Majoras Mask Creepypasta Ben Drowned

2010creepypastaclassic

Published August 9, 2026

Ben Drowned is a 2010 creepypasta about a supposedly haunted Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask cartridge for the Nintendo 64, posted to 4chan's /x/ board by user Jadusable. The story mixed diary-style posts with YouTube clips of glitched gameplay, producing catchphrases like 'You shouldn't have done that' and helping shape the tone of early online horror fiction.

creepypasta memes zelda memes horror memes 4chan memes collaborative fiction memes

Overview

Ben Drowned, also called Majora's Mask Creepypasta, is a horror story about a supposedly haunted Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask cartridge for the Nintendo 64 that already had a save file named 'BEN' on it when the narrator got it1. The piece pairs a first-person 4chan diary with YouTube clips of glitched gameplay where music plays in reverse, textures vanish, and NPCs address the player by the dead BEN's name2. The Elegy of Emptiness statue, a minor in-game object, works as the entity's visual calling card across the videos and the fan art that followed3.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan /x/ (source) / YouTube (viral spread)
Creator
Alex Hall
Date
2010

On September 7, 2010, a 4chan user going by Jadusable started a thread on the /x/ paranormal board about picking up a used Majora's Mask cartridge from an old man that already carried a save file called 'BEN'1. He posted YouTube clips of the game breaking after he tried the 'fourth day glitch,' including a reversed version of the Song of Healing and an empty Clock Town missing its usual textures and NPCs4. Gaming outlets including Kotaku followed the thread as it played out in real time on the board2.

How It Spread

A tutorial video by YouTuber HolyHeeroYui uploaded on September 12, 2010 broke down some of the video-editing tricks behind the glitched footage3. A final video titled 'free.wmv' and a companion text file called 'TheTruth.txt' were released on September 15, 2010 at 23:04, framed as material passed on by Jadusable's roommate after he vanished from his dorm1. On September 17, 2010 a comment on the Jadusable YouTube channel pointed to the now-defunct youshouldnthavedonethat.net, teasing a 'Moon Children' cult, and three days later Jadusable admitted the whole thing had been a college creative-writing project4.

The full text of the story was reposted on the Within Hubris forum on February 21, 2011, and picked up by outlets including Kotaku2. Jadusable, whose real name is Alex Hall, kept teasing follow-up material and an in-development game called the 'Third Arc,' but placed that project on indefinite hold on July 15, 20111. On April 1, 2012, he uploaded a self-parody video swapping Link for Goron Link dancing to Jibbs' 'King Kong,' which drew backlash from parts of the fanbase and sparked long arguments in the Within Hubris admin threads3.

How to Use This Meme

The Ben Drowned template typically pairs a still or edited screenshot from Majora's Mask, often the Elegy of Emptiness statue or a distorted Link model, with one of the story's stock lines like 'You shouldn't have done that…' or 'You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?'1. Later riffs often mix the audio motif of a reversed Song of Healing with any footage meant to feel unsettling.

Frequently Asked Questions