# Candlejack

Candlejack is a text-based joke format built around a villain from the 1995 animated series Freakazoid, whose lore says he kidnaps anyone who says his name. Posters type his name and then cut the sentence off mid-word to fake being snatched mid-post, a bit that took hold on 4chan and other forums in the mid-2000s.

## Overview
Candlejack, sometimes styled Candle Jack, is a hooded villain from the Warner Bros. animated series Freakazoid whose gimmick is snatching anyone who says his name out loud[1]. Online, that in-story rule turned into a writing bit: a poster types "Candlejack" and then chops the sentence off mid-word, as if a rope had just yanked them away from the keyboa--[3].

The joke works best in plain text, which is why it took hold on imageboards and forums rather than in image macros[3]. Its recognizability comes from the abrupt cutoff itself, so replies often mirror the format back, stacking interrupted sentences into a running thread gag[4].

## How It Spread
By 2007 the interrupter bit was in circulation. On March 19th, 2007, Urban Dictionary user miji posted a definition ending mid-word with "you get kind--," and the entry pulled in more than 3,000 upvotes[2]. The earliest surviving 4chan mentions of the character appeared on August 22nd, 2007, though those early posts had not yet locked in the cutoff format that later defined the joke[3].

The gag spread to smaller boards fast. On November 2nd, a forum user going by EnsignRyusei on sognadigitalmuseum.com posted an intro thread reply that ended "What's up with all this Candlejack stuff, OH FU"[4]. That kind of copycat use, dropping the name and immediately fake-vanishing, became the standard way to invoke the character.

More than a decade after the show aired, the format was still active on 4chan[5]. On March 28th, 2019, an anonymous /b/ poster shared a thread that opened "Each time i format my old hd i still find this pic of Candlejack, idk why it h--," and the replies played along with their own interrupted variations[5].

## How to Use
Typical use is short: write a normal sentence, drop "Candlejack" into it, then cut the next word off after a letter or two to fake being grabbed. Common conventions include ending on "OH FU", "kind--", or a single dangling letter, and follow-up posters often reply with their own interrupted sentence to keep the bit going[2][3].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Candlejack?
Candlejack is a villain from the 1995 Warner Bros. animated series Freakazoid who, in-universe, kidnaps anyone who says his name[1]. Online he became a text joke where posters type his name and cut their own sentence off mid-word[3].

### Where did Candlejack come from?
He first appeared in the Freakazoid episode "Candlejack," which aired on September 16th, 1995, as a ghost story told by kids at summer camp[1].

### What does Candlejack mean?
Saying or typing "Candlejack" is a setup for the joke that he immediately abducts you, which is why the sentence is expected to break off unfinished[2].

### How do you use Candlejack?
Type the name mid-sentence and then chop the next word off after a letter or two, like "idk why it h--," as seen in a 2019 /b/ thread built entirely around the format[5].

### Is Candlejack still popular?
It is a classic imageboard in-joke rather than a trending format, but it was still being posted on 4chan's /b/ as recently as March 2019[5].

## References
1. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106057/](<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106057/>)
2. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Candlejack](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Candlejack>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/candlejack](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/candlejack>)
4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB4qDhbFHn0](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB4qDhbFHn0>)
5. [https://boards.4chan.org/b/](<https://boards.4chan.org/b/>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/candlejack
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