Who is Alan? The hunt for the lost soul who keeps us all awake at festivals every year

We’re finally coming towards the end of festival season. Creamfields, All Points East, Notting Hill Carnival and Reading and Leeds Festivals are arguably the highlight of the year. In previous years, we’ve seen tents flooded, slashed and even set on fire – not to mention all the random people going mental at 3am. But nothing could prepare us for the disappearance of Alan. But where did the Alan meme come from?

Going to a festival with high hopes of getting a full eight hours sleep each night is very unrealistic. We’ve all become accustomed to the iconic festival chants, football songs and incessant screaming, yet the search for Alan was just something else. You would at least expect to get a couple hours rest in your dodgy tent at night… This is where Alan came in to ruin your chances of that.

So, where did the Alan meme actually come from? 

How this man managed to disappear at both Reading and Leeds, we will never know. Offering some sort of explanation, some believe the Alan trend derived from the BBC One Earth clips, edited to make animals appear to be talking, with one animal in particular made to look like it was shouting the name Alan.

Nobody knows this man, nor did anyone find him, but the dedication from everyone this year to call out this man’s name was impressive. Picture this – it’s Saturday, you’ve got your final night of sleeping in this bomb sight knowing in a day’s time you’ll be in the comfort of your own bed. You’re feeling insane at this point, the air is borderline poisonous and the only thing left to consume is the litre of vodka you snuck in. You need sleep, even just an hour’s nap, but you are kept awake by the passionate yelling for Alan.

Who knew an innocent BBC video could result in a determined search for Alan at the biggest UK festivals. Alan, whether you were really missing, or completely fictional, you’ve managed to make a fair few sleep deprived enemies this festival year. I can’t even begin to imagine what next year’s catastrophe will be.

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Featured image via @bakonbitch, @gjtwilson, and @louisewood11 on TikTok.

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