The Internet in general, and Twitter in particular, have given rise to a bunch of really bizarre celebrity communiques. Jim Carrey went all BOING-crazy, gave the world a view at one of the more interesting celebrity psychodramas in recent memory, and abruptly stopped using Twitter in May. Scott Baio too suffered a meltdown, only where Carrey’s was crazy and hilarious, Baio’s was nasty and vile. Those are just a couple examples; there are many more out there in the Twittersphere.
And then there’s something like the scenario that’s been playing out this morning, which, battling insomnia, I have been following almost from the beginning. You can find a handy collection of all the relevant tweets here, but the rundown is: Two days ago, Simon Pegg woke up to discover his attic door hanging open. Yesterday morning, he woke up to discover it closed. This morning, he was woken by his dog barking at the attic door, which was again open. Five hours ago, he said he was going to go check it out. He hasn’t been heard from since. His close friend and frequent collaborator Nick Frost then asked Simon’s sister Katy to “pop round” to see if everything was all right. That was four hours ago. She hasn’t been heard from since. Nick then tried to call Simon’s home phone, his mobile phone, and Katy’s mobile. He received no answer. When he finished work an hour ago, Nick went around to Simon’s house. He said the front door was open, that it was cold, that he was nervous. Then he said he could hear his mum. If you are not aware, Nick Frost’s mum is dead. He hasn’t been heard from since, not even when Edgar Wright tweeted him.
So either this is a really well-played publicity stunt, or Simon Pegg, Katy Pegg, and Nick Frost are all dead or missing or being held hostage or experiencing some sort of ungodly terrifying supernatural occurrence. Simon and Nick do have a film coming out, the Greg Mottola-helmed sci-fi comedy Paul, but, um…as far as I can tell, that doesn’t involve soul-raping attic demons. As one of my friends posited, they could be part of viral marketing for Paranormal Activity 2, despite none of them being involved. Simon and Nick–and Edgar–have had some pretty memorable Twitter interactions before, such as that time they created Hot Fuzz slashfic. So again, this could all be an elaborate prank. But I don’t know. I’m kind of alarmed. Maybe it’s because I haven’t slept all night.
In any case, I felt this was weird enough to merit a blog post. Updates (hopefully happy ones) sure to come…
UPDATE: As I suspected after the “I can hear my mum” tweet, it was all a joke. Well, I should’ve suspected so all along, but don’t blame my insomnia-riddled brain for taking it too seriously pre-otherworldly contact. So there you go.
Gobbledygeek 
I’m awfully worried too. I’m praying that this wasn’t them going off of twitter… Who’ll make me laugh then?
I don’t think this is true. Where did the information come from, like, that his ‘dog was barking at the attic door’? Or somehow some insider is watching his every step of life. I doubt that.
It came from Simon Pegg’s official Twitter account, linked to in the article. There have also been various tweets from Nick Frost, Katy Pegg, and Edgar Wright about the situation. The veracity of these claims are unverified, and as I say in the article it could all be a big joke, but they did actually come from Pegg, Frost, etc. I don’t make up tabloid stuff.
I’m actually officially freaked out. If this is all an elaborate joke (I sincerely hope so) then fair play to them for spreading panic across twitter lol.
BUT if its not a joke, then holy sweet jebus..I wouldnt wanna be near Simon Pegg’s house!
Although after finally getting some sleep, my thoughts are a bit more gathered, and it really does appear to be a prank. Though a bit of confirmation of the fact would be nice..
Yeah, at this point I’m sure it’s a joke, but like you, I think some confirmation would be nice.
But earlier, before the whole “I can hear my mum” tweet, it did seem like something could be wrong.
Yea exactly..which is why I deprived myself of much needed sleep. Its pickling my head.
Hopefully tomorrow morning one of them will have tweeted and revealed its all a bit of elaborate fun.
http://www.dionaea-house.com/
Sounds like they discovered some old internet fiction and thought it was funny. Is what.
Yeah, and this story (all it’s collected parts and concept) are supposedly being made into a movie to be released this year called “the occupants”, which there are a few rumors that the pair may have some involvement in.
Hi,
Been following this since the start as well, and while initially alarmed, I am confident that it’s a joke.
Well, not a joke, more a radio play web 2.0 style. I love it and can’t wait for more.
Note that I am basing this on their collective genius and that if you check out @nickjfrost tweets on it, one of them is updated ‘from web’ despite the fact he is saying he’s outside the house. This would imply that it’s scripted and they’re sitting somewhere laughing their arses off.
I love the details though. @EmmaK67, a fellow actor, expressing worry, and there’s a UK film magazine, the name escapes me, that tweeted that he had missed his interview with them.
Love it though. Brilliant stuff.
They’re now posting in Greek:
Είναι δικά μου τα παιδιά τώρα.Γιά εσένα έχουν χαθεί.Μην προσπαθήσεις να τα βρείς.
The only thing i can find as a translation is something like
“Are my own children [something].[something] [something] have [something].[something] you try him you find”
They’ve probably just gone on holiday and won’t be tweeting for a while?
“Είναι δικά μου τα παιδιά τώρα”: Children are mine now.
“Γιά εσένα έχουν χαθεί”: They are lost/gone for you.
“Μην προσπαθήσεις να τα βρείς.” Don’t try to find/search for them.
despite the fact that this is, at this point, pretty clearly a joke (though an *excellent* one) I would like to point out that “from the web” *could* indicate that nick frost posted from the mobile twitter website.
Attic demon speaking Attic Greek?