Alex Hall (author)

Alexander D. Hall (born August 13, 1990) is an American writer, showrunner, horror fiction novelist, and documentarian. He is known for creating and producing the web series Ben Drowned (2010-2020) and showrunning the subsequent alternate reality game. He was the host of the podcast The Digital Fireside and created several documentaries.

Alex Hall
BornAlexander Hall
(1990-08-13) 13 August 1990
Carmel, Indiana
OccupationWriter
GenreScience fiction
Young adult literature
Horror fiction
Notable worksBen Drowned

Biography

Hall was born in Carmel, Indiana and began his career in the creative arts in 2008. He attended Saint Louis University until 2011.[1]

In 2010 Hall wrote Ben Drowned - a story about an artificial intelligence named BEN that haunts a Nintendo 64 video game cartridge. Ben Drowned would go on to receive widespread critical acclaim and have a readership in the millions.[2] The story became an example of a modern urban legend and a major influence in helping to legitimize creepypasta as a literary genre and created many of the recognizable tropes that are now seen today in modern internet horror stories.[3] [4][5]

Hall later revealed that he had written another creepy-pasta under a pen name in an interview.[6] There were attempts to adapt Ben Drowned into a Clive Barker and Warner Brothers series. [7] [8]

Hall created a series of Gonzo style documentaries and hosted a podcast interviewing Americans from eclectic walks of life. The most notable documentary piece from this time was covering a Yale-trained scientist purporting that N,N-Dimethyltryptamine cured his brain cancer. [9]

In 2020 Hall created a sequel to Ben Drowned utilizing OpenAI to generate art and music assets for the story. Hall expressed enthusiasm for this emerging technology, citing that they could expand the possibilities available to independent creators, but urged caution that these tools could quickly render many artists/creators obsolete. [10] [11]

In 2023, Hall met with Senator Elizabeth Warren and other elected representatives on Capitol Hill to advocate for the wider adoption of Blockchain technology in the United States and the development of a regulatory framework.[12]

Works
  • Normal (2008) Creator, Writer, Producer
  • Ben Drowned (2010-2020) Creator, Writer, Producer
  • The Digital Fireside (2019-2020)

References
  1. "Alex Hall - Jadusable Wiki". jadusable.withinhubris.com.
  2. "The Haunting Of A Majora's Mask Cartridge". Kotaku. September 11, 2010.
  3. Dennison, Kara (March 24, 2020). "Revisiting BEN Drowned on the 20th Anniversary of Majora's Mask".
  4. "The Zelda Ghost Story That Helped Define Creepypasta". Kotaku. October 26, 2017.
  5. Sanders, John (February 25, 2018). ""You Shouldn t Have Done That" : "Ben Drowned" and the Uncanny Horror of the Haunted Cartridge" – via media.suub.uni-bremen.de. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. "Alex Hall (Ben Drowned) - Interview". Arcade Attack. October 24, 2017.
  7. Spangler, Todd (2015-05-04). "NewFronts 2015: Machinima Announces 'RoboCop,' Clive Barker and Other Series". Variety. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  8. Barton, Steve (August 4, 2016). "Syfy Sheds Light on Creepypasta-Based Series Channel Zero: Candle Cove". Dread Central.
  9. "How One Man Tried to Build a DMT-Based Cult on Reddit and Lost Everything". www.vice.com.
  10. "Arcade Attack Podcast – September (4 of 4) 2020 - Alex Hall (Ben Drowned) - Interview". Arcade Attack. September 28, 2020.
  11. "Alex Hall (BEN Drowned) - 2020 interview". Arcade Attack. December 31, 2021.
  12. Ebbert, John (2023-06-28). "Prometheum Talks About Special Purpose Broker-Dealer License And Rule 144 For Digital Assets". blockchain tipsheet. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
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