Im sure youve all seen these things before - reCAPTCHA phrases - the little boxes that
demand you type the words correctly to progress to the next page by proving youre a real human
and not a bot.
The system draws on random words from over 13 million articles and books - thats a lot
of words.
Usually the words that are given are meaningless but sometimes, the system throws up some very
creepy stuff, stuff so creepy, some people think there is more to the system than the
creators are letting on.
Does the system have sentience?
Are there people working behind the words that are trying to let us know something?
Its up to you to figure out - my name is Danny Burke and this is the top 10 scary reCAPTCHA
Phrases
Coming in at number 10 we have this one that reads -Skynet is watching- … right now,
some of you guys are probably looking very shocked while others are a little bit confused.
If you don't already know, Skynet is the computer network that tries to wipe out humanity in
the Terminator movies.
In the beginning, it started out as a relatively simple computer programme to serve human needs
- as its intelligence grew though, it gained more power before going on a hell bent killing
mission that almost killed off all humans were in not for the thanks of old Arny.
For Captcha to tell us that Skynet is Watching is very creepy.
Just like Skynet, Captcha started out as a simple computer programme to serve human needs
… so … if Captcha ends up trying to kill us all - don't say I didnt warn you.
Of course, if Im wrong, you didnt hear me say anything.
Next up at number 9 we have this one was posted to reddit in 2015 by user quirkscrew.
They said they got this terrifying captcha that simply said -they are watching- … of
course, this could just be a random phrase or random collection of words but it does
seem very creepy.
If you remember the conspiracy theories I talked about in the intro, some people genuinely
wonder if there are humans being forced to work behind these kind of systems who are
trying to worn us, the public, about how the powers that be are watching our every move.
Im not convinced by that but some people on Reddit were really creeped out.
Don't worry, Im sure nobody is watching you watch this video - probably.
Next up at number 8 we have this one that says -Stay divorced- … some people say this
was actually presented to someone who had recently divorced.
Imagine if that was you.
How freaked out would you be if captcha, or any automated system, made a direct comment
on your life?
How is that possible?
I mean, theres no way an AI would be able to know that - so does that confirm the presence
of humans behind the system?
If they know more than we do - perhaps they know what this person should stay divorced.
Maybe the person this was shown to was considering reversing their divorce, returning to their
old partner, but captcha is warning them to not do it - do they know something the person
doesnt?
Some dark secret about their ex?
This is starting to sound like an amazingly bad movie …
Next up at number 7 we have this.
I know what youre thinking, I thought it too - what is … this?
The answer is - well, I don't know.
This one was shared on Tumblr by a confused user.
The whole point of captcha is that a user is supposed to guess what words are on the
screen and yet this one offered no words at all.
Instead, we are presented with something which honestly looks quite creepy.
The white markings on the black background look like scratch marks, as if someone is
clawing at the screen.
Of course, some people would say this is all just another sign that its not an automated
system but actually people who are doing this.
The markings kinda look more human like than some sort of AI scanned word from a book.
Its a stretch, but then again, so is this whole video.
And if you still love it, weve got plenty more to get through.
Moving on to number 6 we have one that simply says Don't Type.
Of course, right below that we have instructions to type sooo - what would you do?
I think this one reminds me of the whole government conspiracy thing - some say that this seems
like a very specific instruction there from an automatic system.
As Im sure all you guys know, the two words are selected randomly.
Its definitely a bit strange that these are the two specific words that came up - and
also in that order - type don't isnt scary, thats not even a thing, if you got that you
might not even think twice.
But don't type?
Don't type definitely has some people convinced there are people behind the reCAPTCHAS.
Next up at number 5 we have an audio capture.
This is a strange type of capture that some sites have experimented with.
Usually you only get an audio one if you fail a normal captcha multiple times.
Because of this, not many people get them but sometimes, when they do - they sound really
creepy.
To see what I mean, take a listen to this clip.
This was uploaded to YouTube by cm iper in 2010.
In it, you can hear the numbers being read out that need to be typed out - theyre being
read out by a little girl which is kind of creepy by itself, but many people were freaked
out by the backwards talking thats happening at the same time - take a listen.
CLIP.
What did you make of that?
A lot of people in the comments section on the video tried to reverse the reversed song
to hear whats being said, but nobody has had any luck so far.
Im kinda glad - not sure if I really want to know whats being said …
Coming in at number 4 were gonna stay with another audio capture.
I know some of you enjoyed that last one so here we go.
This one was uploaded to YouTube by ota kulys in 2012.
In the description box she wrote -I discovered by accident that if you listen to the audio
option for captcha, it sounds eerily like demons whispering the date of your death-
… I know right … how freaky is that.
Well, lets take a look at the clip in question, remember, if you do hear a date among the
demonic voices, its gonna be her birthday, not yours.
CLIP.
OK, if any of you actually did hear your own birthday there then, wow, yeah, that would
really freak me out.
Let me know in the comments.
Even without the birthday thing for this one, the voices are more than enough to creep me
out.
I think Im ready to return to some text captchas now, are you?
Good, lets do that ...
Moving on to number 3 we have a bizarre instruction telling us to just kill captcha.
Captcha is telling us to kill - it.
Thats weird.
Why would an automated AI system ask us, humans, to end its life - it isnt even alive - or
is it.
Captcha is either the first truly sentient piece of artificial intelligence, or it is,
as we all suspected, an actual person behind it.
Perhaps they are enslaved and this is their cry for help - or perhaps they don't want
their own life ended but simply the programme they work on - maybe they know that CAPTCHA
is evil and its word scanning ways will lead to the enslavement and death of us all.
Perhaps we need to kill captcha before it kills us.
Im going to email them about this, Ill let you know their reply.
Next up at number 2 now we have one that simply says Touchy Perverts.
Now that is creepy.
Nobody wants to be browsing online when theyre suddenly confronted with the phrase touchy
perverts.
How has that come from an automatic system?
Out of all the possible words to put infront of the word perverts - it went for touchy.
If we return to our real people behind the captchas conspiracy theory - then what does
this mean?
What are these people trying to tell people?
Is there some sort of scandal waiting to blow up and only security firms like captcha know
about it?
Well, probably not - but I still don't wanna see touchy perverts popping up on my screen
- in ever sense.
And finally at number 1 we have this - what I think is the ultimate icing on the cake
to the whole government conspiracy theory.
This instruction from CAPTCHA simply instructs us to -harass president- … very weird.
If this is run by a security firm and people think that there are people behind the whole
captcha operation, why would they want the public to harass the president?
OK.
Ive just realised how ridiculous Im sounding now - obviously its just a random combination
of words but its still pretty strange.
Ive no doubt that the FBI or the CIA can somehow track people typing violent threats against
the President - I think this is an attempt for someone to flood the internet with people
spamming the phrase -harass president- so that they can talk in secret about their plans
against the president.
Of course I don't think that, its just a bit of fun.
And please don't harass the president.
Well guys I feel like my videos on this channel are usually either funny or scary so hopefully
this one was a nice combination of the two - I know and Im sure many of you know that
there is probably nothing to these stories - but I think that probably is whats kinda
creepy - even if you don't believe the stories, theyre still pretty creepy to hear.
If you want to hear more we can do a part 2, so let me know if thats something youd
like!
Thanks for watching as always, my name is Danny Burke and Ill see you all in the next
video.