Polar Bear 2026

Submission 24,100

Part of a series on Cursed Images. [View Related Entries]

About

Polar Bear 2026 refers to an allegedly AI-generated image of a polar bear seen at night, holding itself up by just its two front paws. The cursed image and animal character earned creepypasta status in 2023, imagined to be a meme from the future, as in, September or November 2026, often paired with ominous dates like 29.9.26 and 18.9.26, among others. The Polar Bear 2026 creepypasta started with Russian users on TikTok in early 2023, inspiring later usage from English-speakers in September 2023. In turn, Polar Bear 2026 fan art surfaced during the same timeframe. Most Polar Bear 2026 videos used a creepy TikTok sound that sounded like "yoyoyoyoyo" or "ойойойойойо" in Russian. The sound was the song "Cumbia Masonica" by Ø+yn & GMC, which was used in the video game Hello Charlotte EP3: Childhood's End.

Origin

On March 27th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @gmd_arahis posted a video with Mr. Kitty's 'After Dark' and a seemingly AI-generated image of a polar bear on snow at night, holding itself up with just its front paws. @gmd_arahis captioned the image, "это ноябрьский мем из 2026, вы пока не поймете," which translates in English to, "this is a November meme from 2026, you won't understand yet." Over the course of six months, the video gained roughly 3.1 million plays and 371,800 likes (shown below). It is currently the first-discovered upload of the Polar Bear 2026 image.

The polar bear image used in @gmd_arahis' video without the text (shown below) was later posted in a photo slideshow by the TikToker^[2] on September 12th, 2023.

Spread

On March 28th, 2023, TikTokers^[3]^[4] started to repost @gmd_arahis' video. Going into mid-2023, the image went dormant on TikTok, not gaining significant attention until September 2023. The image's resurgence started with a repost of the original video posted on September 9th, 2023, by TikToker^[5] @kataran_1, gaining roughly 1.9 million plays and 292,300 likes in 13 days.

Soon after, on September 10th, 2023, two videos in Russian surfaced on the app using the image. One was posted by TikToker^[6] @frogytop07, gaining roughly 173,900 plays and 14,700 likes in 12 days (shown below, left). The second one, posted by TikToker^[7] @jestkiy_pups, earned roughly 232,500 plays and 32,000 likes in 12 days (shown below, right). Both videos used a newer, creepier sound that was the 2017 song "Cumbia Masonica" by Ø+yn & GMC^[14] which was featured in the 2018 video game Hello Charlotte EP3: Childhood's End.^[15] The sound resembled a girl's voice repeating "yoyoyoyo." Both videos also name-dropped the year 2026.

In turn, fan art and memes about the polar bear started to surface on the app, such as in a slideshow posted by TikToker^[8] @kastronm on September 13th, 2023, which received roughly 1.2 million plays and 155,000 likes in nine days (recording shown below).

English-speakers started to add to the trend soon after. For instance, TikToker^[9] @polar_bear_2026_ posted a video on September 18th, 2023, which read the date "18.9.23," gaining roughly 517,200 plays and 28,700 likes in four days (shown below, left). On September 21st, TikToker^[10] @nirami1 posted a video that joked about the polar bear not leaving their "For You" page, gaining roughly 1.8 million plays and 352,300 likes in one day (shown below, right).

During the same timeframe, posts about Polar Bear 2026 surfaced on Reddit^[11] and videos surfaced on YouTube,^[12]^[13] such as one uploaded on September 17th, 2023, by YouTuber^[12] Koshkovumen called "Polar Bear 29.09.2026" which received roughly 106,000 views and 6,100 likes in five days (shown below).