The video starts, revealing a small flower pot, almost filled with a rose and a daisy. The flower pot is beautiful. The flowers are healthy. They are happy. But what happens when a new space opens up? What will emerge to fill the space? This is the story of the internet horror series “Daisy Brown” by Julia Dapper, a story of a family, a flower pot, and a monster.
The series started on Twitter, with Julia playing the role of Daisy Brown, a nineteen-year-old girl who’s been isolated from the world most of her life, living with her father for as long as she can remember. She finds herself suddenly in need of advice, as her father is missing and he left her something strange: a monster. One of the first tweets on the Daisy Brown page is a plea for advice on how to take care of a monster. Through follow-up posts, it’s revealed that her father made a monster named Alan, and tasked Daisy with taking care of him before leaving. Alan is described as being a purple, “bean-shaped” creature who grows like a plant, stating he has clouded, white eyes that are unable to see or feel, and he must consume sugar to survive.
After being told to check the attic for any supplies or information on how to take care of Alan, Daisy finds a video camera and wipes the memory card, saying it only had pictures of an oddly familiar woman that Daisy didn’t know. Daisy starts making videos on the Youtube channel Daisy Brown and posts a video disclosing how she feeds Alan, before tweeting that she’ll be going to the zoo early in the next morning, posting a 50-second, silent video titled “At the zoo.” This video has no commentary and is simply a video of two chimpanzees hugging each other. Despite being almost completely silent, the closed captions reveal Daisy’s thoughts and emotions as she watches the scene unfold. The captions read as follows: “(footsteps and door creaking)” “(The silence of Loneliness)” “(the silence of longing)” “(the silence of desire, and contemplation)” This video shows just how isolated Daisy has been throughout her life, silently envying the comfort of a hug that she’s never experienced, longing to be like the chimps, to be held.
The next important video in the series is titled: “My Garden! what should i use to fill the empty space?” In which, as the name states, Daisy shows off her garden, and specifically a single flower pot, one space missing. This video is likely the single most important video of the series, as it has the most significant form of symbolism and imagery for the whole series. The next couple of videos show Alan’s growth, from him developing “roots” in places where a human’s appendages would be, the “roots” slowly grow into a mangled claw-like hand that Alan uses to drag himself around.
As Alan grows, his temperament slowly becomes more and more violent and vulgar, culminating in the video “friendship bracelet” where Daisy is trapped in her room with bandages around her ankle, explaining that “Alan is being a little violent right now.” Through the next several videos Daisy notes that “Alan is starting to eat meat now” and that he’s been aggressive and unpleasant. Being made uncomfortable by the one companion she has, Daisy finds a cat and names it Strawberry. This friendship doesn’t last very long, however, as the very next video is titled “Strawberry is gone” in which, it is heavily implied that Alan killed and ate Strawberry whilst Daisy was outside.
The next important video in the series is titled “the basement.” This acts as the crescendo of the series, as Alan pushes Daisy down the stairs into the basement, where she meets Lithop, a sentient paper plate, along with other sentient pieces of trash. After befriending Lithop, Daisy escapes the basement and comes up with a plan to sneak out of the house without Alan knowing, but the plan goes awry and Daisy tackles Alan, killing him. After which the last video is posted, depicting Lithop and Daisy talking on train tracks. This marks the end of the videos alone, though there’s more lore and context hidden in the series, all of which will be covered in the second edition.