The figure in the video stands upright, slinking awkwardly in dark corners and alleyways. In some videos, he has a hand — paw — behind his back. In others, he dances to creepy, carnival-styled music or crouches low, his trademark, red-and-white striped hat askew.
So goes the latest trend of internet nightmares, in which a macabre version of the live-action “The Cat in the Hat” appears in grainy videos, lurking on street corners and seemingly threatening children.
What is going on?
The videos, which have been reported in several countries, often contain veiled threats, warning the Cat will target a specific school, neighborhood, or individual.
This is not the purist, cartoony version of the feline rascal from Theodore Geisel’s ubiquitous 1957 children’s book. No, the creature haunting the Snapchat feeds of American children is inspired by the more malevolent, universally-panned 2003 film adaptation, which starred Mike Myers — the actor, not the horror villain, though the lines appear to have blurred.
Where is it happening?
The trend recently arrived in the United States, where security officials from several states, including Tennessee and Kentucky, said they were investigating the A.I.-generated character videos.
“It is essentially screen captures and reimaging of ‘Cat in the Hat’ figures, primarily from the 2003, live ‘Cat in the Hat’ movie,” said Greg Mays, the deputy commissioner for the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security, which is investigating several of the videos.
“And there’s nothing wrong, of course, with doing that. The problem is a lot of these images have dark or unsettling undertones, and then even worse they’re overlaid with threats.”
“That’s where it crosses the line,” he added.
Is it only in the United States?
The reimagined Cat appears to have first surfaced in Ireland last month, when eerie, low-resolution videos showed a person dressed as the character wandering Curracloe, a seaside village in County Wexford. An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force, soon issued a statement saying the videos had been generated by artificial intelligence.
Similar appearances were reported in Scotland and other parts of Britain. In South Yorkshire, in the north of England, the local police responded to rumors of Cat sightings by clarifying that none had been reported to them.
How are the authorities responding?
A 14-year-old student was arrested in Colorado this week after sharing a post that warned someone dressed as the Cat would arrive at a local middle school and several nearby homes. According to the Grand Junction Police Department, the student was charged with harassment and interfering with an educational institution.
Among its horrors, the phenomenon has also produced a host of groan-worthy, public-safety themed verse.
“No credible threat / Has come to our view / But we’re checking each tip / To make sure that stays true,” the Louisville Metro Police Department said in a post on Facebook.
Hasn’t this happened before?
The trend bears resemblance to several of the internet’s more grim offerings in recent years. In 2019, parenting circles around the world were unnerved by the so-called “Momo” hoax, a viral trend in which a stringy-haired, demonic girl was said to “possess” children through screens, coaxing them into more and more violent acts and, later, self-harm. There was no credible evidence that any child had ever been led to such lengths, but the panic around the phenomenon was real.
Similar trends were a widespread, viral hoax in 2016 that involved false reports of knife-wielding clowns lurking in small towns across America.
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