Animal Crossing: New Horizons is viewed by many as a charming, relaxing game, but it's not without its quirks and spooky moments. Some of these hauntings are intentional, where players are tasked with assisting a ghost in finding all its pieces, or subjects in fake paintings might move or change. However, one player found themselves quite frightened when a common Animal Crossing: New Horizons bug led to a jumpscare.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons allows players to open their island to others, letting fellow fans come to visit. However, not everything works smoothly when additional players are visiting an island, and this player was alarmed when their own friend ended up unintentionally jumpscaring them.
Reddit user lili-grace shared a brief video clip of the encounter with their friend. According to lili-grace, they had opened their island so that the two players could enjoy a cup of coffee at Brewster's cafe in Blathers' museum. The player can be seen entering from the lower right of the museum, in front of Blathers. Everything looks normal when the friend suddenly pops up into the foreground, unmoving and obscuring a big part of the screen, like most classic jumpscares. Just as soon as they appeared, they vanish completely, further adding creepiness to the encounter.
Fellow fans were spooked and amused by the glitch, pointing out similarities between this jumpscare and other classic gaming hauntings, like the Pokemon's iconic ghost girl, or Herobrine's alleged lurking presence in Minecraft. Others were particularly amused at how the timing worked out perfectly so that the 'ghost' appears and disappears exactly as the piano plays two notes.
While this might have been a bit of a scare, this is a common bug in the game that generally has to do with lag between players' Nintendo Switch units. Players visiting on islands may sometimes slide around or jump suddenly from entrances and exits to elsewhere in the room due to communication lag. It's less likely to happen on local connections, though, as data tends to arrive more rapidly without having to first go through the internet prior to reaching the other player.
Plenty of players have purposefully made their Animal Crossing: New Horizons islands scary, often sharing their Dream Addresses so that other players can come and explore any time they like. However, a random encounter like this really stands out because of how unexpected it was. While Nintendo Switch's online experience has left some players feeling sour, this particular little lag glitch made a funny and memorable moment for this player.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for the Nintendo Switch.
