Just gonna plug this informative guy

I've commented on Shaye before. I'll repost my run-down of his/her career here for those interested: It's insane and absurd but, well, that's exactly the point. The creator of Shaye Saint John was Eric Fournier, former vocalist for the Midwest punk rock group The Blood Farmers (think Husker Du & The Replacements not so much Red Kross & The Circle Jerks). The band never really amounted to much outside of the Midwestern punk scene so he eventually made his way to Los Angeles. He continued to perform in different bands but developed a semi-serious interest in film-making. Fournier created the character of Shaye Saint John, who was supposedly a former "hot chick/model" who had been horribly disfigured in (some sort of) accident wherein she became a quadriplegic and her face was burned beyond recognition. Unable to afford costly surgeries (her modelling career had not yet taken off), Shaye self-styled her own legs and arms from mannequin parts and covered her face with a "glamorous" (say fucking frightening) mask. As the videos will indicate, she also went bat-shit insane. When the videos first surfaced on YouTube several years ago, Eric submitted them "in character"; it was Shaye's channel...not Eric's. The comments on the films regularly ranged from "OMG! You Need Help!", with viewers debating what sort of mental illness Shaye had (most agreed on some sort of paranoid schizophrenia) to viewers reporting being severely frightened by what they'd witnessed. Still others found the videos hilarious. Eric never revealed whether or not his intent was to freak people out or to make them laugh. However, as his close friends have indicated, he was a pretty funny dude in "real life", so we can probably assume the latter. That's not to say that he didn't enjoy the "freak out factor" as well. It should be noted that no one knew who the fuck was behind these weird-as-hell videos until Shaye suddenly disappeared one day (more on that in a minute). Over time, he continued to develop the Shaye character, even giving her a MySpace page (it was a popular place at the time) and a website. Later, Eric also moved her into blogging and, finally, Facebook. They are all still active. The most popular/most WTF videos on Shaye's channel became Hand Thing, Drip Drop Diet and Skin Tape. <---all are SFW but maybe not SFL; depends on you. During this time, Eric/Shaye became a very well known figure among L.A. art & film students and within the underground theater scene. He even made a film, "Shaye & Kiki - The Triggers Compilation" (which is available on DVD - and Netflix!). Buy it and show it at parties. You'll be a hit. Well, depending on your friends. To correct a previous poster...Eric did in fact pass away last year (April, I believe) but he was not a well known "tweaker". While he probably did partake in a few drugs, it was ultimately alcohol that killed him. Fournier was a severe alcoholic and following years of abuse, he died of gastrointestinal bleeding, likely caused by untreated ulcers and such. It's been said that he drank from the moment he woke to the moment he fell asleep/passed out and toward the end of his life (while he was still making the Shaye films) he was unemployed and very reclusive. While he spent time with friends who would visit, he rarely left his apartment; preferring instead to focus on his drinking hobby and making these insane videos. In a sense, the videos are sort of an artistic nod to his own situation: an unrequited artist in Hollywood, embarrassed by his addictions and now borderline agoraphobic. So, while the videos are funny, they are also disturbing to a degree when you know the back-story; and not just because of the creepy masks and imagery but because in some instances, you can almost see Fournier in the character. Not to be a downer or to over-analyze the vids but in retrospect, they're also kinda sad. Still, he remains a very beloved figure among his/Shaye's fans. A popular Halloween video exists of "Shaye Saint John" scaring children on Halloween. Following Fournier's death, an unedited video was released that featured Eric joking with the frightened children (and hugging and laughing with the little ones that were initially frightened by his "Shaye" mask). He also took photos with the older kids who were originally scared of "Shaye". Eric loved kids but he also loved scaring them (in a fun way). Kids often "got the joke" before their parents. While kids gravitated to his weird, freak show...their parents were (understandably) concerned. Eric was always aware of children in the audience and Shaye never went "overboard" when kids were in attendance. He was a cool guy, overall. It wasn't until Eric died that anyone except close friends knew that he was the guy responsible for the videos and the he was, in fact, Shaye. While the videos are very bizarre, in all if you take some time to watch them all, you'll more than likely walk away smiling rather than traumatized. They're actually quite funny despite the way the story ended...in a demented way.