SVT traces viral Cat in the Hat videos to their origins

SVT’s Lilla Aktuellt has traced the origins of viral, threatening videos featuring the Cat in the Hat and found the man behind one of the costumes. The clips have frightened children and spread widely on social media.

One TikTok post, claiming to show a person in Varberg being chased by a figure in a striped hat, has received more than a million views. The character comes from a children’s book by Dr. Seuss. The rumour began in Ireland before spreading to several countries, including Sweden.

Police are investigating several incidents, and schools have warned pupils and parents after threats were directed at individual schools. Similar rumours have circulated before, including those about the “Serbian dancing lady” last year and frightening clowns in 2016.

Jack Werner, an expert on source criticism, says adults should take threats against children seriously. But strong reactions can also make rumours seem more real, he says. He advises adults to talk openly with children about these kinds of “scare games” without amplifying the rumours. “This is a game, and it can go too far. If it feels bad, you have to take it seriously,” he says.

Most videos examined were made with AI

Lilla Aktuellt examined 10 posts and found that they were made using artificial intelligence. In one video, the figure was said to be in Uppsala. A comparison of the image with the real location showed discrepancies in details of the street, indicating that the image had been manipulated.

Almost all the images were also identified by OpenAI’s detector as generated using its AI service. In several cases, the manipulation was visible to the naked eye. TikTok had labelled only two of the clips as AI-generated, despite a new EU regulation requiring such labelling, SVT reported.

Costume maker says video was meant to be fun

Some genuine videos of people dressed as the Cat in the Hat have also circulated. SVT traced one original clip to a now-deleted TikTok account, where it was posted in 2023, before the threatening trend began.

The account’s owner, a Halloween enthusiast in the United States, showed SVT pictures of the homemade costume. He said he had posted a random TikTok video that went viral, and that people had turned his “fun, creative work” into something dark and frightening.