What was interesting was that concerned parents actually were the ones proliferating the story by warning others about it through other media outlets. The narrative spreading led to some taking advantage of the sheer rise of searches for the monsters by creating new content so theirs becomes more visible. So in many ways, the fear around Momo actually led to more Momo, like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

One of the interesting aspects of Siren head is it’s connection to some of the problems associated with contemporary life, especially in more recent years. Its brings up important questions about information and how we interpret or understand it. It makes us wonder: can you trust what you hear?

I think often we think of the reality of monsters as being something that demonstrates they are inherently manifest somewhere physically in the world. Belief in actuality is one thing, but that is set apart from the reality of monsters. The existence of the phenomenon is not what gives the monster its strong force in the world. In fact, people still believe in monsters in the way they have in ages before.

So why don’t we first start with the basic description of an orc. Orcs are often defined by four primary features: (1) skin colour, often a dark green; (2) homelands outside of civilisation, often far outside the locations of built-up cities; (3) a “primitive” culture; and ultimately (4) extreme aggressiveness and irrationality. Even in more recent depictions of orcs, these four elements are somewhere present – they make up the characteristics that readers instantly recognise as “orcish”.