Flush everything you know about TikTok down the drain
For those not familiar with Minnesota State’s campus, the school grounds are teeming with legends, tall tales and backstory. For example, the ill-fated tale of Crying Claire.
The Memorial Library on campus was built in 1967. And as the legend has it, upon the night of the library’s grand opening, one Claire Huxtaby was present on the library’s second floor, finishing up some last tasks before going home.
But as she slotted misplaced books back into shelves and tidied up messy tables, a sensation befell her, coursing through her veins with the ebb and flow of a level ten tsunami.
Toilet. Bathroom. Anything. Now.
But as she hobbled to the bathroom, her fears were confirmed with the postage of a sign on the bathroom door: “BATHROOM UNAVAILABLE.” Due to the novelty of the building, the plumbing hadn’t yet been completely established.
Sweat began to furrow on her brow. Like a cruel twist of fate, at that very moment, she heard a faraway flushing of water. Was she hallucinating? Were the toilets mocking her, laughing in her face with a single futile flush?
She threw up her hands in anguish, letting out an ungodly cry into the air, and nobody saw her ever again.
The most polarizing part of the tall tale is that absolutely none of what I just said is true. But it was a good segue into talking about a moaning toilet in the second-floor library bathroom, and that isn’t a lie.
When MSU fourth year student Joey Erickson recorded a video of an on-campus toilet making a funny noise as it flushed, he never expected the video to attain more than a hundred views.
“I’m not sure what all that was about. It’s quite shocking, that tawdry toilet humor. I’m actually not entirely sure what you’re referring to, with this ‘tick tock’ balderdash. Are you referring to one’s colloquialistic imitation of a clock? You may have the wrong person for this interview,” Erickson said.
This is where I realized I had messed up, accidentally reaching out to Duke Joseph Erickson III, five-year resident of Halfway to Heaven Retirement Care Center, and not to Joey Erickson (the first,) current MSU student.
“I have no followers. I also have no friends, so I wasn’t expecting anyone to see it. So when I woke up to over a million views, I was flabbergasted,” the real Erickson said.
According to him, the video was rising in popularity faster than he’d ever seen before, garnering hundreds of likes a minute.
“It was like, every time someone watched the video, the amount of views went up. It was so mind boggling. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Erickson said.
Despite his rise from zero to hero, seemingly overnight, Erickson hasn’t let himself become big-headed with fame, even though his noggin is quite sizable already.
“The amount of fans that I’ve had come up to me is insane. I have to wear these big sunglasses and a baseball cap everytime I go out, otherwise there’ll be these big mobs screaming ‘It’s the toilet guy from TikTok! Do the toilet noise! Take my money!’” Erickson said.
Despite the rise in fanbase, Erickson’s connection with his fans has never been stronger. According to him, he regularly receives toilets in the mail from crazed fans.
“I’ve had to convert my guest bedroom into a toilet storage room. I even got a bidet once. My fans truly know the way to my heart, and it’s through the pipes,” Erickson said.
Header Photo: A screenshot of the video posted that went viral. In just a week, it garnered over 120 thousand likes, 540 comments, and over 1 million views. (Courtesy of Joey Erickson)
Write to Joey Erickson at joseph.erickson.2@mnsu.edu