In August 2017, the internet became enthralled with the saga of cartoonist Adam Ellis, who detailed an apparent haunting in his New York City apartment on Twitter by what he claims to be the ghost of a young boy with a misshapen head. The sensation quickly became known as “Dear David,” as the boy’s ghost was called by another girl in a dream Ellis had.
In the months that followed, Ellis continued to update his followers on the goings on in his apartment, which included several terrifying appearances by David at the foot of his bed as well as other strange occurrences like his cats behaving oddly, objects seeming to move by themselves, shadowy figures appearing in photographs, and ominous phone calls. The boy’s ghost supposedly even followed him home for the holidays.
Some have been skeptical of the tale, which includes a couple of professional mediums who spoke to the Daily Dot earlier this year, but most people are still extremely here for the spooky, ongoing tale. So it should come as little surprise that BuzzFeed Studios is partnering with It producer Dan Lin’s production company Rideback to adapt the saga into a movie.
“I’ve never been interested in convincing anyone that ghosts are real–I just wanted to tell my story,” Ellis said of the news. “If it was all fiction, I probably would’ve updated more than once every couple weeks.”
Perhaps coincidentally, Ellis’ run-ins with Dear David have been fewer and far between in recent months, and in February he announced that he was leaving his job of four years with Buzzfeed to “turn his attention to other projects.”
Fabricated or not, it’s difficult to argue that the story isn’t gripping—thanks to tweet threads like the following.
I downloaded an app that takes a photo every 60 seconds and set my phone on top of a bookcase (it's almost 7 feet tall, so it had a pretty good view of my bed and the surrounding room). Then I went to sleep.
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
Just like before, I jolted awake hours later, feeling the same unease. I turned on the light and hurried out of bed to get my phone from the bookcase. There were probably 350 photos to scroll through.
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
The vast majority of them were me sleeping in an empty room. It's sort of dark but you can see me sleeping. I'd left a couple night lights on just in case anything showed up, but for the first hundred or so photos it was just me in an empty room. pic.twitter.com/yDwR7to8xA
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
Then, suddenly, he was there. Standing on the chair at the foot of the bed staring at me.
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
In the next photo, from a minute later, he seems to be staring straight up at the ceiling? Just staring. pic.twitter.com/MoW6CPcKoD
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
Then he appears to collapse on the chair. The next dozen photos are all the same. He's completely lifeless. At first I'd thought he was dead, which obviously doesn't make any sense. I looked over at the chair half expecting him to still be there but it was empty. pic.twitter.com/yA5MltIp0i
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
About 15 photos later, he was back, standing next to the bed. It was just like the last time I saw him. pic.twitter.com/gxAbepRKUG
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
That's when my heart started to race. I didn't want to look at the rest of the photos, but I knew I had to. I swiped to the next photo and my heart sank into my stomach.
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
He was on the bed. Inches from me, staring down at me sleeping. pic.twitter.com/MOtQEgTLma
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
The next one was worse. In the next photo, he's staring right at the camera. pic.twitter.com/WhmuAr9DcQ
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
Here's the final photo on the scroll. pic.twitter.com/LkkpiEbBnr
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
I'm at a loss for words. That malformed ear, that stringy hair. I didn't even know what to think. I looked all over my room but couldn't find anything. And honestly I've been so exhausted I didn't know how to process it.
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
Even now, all I wanna do is just go to sleep.
— Adam Ellis (@adamtotscomix) December 13, 2017
You can read the entire saga here.
H/T Nerdist