Finding the Origins of Unusual Images 

AI will never be able to capture the raw energy of a worm smoking a blunt

“Pretty old image” “2014” I can feel my hair graying in real time

Love this guy for discussing the image we see in the thumbnail first

First image is Generational trauma

God, I remember that first image terrifying me and my sister when we were kids, but we called it the "Ugly Girl". There was a point where I was scared to watch any video on RU-vid out of fear of being jumpscared at any moment.

the smoking caterpillar one permanently ruined my sense of humor

funny how he posted "eat at WcDonalds" in 2010 and now in 2024 McDonalds is now doing a promotion that is WcDonalds 14 years later

The fact that the first picture scarred my childhood for some reason is just actually terrifying. But I guess the horror vanished as we grow, looking back to the memories. :)

so after some digging I have found the original post of "Michael Alone". The original poster said it's from a place called "Guichuan". There is a long-distance bus stop named "广东高要贵川长途客车服务区" (Guangdong Gaoyao Guichuan Long-distance Passenger Transport Terminal Service Area) which is located in Zhaoqing, Guangdong.

each image getting their own montage of them in random places in killing me

i bet the person who created the first image just sat back and laughed as everyone was horrified by it

I can't believe that so many people was scared by "creepy ugly guy" when I literally never thought that was supposed to be creepy - I always took it as funny

The man woman thing didn’t scare me as a kid but it sure does startle me when it appears. It’s just disturbing in an uncanny valley way

My dad was a major stereotypical 80s kid. When he discovered the internet as it was born, best believe he shared it with me as a kid. I remember seeing this man-woman-monkey in one of the hundred of weird videos on the internet that my dad showed me. Along with videos like “Charlie the unicorn” and “Harry Potter puppet ticking bomb”, he showed me a song called “Shwifty Five” (if I remember it correctly). This is the first time I saw this image and I remember being TERRIFIED. Now when I see/hear a “55”, I think of my younger self being traumatized 😂

I love the "vintage internet" aesthetic of the presentation!

Timestamps because why not? 0:01 Intro 0:25 Creepy ugly guy 5:03 Scary Barney statue 8:10 Wichael/Michael alone 18:04 Smoking caterpillar 20:13 Jacuzzi brocolli Please find this one 22:57 Thats it

I remember seeing that first image for the first time in 2002 in the computer lab at my highschool during my freshman year. It was posted on funnyjunk. Wasn't part of a jumpscare or anything, just the image. I remember laughing pretty hard at it because I'd never seen an absurd photoshop before. It's creepy looking and weird, but it reminds me of simpler times.

My sisters would lock me in a room with the picture with someone screaming, it gave me some kind of trauma

16:30 There actually is a Chinese version of Google Maps. It's called Baidu Maps and you can use Street View with it

6:58 this thing is going to get vandalised/stolen one day

I've been meaning to say this, but you sound like Izzzyzzz's older brother or something, except instead of covering 2000's internet tween culture, you cover lost media. Seriously the infliction shared between you is spot on.

I first encountered the "creepy ugly guy" as a kid, in the form of a fake quiz that claimed it would generate a picture of you from a description of your features. I was young and naive enough to believe the claim, and I was pretty upset by the result, lmao. Then I got my dad to try it, and was absolutely mystified when he got the same image. I was a pretty gullible kid... 😅

your visuals are amazing, it really brings back that sense of childhood nostalgia

AUUUH immediate chills. That image haunted me for a while after seeing it on YT back when i was a kid. Looking back now that image accompanied by "Beautiful Girls" seems like what would pass as a shitpost.

Remember guys, "M" is Mcdonalds and "W" for Wumbo

as a funfact- the smokeing bug meme beacame a reaction meme in poland with caption "ta? to zajebiście" wich means "yeah? thats fucking awesome" usually used to show how small and unimportamt the information was, alternatively it could show genuene apperciation

that first image traumatized you guys? i always found it funny

If you notice on the whackdanolds image on 14:38 its says "I'm Like it" instead of "I'm lovin' it.

It's crazy how the lower the image's quality is the creeper it gets.

honestly knowing the ‘origins’ of the first image and that it was just stock images spliced together kinda healed a part of my inner child 😅i used to be so scared of it i couldn’t look at it. now it’s just funny lol

18:20 this is the very first time I’ve even heard of this caterpillar 💀

The songs you used are amazing and fit perfectly with the video's theme

In Indonesia, smoking caterpillars are also popular Commonly called "Ulat Rokok" Well, there is no context in it and usually it's just an absurd image that is included in the absurdhumor format

The first image of the guy with the pigtails solved a decades long mystery for me. I had used Kai's Power Tools on Windows 98 as a child and had been searching for that program for so long but was scared to make a post about it anywhere seeing how obscure and generic "old Windows 98 photo editor" sounded.

Great video and impressive work! "Who is Michael and why is he alone" hahaha, great XD

my gen z humor is so severe that tears are rolling down my eyes LAUGHING at the first segment of this video 😭

i live in scotland, and finding out the barney image is from scotland terrifies me

Creepy Ugly Guy was huge in the pre-RU-vid days. I think I saw it the first time in the Schfifty-Five music video, over 20 years ago.

this has been a really interesting vid, I'd love to see a part 2.

This whole video feels like a time capsule. From the images shown in this video, to the music and also the presentation. SUPER cool

I remember back in elementary school of a presentation at what I think was the auditorium when they showed the first image as a warning of who you talk to online

8:11 useless knowledge for you today: The “当家” in ”麦当家” basically means “in charge”, so it can be translated to “麦” is in charge. “麦” pronounce “Mai” I guess that’s why they called it Michiel. 9:06 later it changes from 麦当家 to 我当家 “我” means “I”so now it means “I’m in charge”

Only just discovered you and I'm glad I just subbed. These types of videos are my favourite.

Great pacing too the video kept me engaged the whole time nice work!

I used the creepy ugly guy image in a PowerPoint comic when I was 6 or so and now it's an inside joke between me and my sister. I thought it was funny as hell I never knew it was this popular

18:05 literal wallpaper material

please make more videos just like this. there are so many obscure random images like this and this is a really good video

I just started watching, and I gotta say these videos are awesome! Congrats on 100k, you deserve it!

The first time I saw "Creepy Ugly Guy" was on metalsludge in the late 90s. It was used as the image for one of the writers, Bastard Boy Floyd.

I remember seeing the first image on a website in the year 2000. It was a prank website where they would "draw your picture" based on a description you gave them. Of course, they didn't come through with their promise. I was traumatized for months after seeing that image.

I enjoyed watching this. Very laidback atmosphere! Keep it up!

Congrats on 100k subs man

Chinese language teacher here, if you look at the original Michael place the first Chinese character in the name is 麦 pronounced "Mai" and often used as the first character in the Chinese version of Michael 麦克. The name of McDonalds in Chinese is 麦当劳. If you look at that the first two characters are exactly the same as in the original Michael Alone except the last character is 家 instead of 劳. The name was obviously put through a computer translator like Google Translate (which is ass for translating Chinese, don't let anyone fool you). The three characters 麦 （Michael) 当 (dang which sometimes means alone) and 家 (jia which means family) and you get something like Michael is alone in his family? Utter nonsense so the computer translator broke its little algorithm on it. Now there was obviously a lawsuit somewhere because its name shifts from 麦当家 to 我当家. 我 (wo) just means I or me but starts with a W so they did a tricky little change to Wichael instead of Michael. Shit like this happens in China all the time even with Chinese chain brands. It's always IPviolate o'clock over there. The more you know 🌈

that first pic is still scary after all these year, is the perfect representation of uncanny valley

I really enjoy your videos. Thank you for making them.

I really enjoy the way you edit! very unique and different from other creators. :p

That first one is such a throwback 😂 i didn’t know other people remember that weird ass pic

This feels comforting to watch. Internet staples from many years ago take me back

For the first image, im sure it was the eyes that terrified us to death😭

bro, I like your videos! especially sound design

9:37 I like how these serious questions are transitioned by some dude breakdancing for no apparent reason (accompanied by very fitting music)

I think it's worth mentioning that "Michael/Wichael Alone" isnt a translation of the Chinese name. The Chinese name is "我当家" ("wo dangjia") which translates to "I'm in charge". Idk too much about this but I've noticed that oftentimes where I live Asian-run businesses will have a name in English but a completely different name in their native language, both names next to each other and sometimes on the same sign. Idk much about this, but being a resturaunt in China for a Chinese audience, the business and locals likely thought of it as 我当家, not Wichael Alone. My best guess is that the English name was just used as little more than decoration to help with the whole American burger shop vibe. Out of curiosity I did put 我当家 into Google maps and got a Ramen place called Ramen Nagi in LA? Japanese Kanji does use Chinese characters and even though I zoomed out and hovered over China I'm on my phone so it probably brought me to a place that's relatively closer to where I live so it's not too weird, I guess.

Also about the gangster spongebob, I grew up on an Indian reservation (Native American reservation) in America, and there were sellers that would pop up in towns or at pow-wows that had those kind of gangster images on blankets and tshirts. There were pictures of SpongeBob, Tupac, Stewie Griffin, Dora the explorer, etc. all thugged out. I can’t pinpoint the exact date but I would say at LEAST 2005 or so. I doubt it originated there, but maybe you could get some info. It was in North Dakota by the way.

I love your editing style and your music choices! Very good video :D

"I'm like it" is an extra brilliant tagline, because not only is it an obvious bootleg mutation of "I'm lovin' it," but Wichael Alone is similar to McDonalds - or in other words it's "like McDonalds," hence "I'm like it." Of course, I'm 99% positive only the first part of that was intentional on the owner's part.

I've never seen that picture in my life so this is indeed a first time jumpscare

I had such a bad fear of the first image when I was little it still scares the hell out of me…

i absolutely love the editing and video style nd random clips in this video lol keep it up

I looked around for any info on the gangster Spongebob image and I also couldn't find anything conclusive on its origin, BUT I also searched the name "Bob Esponja cholo" (that's how it's known in Spanish) and according to its page on Memespedia, it would have (allegedly) been made by "Mother Yolanda's Designer T-Shirts", a now defunct eBay store, in 2006. Sadly it doesn't cite any sources, but I thought it would be interesting to point it out.

The surreal and unique editing style has only become more of "your own" as you upload more

Makes me feel so old seeing you reminiscing about images / memes from only like 5 years ago 😂😂😂

0:17 my brain during a test:

I remember first seeing the “creepy ugly guy” picture in an Exploding TNT video lol.

I was never scared of the first image, if anything, I find it funny in a weird way.

I love this style of editing in the video dude

creepy ugly man picture was my childhood nightmare i still remember how it traumtized me and still.

Proud to say I’ve never seen any of these except the first one.

The first time I encountered the first image was seeing it in a gaming/PS1 magazine with the caption "If true, this is the real face of Paul Frank." or something along those lines. I remember I was just like 6 or 7 years old and my older cousin was playing Chrono Cross on the PlayStation.

8:10 This makes me think of Michealsoft Binbows for no reason?

this is peak content, thank u for making this 🙏

Almost every 90s, 2000s kids have seen this image. Its basically in the early internets hall of fame images

Wow! I haven't seen that 'creepy ugly guy' image in so long! My grandmother had a newspaper clipping of the face on her fridge many years ago. It never creeped me out since I had been seeing it quite often for years. I've always wondered where it came from.

tjhis editing style is insane i love it

Great video and thank you very much for not using a click bait thumbnail that isn't even in the video like so many other people do.

Love the reoccurring bit of Jerma appearing in these videos, rather to discuss actual Jerma lost media or just making a cameo like at 8:50

This is like a nostalgic trip back to my child hood I actually shed some tears looking at some of these images remember my old self

I just accidentally stumped upon your channel and your editing style is gold

5:02 This sound effect is genuinely so whimsical and magical, I've fallen in love with it. 18:04 Honorable mention.

I have literally only seen the first image in my entire life, and Ive been terminally online since 96.

Congrats on 100K!!

i love this editing style sm

Origins of viral images or pictures is definitely a very fascinating topic, we mostly don't give them second thought, but looking back at some of them it sometimes makes you wonder what the sorce was, it's like internet "archeology" of sorts. Wouldn't mind seeing more of these, also your editing and transitions are really cool.

I suspect I found an address for Wichael Alone. About 15-20 miles east of Cenxi City is Sinopec Jinzhu Parking Area, a rest stop that is home to a bathroom, a Sinopec gas station, and a few places to get food while you fuel up or wait for a bus. Among them is 我当家 (Wodangjia), the same Hanzi we see on the sign, which is listed as a fast food restaurant. It is also nearby to both Wuzhou and Guangzhou. No street view is available and Google Maps seems to have the map overlay and the satellite image misaligned, the former is about 1500 feet NW of the latter, but it's the best lead I have. Sadly, my brother is not Porter Robinson, so I cannot afford a plane ticket out there, but if anyone else wants to investigate, you have this info now.

i love your editing style and music choice

Such a fun concept for a video, like how "serious" the discussion was in the video when looking at a broccoli man chilling in a hot tub

3:56 Great. I had to go and watch Schfifty Five for the first time in 21 years and now I've got it stuck in my head for the first time since I was a teenager.

Aside from the video, I just found your channel and love your aesthetic. I love the filler clips of old commercials, graphics, fonts, etc. Very vaporwave-y and nostalgic! Definitely deserves a sub. :3

8:34 I think I know why it's called Michael alone. In china, the movie “home alone” is called “小鬼当家”.since this restaurant is called “麦当家” ,“麦”translated to Michael ,and “当家” badly translated “alone ”. this kind of translation error is very common because business owners at that time can't be bothered to come up with a actual english brand name ,so they simply type chinese brand name in translate program and just copy and paste it

That picture used to give me actual nightmares as a child

18:22 yea I've seen that one before