Fiction
"He's- he's everywhere! He could be in this cake, or in this punch, or in this present!"
— Jenny Wakeman, My Life as a Teenage Robot
"He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake"
He knows when you're awake"
— "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
A door left open,
A woman walking by,
A drop in the water,
A look in the eye,
A phone on the table,
A man on your side,
Someone that you think that you can trust
Is just another way to die
A woman walking by,
A drop in the water,
A look in the eye,
A phone on the table,
A man on your side,
Someone that you think that you can trust
Is just another way to die
— "Another Way to Die"
, theme song from Quantum of Solace
, theme song from Quantum of Solace"Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you away"
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you away"
— Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth"
"D-D-D-Danger! Watch behind you,
There's a stranger out to find you!"
There's a stranger out to find you!"
— DuckTales (1987) opening theme
"I'm walking down a street where children play
When they see me they run away
She will not look at me, she won't say why
And when I ask her she just cries
No-one will talk to me, they turn to go
Their faces say there's something I should know
Could I be a victim of the games of all my friends?
Or am I really being watched by the eye of the lens
When they see me they run away
She will not look at me, she won't say why
And when I ask her she just cries
No-one will talk to me, they turn to go
Their faces say there's something I should know
Could I be a victim of the games of all my friends?
Or am I really being watched by the eye of the lens
—Comsat Angels, "Eye of the Lens"
"Listen, they're laughing in the halls
They rip your face with lies
To buzzing eyes you cry for help
Like gods they bark replies"
They rip your face with lies
To buzzing eyes you cry for help
Like gods they bark replies"
—Scott Walker, "Plastic Palace People"
"I don't know anymore
Are the neighbors watching me?
Well, is the mailman watching me?!
And I don't feel safe anymore,
Oh, what a mess
I wonder who's watching me now
Who, the IRS?!"
Are the neighbors watching me?
Well, is the mailman watching me?!
And I don't feel safe anymore,
Oh, what a mess
I wonder who's watching me now
Who, the IRS?!"
—Rockwell, Somebody's Watching Me
"Congratulations, kiddo. You get to live another day - but what about tomorrow? Or the next day? As long as you've got those cybernetics in you, I'll be sitting here waiting for my chance to take...you...out. We're past playing games, Rhysie. All I need is time. One day... when you've forgotten all about me... I'll take over your body and skin you alive with your own two hands. Perhaps when you're sleeping... getting laid... taking a shit... or who knows, maybe I'll play the long game and watch you wither away with age."
"Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something's always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone's always there"
I have a constant fear that something's always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone's always there"
— Iron Maiden, "Fear of the Dark"
"So you know that when it's time to sink or swim
That the face inside is watching you too
Right inside your skin"
That the face inside is watching you too
Right inside your skin"
— Linkin Park, "Papercut"
"I know who you are. I know your names. I know where you live. I know where you work. I know who your loved ones are.
Go home. Now. Don't try another robbery. And go to work tomorrow.
I'll be watching you."
Go home. Now. Don't try another robbery. And go to work tomorrow.
I'll be watching you."
— Batman, The Batman Adventures #59
"The Court of Owls watches,
watches all the time.
Ruling Gotham from shadowed perch,
behind granite and lime.
They watch you at your hearth.
they watch you in your bed,
speak not a whispered word of them,
or they'll send The Talon for your head."
watches all the time.
Ruling Gotham from shadowed perch,
behind granite and lime.
They watch you at your hearth.
they watch you in your bed,
speak not a whispered word of them,
or they'll send The Talon for your head."
— Court of Owls Folksong, Batman: Night of the Owls
"He's everywhere. Everywhere! He's sitting at your desk, he's kissing your lover, he's eating supper with your family!"
— Mr. White on Blofeld, Spectre
"I can't go out no more.
There's a man by the door
in a raincoat
smoking a cigarette.
There's a man by the door
in a raincoat
smoking a cigarette.
—Stephen King, Paranoid: A Chant
Kent Mansley: You know, Hogarth, we live in a strange and wondrous time: the Atomic Age. But there's a dark side to progress, Hogarth. Ever hear of Sputnik?
Hogarth: Yeah, first satellite in space.
Kent Mansley: Foreign satellite, Hogarth, and all that implies. Even now it orbits overhead - (Gestures with spoon) Boop! Boop! - watching us. We can't see it but it's there.
Hogarth: Yeah, first satellite in space.
Kent Mansley: Foreign satellite, Hogarth, and all that implies. Even now it orbits overhead - (Gestures with spoon) Boop! Boop! - watching us. We can't see it but it's there.
I hear.
Them.
Everywhere. They're coming.
Can't sleep. Ever.
They'll eat me.
Eat.
Them.
Everywhere. They're coming.
Can't sleep. Ever.
They'll eat me.
Eat.
— PFC G. Haley, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, shortly before the GFMC were overrun
"There's a shark in the pool and a witch in the tree
A crazy old neighbor and he's been watching me
And there's footsteps loud and strong coming down the hall
Something's under the bed, now it's out in the hedge
There's a big black crow sitting on my window ledge
And I hear something scratching through the wall"
A crazy old neighbor and he's been watching me
And there's footsteps loud and strong coming down the hall
Something's under the bed, now it's out in the hedge
There's a big black crow sitting on my window ledge
And I hear something scratching through the wall"
— Shivaree, "Goodnight Moon"
"Someone is thinking of you right now."
—Lisa Morristown, NJ, on a Dove chocolate
"Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck."
— The Doctor on the Weeping Angels.
"From now on, you must take good care of your toys. Because if you don't, we'll find out, Sid. We toys (cue Exorcist Head) can see evvvvrryyythingggg... So play nice."
"There's a word for people who think everyone's out to get them."
"PERCEPTIVE!"
"PERCEPTIVE!"
— Chris Magruder and C. W. Briggs, Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Spike: Do you really think this was too much for Twilight? That she ‘snapped under the strain?’ She came here and passed this ‘test’ with flying colors! Just like every other test Princess Celestia has thrown at her.
Princess Cadence: Then why –?
Spike: Lemme try again, just like all of the other hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of tests Princess Celestia has thrown at her. Day in, day out. Big tests, little tests, surprise tests, trick tests she wasn’t supposed to pass... every single day since she became Celestia’s student, Celestia has been testing her.
Princess Cadence: I think you exaggerate a bit.
Spike: Cadence, you’re talking to a guy who’s birthday was Twilight Sparkle’s very first test.
Princess Cadence: Ah... well... true...
Spike: She was supposed to fail that one too, by the way.
Princess Cadence: Errrrmm...
Spike: Right. You get it. Ever since Twilight was a filly, it’s been like this. She’s never known when the next test or trial or challenge was gonna come, or if she was being tested in some way right that very minute. Why do you think she studies all the time? Why she makes all those checklists? Why she flips out if everything doesn’t go exactly to schedule? The stress has made her completely bonkers.
Princess Cadence: Then why –?
Spike: Lemme try again, just like all of the other hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of tests Princess Celestia has thrown at her. Day in, day out. Big tests, little tests, surprise tests, trick tests she wasn’t supposed to pass... every single day since she became Celestia’s student, Celestia has been testing her.
Princess Cadence: I think you exaggerate a bit.
Spike: Cadence, you’re talking to a guy who’s birthday was Twilight Sparkle’s very first test.
Princess Cadence: Ah... well... true...
Spike: She was supposed to fail that one too, by the way.
Princess Cadence: Errrrmm...
Spike: Right. You get it. Ever since Twilight was a filly, it’s been like this. She’s never known when the next test or trial or challenge was gonna come, or if she was being tested in some way right that very minute. Why do you think she studies all the time? Why she makes all those checklists? Why she flips out if everything doesn’t go exactly to schedule? The stress has made her completely bonkers.
— Chapter 2, Parting Words
Emma Emmerich: Do you know how many genes exist in an individual?
Raiden: About 30 to 40 thousand...?
Emma: Right. That's what was announced at the turn of the century. But there's actually 100 thousand, according to the original theory advanced by the scientific community. Information regarding the remaining 60 thousand was suppressed by the Patriots.
Raiden: (incredulous) No!
Emma: Why? How would you know? Do you know what a gene looks like? Did you count them yourself?
Raiden: About 30 to 40 thousand...?
Emma: Right. That's what was announced at the turn of the century. But there's actually 100 thousand, according to the original theory advanced by the scientific community. Information regarding the remaining 60 thousand was suppressed by the Patriots.
Raiden: (incredulous) No!
Emma: Why? How would you know? Do you know what a gene looks like? Did you count them yourself?
"Elmo knows where you live!"
— Elmo, chasing down the donation-faking Homer, The Simpsons
"Can't sleep! Clown will eat me!"
— Bart Simpson, The Simpsons
"Well, you say that you're paranoid, but I have a report here that says you looked "very relaxed" in the bath this morning."
— Frankie Boyle on Mock the Week, "Bad Things to Hear at the Psychiatrists'"
"Before Lethal Weapon 2 I didn't think there could be a bomb in my toilet, but now I check every time."
— Homer Simpson, The Simpsons
"I stayed up all night watching M, and now I'm paranoid."
— Two Days in Paris
Did you know there’s a Faceless Old Woman who secretly lives in your home? It’s true! She’s there now. She’s always there, just out of your sight. Always just out of your sight.
Because you cannot see her, you were probably completely unaware that this woman likes to sift through photos of you and your loved ones. She softly touches each face, as if wishing it were her own. Or perhaps claiming it as her own. Or perhaps simply cursing that person. It’s hard to say. You’ve never seen her doing this.
The Faceless Old Woman who secretly lives in your home does lots of things.
— Cecil Palmer, Welcome to Night Vale
"Master, look out. I'm detecting a strong demon nearby."
"I understand why ASGORE waited so long to hire a new royal scientist. The previous one... Dr. Gaster. His brilliance was irreplaceable. However, his life... was cut short. One day, his experiments went wrong, and... Well, I needn't gossip. After all, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening."
—Gaster follower, Undertale
The paranoia such clones create in Tradition mages, and even our colleagues in the Conventions, is extreme. One never knows whether his spouse, child, master, or even beloved pet could in truth be a Progenitor agent.
—Mage: The Ascension - Convention Book: Progenitors
"Alaska is very cold and no place to run. I would find you. I can track your cell phone— remember?"
—Christian Grey, Fifty Shades of Grey
Yes, staff members who have been assigned to SCP-231 are allowed to take a Class A Amnesiac before leaving the project if so desired. Yes, false memories are then implanted. No, none of the supposed methods for recovering or detecting false memories work. Yes, there are some of you who've worked on SCP-231 and don't remember it.
—O5-██, SCP Foundation entry for SCP-231
Tessa: Can I ask what this is about? Was that drawing a monster you saw?
Anemone ...Yes. Outside your window, on most nights.
Anemone ...Yes. Outside your window, on most nights.
Drones are watching you. The most important and probably the most (if only) accurate assumption you can make about Drones is that they're everywhere. No, of course not literally; these guys are probably even rarer than gorgons and damn rarer than fomori. But that doesn't mean that the assumption is flawed. You should assume that they're everywhere, because they could be. The guy sitting in the parked car across from your place might be a Drone; the bank teller might be tapped into the OneSong; your credit cards, email accounts and online memberships may well have been tagged (you were keeping an eye on those already, right?). We're a people at war, and we may be staring at a new kind of enemy trooper. A little paranoia goes a long way.
—Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Possessed: A Player's Guide
Man is the warmest place to hide.
If I was an imitation, a perfect imitation, how would you know if it was really me?
—Childs, The Thing (1982)
You guys gonna listen to Garry? You gonna let him give the orders? I mean, he could be one of those things!
—Windows, The Thing (1982)
How do you know who is a Controller and who isn't? That's the problem. You don't. You can look deep into the eyes of the person you trust most and never, ever guess that behind those eyes is an alien parasite.
Now you know why I won't tell you my last name. Or where I live. Not even what state. See, I want to live.
—Animorphs #15: The Escape
James: "It's good to be alive!"
Dave: "You could wake up with cancer."
James: "But I'm healthy!"
Dave: "Healthy people still get cancer."
—TheOdd1sOut, "Life is Fun"
Lead could be hiding anywhere. On the window, in the dust, it might be there.
—The Lead Police, Sesame Street, "Lead Away"
Bad people might not *look* bad. They look like everybody else does. They can be nice-looking, nice-*smelling*, and cool, too. They might even have a stash of yummy candies in their pockets.
—Ms. P, How To Tell Your Child, "Safety Lessons on Child Sexual Abuse"
Germs hide in all kinds of places: on cell phones, pets, counter tops, doorknobs, and, of course, in the bathroom, too.
I can’t trust anyone. Some of them are really good at hiding it, so I have to assume the worst. If I can figure out how it happens, maybe I can avoid it. But what then? How high does it go? Am I the only one left? They want to make me one of them; I can tell by the way they approach me, try to get me to go along with them. But how does it happen? There has to be a way to stay myself. Of course, that’s assuming it’s not already too late.
Some of my friends say they see it too, that we need to stick together. But can I trust them? What if it’s all part of a plot to replace me? What if they are thinking the exact same thing? Even if we are all still human, can I trust them not to make a fatal mistake?
—"Visages - Apocalypse," The End of the World: Alien Invasion
"This Spy has already breached our defenses. You see what he's done to our colleagues! And worst of all... he could be any one of us."
—BLU Spy on his RED counterpart, Team Fortress 2
"'Cause we're asymptomatic while it's in incubation."
It's a jungle out there
Poison in the very air we breathe
Do you know what's in the water that you drink?
Well, I do. And it's amazing
People think I'm crazy, 'cause I worry all the time
If you paid attention, you'd be worried, too
You better pay attention
Or this world we love so much might just kill you
I could be wrong now, but I don't think so
Poison in the very air we breathe
Do you know what's in the water that you drink?
Well, I do. And it's amazing
People think I'm crazy, 'cause I worry all the time
If you paid attention, you'd be worried, too
You better pay attention
Or this world we love so much might just kill you
I could be wrong now, but I don't think so
— "It's a Jungle out There", theme song from Monk
Maybe this won't last very long. Our cosmos's light, a fluctuation. In that case, it's probable we are, a brain without a jar, decomposed in a moment. Who knows if that's true, and I'll be gone? Thermalised, before you hear this song? I'll take my chances, though I can't disprove these answers, that there's a reason for entropic time.
— A Capella Science, "Entropic Time"
Luckily, there are not a great number of real witches in the world today. But there are still quite enough to make you nervous. In England, there are probably one hundred of them altogether. Some countries have more, others, not so many. No country in the world is completely free from WITCHES.
What makes her doubly dangerous is the fact that she doesn't look dangerous. Even when you know all the secrets (you will hear about those in a minute), you can still never be sure whether it is a witch you are gazing at or just a kind lady.
For all you know, a witch might be living next door to you right now. Or she might be the woman with the bright eyes who sat opposite you on the bus this morning. She might be the lady with the dazzling smile who offered you a sweet from a paper bag in the street before lunch. She might even— and this will make you jump— she might even be your lovely schoolteacher who is reading these words to you at this very moment. Look carefully at that teacher. Perhaps she is smiling at the absurdity of such a suggestion. Don't let that put you off. It could be part of her cleverness. I am not, of course, telling you for one second that your teacher actually is a witch. All I'm saying is that she might be one. It is highly unlikely, but— and here comes the big but— it's not impossible.
Can you feel that itch on the top of your head? It could be one of them crawling instead, but it won't bite unless it senses fear, so just stay calm until it's gone in a year.
— Songdrops, "Tarantulas"
There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.
Logan Wallace: Have you ever thought about how, like, weird open houses are?
Naomi Wallace: What?
Logan: I mean, you give your keys to someone you hardly know, they stand in one room and welcome in a bunch of complete strangers, and those people just roam around the house. And the realtor doesn't check the house when it's done, right? They just... turn the lights off and go?
Naomi: Okay, well, now I'm not gonna sleep tonight.
Logan: Maybe you shouldn't sleep tonight.
Naomi Wallace: What?
Logan: I mean, you give your keys to someone you hardly know, they stand in one room and welcome in a bunch of complete strangers, and those people just roam around the house. And the realtor doesn't check the house when it's done, right? They just... turn the lights off and go?
Naomi: Okay, well, now I'm not gonna sleep tonight.
Logan: Maybe you shouldn't sleep tonight.
I'm questioning everything my little eyes lies on
These things are stalking in the shadows, turn the lights on
Is that a TV or a Typhon?
Anything that I saw could potentially become a ticking time bomb
These things are stalking in the shadows, turn the lights on
Is that a TV or a Typhon?
Anything that I saw could potentially become a ticking time bomb
— JT Music, "Open Your Eyes"
It's the breathing on the phone, hiding just beneath the tone,
It's the things that shift when no one's home.
Well, you may be on your own, but you'll never be alone.
Yes, we all live here, but it's no one's home.
It's the things that shift when no one's home.
Well, you may be on your own, but you'll never be alone.
Yes, we all live here, but it's no one's home.
We know.
—Mysterious Note, Skyrimnote
If you ever feel lonely, remember: I'm in your walls.
Capt. Benjamin Sisko: "What if it wasn't a dream? What if this life we're leading, all of this, you and me, everything; what if all this is the illusion?"
Joseph Sisko: "That's a scary thought."
Benjamin Sisko: "I know, I know. But maybe, just maybe, Benny isn't the dream; we are. Maybe we're nothing more than figments of his imagination. For all we know, at this very moment, somewhere far beyond all those distant stars, Benny Russell is dreaming of us."
—Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Far Beyond the Stars"
Real Life
"Life is made of fear. Some people eat fear soup three times a day. Some people eat fear soup all the meals there are. I eat it sometimes. When they bring me fear soup to eat, I try not to eat it, I try to send it back. But sometimes I'm too afraid to and have to eat it anyway."
—Martin Amis, Other People
"Twin Peaks is one of those rare shows that managed to simultaneously create and peak an entire genre....After the series' initial run, owls could have conquered the world had they realized how terrified we suddenly were of them. For a solid year, every single viewer checked behind their couch for errant BOBs before they sat down."
"The spectre of war turns the human mind to a topic it usually does everything to avoid; mortality. And the next generation of war may be a total kind we can't yet imagine. We keep hearing stories of pathogens going missing from various labs, making this writer wish he didn't watch so many X-Files reruns."
"To this day I cannot put a cash card into a hole in the wall without fearing I am about to be gassed to death by putrid green gas."
"We look the other way when a prop ends up in the wrong hand from one shot to another, or when a set faintly wobbles... Lost was a show that was well aware of such proclivities. In the Season One DVD release, a featurette included a discussion of this very phenomenon. Perhaps this is what spawned one of the most outlandish theories regarding the show – that the production team made certain mistakes on purpose."
"The trouble is, some children are timorous and some children are reckless [...] but in order to save the lives of reckless children, warnings are calibrated for their safety. The result of which is that the timorous live in a state of perpetual terror. What I needed to be told was 'You know what, most days you won't die, it's fine.' I wasn't ever going to run across a three-lane motorway. The very existence of a three-lane motorway in the same postcode as me made me not want to leave the house."
"There's also a feeling that we have in our youth that we live forever and that nothing bad would ever happen to us. But it's really not true; I went blind overnight and I could say it could happen to anyone at any time."
