All generations have preschool cartoons that mark them; some remember Bananas in Pajamas, Blue’s Clues, Peppa Pig, Sesame Street, or Dora the Explorer, among many others. Recently, Masha and the Bear has become one of these children’s series, loved by the little ones; however, there is a terrible and grim story behind this innocent girl and her bear friend.
This animated TV series has its origins in Russia and is based on a folk tale typical of Russian culture with the same name Masha and the Bear. The cute adventures of the little Russian girl and her companion, an anthropomorphic bear, try to rescue ancient traditions and pass them on to new generations. We tell you what they say.
The True Story That Inspired Masha and the Bear
It is said that Masha is a little girl with an intellectual disability, who is looked down upon by her parents. One day, little Masha gets lost in the forest, and after several days of sleeping in the open, the little girl builds, as best she can, a small home out of twigs, sticks, and grass. Things get complicated for Masha as the little girl begins to get hungry.
One day, desperate, Masha goes to look for food, but when she returns she sees her house torn down and finds the tracks of a bear. Masha starts walking aimlessly until she finally finds an abandoned hut. The little girl decides to spend the night there, but, after falling asleep, a bear enters her new home.
The little girl wakes up when she hears the noise. The bear is standing next to her bed. Masha feels the cold breath of the wild animal. The little girl screams in terror, and immediately the bear attacks her. The next day, a scout finds the little girl torn to pieces. Masha’s body is nothing but a heap of torn skin, her skull is shattered, and the girl’s expression still retains the terror.
The explorer investigates more about the little girl, and moved by Masha’s sad story decides to make a story with a less atrocious ending, where Masha is adopted by an old and noble circus bear who takes care of her and gives her the love she never had. Like this one, there are many other creepy stories on the Internet about the alleged origin of Masha and the Bear, most of these are creepypastas, that is, horror stories that arise collectively and that are not necessarily real, although they are presumed to be, like the one we tell you below.
The Creepypasta of Masha and the Bear
There is a creepypasta circulating, those tales created by horror and popular culture fans, which tells that on one occasion, a young man whose family had gone on vacation set out to watch a movie he had bought at a second-hand store. It had caught his attention since its cover showed a disturbing pentagram, but to his surprise, when he played the DVD, the first thing he saw was an episode of the children’s cartoon Masha and the Bear, the episode called “Bear’s Madness.”
The young man noticed that the mood in the place began to change as the innocent episode progressed. He had always considered Masha and the Bear as a dull program for small children, and that there was nothing that could interest him; however, on this occasion, he could not stop watching it, he was completely hooked to the screen, and he could not even blink.
What Was the Episode About?
The episode begins with the image of Bear crying in the living room of his house; soon after, Masha enters and asks him what is wrong, to which his friend answers that his “robot butler” always rejected him. Bear was really bad, he began to transform his sadness into a rage, his fur darkened, and in a fit of anger, he went on his friend Masha until he killed her. Then he took a gun and shot his robot butler. His girlfriend, Osa, was also in the room and was not so lucky and received a bloody annihilation.
He eventually devoured everything left in his house to hide the evidence of his terrible deeds. The young man was impressed by how real the blood looked on his television set, very different from the animation throughout the show. The young man fast-forwarded the episode a bit to a moment where Bear was confronted by one of Masha’s pets: Panda Bear, to whom Bear replied by snatching his life.
The man was able to come out of his trance and vomited, but when he turned his eyes back to the screen, he watched in horror as Bear was stabbing the corpses of his friends. Then the image changed drastically, and a picture of an eyeless boy was seen for a split second, and then, it became Bear smashing the robot.
A quick cut showed Bear destroying his house; another putting up a “For Sale” sign, and another crying in an insane asylum cell. Finally, the credits rolled; it was a black screen with sad music and a warning at the end, “Bear will get you in 8 years.” The man finally came to himself and took out the DVD, he tried to destroy it, but it was impossible. He returned to the place where he had bought it and left it hidden. The young man mysteriously disappeared 8 years later.
True or false, these are the stories that circulate on the Internet and turn an innocent cartoon-like Masha and the Bear into a creepy grim story.
This story was written in Spanish by Lizbeth García in Cultura Colectiva
