In 2009, three separate packages arrived on the doorsteps of the Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney studios. They were anonymous packages with no postmarks or return addresses. No one saw them being delivered, and each had only a simple note attached which read:
“Bad Mouse”, in playful black lettering.
Strange, but the recipients decided to humor the packages anyway. When they were opened, they revealed several video tapes, with vague titles written on their tops; “Episode 1”, “Episode 2”, and so on, with 13 in total.
They contained episodes of what appeared to be an independent children’s show called Bad Mouse. The characters in the show were puppets and stuffed animals, similar to Mr. Meaty, Bear In The Big Blue House, Pajanimals, The Chica Show, etc. It was very low budget, with minimal resources being used in its production. The main character, Bad Mouse, was a mouse sock puppet, complete with two large ears, eyes, and buck teeth all made with paper. He had arms that were clearly stitched on in post and a cartoony tail that did not match the rest of him.
Other characters included a rabbit named Bunny, a sheep named Bah Bah, and a horse named Hoovay, along with some minor background characters. Like Bad Mouse, their designs were cobbled together, like they were made with what was available in the room at the time of filming. Everything they didn't have was added later. It was all in black and white, the backgrounds were simple, and the show was mostly a single-camera sitcom. Each episode revolved around Bad Mouse engaging in adventures pertaining to the "topic of the day" with his "friends", whether it be numbers, the alphabet, animals, colors, etc. Often the eponymous character would pull pranks and generally be a nuisance to those he came into contact with, hence his name. They were only about four or five minutes long each, complete with weird background music and ominous-looking title cards.
While the network executives did come to appreciate the creator's attempts at a show, and its unique premise of utilizing puppetry as opposed to say traditional animation, it was incredibly bland and lacking in its visual storytelling, generic in its plots, and the pacing would never entertain anyone over the age of three. Some scenes felt incredibly awkward too and rather forced in their executions. Coupled with the circumstances of how they acquired these tapes, this led the network executives to believe that whoever delivered these tapes to the studios was banking on Bad Mouse being made into an actual show.
Unfortunately, that was not how it worked. At first, they felt bad for rejecting the tapes, but the more they thought about it, the funnier it got. This? This was to be the creator's claim to fame? A half-assed puppet show dumped on the doorsteps of their studios? Did the creator expect these three studios to just air the episodes as is? Or did they expect the studios to do all the work for them and make it "better"? Seriously, how could Bad Mouse stand next to SpongeBob? The Teen Titans? Mickey Mouse?
Of course, this onslaught of insults was behind closed doors, right?
The network executives of the three studios decided to take their packages, and all of the Bad Mouse tapes, and toss them into the garbage. After that, they just went about their lives. Nothing bad happened. No one was mad about the tapes being rejected. It was just a simple, unfortunate situation...that also happened to be hilarious.
One week later, more packages arrived. It was the same as before, anonymous packages bearing the words "Bad Mouse" on them containing 13 tapes showing up at the doorsteps of the three studios. The network executives immediately knew what was going on. The creator of Bad Mouse was just going to keep mailing their packages to them until they aired the episodes, or alternatively, the creator thought that maybe improving Bad Mouse would somehow compel the networks to air it.
No one cared enough to watch them, and into the garbage they went.
Three...months...
Packages...trash...packages...trash...packages...trash...it was a vicious cycle that the three studios were so desperate to break. How desperate could the creator possibly be? What was so special about that crappy mouse puppet? Each studio remained in contact with one another, making sure none of them gave Bad Mouse the light of day. They stood strong in their beliefs though...until one week's package of Bad Mouse episodes came with a note inside:
"I know you're not watching me"
A little spooked, the network executives at Nickelodeon decided to, just this once, swallow their stupid pride and watch Bad Mouse, just to shut whoever was doing this up. When they popped the first episode into the projector, they were actually surprised. It looked strangely...good? The episodes were much longer in length, anywhere from 15-20 minutes, the plots were far more developed and interesting, and the music was a lot more tolerable, actually fitting the vibe of whatever was going on.
The episodes all had a wide variety of locations. From an office building to an old farm, a jungle, a space station, an airport, even a haunted house, no stone was left unturned. On top of that, the puppets were now on par with the likes of The Muppets, with the shoddy designs of the puppets being replaced with much more appealing styles. And even on top of that, the network executives actually found themselves...laughing? The creator was a good deal cleverer with what they did, making them not only entertaining for kids but could even appeal to adults. At one point, Bad Mouse even recreated The Mouse And The Motorcycle from 1986, singing a song that sounded like Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane". All of it was so endearing...
And dare they say, good...until the final minute of the last episode.
After the title card rolled once more, the network executives ignored the lack of credits, studios logos, and the like, instead marveling at how pleasantly surprised they were that Bad Mouse actually kind of learned their lesson. Though a shocker, it was still admirable, but their smiles faded, and laughter subsided when another scene came on the projector.
First off, it was not in the new and improved style the network executives had come to know in the two and a half hours they'd been watching these episodes. Bad Mouse, in his first iteration, the crude notebook paper and Elmer's Glue-made puppet, was keeled over a table, shaking violently. He was grabbing at the wood, trying to maintain his grip. He was in a dark room, with what seemed like a single spotlight shining on him off-camera. Speaking of the camera, an unknown, cartoony-sounding voice kept saying things like, "Bad Mouse? Are you alright?" and "Bad Mouse? What's happening to you?" The network executives cringed as what seemed to be white gloppy liquid began pouring out its mouth, like vomit. They even saw it come out from under his eyes and up towards his ears.
He wailed in pain, screaming "WHY? WHY DID THEY MAKE ME DO THAT?". Bad Mouse turned around towards the camera, his face now horrid and grotesque, a living nightmare. He was covered in the white liquid and streaming down his whole body, "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU RECORDI-"
Then it ended.
The network executives sat in silence for a long time, giving each other puzzled looks.
"What the fuck was that about?"
Immediately, any hopes they might've had about Bad Mouse were squandered. All of them were reminded exactly what this was, what Bad Mouse was. It was too late now. No matter how good this new batch of episodes was, it was still Bad Mouse. No network was ever going to air this trash. The network executives felt stupid for even considering, for a moment, airing that cheap pile of steaming horseshit.
Wiliam Stankowicz sat silently in the conference room with his colleagues as they pondered what kind of statement the creator was trying to make with that end scene, that whoever was propagating Bad Mouse was complaining about having to do all this hard work to suck up to the big three studios. His eyes momentarily fell to the conference room's entrance, and he thought his eyes were deceiving him. Stankowicz swore he saw a flash of white run out the door. He took a sip of water and shook his head.
The episodes went into the garbage once more. That week's tapes were not followed up by new ones.
No more Bad Mouse.
A year passed.
On Nick Jr, the characters Moose and Zee had in-between blocks where they provided information and education between shows. A segment where Moose was supposed to teach the audience about names suddenly interrupted. In the middle of speaking, Moose went frozen and silent, staring at the camera. The music cut out, and the screen glitched.
No one watching at home could recognize what they were seeing, but the network executives? They certainly did.
Bad Mouse was there, for all the world to see, never learning his lesson no matter how many times his "friends" had to tell him. Those 13 Bad Mouse episodes were playing on repeat. Occasionally, messages would appear on the screen, saying "I'M SORRY I YELLED!", "IT WAS JUST TOO MUCH!", "I PROMISE TO BE GOOD", and "I'M A GOOD MOUSE!"
What was Bad Mouse talking about?
It spread to Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel as well. Immediately, the three channels went to work to try and stop the intrusions, but their technicians couldn't find anything wrong with their signals. Bewildered, they tried to at least find where the signal intrusions were coming from. Nowhere. There wasn't even any foreign software or anything of the sort. Even trying to slap the technical difficulties screen on their channels didn't work. Nothing would happen, or Bad Mouse's signals would just override it.
Calls were made by confused parents, and all three channels had to lie and say that they had the situation "under control" and that they "promise(d) to resolve the issues".
They never did.
Powerless, Nickelodeon, Disney, and Cartoon Network released public statements. They made it absolutely clear that this was *not* their doing, that their broadcasts had been hijacked, and they didn't know who it was or where it was coming from. All they knew was that it was, "the work of a disgruntled individual whose ideas unfortunately didn't come to pass". With those statements out to linger in the air, the media flooded with rumors, theories, and speculation, and yet none of it was true...in the slightest.
As July came to a close, it all just stopped out of nowhere. The hijackings had slowed down significantly until they were practically nonexistent. Everyone was relieved, and by September, there was not a trace of Bad Mouse left. No one knew why it stopped, but at that point, no one cared. Finally, children could enjoy their favorite networks again. Still, as everything started getting back to normal, there was still the occasional hushed murmur that whoever was behind these hijackings would be back. If the three networks couldn't beat Bad Mouse the first time, how were they expecting to do it a second time...
2010 went, and 2011 came. Nothing unusual happened. As always, SpongeBob cooked Krabby Patties, Mickey Mouse took us on adventures around his clubhouse, and The Amazing World of Gumball was premiering its first season. Even the once active internet forums and threads were completely empty. Who cared about Bad Mouse anymore? It didn't work out like the creator wanted, and they got pissy over it. Clearly people would love Bad Mouse if it was shoved in their faces 24/7.
That was it...right?
So many more hijackings happened...
...and they weren't just Bad Mouse episodes...
They all began the same way, either flickering, frames repeating themselves, sound not syncing up, waving and jittering, or random pauses.
Sometimes, the screens would be replaced with deeply disturbing edits of whatever character was on screen. These ranged from simply making them appear angry and hateful towards the audience, to alternative scenes showing the characters doing dark and terrible things to both themselves and others. They ripped and tore pieces off their bodies and ate them, lit themselves on fire, slit their throats and licked the blood off their necks, jumped off buildings, bashed their heads against walls, drowned themselves in stagnant bodies of water, ate wild animals, threw up concoctions of blood, mucus, phlegm, and puss, defecated any and everywhere, and performed intense and graphic sexual acts on one another. They all had these unsettling smiles on their faces and big eyes that meshed way too well with each individual character.
These horrifying scenes were coupled with other things, usually a completely random image or video of something. Truthfully, it could be anything in the world. Bloodied static, close-ups of bugs, someone walking outside at night, the White House on fire, mice eating cheese, a sea of white liquid, a person being shot at point-blank range, a girl hanging from the ceiling, thunder storms, a factory accident in Kosovo, random phone calls, all manners of illegal pornography, a man dressed like Jesus Christ eating the face of a little boy while he screams in pain, music videos, alleged ghost encounters, a man having a seizure, burning houses, a crazed woman taking a chainsaw to her cat, security camera footage from a random location in the world, a baby getting torn apart by a rabid dog, just to name a few.
Vague and threatening messages were displayed, often making little to no sense at all. One example, which appeared as a glitchy sidescrolling bar of text during a hijacking of Victorious, is as follows:
"BADMOUSEISMENOITISNOTYOUWHYDOYOUEVENASPIRETOBEMEIAMBADMOUSENOTYOUHAHAHANEVERINAMILLIONYEARSWOULDIWANTIDONTKNOWIDONTTHINKITSWORTHITANYMOREDOYOUACTUALLYITHINKIDOBYEBYENOBYENOYESNONONOHINOHIWHYWOULDYOUSAYHIDONTSAYHISAYINGHIISBADEVENIFIWANTEDTOSAYHIICOULDNTMYMOUTHDOESNTWORKANYMOREITSBECAUSEIWASBADWITHITBUTHETOLDMEIDONTNEEDAMOUTHANYMORESOITSOKAY"
Bad Mouse would show up periodically, partaking in various chilling acts himself. He dumped a load of cats into a meat grinder and forced the meat out through his own mouth, danced around an effigy of a person made out of white liquid, wrote random words on himself, ran headfirst into a mirror, beat his fellow puppets and stuffed animals with a whip and forced them into either violent...provocative...situations, vomited into a gross dirty toilet, and just screamed at the screen. Occasionally, he could be seen in the background of the scenes above, just standing there, observing. Rarely, he would run over and partake in whatever was occurring.
During a hijacking of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the morning of July 25, a message from Bad Mouse claimed that August 12 would be “death day”. Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Disney...their blood ran cold. What did Bad Mouse mean? No one could know, but the message was already out there. The three networks were all in a panic. They attempted to cut the broadcasts again, just like the last time Bad Mouse attacked. They couldn't. It was happening all over again. Security cameras showed no suspicious activities. Arguments ensued, fingers were being pointed, and hardworking straight-A employees were fired. The situation looked grim. This was pure chaos, an all-out war. Of course, the media wasn't much help in this situation. By now, Bad Mouse wasn't just national news. It was international.
Everyone was at a loss of what to do. The only thing they could do was wait and see.
All three studios closed their doors the week of the purported "death day". Even though they didn't wish to appear weak or stupid, and wanted to show Bad Mouse that they weren't afraid of it, staying open would be suicide. Additional measures of safety included heightened security and police presences in and around the three buildings. No one knew what was to come, but they braced for the worst.
12:00 midnight, August 12, the three channels' broadcasts went dark, quite literally. A black staticky screen enveloped everything. Morning came and went, and everything seemed relatively normal. There was no action at any of the three studios yet. No one reported any strange activity. When the afternoon rolled around, however...
A 911 call was made by Nancy Kavner, the wife of Mike Kavner, one of Cartoon Network's network executives at the time. She was hysterical, manic, trying to stammer her words out but unable. When the operator asked her to calm down and explain what was happening, Nancy sniffed and said her husband was dead, laying in a puddle that was a mixture of blood and white liquid. She then said she felt the wind from something move right past her, and following it to her front door, she saw the end of a cartoony mouse tail exit her home.
Mike was not alone.
Every single network executive was dead...from Nickelodeon, to Cartoon Network, to Disney, all of them showed the exact same symptoms. Out of nowhere, they began choking, spitting, coughing, as if they were trying to get something out of their throats. Each of them stopped breathing, then dropped dead.
All...except William Stankowicz. It was quite suspicious that he was the only survivor out of his many colleagues. He was interrogated and subsequently tried in court, though both a lack of and conflicting evidence eventually left him pardoned. To this day, no one knows why he was left out of the Bad Mouse Killings. Some still say he was the one behind Bad Mouse, and paid people off to get out unscathed. As a network executive of one of the most famous kids programming blocks in the world, he certainly had the money for it. Stankowicz pleads his innocence, claiming that he saw the same Bad Mouse figure that Nancy saw in the doorway while reviewing the tapes. He's always been silenced.
Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney all closed for months after the incident and are still getting back on their feet today. As time went on, people began to wonder why the three networks would never make an official statement on Bad Mouse itself, only how sorry they were, their "thoughts and prayers" for the victims, how the people of this world should grow closer, and not let tragedies like this stop us from doing what we love. No one was particularly satisfied with that answer though, because it wasn't an answer. If Stankowicz wasn't Bad Mouse, then who is? Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney, they seem to know more than they're letting on. Though, if they wish to save face, keep up appearances, not have children fear their favorite channels, they're going to have to try a little harder, because Stankowicz's confession is already out there, and it's spreading like wildfire.