The video began with pale clouds moving across a dark sky. An ominous synth swelled to an understated crescendo, and the words They Slipped Through materialized on the screen. They faded, and the words A HazyGurl Production took their place. When the music stopped, the image of the sky glitched, giving way to a dimly lit room and the face of HazyGurl, real name: Tanya. She had dark hair, mostly straight save for subtle waves, and a strong jawline. She wore light makeup to accentuate her eyes and mouth in the light of her monitor.
She was a hot chick. At least, she suspected as much after reading the copious amounts of comments about her appearance. From well-meaning remarks like "OMG, ur so pretty" to less scrupulous commentators declaring "I'd like to slip you something," she received no shortage of attention for her looks. While sometimes flattering and not always menacing or uncouth, she much preferred people who complimented her content. It sometimes made her wish she'd never put her face in these videos at all, but almost thirty thousand subscribers and seventy-three videos later, it was too late to turn back now.
"Hey, everyone," she said. "I'm HazyGurl, and this is the eleventh video in my series They Slipped Through, where I look at unsolved cases of people who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. If you're a longtime subscriber, you know this topic is important to me. If you're new to the channel, welcome, glad you're here. I hope you'll be staying."
That introduction took multiple takes. She kept stumbling over whether to say she's also glad her longtime subscribers were there. It led to some uncomfortable laughter and lots of "um, yeahs." Watching it back now in the same room where she filmed it made her cringe a little.
Even on her fifth time watching.
"The first case I want to talk about in this video is the story of Chase Corbin." The video cut to an image of an album cover. It showed a man wearing all black and holding a guitar as he stood in front of a crumbling colonial. The house looked abandoned and disused, but in one window glowed an eerie green light. The title Ghost Music was written across the night sky in a grimy blackletter font. Tanya's narration continued. "Some of you may know Chase's music. He played guitar and sang in a variety of bands before getting his big break with a solo record. On May 31 of 2018, he went missing."
The video cut from the album cover to HazyGurl staring darkly at the camera with a somber expression. "Now, some context is needed. Chase took a flight from Los Angeles, where he was living and making music, to Philadelphia the day prior. Apparently, he got a phone call from his ex, one Bernadette Campbell, telling him their son was missing. She and their child lived in the Tucker County township of Burgundy Woods, where Chase grew up. There are records of him being on the flight. Bernadette claimed to see him upon his arrival. Beyond that? Not a trace. So, what happened?"
After that line, she smirked and tilted her head, a signature gesture that had found its way into all her videos. It started as a nervous tic, but she'd leaned into it, practiced it, used it deliberately and worked it into her act. It made her come off as more genuine. Humanly nervous, just like people who spent all their time on this site, watching but never making videos of their own. Her signature gesture led to a signature line: "I have some ideas about that."
As a transition, the dark sky footage came back, complete with another ominous piece of music. The words Background materialized against the moving clouds. The addition of a sweeping filter made the music dreamier as the footage cut back to Tanya in her room.
She went on to say that before moving to L.A., Chase had a band back home. Every member but Chase had died young and in a short amount of time. Even though authorities suspected no foul play, Chase left one night and didn't take Bernadette or their son Hunter with him. Shortly thereafter, he found success as a songwriter in Los Angeles.
Tanya didn't enjoy his music. Even though she had a deep appreciation for the darker things in life, Chase's work didn't captivate her imagination as much as his story did. Despite his experiences and eerie circumstances around his disappearance, his songs sounded manufactured rather than expressive, perhaps even a little dishonest.
She'd considered putting this commentary in her video but ultimately decided it didn't belong. Now, as she listened back, she wondered if she'd made the right decision. She always second guessed herself on how much of her personal editorializing to put into her content. Obviously, she needed some, otherwise she ran the risk of her content lacking personality. Too much, though? She might come off as self-important.
With this video already shot and edited, it was too late for such second guessing, but that never stopped her. Of course, she could film some more, but it was supposed to go up at 9 p.m. in her time zone, and she prided herself on keeping a schedule.
In the section on Chase Corbin, she mentioned rumors around his hometown band. How they were big into devil worship and spent a lot of time around the purportedly haunted Wheeler Mansion. A card linking to Tanya's video on the history of the Wheeler Mansion was set to pop up in the upper right corner of her video.
Tanya mentioned rumors of Chase's and his friends' involvement in the death of a girl named Madison Carli Byrd, whose prom photo popped up on the screen as Tanya spoke about her. She had a link in the video description to a podcast dedicated to that unsolved case.
"Now, I admit," Tanya said to the camera, "these parts of the story sound like a case of weird kids getting a bum rap from so-called normies. I considered leaving it out, but I think it adds a little to the mystique. Is it too much? What do you think? Let me know in the comments."
She thought a lot about disabling comments, both when she started her channel and throughout her year and a half of uploading. Everyone said it was a bad idea if she wanted to build a following, and she was nothing if not eager for success. Just like everyone else on the platform, sure, but her content was something special. She couldn't disable the comments section and risk not getting seen.
"When Chase left Bernadette that night he flew in, he was going to look for their son," Tanya on video said. "If he said where, I couldn't find it in my research. Wherever he went, he didn't come back; but strangely enough, his son did."
Before the video could transition to its next section, where she'd delve into the subsequent police investigation before providing her own theories as to what happened, Tanya's phone went off. The jangly melody of her alarm jolted her out of the trance often brought on by hours of editing video, and she nearly jumped out of her seat. She fumbled for her mouse and paused the video, reached for her phone and killed the alarm, remembered what the alarm was for and yelled, "Shit!"
She pushed back her chair, leaned over her desk, and clicked the upload button. The progress bar popped up, and she left her bedroom. In the bathroom mirror, she made sure she looked presentable. Satisfied with black jeans and a smoky gray hoodie, she tied her hair in a ponytail, grabbed her purse, and headed for the door. The cool darkness of the mid-October evening combined with the smell of fallen leaves and the high of uploading another They Slipped Through video put a spring in her step.