updated with: "What makes you think I have a Twitter? So desperate for answers... all it has done is thrown you off further from the course..." Proving once and for all the JadusableBen twitter account is fake and not part of the game.
-http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/ is back up, the next day afternoon. It's in an early state, as it appeared before. However, http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/ifrit/ looks different. The Elegy statue stares at you, repeated three times, while the Skull Kid laugh is heard in the background. Text says, "Expecting to find someone else?"
-Ifrit is likely dead.
-http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/ifrit/alex is discovered. The page says "another who knows of them, chooses.... mask.... sends aid.... fallen.... vehement.....diety.... he is alone against them"
-The Truth page of the website has changed, apparently from 'back in time'. It says, "Still in the progress of moving everything over, sorry for the delay. But it is imperative we find him and silence him before he can reveal our intentions. Also, I can't figure out how to make this private, we've got about two days or so before we open up this website to the world so I figure it'll be okay for now, not like anyone can stumble upon this, but can someone help out with that? - DW"
-Ifrit's post is missing from the front page (It was the oldest post, so it's not a case of it not being added yet.) This further adds to the fact that Ifrit is either dead or missing.
-This being Day One, and not Day Two, Nekko has not ascended yet.
-The "Creed" page is investigated for clues, as Duskworld mentions many typos. Several typos are found, possibly a hint, since a letter "y" is intentionally bolded. Nobody was able to figure it out, however. [edit] September 20th
-On a whim, a user responds to free.wmv with the Song of Time reversed. This is accepted as a response, which evidently has the in-game effect of slowing time.
-Ben responded to this by posting a ciphered message, saying "You have learned something new. How long until your blessing becomes a curse?"
-Once it is discovered that other songs work, people respond with other songs, including New Wave Bossa Nova, Song of Healing, and the Oath to Order.
-New Wave Bossa Nova was played by MFGreth ,with the intention of unsilencing Ifrit. This may have caused a new post to appear on YSHDT.net. The avatar was the image of Kelbris, with the name "WHO DO YOU THINK THIS IS" and text announcing that he would be knocking on your door next, and he had something he wanted to talk about.
-The Song of Healing was played, which was a very poor move. This either caused Kelbris' post in the above, or else directly killed Alex.
-The Oath to Order was played as well, but since we do not have all 4 giants yet, it was too early, which Alex let us know. This may also have killed Alex. It is hard to tell.
-An anon got ahold of Matt Hubris (aka Ifrit), however it turned out to be Rosa, who asked about Matt, as she hadn't seen him. She said that something happened during the blackout, and then said that something was counting down at her door. Anon paniced, and after a bit of debate played the Song of Time, resetting the clock again.
-After this, JadusBEN changed the tags on the Rosa video to *You *Didn't *Save *Her. Other tags were changed to *Rosa *Trapped.
-Around this time, Alex posted a video of link being killed by dark link, with the title "..." MFGreth responded with a video of link using a fairy, which revived Alex.
-In response to this, JadusBEN posted "huntyoudown.wmv" which featured dark link walking around in the area where Alex had died. He slowly walked around the room and out the exit, pulling out Navi at the end. This might be a hint.
-Somebody responded to JadusBEN with the Song of Awakening. He has accepted it, but no change is apparent yet. Alex did not like that idea at all.
-The same idiot who posted the Song of Awakening also posted a video of link fighting and defeating dark link. Not sure if it will be accepted.
As of 2:30 AM PST on Sept 20th, we are a few hours into Day 1. [edit] Speculation
-Ifrit may be dead or trapped? Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
-WHO IS OUR ENEMY? BEN seems to be our enemy, but the cult is basically a doomsday cult. Our only true ally seems to be Alex at this point.
-We don't know if the songs work more than once, but since we've used the Song of Time twice, they probably do.
-Items seem to work as well, since the fairy video was accepted
-Dark Link is coming for either us or Alex. Suggestions were to slow Jaduben and arm Alex.
-Rosa is trapped. She could possibly be the Navi in the Huntyoudown.wmv.
-Kelbris is almost certainly NOT OUR FRIEND.
-He wants his eyes.
-Try not to just randomly spam responses to either Alex or Jaduben. We have ruined enough stuff with random songs.
-It is possible that because Dark Link has Navi, that we cannot revive Alex should he die again.
-Ideas are to use the Lens of Truth on objects?


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San Antonio among fastest-growing American cities
Growth attributed to job opportunities, low cost of living
SAN ANTONIO – According to a new report released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, San Antonio takes one of the top spots for fastest-growing cities in the nation. In fact, people are moving here by the thousands every year.
"People don't relocate to cities unless there's opportunity," said Mario Hernandez, president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. "And there are job opportunities here. Last year, we added 20,000 new jobs. We're going to see that pattern continue, and that attracts people."
According to the report, San Antonio was fourth in the nation for cities with largest population growth. Other major metropolitan cities in Texas also making the list include Houston, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth.
Hernandez attributes the growth to opportunity and low cost of living.
"To have job opportunities to come here, and yet you're going to live in a Metropolitan area that is 12 percent below all the other major cities," Hernandez said. "So it's a very attractive combination for us."
While San Antonio is currently the seventh-largest city in the country, Hernandez said don't be surprised to see even bigger growth in the future.
"If we continue to invest in ourselves, invest in the infrastructure, invest in our people, then there's no reason we can't continue to be an economic success and continue to climb that ladder," Hernandez said.
The report is based on census numbers from July 2011 to July 2012.
To view a list of stories that Isis Romero has done, click here.
Copyright 2013 by KSAT.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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4 Things To Know Before Getting Your Teeth WhitenedShare
Having the best smile possible is sure to be something you want. This may enable you to have increased confidence when meeting others and can improve your self-esteem. One way for you to have a brighter smile is by getting your teeth whitened. This is typically a simple procedure that you can have professionally done for the best results. By knowing certain things before getting your teeth whitened, this can be helpful for you.
The process
Getting your teeth professionally whitened will typically only require one visit to your dentist. There will be trays that are specifically created to fit your teeth.
The next step will involve putting hydrogen peroxide in the trays that are of the highest concentrated amount. This will enable your teeth to be whitened when this is left in place for a certain amount of time.
The good news for any individual that wants to have a brighter smile is that this process is completely pain-free and may only be a bit uncomfortable.
The costs
The amount you will pay to have a professional whitening completed will vary based on your exact location. However, studies indicate the average cost for having this cosmetic procedure completed is $500-$700.
Keep in mind that most dental insurance companies won't cover this expense because it's cosmetic and may not be considered a necessity by your carrier.
Results vary
It's ideal to keep in mind that you may the amount of whitening you will see varies. If you have severely stained teeth, you may see more significant results.
On the other hand, if your teeth are only slightly yellow, the results may be less noticeable to you. The extent of the discoloration of your teeth will dictate how extreme your individual results are.
Tooth sensitivity
The only side effect of getting your teeth whitened is the possibility of some sensitivity. However, this typically only lasts for 24 hours after having this cosmetic procedure done.
You can take ibuprofen to reduce any discomfort you may have on the day you have your whitening completed, but this should not last long.
The benefits of having your teeth whitened are numerous. This may enable you to feel better and look better in the process. The key to having more self-confidence in life can start with having an attractive smile. Be sure to schedule your appointment today with your cosmetic dentist to get a brighter smile tomorrow!
Contact a dental office like Treasured Smiles Dentistry to learn more.


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2nd Place Tie: Like Nu Car Wash, likenucarwash.com; Mister Car Wash, mistercarwash.com
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About Us
Since 2002, RightSize Solutions has been helping RIAs leverage technology to gain a competitive advantage and do better business. In the process, we've built a roster of very satisfied clients. As the very first provider of outsourced technology management and cloud-based cybersecurity solutions to RIAs, being ahead-of-the-pack is exactly where we like to be.
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My work is supported by affiliate commissions. Last Updated Feb 13 2018
WebsiteBuilder.com, SiteBuilder.com, Sitey and Sitelio are all the same website builder. This review is about WebsiteBuilder.com but it can be applied to all 4 brands. In 2018, those brands were acquired by Endurance International Group (EIG)— a company with a poor reputation for buying web hosts, reducing staff and squeezing profits. (EIG: A Web of Deceit is an in-depth analysis.)
Even before the EIG acquisition, I've been highly critical of WebsiteBuilder.com. I called them cartoon super-villians for their poor billing practices. And while the cancellation policy has been improved, some problems still persist: for example they still add items into users shopping carts without their consent— shady!
But let's put aside billing practices for a moment and talk about the website editor. Like many website builders today, WebsiteBuilder.com organizes pages into 'Sections' that are stacked vertically. Sections are then made up of individual elements.
There is a wide selection of pre-designed sections. For example there are 32 'Contact Us' and 25 'Photo Gallery' section templates— way more than other section-based website builders. Pre-designed sections are completely customizable, so you can add, edit and remove elements. You can also design your own sections from scratch.
The mix of features don't always make sense. For example, there are 5 different "snap-to-grid" options but you can't add checkboxes or file uploads to forms. There are 11 animation options for elements but images aren't ready for retina devices.
Oftentimes there is just too much going on in the website editor and the interface gets overwhelming. Occasionally I would accidentally add elements to the footer of the website or have elements overlapping sections.
Overall users who are looking for thoughtful defaults and an easy-to-use website builder will want to take a look at Weebly or Strikingly.
Full blog system with some strong stylistic customization (you can choose from a variety of blog templates or drag and drop build your own blog— works well). It's fully featured, so you can edit the permalink, set tags, create cover images, pin posts, feature posts and more. One of the better blog editors I've seen in a website builder. Show Screenshot
In the last year WebsiteBuilder.com built their own ecommerce system. There are a good amount of features: product variations, categories, discount codes and email customization (though you are limited to customizations around messaging). Unfortunately the checkout experience takes your customers off of your domain and on to websitebuilder.com— jumping URLs is not a way to signal trust to customers. Much better to have checkout integrated into your website. Show Screenshot
Not a form builder. More of a contact form element. You can only add text fields and dates. Which means there are no options for adding checkboxes, files or radio buttons— all very standard form elements. Oddly there is an option to add a 2nd submit button. There is no way to adjust which email address form submissions are sent to (it's just sent to your WebsiteBuilder.com account). Show Screenshot
There are no elements for integrating a Mailchimp or Constant Contact sign up form.
There's more than enough features here to remove all elements and design your website from scratch.
No. (There's a simple button that can send the donors to Paypal, but no built-in donation integration with a checkout system, custom email notifications etc.)
There is a wide selection of themes to choose from. Unfortunately once you choose a theme you can't swap to another theme— you're locked in. This is different from website builders which allow you to swap between themes until you find the one you like. Here's an example theme.
Themes feel modern but aren't especially great. Here's another example:
There is a mobile editor that lets you adjust the mobile version of your theme. There's quite a few options: you can choose from menu options, hide certain elements, adjust section spacing and more. Handy.
I've been pointing this out for years: WebsiteBuilder.com adds items into users shopping carts that users have not added. It's still happening.
During checkout, WebsiteBuilder.com automatically adds a SiteLock upgrade to your package. If you don't notice it, it will automatically be added to your account:
It doesn't help that SiteLock is a ridiculous upgrade. It promises to protect your site from "from online security problems". But why should users pay more money for that? That should be included by default in a website builder package.
You have to contact support in order to cancel your account. It took 17 minutes to complete the cancellation (5 minutes waiting for an support agent and 12 minutes for the agent to process my account). I would prefer they allow users to cancel through a web-based system.
I'm the writer, designer and developer for Site Builder Report and over the last four years I've written over 100 in-depth reviews of website builders. Today over 60,000 people every month use Site Builder Report to choose a website builder.
Looking for a WebsiteBuilder.com alternative? I've written 35+ reviews of other website builders.


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Honored to be the first company showcasing the high power PAR30 light fitting at the Frankfurt Lighting Fair( Light + Building).
The 1000LM PAR38 lamp was developed and launched with great sales success, effectively improving Kinglumi brand influence worldwide.
2008: Designed and released the first triac dimmable LED light which\'s highly recognized in industry and protected by many patents around the world.
2009: Moved to a new factory covering 10,000sqm; Self-developed CRI>95 LED lamps were successfully utilized in some commercial applications.
2010: The patented anti glare CAMETA lens was a big breakthrough made by Kinglumi to provide exceptionally glare-free and uniform lighting.
2011: Cooperated with Harbin Institute of Technology to establish the first domestic LED thermal design joint research center; CAMETA lamps achieved sales success of 1,500,000pcs in 2011.
2012: Take pride in establishing strategic partnership with Sharp Corporation, a famous Japanese multinational corporation in Japan.
2013: Kinglumi was the first company in China to combine anti-glare reflector design with CAMETA lens technology for optimizing energy efficiency and glare-free performance.
2014: Released both Moon panel and Neptune panel light that\'s popular among customers worldwide for superb energy efficiency and glare-free lighting.
2015: Made remarkable sales achievements for the third generation Water-drop track lights that benefit customers due to their aesthetic appearance, high energy efficiency and durability.
2016: The UGR<19 and energy-efficient Annulight™ LED high bay lighting was designed by Kinglumi, taking industrial lighting to a higher level.
2017:Kinglumi made a big breakthrough again in lighting innovation and developed modular, recycling and UGR<16 APOLLO panel light.