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'Spooky Lake Month': Here's what viral TikTok series is all about
TikTok's Halloween trending series ‘Spooky Lake Month’ has garnered over a billion views so far
It's the second week of October already and Halloween enthusiasts can't seem to wait for October 31. TikTok users eager for the coming festival have flocked to the platform to watch the viral series called ‘Spooky Lakes’. The trend has garnered more than 1.5 billion views so far. Wisconsin-based artist and teacher Geo Rutherford is the brain behind the series, which she uploads on her TikTok handle “geodesaurus.”
What is ‘Spooky Lake Month’ about?
‘Spooky Lake Month’ features 31 days of hydrology, where Geo talks about various lakes across the world and the haunted legends surrounding them. Although the name of the series may suggest that its creator is a horror fan, on the contrary, she is a “freshwater scientist” and “hobby limnologist.” In the videos, she explains how haunted stories have been linked to different water bodies. The videos are often 2 to 3 minutes long and are available on TikTok and Instagram.
The ‘Spookies’ scale
Geo has a quirky rating system for the level of horror and intrigue surrounding a particular lake. At the end of each video, she gives each water body a rating out of 10 “Spookies.” She once revealed that her rating is based on the location of the water body and “not the deaths that occurred there.” The series initially started with Geo's discussion about lakes, however, as per Outside, she revealed her plans to branch out to other water bodies as well. “Now, I can basically do anything that’s wet. I still haven’t gotten fully into ocean topics yet!” Geo said, explaining her plans for new content.
Last week, Geo shared a video on Instagram talking about the series. She revealed that 2023 marks her fourth year of creating the ‘Spooky Lake Month’ series. Geo also said that up until October, she had been uploading the videos she shot in 2021 but was unable to upload for some reason, as an “Early Spooky Lake Month” series. Till now, she has uploaded 96 videos, which are available in a playlist on TikTok. In the video, Geo also expressed her disappointment over not being able to do the same on Instagram. She further said, “Which is why the Instagram videos are cut in half because it won't let me post more than a minute and 30 seconds.”
Geo's special connection with Spooky Lakes
“Spooky Lakes is special to me because I'm able to combine my passion as an artist with my job as a hobby limnologist,” Geo said in her Instagram post. The Wisconsin artist also explained that she has been able to turn her gouache paintings into a part of her “Spooky Lake series stickers.” She also revealed that she got some of her paintings printed this year including a “spooky good soup” painting. An exciting news for her fans is that she is also adding enamel pins and a magnet to her collection.
