Solar Plexus Clown Glider (SPCG) is the collective name given to a broad range of paranormal phenomena attributed to a corruptive entity which infects weak and vulnerable people through the Solar Plexus chakra. Originally used by 80s New Age practitioners, the phenomena was linked to a horrorthemed email forwardable in the late 90s, which claimed that simply reading or hearing the words “Solar Plexus Clown Glider” made one susceptible to infection. Others claimed that one became infected through viewing a set of spooky black and white images circulating online.
Rather than a material cryptid SPCG is ephemeral and operates at the level of language. It makes itself known through images and words. The SPCG appears to feed off human misery, bombarding its host human with realistic hallucinations, Glitches in Reality and weakening them emotionally. They then simply drive the host beyond their fullest capacity for psychological pain.The ‘sickness’ that comes with SPCG contact is described as similar to meth addicts experiences of withdrawal paranoia symptoms, up to and including near-constant full body hallucinatory experiences, and actual psychosis. The reported effects are also similar to delirium states.
Background
According to Hindu culture, the solar plexus harbors both positive and lower negative emotions. This chakra, one of the seven main ones, is also the center of perseverance and the desire to win. As well as anger, irritation, hate, envy, greed, destructiveness, violence, cruelty, resentment, worry, anxiety, fear, selfishness, aggressiveness, and more. The idea of demonic forces which literally feed off of these negative emotions is widespread throughout the world in a variety of contexts outside of chakra cleansing, and it was in this context the phrase was first used in New Age circles during the 80s. No trace of the phrase can be found prior to the 90s mailart movement.It was speculated that the phrase was engineered by a CIA experiment in mind control, as those who repeated them often reported a feeling of unseen presence, or of encroaching cold. Similar experiments were attempted as part of the MKULTRA experiments.
Known suspected victims include Dead Rabbit Radio podcast host Jason Carpenter who saw what he described as a giant cobra rise and slither down the aisles of a courtroom. After this experience, which was tinged with anxiety already, Carpenter described his mood and quality of life taking a serious decline. It was only later after researching the topic of SPCG that he speculated the experience was related. He considers the SPCG to be a memetic parasite which exists only to spread human suffering.
Manifestations
As per the most well known image and the name, SPCG has occasionally physically manifested as a daemonic jester figure, but its form is ultimately fluid, capable of infiltrating and deforming any visual surface once it has enough power over its victim. Its “body” is more often said to resemble oozing forms of slugs or snakes.It can often appear to be made of a substance outside of the normal laws of three dimensions, similar to Black Stick Men.
However, attributing any specific form to this entity is meaningless as it is ultimately not reducible to its hallucinatory contents but to the rumored effects of a phrase engineered to trigger mental deterioration. Alternately there is also a supposed set of black and white images (of which only one is now in circulation) which achieve the same effect of madness. Other tellings implicate a special frequency associated with the SPCG.
History
It has been suggested that SPCG is an example of an early internet legend, boosted after a Trojan virus code by the same name which gained quick recognition. It was an early jump-scare prank, only especially cruel as the code could wait indefinitely to suddenly flash a scary face onscreen at random times, terrifying users oblivious that their home PC was infected.
It has been suggested that the urban legends surrounding SPCG were spread in the wake of the virus, or by the creator, to further cement the effect of the computer being haunted. To this extent, SPCG myths appeared at a critical juncture as ostentation myths with the digital in mind. Ostentation is when individuals or groups act out folkloric scenarios, reenacting a tradition. An example of an ostentation myth familiar across generations is the Bloody Mary routine: stand in front of a mirror, say her name [X] times and Bloody Mary will appear.
SPCG was further informed by a sturdy pre-established frame of sci-fi and comedy stories about mimetic phenomena that kill anyone who is exposed, such as the neuron-collapsing images known as basilisks in BLIT by David Langford. An image of a fractal called ‘The Parrot’, with text ripped from Langfords story, claiming that the image will kill all who view it, circulated around the same time as SPCG’s mimetic images and phrases.
In music, horrorcore rap artist ‘Tulpadrip’ includes a song based on the myth on their 2020 album ‘The Exorcist.’ Screamo band ‘Deimos Crown’ officially released a song with the title ‘Solar Plexus Clown Gliders’ that explores the legend in 2021.
A 2020 issue of literary zine Pinecone contains poetry by Alexander Williams named after SPCG which includes mantric repletion of the phrase throughout.
Theories
- An interdimensional demon which activates in the solar plexus region. This was the original meaning of the term used by New Age practitioners, notably chakra healers and transcendental meditation advocates in the late 80s and early 90s.
- American film director David Lynch, who explored the popular occult circuit at this time in his career, would go on to write extensively about a very similar entity or psychic illness. He calls it—capitalizing each word like SPCG—the “Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit of Negativity” and describes it in ways which correspond to the SPCG legend.
- A military-scientific or underground project to create a mimetic brain-deteriorating weapon.
- An example of digital folklore ostentation practices
- A hoax, perhaps a misremembered jumpscare virus
- A demon
