Cody and Satori Controversy

Submission 12,070

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Overview

Cody and Satori Controversy, also known as Sam and Colby Conjuring House Controversy, refers to criticism against "professional ghost hunters" Cody and Satori after they made an appearance in YouTubers Sam and Colby's Conjuring House series in late October 2023. The controversy surrounds Cody and Satori's supposed supernatural abilities to communicate with ghosts through "knocking sounds" that appear when they clasp hands. Members of Sam and Colby's subreddit and their fans on TikTok began criticizing Cody and Satori soon after appearing on Sam and Colby's YouTube series.

Background

On October 22nd, 2023, YouTubers^[1] Sam and Colby posted the first video in their "Conjuring House" series (seen below), which gathered over 14 million views in two weeks.

The video also introduced Cody and Satori, a paranormal investigation couple who claim to be able to speak with ghosts who "knock" to spell out words. Cody and Satori also claim that they can only do this routine with each other. Notably, Satori is the daughter of Jason Hawes, the star and co-producer of the show Ghost Hunters.

On October 22nd, the channel released an uncut version of Cody and Satori's knocking routine, gathering over 1 million views in two weeks (seen below).^[2]

Developments

Various TikTokers began posting videos either debunking or defending Cody and Satori against criticism, with TikToker^[3] @user2924550572553 showing how their ankle pops and makes a similar "knocking" sound in an October 28th, 2023, upload that gathered over 400,000 plays and 9,000 likes in 10 days (seen below, left). TikToker^[4] @.mclovin03 also posted a clip on October 28th, defending Cody and Satori in a post that gathered over 180,000 plays and 30,000 likes in a similar timeframe (seen below, right).

On October 28th, YouTuber^[5] Rational Era then posted a video debunking Cody and Satori's routine, referencing a historical anecdote about "the Fox sisters" from the mid-1800s. The Fox sisters reportedly conducted shows around America claiming to be able to speak with ghosts through their "knock" routine, which they performed using popping bones in their ankles. This was revealed by one of the sisters after she left the troop. The video gathered over 217,000 views in 12 days (seen below).

On November 1st, 2023, Redditor^[6] /u/owonekowo posted a clip showing Cody doing a solo knocking routine 11 years ago, before he met Satori and before his battle with cancer, which he claimed had granted him special powers (seen below).

Over the following days, fans on the /r/SamandColby subreddit claimed that Sam and Colby were deleting critical or negative comments from their YouTube videos, resulting in further backlash.^[7]^[8]

On November 9th, Sam and Colby then posted^[9] the following message to their social media pages:

ever since the Conjuring series released we’ve seen a lot of information/questions come out about Cody & Satori. we are in the process of looking over everything and will be making a video soon to talk about things 🙏🏼
appreciate everyone’s patience and opinions