Who runs this disturbing Facebook account?
Orie Chef makes frequently unsettling content. But who is she, and what drives her to consistently squick her cult audience?
Hey there. Welcome to “Where do you find this stuff?:” a weekly newsletter that discusses the weird, strange or downright creepy gems I’ve dug up online. I’m Felix Kalvesmaki. Thanks for logging on.
I want to note: This issue contains a depiction of animated gore.
I’m still kind of figuring out what I want this newsletter to be. Last week, I wrote about Marble Hornets, and my theory on how a web series nearly killed a 12-year-old girl. I’m proud of that essay, but if I try to find a greater societal meaning behind every strange occurrence on the internet, I’m going to bore myself—and you.
This week, I really just wanted to show you something creepy and strange. We don’t have to think too much about it, we just have to marvel. Enter the Facebook account of Marjorie Cua Calleja, also known as Orie Chef.
Click the link. Come on, do it! I promise there’s nothing on the surface to be afraid of—this isn’t a jumpscare, or something immediately horrifying. It’s just odd. Upon entering her page, you see who Orie is: a middle-aged woman from the Phillippines. She’s “A BANKER, A BARISTA, A WAITRESS, A FRIEND, A DAUGHTER, A MOM, AND A WIFE IN ONE…” You may notice she has a variety of supposed strangers writing on her wall, asking her everything from “who are you?” to “send nudes.” Ugh, I know. I’m sorry.
So, why has this seemingly ordinary account, depicting an ordinary woman, garnered so much attention? Are we merely looking at a woman who, for some reason, begun to experience Gamergate levels of online harassment?
Not quite. Take a closer look. Orie’s most recent post, a photo with a caption from January 12, is...a bit unsettling. Read it, and glance at the photo.
I know. What the fuck, right? I can’t even really make sense of it. But it gets weirder. And worse. There’s also this post, which...I dunno. I’ll let you look.
I wish I had more commentary for these posts, but I’m really at a loss for words. But we’re still not done. A brief warning before going into this next post: it’s disturbing and bloody. All of it is animated, but it still gave me a chill.
I don’t really know what to make of this upcoming one either. It reminds me of an Elsagate video—one of those shock animations created by bots to scare young children. It depicts Orie slaughtering a baby, with a butcher knife.
Ugh.
So, what’s happening with Marjorie? Between these two posts, and plenty of other oddities—animal parts in what appears to be a butcher shop, shock images—there’s definitely something up here. But what’s the explanation?
Well, here’s my take: this is either a bored teenager with a fucked up sense of humor that gets their kicks from shock content presented through the lens of a middle-aged woman, or...Orie is actually just this strange. While this content does showcase some internet literacy—being able to present a story or piece of content that will knowingly go viral because of its sheer lunacy is a talent—it all feels strangely authentic. It’s as if not only does Orie enjoy unsettling people, she enjoys creating the content that unsettles.
The internet, though, is filled with things and people like this. People who simply seek to make hairs stand up on end, who seek the goosebumps and the chills and the shaking of heads. It’s part of what makes it fun in my opinion. Whether it’s real or not, the Orie Chef account is spooky. That’s all it has to be.
That’s a wrap on Orie Chef. Here’s an oddity I wanted to discuss, but didn’t think warranted a full story:
-Flocfocus, a YouTube channel dating back several years that solely features somebody dunking shoes into water. There’s thousands of videos on this page, each of them another pair of shoes meeting a pool of water. Sometimes, this account uploads multiple videos per day.
Thanks for reading, and to Divya Jagadeesh for editing. Until next week.