It would seem that no one has really made a post about this topic... I find this rather surprising... However, I did read a few curious articles on something called the Lavender town syndrome... Apparently the music for Lavender Town in Pokemon Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow Versions, had sound frequencies that caused severe illness or suicide in many children and teenagers during the years of 1995 and 1996... This effect was called the Lavender Town Syndrome or the Lavender Tone. The Lavender town theme from the original four games was also looked over a program that turns sound waves into images, and many curious images had been presented, including those of a Cross, a Swastika, a Pentagram, a Crescent Moon, and curiously, the final image that was produced was a group of Unown that spelled out the phrase "LEAVE NOW"... This is especially mysterious, because Unown had not even been added to the game until Gold, Silver, and Crystal... Well, I definitely know what I'm gunna do with my old copy of Red Version... Time to get my cross and bible. But in all seriousness, what do you guys think? Is it creepy? Do you find this interesting? What are your thoughts on the Lavender town syndrome? Perhaps you might think that there is truth to this urban legend, as I do... Or perhaps you think it may be coincidental to a suicide trend that had been occurring around that time... Tell me, what are your thoughts?
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The Lavender Town Syndrome
- Thread starter The iFlare
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I dunno, I've never thought it was related to the music or the place. I've heard sadder music and I always liked Lavender Town (creepy I know D:<). I think it just happened to hit a trend at the same. Saying this, 1995 I'd just been born so I can't comment too much apart from the facts I can look back on.
Yoshimitsu
Former Moderator
Considering the Unown didn't exist until well after Red and Blue...
It was obvious this was bollocks before I even started reading.
It was obvious this was bollocks before I even started reading.
You probably found some fan-made articles that attempt to make Pokemon into a horror story to frighten you or some other such nonsense: much like the story about "Ash's father," and the "Creepy Pokemon" story in which Pokemon green caused people to kill themselves or something. It's all just fiction created with the purpose of scaring/intriguing people. There's no actual grounds for the claim.
In short: I agree with El's statement :x
In short: I agree with El's statement :x
It has about as much basis in fact as, say, the Paul is Dead theory, or that subliminal messages in rock music make you commit suicide (see #2).
In other words, absolutely none.
ETA: Although, because I'm bored, I might just put this to the test:
In other words, absolutely none.
ETA: Although, because I'm bored, I might just put this to the test:
Okay, here are the results of my experiment:
Firstly, R/B/Y music is in MIDI format, so it's pretty hard to put it through a computer without it being altered in some way. This is because MIDI simply lists the notes to play: the device that plays it just plays it with the instruments it's told to, and a Game Boy will have different instruments to a PC. I decided to record the output directly from my Game Boy Colour running Pokémon Yellow, just to be as accurate as possible.
The most immediate thing I noticed was that you're not going to get anything resembling an image out of a MIDI file. In fact, I found an example of an image being encoded into a track of audio here. The image is played (through the same program I'm using) at 5:26. Now, you can be pretty damn sure that the noise that song makes could not, in any form, be generated by the Game Boy. But, you know, let's not discount it just yet. Conspiracy theorists wouldn't, so why should I, a humble servant of truth and science?
Anyway. Here's the theme, rendered as a picture.
Now, I don't know about you, but there's no way I can see any skulls, swastikas, Unown, or even fluffy kittens in that picture. It's just a mass of colour, roughly modulating in time with the track. In fact, trying to turn a swastika image (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ka.svg.png) into sound results in this.
So there we go. Science has disproved this theory once and for all. Which, funnily enough, science tends to do when faced with conspiracy theories or creepypasta.
Firstly, R/B/Y music is in MIDI format, so it's pretty hard to put it through a computer without it being altered in some way. This is because MIDI simply lists the notes to play: the device that plays it just plays it with the instruments it's told to, and a Game Boy will have different instruments to a PC. I decided to record the output directly from my Game Boy Colour running Pokémon Yellow, just to be as accurate as possible.
The most immediate thing I noticed was that you're not going to get anything resembling an image out of a MIDI file. In fact, I found an example of an image being encoded into a track of audio here. The image is played (through the same program I'm using) at 5:26. Now, you can be pretty damn sure that the noise that song makes could not, in any form, be generated by the Game Boy. But, you know, let's not discount it just yet. Conspiracy theorists wouldn't, so why should I, a humble servant of truth and science?
Anyway. Here's the theme, rendered as a picture.
Now, I don't know about you, but there's no way I can see any skulls, swastikas, Unown, or even fluffy kittens in that picture. It's just a mass of colour, roughly modulating in time with the track. In fact, trying to turn a swastika image (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ka.svg.png) into sound results in this.
So there we go. Science has disproved this theory once and for all. Which, funnily enough, science tends to do when faced with conspiracy theories or creepypasta.
Proven to be a fake rumor for a while now.
There have been many horror stories about children suiciding because of certain sounds played, pictures ingame referencing bio-weapon research groups from WW2 Japan and other crap.
All of this was faked, no real proof exists.
And as Data said, you cannot hide pictures in music. At least not into music that sounds like music.
Lavandias theme, while creepy, is still too melodic to pass through as anything that could resemble a code. It would have to be musical gibberish to work like that.
Lavandia is creepy enough as it is and the devs know that. Its something that hasnt been repeated ever since. All the ritual and graveyard places since then didnt even come close to being as grim as Lavandia.
There have been many horror stories about children suiciding because of certain sounds played, pictures ingame referencing bio-weapon research groups from WW2 Japan and other crap.
All of this was faked, no real proof exists.
And as Data said, you cannot hide pictures in music. At least not into music that sounds like music.
Lavandias theme, while creepy, is still too melodic to pass through as anything that could resemble a code. It would have to be musical gibberish to work like that.
Lavandia is creepy enough as it is and the devs know that. Its something that hasnt been repeated ever since. All the ritual and graveyard places since then didnt even come close to being as grim as Lavandia.
Hmmm... This indeed has opened my eyes a bit... And I do believe that this may have just been a stunt by a fan to get more "thrill-seekers" to play the game I suppose... But probably not... There may also be the case that the church seems to constantly be at war with the pokemon franchise, so this could've just been concocted by them to get people to stop playing the game... However... I still find this controversy very interesting in its own right... It has been proven that certain sound frequency can only be heard by children under the age of innocence due to the fact that their brains have much more acute reactions to the environment, which is, in-turn, due to the fact that the brain is not fully developed, and that these frequencies can influence behavior (Or so I've read). So, they could, indeed, write a song with certain frequencies that someone over a certain age cannot hear, but a younger person could... And it, in-turn, could cause a child to commit suicide or some other act... However, I'm with you guys on this one now... In the case of Lavender town causing mass suicide in kids and teens is complete bull. But what would you all think if this had actually been the truth?
I severely doubt this was anything fabricated by any church. It's more like one of those creepypasta stories - a fictional story meant to creep you out, and never intended to be displayed as fact.
And that stuff about being able to create a tune that causes children to off themselves is entirely ridiculous in my point of view, especially if where you've read that information is anything like the place you got this story from. Noise can kill you but it normally has to be very loud and doesn't involve mind-control.
I personally fail to see any reason to continue this discussion. If all of this had been true then we'd have a bunch of dead kids and I can assure you that the last decade would have been Pokemon-less at the very least.
I'm going to lock this now, as I don't see any value in this discussion.
And that stuff about being able to create a tune that causes children to off themselves is entirely ridiculous in my point of view, especially if where you've read that information is anything like the place you got this story from. Noise can kill you but it normally has to be very loud and doesn't involve mind-control.
I personally fail to see any reason to continue this discussion. If all of this had been true then we'd have a bunch of dead kids and I can assure you that the last decade would have been Pokemon-less at the very least.
I'm going to lock this now, as I don't see any value in this discussion.
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