The Mirror Box
| Published on Creepypasta.com | September 2010 |
|---|---|
| Length | 618 words · about 3 minutes to read |
| Story level | Short |
| Reader rating | 6.8/10 from 255 votes |
| Category | Rites and Rituals |
Though written about in fiction occasionally, the mirror box is quite an old invention. Being inside of one can be enlightening or traumatizing for the witness who bears its burden. The procedure is simple, though finding and preparing the materials required might take some time.
The materials to construct the box are:
-Six square metal sheets, slightly taller than the witness. The length should never exceed the height of a witness with raised hands. One of them should be larger than the rest by at least the thickness of the sheets themselves. The material should preferably be made of graphite or lead alloy for the most prominent effect.
-Five nearly perfect, aligned mirrors, sealed upon the metal plates. Each of the 5 will form the sides and bottom of the inner box. One larger mirror should be attached to the large metal plate, which will be used for the top.
-A simple light source of pure white or bright yellow. The light source should emit in almost all directions. Candles can be used, but carbon dioxide and monoxide poisoning is a problem. The light source should not be planted upon the mirrors or receive any outside energy. Construction techniques are left up to the witness.
-Two or three alarm clocks. An extra alarm clock of any kind is also needed. Watches are alright, but not suggested due to the small type face and hands.
-Wear simple clothing.
-Do not bring any other objects. Witnesses have often crowded the box, causing it to become either useless or highly dangerous. This includes jewelery, food, weapons, or religious materials such as beads and crucifixes.
-An assistant is required to help the witness in and out of the box and get help in case of emergencies. The assistant should be trusting and as strong willed as the witness.
-Two ladders
-Several Blankets, water, medical remedies, and a first aid kit.
When the box is complete and ready to use, prepare the alarm clocks to ring around ten minutes after the witness’ planned entrance. Depending on the material used for the box itself, the time of day will not matter, but a night during a new moon is suggested. Despite intuition, sound does not play a large role in the event. The witness should use a small unattached ladder to enter the box. The top should already be placed upon the box, with an opening large enough for the witness to enter. Once inside, the witness should be handed the light source and the clocks (one should be kept with the assistant). The outside assistant should ask sincerely whether the witness is alright. Once confirmation is given, the top should be moved to seal the box. The witness may turn on the light source once the box is sealed. At any point should the witness ask to leave the box (if soundproof, tapping should be used), ONLY the top should be opened. The witness may do it themselves, since the top of the box should be easily reachable. Once ten minutes are up, ALWAYS remove the top, regardless of what the witness says. Some witnesses may plead to stay inside the box, even suggesting great danger should it be opened. The assistant should never trust those pleas. Suffocation is only one of many concerns should the witness stay too long in the box. Once the top has been slid opened, place the second ladder in the box to allow the witness to leave. If the witness has any serious wounds, or discoloration, call for medical help.
Should you happen to meet a witness, never trust what they say about their experience, and never ask them for the time or where the antumbra meets.
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Read NowCopyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.
Hey, the count, guess what? It\’s called a creepyPASTA, from COPYpasta, you fuckwit. THEY\’RE MEANT TO BE PASTED AROUND IN NEW PLACES.
jesus fucking christ you people
“it could have done without the complicated instructions”
IT’S INSTRUCTIONS
FOR BUILDING A MIRROR BOX
THAT’S THE ENTIRE POINT
i’m planning on building one of these
I like this story. A lot of people are saying that they didn’t get it or it wasn’t particularly creepy, but I don’t feel like that’s the point of this particular story. It’s not supposed to be obviously frightening, just a bit off, a bit disturbing. The devil is in the details. Why can’t we ask a witness for the time? Why can’t we ask a witness about a shadow? What do these things relate to? Why even use the term “witness”? A witness to what? The implications are what makes the story interesting.
To everyone complaining that the box construction was ‘complicated’…I was going to write something insulting here, but I will explain this extremely simple procedure which I describe as ‘Geometry 101: using 6 faces to make a cube and then lining it with mirrors’ instead:
To explain: 6 metal sides slightly taller and wider than the subject’s reach in the relative directions. 1 side is to be slightly wider than the others, presumably intended to be used as the lid so as to facilitate a grip when opening from the outside. The inside 6 walls are lined with mirrors. Construction complete. You are now ready to step inside with your flashlight and presumably become extremely disoriented.
This sounds pretty interesting, but I think the subject would end up stumbling around and banging into the glass alot risking breakage and serious injury, OR simply lying on the floor for 10 minutes.
Also the creepiness is implicit rather than overtly referenced. The instructions are intentionally written in a succinct ‘manual’ style format to engender authenticity. The imagination of the reader trying to conceptualize the visual chaos in the box, and the equally vague references to distrust anything the subject says “even should he threaten violence” is creepy factor enough. Never ask him what he saw in the box, and never believe any thing he tells you. It’s so cryptic! It’s a perfect creepypasta.
Does every creepypasta need to end “I hear vampire bigfoot tapping at the panes of my windows even as I now feverishly type these words!”?
I like it alot and deffinatly want to try it, I read some of the comments and found out what an antrumba is, but I still don’t know what they witnessed…
I think I saw something like this on What Not to Wear before..
Someone should try this..! >_<
I liked it.
It ain’t scary if the first part sounds like Bob Vila wrote it.
I have heard of a similar experiment like this but with a small box. You make a box out of six square mirrors facing inward and just leave it there. After some time, people report strange scratching and growling noises coming from inside the box.
I had never before heard of making one big enough for a person to stand inside.
Do some research. And btw, who the hell doesnt know what antumbra means? Honestly I cant remember how long ago I learned what it means. Did you all fail the 7th grade?
Morons.. you completely misunderstood the pasta.
Stupid pasta is stupid. And old. This is three-month-old back-of-the-refrigerator pasta.
Bad. Just…bad. The instructions of how to make it were complicated, and probably unnecessary. Coulda just had a description of the appearance – that would have done just as well. Probably better, actually. And what the Hell happened in there? We don’t get to know and we don’t get to find out. That’s like some little kid saying “I’m not telling you what I did because-” and leaving it there. Why the Hell not? This isn’t creepy/scary/interesting/good. It was building up to nothing. The most exciting part was the part about the antumbra, purely because I don’t even know what it is and that adds mystery. honestly, one of the worst pastas I’ve ever read. And there’s some real shit out there.
But that’s just my opinion.
^_^
To each their own…
The ending totally killed it. It was ok until then.
it’s goood but a little confusing
it seems that the biggest issue with this pasta is inability to understand, rather than it not being creepy.
When I first read it I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but figured that something appeared in the mirrors of the box that caused the witness (obviously a reference to seeing SOMETHING) to either become obsessed or mad.
The fact that they could possibly come out wounded implies that whatever is seen in the mirrors can somehow get out, and the part about not bringing weapons makes it appear more that the witness could harm themselves.
Of course after reading and figuring out what antumbra was it made it easier to understand.
I like it.
9/10
Basically, because of antumbra, you will start seeing a dark figure in front of you. Its a trippy effect. For those people that are claustrophobic and paranoid, you will see a dark ghost in front of you as well as all the sides multiplied by the mirrors so it looks like there are 10+ dark ghosts that appear all around you while you are in the box. It’s a really trippy way to hallucinate. I’ve seen this on tv once and people were freaking out. Lol
TheMirrorBox.avi
Augh these are so bad. The “You must then do this/You will then see this” style of shitty “prose” that passes on 4chan. Horribly written.
This is an entertaining creepypasta. Completely mystifying. 10/10
Eh, doesn’t really make much sense but it does give the reader that insatiable urge to do it which I think is what makes the story interesting imo.
I liked it.
Basically, you sit in the mirror box and the light casts a shadow upon you. At some point, on one of those mirrors you will completely obscure the light. Thus creating an Antumbra. Essentially the Antumbra is the negative of something that is lighted. So, your negative will appear. What happens when this happens is beyond me,but it can be good or bad apparently, which is really dumb.
Hm, I dont get it. What do the mirrors do?
This pasta has always confused the crap out of me to much for me to be even slightly spooked by it.
Completely irrelevant to this pasta, which I quite liked btw, but where has the forum gone? The link above the stories has disappeared. It is just me or is it gone for others too?
There’s a story in the book Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Rampo, and translated into English by James B. Harris. It has a story called The Hell of Mirrors.
It’s a very good story about how this man became obsessed with mirrors, he created all these crazy mirrors. At one point he creates a mirror ball, which has a one-unit mirror around the inside. Well Tanunma, the man obsessed with mirrors was found after the teller of the story broke the sphere, since there was no way of entering as the handle to the door of the sphere was broken.
When Tanunma came out, he was completely mad. Nobody really could understand why he went insane inside that ball of mirrors. This story reminded me, of The Hell of Mirrors. I recommend you get the book, it has a good number of stories that are creepypasta-ish like The Chair.
I’d much rather spend my time in a tube of Tang.
Haha, At first I thought this would be another boring \"do this and see a ghooooost! Boooo!\" Pasta. And it sort of was, but the end put a smile on my face, because it leaves you wondering \’What do they see? Whats an antumbra? Why should we not ask them the time?\" Leaves you with an unsettling feeling. :) Good job.