Horror Report

Day: February 7, 2026

  • When I root, I root for the school spirits

    When I root, I root for the school spirits

    Ever since Stranger Things ended, a lot of people have been desperately searching for the next best thing to replace it. In that search, many have discovered that a younger audience, especially in the Gen Z world, has been watching something else all along.


    It may not be a perfect comparison to Stranger Things, but a growing number of viewers have become dedicated to the Paramount+ series School Spirits. It hasn’t been heavily advertised, and you don’t see it dominating major media headlines, but the show has quietly built momentum — and now new episodes have just been released.


    School Spirits is a supernatural mystery drama centered on Maddie Nears, a high school senior who suddenly finds herself dead and trapped inside her own school with no memory of how she died. Instead of moving on to whatever comes next, Maddie discovers she’s stuck in a kind of ghostly limbo at Split River High, alongside other student spirits who also never crossed over.


    The twist? One living person remains her best friend Simon who can see and communicate with her.


    From there, the show unfolds as a serialized mystery. Maddie investigates her own disappearance and possible murder while navigating fractured friendships, romantic tension, buried secrets, and the strange rules governing the afterlife inside the school walls. It blends whodunit storytelling with emotional teen drama and supernatural lore.


    It’s less monster-of-the-week and more long-form mystery, with relationship arcs driving just as much of the tension as the central question: What really happened to Maddie?



    The series stars Peyton List as Maddie Nears, delivering a performance that balances vulnerability, frustration, and determination. Kristian Ventura plays Simon, the loyal friend caught between the living world and the spirit world. The ensemble also includes Milo Manheim as Wally Clark, Spencer MacPherson as Xavier Baxter, Kiara Pichardo as Nicole Herrera, and Sarah Yarkin as Rhonda Rosen.


    The strength of the show really rests in its ensemble, each spirit has their own backstory, regrets, and unfinished business, which deepens the mythology and emotional stakes as the series progresses.


    The show has not just a cult following but an actually dedicated fan base that seems to be expanding. It does cross some generational divides, but clearly and squarely has a youthful demographic. That said, it’s creative and fun and supernatural and edgy.


    Maybe you’ll like it and maybe you won’t. But even if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. Enough people do that it’s clearly become something popular.

  • Some say Epstein didn’t kill himself. Others say he is still alive happily playing Fortnite

    Some say Epstein didn’t kill himself. Others say he is still alive happily playing Fortnite

    Did you hear the one that Jeffrey Epstein was still alive playing Fortnite?
    You probably did. It’s an online rumor. It’s being reported in mainstream news. But there’s also reporting that Epic Games has attempted to debunk the notion.


    We’ll explain. Or try to.


    What Actually Happened


    The speculation began after recently released DOJ documents related to Jeffrey Epstein included a reference to a YouTube username reportedly linked to him: “littlestjeff1.”


    Around the same time, online sleuths noticed that a Fortnite account using the same name appeared on third-party tracking sites. Some of those tracking sites showed gameplay statistics extending beyond Epstein’s reported death in August 2019 .. and even into more recent seasons!


    That was enough to ignite the everything that needed to be to make this into a story.


    Adding to the intrigue, people began circulating claims that the account had purchased V-Bucks (Fortnite’s in-game currency) in 2019. Screenshots and stat pages were shared widely. Then, as attention intensified, the account reportedly went private which only fueled further speculation.


    Epic Games has publicly stated that the account in question is not Jeffrey Epstein. According to reporting, a regular player changed their display name to “littlestjeff1” after the Epstein documents were released. Third-party tracking websites show current display names, not historical ownership records — meaning a name match does not equal identity confirmation.


    Epic also reportedly stated they have no record tying Epstein’s known email addresses to any Fortnite account.


    There is no verified evidence that Epstein had an active Fortnite account, and no evidence that he is alive playing the game.

    There is even speculation along with the Fornite angle that Epstein swapped prisons and the photos of his corpse and the post-suicide cell are all made up..


    And Then There’s the Photo


    As if that wasn’t enough, the UK Daily Mail published a photo that some online commentators claim resembles Epstein — older, with facial hair, appearing in a casual outdoor setting. Predictably, the image began circulating alongside the Fortnite rumors.


    But again, resemblance alone is not verification.


    There has been no credible authentication of the photo as showing Epstein, and no official confirmation supporting claims that he survived his 2019 death. Viral images, especially in high-profile cases, can spread rapidly before context or verification catches up.


    The Bigger Picture


    Online communities will continue to sleuth. That’s what we do. And rumors will continue to be generated, that’s also what happens from sleuthing.


    But what’s important is that as a human species we need more answers.

    However the investigation is over. So we won’t get them, at least from law enforcement..


    The lack of further investigation of the files makes that even more painful. Gaps invite speculation. Silence invites narrative. And in the age of screenshots and stat trackers, coincidence can look like confirmation in seconds.