It all started with a video uploaded to YouTube in 2006 by a 16-year-old, Bree, under the username of lonelygirl15. “Hi guys! so this is my first video blog, I’ve been watching for a while and I really like some of you guys on here.” A self described dork, her hometown was boring and so she spent much of her time online. “Maybe that’s why I spend so much time on my computer …” With uploads several times a week, Bree soon gained popularity as she talked about her day to day life and her friend Daniel.
Source: NBC News
However, skeptical fans were sure that something about Bree didn't add up. Through online detective work, they traced a deleted MySpace account to an actress, Jessica Rose, and traced emails sent to lonelygirl, finding that they were being sent to CAA, Creative Arts Agency. The jig was up, and it was revealed that lonelygirl15 was no regular teenage vlogger, but rather a part of semi-scripted web series with an actress, Jessica Lee Rose. From this reveal, the plot was able to take more dramatic license, and as a result became more convoluted and dramatic, with kidnapping, murder and the reveal that "Bree" and her family were part of a mysterious cult, The Order, and the eventual death of Bree.
Lonelygirl15 ran for a little over two years and 547 episodes, through uploads to YouTube every couple days. The series developed from there into several directions, including Russian and British spin off shows, "N1ckola" and "KateModern" and a sequel, "Lonelygirl15: the Resistance."
After a seven-year period of hiatus, the uploading of a video on the channel came as a surprise. The video, two minutes long, is vague and sinister, and after a password login screen suggests “brute force” being applied in case of errors, Bree appears in a dreamlike training video, entitled “VIDEO 4: What To Do If You Are Selected (Ver. 2),” that carries an ominous “FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY. Public distribution will result in severe penalties up to and including termination without appeal” warning. Bree is calm and collected as she talks directly to the viewer about being "selected” for “the ceremony.” She doesn’t specify what exactly "the ceremony" is, but it has an ominous tone to it. "It’s natural to be afraid of being selected," she says, but the experience is “amazing.” At least, it was for her. What about those who thought that she was dead? “Nothing happened to me,” she reassures. Strange glitches throughout the video suggest that everything is not as it may seem. This video signals the beginning of a new saga, and if anything, it's going to be eventful.
You can watch the video here, at Lonelygirl15's YouTube Channel.
