Cassieiswatching

*This article is about The Character and ARG. For The ARG, see The Cassieiswatching ARG. For other Cassies, see Cassie (disambiguation).*

 Age

## Summary: The Mysterious Cassie Notes

**Cassieiswatching** is the name of a YouTube user who garnered notoriety for "herself" after posting two videos in September 2006, featuring locations from the Lonelygirl15 videos Swimming! and In The Park. Because these locations in the Los Angeles area were believed to be known only to the LG15 production staff and cast, a great air of mystery surrounded cassieiswatching (and remains to this day) as to how its producers came into possession of such knowledge.

The Creators of the Lonelygirl15 project quickly disavowed any connection to cassieiswatching [1], but for several weeks, numerous *Cassie* fans speculated that the disavowment was an aspect of the "This Is Not A Game" tradition of Alternate Reality Games, which cassieiswatching is believed to have been.

The Creators of Lonelygirl15 did not immediately address this speculation directly, though moderators at the official Lonelygirl15 forum stated that the forum Admin offered assurances that cassieiswatching is not directly related to lonelygirl15. [2]

The cassieiswatching story eventually moved into the MMORPG Second Life. The non-eventful nature of October 12 in lonelygirl15, in addition perhaps to numerous hijack attempts, appeared to cause cassieiswatching's producer to put the project on hiatus, leaving many of its fans now ready to believe that it is an entity independent of lonelygirl15 after all. The unconfirmed theory that the "cassie" of cassieiswatching was merely an artifact of late-introduced character Frank's schizophrenia appears to be the strongest candidate for the series' solution.

Much later in the official storyline of lonelygirl15, it was hinted that cassieiswatching's videos were indeed made by Bree's friend Cassie, but rather than a supernatural origin, they are an elaborate prank pulled by a mischievous girl.

In the Revelation 2 video there can clearly be seen the hands of a man fixing a lure. This bears the question that if these videos were done by a young girl, where did these hands come from? It could be some kind of stock footage or Cassie may have had someone working with her. One interesting thing is that the lure being fixed is an aphid. This could be a random foreboding of things to come or it could indicate foreknowledge of that which is shortly to occur.

The Puppetmaster, or creator, of Cassieiswatching has never been revealed. Suspicions have been aired regarding Glenn Rubenstein, creator of OpAphid; The Creators of lg15 themselves; Grant Steinfeld, who was an early part of the LG15 creative team; and Alli Danziger, the actress who plays Nikki Bower. However, all of these persons have either explicitly or implicitly denied any connection to Cassieiswatching, and no one has come forward to claim responsibility for the series.

## Origin

Cassieiswatching posted her first video on September 12th, 2006. The creation of cassieiswatching appears to be inspired by two events:

1. The lonelygirl15 video Swimming! dated August 29th, 2006 contains three scenes in which the characters refer to a girl named Cassie. In the video, Bree asks Daniel about the fate of a girl she knew from high school. Daniel says he doesn't remember this girl. Bree unsuccessfully tries to spark his memory, and then says she used to walk the track with her and that other kids were mean to Cassie. The last scene contained a somber tone that contrasts with the rest of the video, which was lighthearted and intimate.
2. The unveiling of lonelygirl15 as an interactive multimedia production [3] and not a real video blog on September 7, 2006. The YouTube page for the first cassieiswatching video, This Is My Story Now, contains the tags "bree" "tells" "lies" in reference to the news that lonelygirl15 is not real. The video ends with a voice saying "come and get it," commonly interpreted as an invitation to lonelygirl15 viewers to participate in an ARG (Alternate Reality Game).

The game leveraged the use of multimedia and interactive content to generate clues for the participants. Clues have been discovered in two videos, an altered Bible page, a voicemail message and several puzzles using morse code and anagrams.

### Virginia Heffernan

A New York Times blogger, Virginia Heffernan, who had been extensively covering the story of lonelygirl15 in the summer of 2006, reported on cassieiswatching's first video before it was released in this entry, describing it as "[a] renegade lonelygirl-spinoff, which has some attenuated ties to the original". When asked about it through e-mail, Ms. Heffernan said:

*Ms. Heffernan said:*“”
> I was tipped off to it in weird ways: Morse-code text messages, Skype
>
>
> IMs with a mysterious name, and that screwy audio file. The only
> proof that what the person was saying was true is that he/she/they/it
> had a photo and the coordinates of the swimming hole, so I believed
> that there had been some contact with the original creators. But who
>
>
>
> knows?
>
>

## Character Development

### Canon - The Official Cassie

Cassie has been referenced in four Lonelygirl15 videos so far: **Swimming!** (Aug. 30, 2006), **My Helper** (Sept. 27, 2006), **Bree Phone Home** (Dec. 18, 2006), and **Miss Me?** (Feb. 4, 2007).

* In the **Swimming!** video, Bree has the following discussion with Daniel:

*Quote*“”
>
> **Bree:** Whatever happened to that girl Cassie?
>
>
> **Daniel:** Who?
>
>
> **Bree:** That girl, she was in your class. You know?
>
>
> **Daniel:** I have no idea what you’re talking about.
>
>
> (other dialog)
>
>
> **Bree:** Did she graduate?
>
>
> **Daniel:** Who?
>
>
> **Bree:** Cassie.
>
>
> **Daniel:** Who is this girl?
>
>
> **Bree:** She was in your class.
>
>
> (break)
>
>
> **Bree:** ... PE together.
>
>
> **Daniel:** What'd she look like?
>
>
> **Bree:** I don't remember.
>
>
> **Daniel:** Why would you even bring it...?
>
>
>
> **Bree:** I don't know what I'm... alright, just forget about it. I don't know, we used to just walk around the track together. 'Cause everybody was so mean to her. You know? Do you want to go?
>
>

Bree is perceived as an imaginative but socially immature girl, and Daniel is a practical and introverted guy. The dialog between them suggests a mystery about Cassie. Daniel, an intelligent and observant individual, should be able to remember a classmate (especially since they live in a small town). Daniel could be lying, which would alter the interpretation of the mystery, but there is no reason to believe he is withholding information from Bree. This has caused two lines of speculation: (1) Cassie disappeared due to foul play, possibly related to a cult (as many victims of cults are loners seeking acceptance from others), or (2) Bree has a split personality and Cassie is the other half.
* In the **My Helper** video, Bree says the following:

*Quote*“”
> The only girl I've ever really been friends with was Cassie. She used to come over but the whole religion thing kinda freaked her out. And once I went back to home-school she stopped calling me.
>
>

This video may have impacted the cassieiswatching game development. The game initially left open the possibility that Cassie was a victim of a sacrifice related to Bree's occult religion, but this video has all but eliminated that theory as plausible.
* The **Bree Phone Home** reference may have been the Creators' way of giving LG15 viewers closure on who or what cassieiswatching was. Bree explains that while they were friends, Cassie was prone to doing pranks like prank-calling strangers and whispering creepy things like "I'm watching!" (one of cassieiswatching's trademark phrases). The two of them got in trouble for the prank calls when some of the angry victims of the pranks called Bree's house using caller ID. Bree ended up taking the blame when when her furious mom confronted her about them. After that, Bree stopped really talking to Cassie. It is worth noting that in this version of Cassie, she is described as girl who liked to pull creepy pranks. Coupled with the mention of her use of cassieiswatching's catchphrase, it's not a stretch to suppose that the official explanation for cassieiswatching is that it is another creepy prank from Bree's old friend Cassie.

### Is cassieiswatching a benevolent or malevolent character?

The behavior of cassieiswatching could be described as an anonymous informant. She uses direct and indirect methods of conveying information to the participants. The information is oriented to the history of Cassie and the fate of Bree.

### Is cassieiswatching alive or dead?

Speculation that cassieiswatching is dead originates from the disembodied filming style of her two videos and the line "But Cassie does not rest in peace" from clue #7.

### Differences between the storylines

Adaptation of the Cassie character by cassieiswatching is increasingly divergent from the Cassie character referenced in the lonelygirl15 videos:

* cassieiswatching appears to be stalking the Bree character, however neither Bree nor Daniel have been aware of the whereabounts of Cassie for a year or longer.

* cassieiswatching has suggested being a victim of a cult ritual in clue #7, however in the Lonelygirl15 "My Helper" video (posted after clue #7 was discovered) Bree says Cassie was a friend until "the whole religion thing kinda freaked her out".

* As posted on Frank's Website:

*Quote*“”
> Hello to all. This message is from Kaye, Frank's wife. I am sorry to inform you that Frank passed away last night.
>
>
> ....
>
>
>
> Also, I can assure you there is no Cassie, Bree or other person who was actually in Frank's life at the end. Unfortunately, Frank saw and heard many people who were not there, and he couldn't tell the difference between those hallucinations and people in the real world. The police and the manager at the motel have said that there was no evidence of a person in crisis who Frank was actually helping. It is common for people with Frank's condition to invent dramatic situations.
>
>

There are many that believe that Frank is not really dead. It is believed by many that Frank faked the posts from Kaye as he was seeking to get away from the madness that had found him on his blog in the form of many abusive posters. The question is if Frank is indeed alive, will he and/or cassieiswatching ever return.
## Gamejacking

Some of the cassieiswatching clues have been interpreted to show evidence of an Alternate Reality Game phenomenon known as "gamejacking". The change in the first video's description to "TOO SLOW. I DON'T PLAY CARDS. YOU ALL FAILED. I HATE YOU." and cassieiswatching's YouTube profile to "i don't play cards" has been interpreted as a denunciation of the tarot card clue.

*see Cassieiswatching clues*

## Videos

* This Is My Story Now (watch)
* When I Get To The Bottom Where I Stop (watch) (warning: explicit imagery)
* Revelation 1 (watch)
* Revelation 2 (watch)
* Revelation 3 (watch)

## References

* canyouhearher.blogspot.com - Frank's Blog
* irc.freenode.net #cassieiswatching -- Chat

## Other Forums

* CiW Uncensored Forum
* Raven's Keep:CiW Forum

## Some Notable CiW Sleuthers

* pcxl
* NillaWafers
* Cu Roi
* Chixor1
* Watchingcassie
* twjaniak
* Nicole23
* Nos
* Noava22
* onyx\_
* scdgoofy
* Sungkoo
* jengels2002

## External links

* Anchor Cove - "I Was Here: A look back at Cassieiswatching one year later"