The smartschoolboy9 saga continues, with followers of the case now convinced they’ve found the YouTube account of the alleged man behind it all – David London.
Let it be known that we still don’t know whether David London (or David Alter, as was previously believed) is actually smartschoolboy9. It’s one of many theories that have arisen after YouTuber Nick Crowley’s video on the rabbit hole went viral.
What we do know is that, earlier this year, Redditors noticed a series of bizarre Instagram accounts all supposedly from the same user – in some of them, he masqueraded as a child, sharing bizarre and at times explicit material related to children.
On his main channel, he uploaded videos in which he’d dress up as a schoolboy, while one appears to show him chasing a real-life child. A subreddit has been launched for true crime followers to share any clues about smartschoolboy9’s identity.
Though there have been rumors of his arrest, earlier this week, Greenwich MPS retracted a post claiming an investigation was underway, with London’s Met Police telling Dexerto it’s “not investigating anything at this time.”
In other words, back to square one. But now the subreddit has turned focus to another potential clue: smartschoolboy9’s YouTube channel.
Numerous posts have been shared about the account named David’s Poetry, which at the time of writing has 50 subscribers. Right now, there’s only one video, which shows archive footage of London in the ‘60s, with a voiceover narrating a poem alongside creepy music.
There is also a short, although it doesn’t give anything away – it simply shows the camera pointing at an unknown location at nighttime, and there’s no audio except for what sounds like white noise.
According to one Redditor, there were more videos but “he’s deleted most” of them due to comments about smartschoolboy9. Another shared what they claim to be an archived video from the page, showing an image of a girl with the name ‘David London’ across the screen.
The audio features a piano tune juxtaposed with the narrator’s poem, which has been edited to sound distorted and sinister. The Redditor also shared a screenshot of the YouTube page before all but one video had been deleted.
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YouTuber @eterna has since made their own YouTube video, claiming they were the first to have spotted David’s Poetry after noticing a comment from the channel underneath a video of archive footage.
“I made the big mistake of posting it on Reddit and, after I did, he deleted every video, except for the most recent one,” they state. “But it doesn’t really matter because I archived them.”
Their reason for believing it’s smartschoolboy9 is because the narrator “sounds like him, talks like him, and writes poetry like him,” and the account has “been around for more than four years.”
Finally, Eterna refers back to a recording of their alleged conversation with the YouTube account holder, who they believe to be smartschoolboy9 due to how his voice sounds in previous uploads.
Here’s the thing: this could very well be legit. Or, it could be someone posing as smartschoolboy9 to try and fool the internet. Or, it could be none of the above – maybe it’s another troubling individual, like the creator behind Pipergate?
Since Crowley’s YouTube documentary went viral, amasssing nearly 10 million views after dropping last month, the subreddit is being packed full of new rumors and speculation each and every day.
We’re still no closer to finding out the truth. What we do know is the real smartschoolboy9 could very well be a danger to children. If you want to find out what the best course of action to take if you’re concerned, Dexerto spoke with a number of tech experts for their opinions on the case.
You can also read about why the Salad Fingers creator wants everyone to stop asking him about smartschoolboy9, the fake interview that circulated online, and Crowley’s response to the “sick” memes.