Prepared by Associates at MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC., and in cooperation with Private Investigators and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
[1.0.0] Executive Summary
On October 17th, 2022, content creation studio MACKLEMAEDA Productions encountered what would be the first of many strange HTML files being uploaded to the company’s official website, confusing and alarming viewers. As the studio released weekly videos, on each Monday over the course of 9 weeks, 1-4 new files would appear. Fearing cybersecurity attacks, associates MACKLEMAEDA Productions reached out to our Private Investigation firm in an attempt to discover the source of these pages shortly after they began appearing.
Through thorough investigation, it remains unclear by what methods these files were uploaded, as no security breaches of any sort were detected. [[REDACTED]] Private Investigators were commissioned to compose this report gathering all findings relating to what is now colloquially known as the “Macklemaeda E-Hauntings”, in hope that cybersecurity may be fortified and similar happenings may be prevented from occurring in the future.
[2.1.0] MACKLEMAEDA Productions Background
By their own words, MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC is a North-America based comedy performance art dual act composed of twin brothers ‘Mackle’ and ‘Maeda’. The company is known for, in their own words, “parody and critique [of] virtual social spaces and art born of the modern internet while utilizing online flash games of the '00s as an art medium.” Starting in 2017, most MACKLEMAEDA Productions take the form of Club Penguin Music Videos, frequently referred to as ‘CPMV’s (or even ‘CPCMV’s, for Club Penguin Cosplay Music Videos). However, they have also dabbled in ventures more oriented towards video- and audio-production, as well as business and web development.
The art house had their first taste of micro-stardom when their recreation of Webtoon artist Refrainbow’s “Boyfriends” became semi-viral in February of 2022. This video ended up launching a new series, ‘Webtoon BOYFRIENDS in CLUB PENGUIN: The CPMV: The Series’, featuring three episodes chronicling the tumultuous relationships between characters Kevin Jock, Vincent Prep, Felix Goth, and Adrian Nerd. The series culminated in the epic feature-length musical film, ‘Webtoon BOYFRIENDS in CLUB PENGUIN: The CPMV: The Series: The Movie Musical (2022)’, which premiered on the 11th of September of that same year. This film was the first Macklemaeda Production to utilize a combination of Artificial Intelligence with Mackle and Maeda’s own vocal talent to fully voice-act the entire 90 minutes. The cult classic soundtrack features a dozen songs, covering classic hits of the early 21st century, often putting their own unique twist on the lyrics.
The MACKLEMAEDA fan community, (or ‘Macklemmunity’,) is “small but mighty”, with their central YouTube channel sitting at approximately 300 subscribers at the time of this report. Passionate fans were quick to notice, chronicle, and theorize about the strange occurrences on the MACKLEMAEDA Official Website as soon as they began.
[2.2.0] Website Background
MACKLEMAEDA Productions’ Official Website (“www.macklemaeda.com”) was officially launched on the 18th of July, 2022. The website’s home page features a Highlighted Video reel (advertising ‘Webtoon BOYFRIENDS in CLUB PENGUIN: The CPMV: The Series: The Movie Musical (2022)’ and ‘An IMPORTANT Message from Mackle & Maeda’, discussing the events this report covers), an ‘About’ section, and a ‘What’s New’ section that is updated semi-regularly with updates relevant to MACKLEMAEDA fans. Pages on the website include a Contact e-mail form, a Reviews page containing highlighted comments from the company’s YouTube channel as well as a public guestbook, a list of all ‘Webtoon BOYFRIENDS in CLUB PENGUIN’ related content, and a list of all other general Club Penguin Music Videos. The website also hosts links to the company’s numerous social media accounts, including TikTok, Twitter, Discord, Instagram, Reddit, and Bandcamp.
The website is powered by Neocities, a free-to-use DIY site-hosting company. Notably, Neocities functions by assigning one user account to exactly one web domain, meaning the only way to access and edit the MACKLEMAEDA Official Website would be by accessing the MACKLEMAEDA Official Neocities account.
[3.0.0] Incident Timeline
Start of relevant timeline. [MM/DD/YY]
10/17/22 — Video A “KEVIN BE MINE CPMV” is uploaded to MACKLEMAEDA Productions YouTube channel (henceforth referred to as YT) as the launch of the channel’s new ‘MackleMondays’ event. Video A is tagged “#Him”, yet an unnamed MACKLEMAEDA Representative claims “[sic] it isn’t supposed to be tagged anything” (this is also claimed for all subsequent Videos). The final seconds of Video 01 are corrupted with static, displaying link to Item 01 (“www.macklemaeda.com/him”, “…?”). Hyperlinks to Item 01 are also embedded in new update of the website’s ‘What’s New’ section. Item 01 contains minimal text on a blank background (as all pages described henceforth are, unless stated otherwise) and features a hyperlink to the similar Item 02 (“www.macklemaeda.com/dark”, “I can’t see anything…”). On pre-existing webpage “www.macklemaeda.com/boyfriends”, a hyperlink to Item 03 (“www.macklemaeda.com/nerd”, “B E T R A Y A L”) is embedded in body text.
10/23/22 — MACKLEMAEDA Directors & CEOs ‘Mackle’ and ‘Maeda’ announce that they have been made aware of quote “disturbing messages” on their website (“www.macklemaeda.com”) in Video B (‘…Announcement…’). Representatives from MACKLEMAEDA Prods contact PI to begin conducting a formal investigation. Video C (‘KO BANANZA CPMV’) is uploaded to YT shortly after, tagged “#cold”, in which the final few seconds are again corrupted and briefly display link to Item 04 (“www.macklemaeda.com/cold”, “I can’t”). A hyperlink to Item 04 is hidden on Item 02. A plainly visible hyperlink on Item 04 leads to Item 05 (“www.macklemaeda.com/dear”, “are you there?”). Item 05 is the longest Item to date, featuring three hand-written journal entries. Within Item 05 are links to Items 06 and 07. Item 06 (“www.macklemaeda.com/memory”, “Oh!”) contains what appears to be one side of a conversation, ending with a plainly visible hyperlink to Item 04. Further inspection of Item 06 reveals both sides of the conversation, one of which has been blocked out from visibility on the page itself. Item 07 (“www.macklemaeda.com/anotherhim”, “I ‘ M H E R E”) contains a dimly lit image of character ‘Adrian Nerd’, from MACKLEMAEDA Productions content, wielding a large sword. Clicking on this image will cause the character’s eyes to glow red, a loud laugh sound is autoplayed, and the webpage automatically redirects back to the homepage (“www.macklemaeda.com”). Item 03 is also updated to now lead to Item 07.
10/31/22 — Video D (‘SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KO CPMV’), tagged “#memoriam”, ends with a ‘Connection Lost’ pop-up, which an anonymous MACKLEMAEDA Representative asserts is “not in the original [video]”. The footage corrupts and briefly displays link to Item 08 (“www.macklemaeda.com/memoriam”, “In Memoriam”). Item 08 displays an Obituary for MACKLEMAEDA characters ‘Adrian Nerd’ and ‘Kevin Jock’, as well as incomplete funeral information and a defunct RSVP button. Attempting to RSVP through this button prompts an error dialogue pop-up which, upon closing, redirects the tab to “https://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14268”, a Web Forum titled ‘Tips for a Beginner Creating a Dating Sim?’ (03/09/12).
11/07/22 — Video E (‘BET ON IT CPMV’), tagged “#upload”, ends with 15 seconds of corrupted video footage, accompanied by a distorted voice (TRANSCRIPT: “[Oh Kevin, I told you we would be together forever.] [No.] [No one can stop me any more.] [No.] [I am the god of this world.] [No, No.] [What’s happening] [?]”). End of footage contains link to Item 09 (“www.macklemaeda.com/upload”, “Uploading…”). Item 09 directs to Item 10 (“www.macklemaeda.com/kev”, “Upload Successful”), which directs to Items 11-19 in the same fashion (“www.macklemaeda.com/kev/X”, in which X ranges through all values 1-9). Item 19 then directs back to the homepage.
11/14/22 — Video F (‘ANIMAL I HAVE BECOME CPMV’), tagged “#basement”, ends with corrupted footage of MACKLEMAEDA’s ‘Webtoon BOYFRIENDS in CLUB PENGUIN: The CPMV: The Series’ opening sequence. This clip features the characters ‘Felix Goth’ and ‘Vincent Prep’ with large, red ’X’s covering their face, while slowed piano from the theme ’Same Love’ by ‘Macklemore’ plays. No links are shown in this clip, but the video’s tag prompts following the pattern to visit Item 20 (“www.macklemaeda.com/basement”, “Live Feed - Basement”). Item 20 displays greyscale footage of the character ‘Kevin Jock’ in what appears to be a small cage in an unkempt basement, from two separate angles. Item 20 also displays the current date and time in the viewer’s time zone, implying the footage to be a live feed.
11/21/22 — Video G (“RUN FAST…CPMV”), tagged “#log”, has corrupted the last few seconds of video and audio. This first displays the text “he’s coming”, then the link to Item 21 (“wwww.macklemaeda.com/log”, “Audio Transcript”). Item 21 contains what appears to be a brief transcript. Embedded in this is a hyperlink to Item 22 (“www.macklemaeda.com/bones”, “Spheniscus magellanicus”), which contains a large image depicting the profile view of a penguin skeleton. Further research indicates the skeleton to specifically be a Magellanic penguin.
11/28/22 — Video F (“EVERY TIME WE TOUCH”), tagged “#bait”, is uncorrupted, but again prompts visiting Item 23 (“www.macklemaeda.com/bait”, “!!!FREE YAOI!!!”). The comments of this video and the Reviews section of the original website (“www.macklemaeda.com/reviews”) were spammed with the link “bit.ly/FREEYAOI” (which autodidacts to Item 23) by a user named ‘Andrea Rind’. Within the website files it is also discovered that visiting “www.macklemaeda.com/freeyaoi” directly would also redirect to Item 23. Item 23 depicts a brightly-colored hyperlink advertising ‘Free Yaoi’ (Male-centered LGBTQ Romance media) below a stock image of a classic box-and-stick trap. Clicking on the link prompts the user to enter their name. As discovered through rigorous testing, it should be noted that entering any form of the names ‘Felix Goth’ or ‘Vincent Prep’ will return a unique message and automatically redirect the page to Item 07; any form of the name ‘Adrian Nerd’, ‘Kevin Jock’, ‘Garfield’, ‘Eiden’, ‘Macklemore’, or Macklemaeda’ will return a unique message and reload the page; any variation of the name ‘Gaster’ will auto-redirect to “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlbkpzDwfJU”, YouTuber JackSepticEye’s video “BECOMING A MONSTER | Undertale Genocide #1”; any variation of the names ’Nagito Komaeda’ or ‘Bryce Papenbrook’ will auto-redirect to “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egq0BRLMsd8”, “Friskies Extra Gravy Chunky - Gravy Wet Cat Food | Friskies Commercial”; and all other known entries will result in a message alerting to a failed attempt to download a file called “yaoi.exe”.
12/05/22 — Video G (“BOYFRIENDS (AIRPLANES) CPMV”), tagged “#finally”, is uploaded to YT. This video ends with over 30 seconds of corrupted footage, as well as distorted audio (TRANSCRIPT: “[Finally, my plans … have all come together.] [There is nothing you can do anymore.] [I have my Kevin, my (sic) Preppy Poo, and my (sic) Gothykins.] [And we’ll be together.] [For ever.] [See you soon.] [Laughter.]”). A link to Item 24 (“www.macklemaeda.com/finally”, “Live Feed - Basement”) flashes on the screen. Item 24 appears to be a duplicate of Item 20, but now featuring three different footage feeds: ‘Specimen #000’ (‘Kevin Jock’), ‘Specimen #001’ (‘Felix Goth’), and ‘Specimen #002’ (‘Vincent Prep’), each in aa cage seemingly distant from the others.
12/12/22 — Video H (“KNIGHT OF LOVE CPMV”) is uploaded to YT, untagged. No new unauthorized files are uploaded to the website.
01/10/23 — After nearly 1 month of no new leads, top officials from the United States of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation are officially and anonymously recruited to the case.
04/12/23 — After 5 months of no new leads, the MACKLEMAEDA Investigation is officially declared a cold case. Final report is commissioned.
05/10/23 — Final report is completed and returned to MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC.
End of relevant timeline.
[3.0.1] List of Relevant Items
Item 01 - www.macklemaeda.com/him , “…?”, HTML File
Item 02 - www.macklemaeda.com/dark , “I can’t see anything…”, HTML File
Item 03 - www.macklemaeda.com/nerd , “B E T R A Y A L”, HTML File
Item 04 - www.macklemaeda.com/cold , “I can’t”, HTML File
Item 05 - www.macklemaeda.com/dear , “are you there?”, HTML File
Item 06 - www.macklemaeda.com/memory , “Oh!”, HTML File
Item 07 - www.macklemaeda.com/anotherhim , “I ‘ M H E R E”, HTML File
Item 08 - www.macklemaeda.com/memoriam , “In Memoriam”, HTML File
Item 09 - www.macklemaeda.com/upload , “Uploading…”, HTML File
Item 10 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 11 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/1 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 12 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/2 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 13 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/3 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 14 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/4 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 15 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/5 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 16 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/6 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 17 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/7 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 18 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/8 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 19 - www.macklemaeda.com/kev/9 , “Upload Successful”, HTML File
Item 20 - www.macklemaeda.com/basement , “Live Feed - Basement”, HTML File
Item 21 - www.macklemaeda.com/log , “Audio Transcript”, HTML File
Item 22 - www.macklemaeda.com/bones , “Spheniscus magellanicus”, HTML File
Item 23 - www.macklemaeda.com/bait , “!!!FREE YAOI!!!”, HTML File
Item 24 - www.macklemaeda.com/finally , “Live Feed - Basement”, HTML File
[4.0.0] Final Investigation Report
The following Final Investigation Report addresses additional investigation findings not covered in the previous report, including analysis of (1) MACKLEMAEDA Productions, the MACKLEMAEDA Official Website, and general internet safety; (2) modern cybersecurity & IP tracing standards; and (3) possible “supernatural” technological interference.
[4.1.0] Technical Findings
[4.1.1] The MACKLEMAEDA Official Website (“www.macklemaeda.com”, henceforth referred to as ‘the website’) is hosted on “Neocities.org”, a recreation of the now defunct “Geocities.org” (1994-2009, -2019 in Japan), a free-to-use web hosting service. The “www.macklemaeda.com” web domain is registered through “www.namecheap.com”. Both of these services operate under a system allowing for only one user account to access and control the website in question. Therefore, any and all changes to the website may have only been made through the officially registered MACKLEMAEDA accounts on each such service.
[4.1.2] Utilizing state of the art IP tracking software, investigation has revealed a full list of all points of access to each of these servers. While it has been requested to keep the exact locations of these points secret (to protect the privacy of MACKLEMAEDA top employees), all access points have been validated to be authorized access by MACKLEMAEDA employees and associates.
[4.1.3] It has been deemed highly unlikely that any unauthorized access to the server has been made during the relevant timeline. As such, all known employees and associates of MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC were thoroughly cross-examined in Court of Law. The results were deemed inconclusive, as no suspects were found to be aware of the source of relevant Items.
[4.1.4] Further investigation of Metadata of relevant Items revealed a creation date of the 31st of December, 1969, at 11:59 PM, a UNIX timestamp notably used to represent an empty value or a value of ‘0’. Further, all attempts to trace the IP address of each Item’s location of creation returned ‘NULL’. These together suggest corrupted file data in all relevant Items.
[4.2.0] Other Findings
[4.2.1] The Items in question seem to generally come from one source, who we have strong reason to believe either is or is posing as the character known as ‘Adrian Nerd’, as evidenced by images, audio, and written documents. This individual will henceforth be referred to as ‘Individual A’. An individual known as ‘Andrea Rind’ may also be involved as a second party (‘Individual B’), or may even potentially be the same Individual A, as ‘Adrian Nerd’ and ‘Andrea Rind’ are anagrams of each other.
[4.2.3] Three other parties have been claimed to be involved by Individual A, henceforth referred to as ‘Individual J’, ‘Individual G’, and ‘Individual P’, according to names Ind A refers to each by. Through the course of the incident, it appears as though Ind A had somehow managed to summon Ind J, and later Inds G and P, to Ind A’s location (still unclear).
[4.2.4] It remains unclear as to not just the location, but the physical quality of Ind A’s base of operations, as seen in Items 20 & 24. It has been proposed that Ind A’s base may not be located on the physical plane, but in a metaphysical, ‘astral realm’ of sorts. While there is little evidence to support such a claim, some associates suggest that it is precisely the lack of evidence itself that lends evidence to the location of Ind A’s base being metaphysical.
[5.1.0] Incident Conclusions
[5.1.1] It may be concluded that no unauthorized access was made to any relevant MACKLEMAEDA servers during the relevant timeline; and
[5.1.2] That the location of Individual A at the time of upload of relevant items remains unknown; and
[5.1.3] That the locations of Individuals A, J, G, and P at the time of upload of most recent relevant item (Item 24) remains unknown; and
[5.1.4] That the Metadata of relevant items may have been intentionally corrupted by Individual A in an attempt to obscure their location and/or identity; and
[5.1.5] That all official employees of MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC have been found Innocent of criminal involvement in this case in Court of Law by the United States of America; and
[5.1.6] That the existence of Individuals A, J, G, and P as separate, extant entities from all known employees of MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC remains unknown.
[5.2.0] General Recommendations
It is hereby recommended, for the sake of public and private safety, to MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC, by [[REDACTED]] Private Investigators, and the United States Department of Justice:
[5.2.1] To refrain from storing sensitive information on relevant servers; and
[5.2.2] To practice general internet safety by regularly changing relevant account passwords, and encrypting all records of such passwords; and
[5.2.3] To continue to refrain from collecting any data from website visitors; and
[5.2.4] To establish constant monitoring of server files, so as to detect any new relevant files in their original form, should they appear.
[5.3.0] Suppression Recommendations
It is hereby recommended, for the sake of public and private safety, to MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC, by [[REDACTED]] Private Investigators, and the United States Department of Justice:
[5.3.1] To refrain from encouraging public speculation and theorization regarding relevant files, as it may encourage the appearance of new relevant files; and
[5.3.2] To limit the spread of relevant files to the public by preventing users from downloading relevant files; and
[5.3.3] To “Return To Normalcy” in the MACKLEMAEDA Productions brand, while maintaining close monitorization of server files and activity; and
[5.3.4] To ideally “starve” Individual A of attention and psychic energy.
[6.0.0] Conclusion
The [[REDACTED]] Private Investigation Company hereby concludes its recommendations and report with strong support for the continued close watch of relevant servers and for further preparation for future reappearances of relevant parties. The methods and measures within this document hope to guide efforts by MACKLEMAEDA Productions LLC to further their brand while protecting relevant servers, as well as public good. Future studies and investigation may reveal further information, as much remains unclear even to our nation’s top detectives. It is to be noted that by following these guidelines, it is strongly believed that the brand of MACKLEMAEDA Productions, LLC, will inevitably approach their goal of 1,000,000 Subscribers.
[End of Document]