For anyone that’s played Portal, ‘the cake is a lie’ very well may be an old, tired joke. But that doesn’t mean everyone knows where the joke comes from, judging from some this footage of a recent Oklahoma newscast.
The clip above is of KJRH’s coverage of Sooner Paranormal of Oklahoma, a group dedicated to ‘paranormal investigations and research.’ Sooner walk viewers through a building that they claim is haunted. One of the pieces of evidence the station offers to this effect are the words THE CAKE IS A LIE scrawled on a chalkboard, which the newscast says either a person or a spirit must’ve been responsible for. A spirit or person named Mattie, at that. “Historically, Jim says, [the cake is a lie means] the promised reward never happened. Meaning somebody down here isn’t very happy,” KJRH offers.
Naturally keen gamers noticed the reference, and some criticism has reached Sooner. In response, they wrote the following on their Facebook page:
In a response to our story on KJRH, we’ve been labelled ” clueless ghost hunters” by Jason Joe Wayne Blevins …personally, I take no offence, as he is focused only on one thing, the chalk board. At NO TIME did I or any member of my team make any claims as to a paranormal cause, only that the time and placement of this phrase on the chalk board were unusual. It’s sad, that these few individuals that throw their negative comments about my team around do not do the countless hours of evidence review, research, and time spent on sites. If this individual can do it better, or anyone else can do it better, get out there and DO IT.
That post was followed up with this note:
I really don’t mind criticism. Keeps us on our toes . But these “arm-chair” ghost hunters, who aren’t out there every week doing the work, posting their findings for all the world to see, writing the books, doing all they can to advance knowledge of the afterlife, THOSE people REALLY bug me. Those who have nothing better to do than spew their ” know-it-all because I watch TV” opinions are NOT worthy of serious replies, so I will not be giving any to these “people”.
Sooner even claims that the chalkboard note was written two years before the release of Portal, though the clip featuring Sooner was only uploaded to the web on October 25th of this year.
“Yes, we’re familiar with both the game and the phrase… our question’s about the chalkboard are : why was it written there? What did they mean by it? And the fact that it was written 2 years before the game ‘Portal’ was released is interesting as well,” Sooner said in a Facebook comment to someone who explained the joke comes from player’s interactions with GLADoS, an AI that continually promises cake in Portal.
Whatever wrote the message, guess they must play games!
Thanks, Alex.
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