The children's book character in the Cat in the Hat has spooked teenagers and children across the internet. A life-size depiction of this character in creepy, AI-generated situations has left media platforms confused and scared. School districts and administrations are taking initiative to ban the Cat in the Hat from schools.
Social media accounts of the cat have circulated on apps such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook. These accounts are designed to scare people they know, or anyone who happens to scroll their feed. Locally, there have been accounts made to scare students and peers by sending them their addresses and causing panic among them. Schools have also been threatened, and there has been doxxing involved. These reports are not located only in the US, but also heavily in the UK.
These viral posts have also been centered on Limerick and Wexford in Ireland. Facebook posts are asking users if they have seen the “killer Cat in the Hat”. Another shows the character chasing a person down the street. Skye, aged 16, said: “I was having a sleepover, but everyone started watching Cat in the Hat videos. It was 3 am. I wanted to go home. When I started walking down my friend's driveway, I got totally freaked out that the Cat in the Hat was going to jump out. I had to call my mum to pick me up."
There is no official reporting of the Cat in the Hat being spotted in the world or in neighborhoods, as people claim to have seen. This online hoax is just another social media trend created to keep people entertained.
Works cited
Image source:
https://majaanushka22.wordpress.com/2020/09/01/the-cosmic-implications-of-the-cat-in-the-hat-2003/
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