Unanswered Questions about Toby From “Paranormal Activity”

Any questions that didn’t get answered about Toby from Paranormal Activity probably were left blank simply to preserve the mystery. The movies were creepy as heck and the idea of Toby being around for so long and tormenting so many different people, and killing them no less, is even more so. But what questions then did people really want to know about? Why not savor the mystery and agree that that Paranormal Activity was just that scary and as a result that good? Well, some folks tend to want to know everything they possibly can since the unknown either bothers, scares, annoys, or just vexes them in a pleasing way that is like an itch you can’t scratch until you get help or find another way to get it done.

One thing everyone knows at this point is that Toby is not the conventional ghost or demon, or whatever you want to call him, if Toby IS a him. Toby is about as ambiguous as a character can be, even for one that is dead and is skilled at tormenting families year in and year out. But as to what Toby really is, well that’s still kind of up in the air so to speak since Toby is so highly adaptable. He can be smoke, he can be silent, deadly presence, or he can be a raging demonic creature that can spear people through the chest or break them in half if needs be. The point of Toby is that he’s there, he’s mad as all hell, no pun intended, and he just doesn’t stop for anyone.

It was never really known what Toby even looked like to be honest, but with the representations of the film it was kind of expected that he would be this epic, grandmaster demon that was imposing in his form and would scare the living pants off of everyone. It almost felt like a giant middle finger at the end of Ghost Dimension when we see the dirty calves and feet of an obvious human presence right after Leila goes off with him. Then there’s the motivation of Toby, which no one seems to really know other than the bloodshed and carnage that was seen throughout the movies. If that was the whole deal then fine, but it almost seemed as though Toby’s goal was to become human, which would have been a bit hard to understand since in his current form he wielded a great more deal of influence and power than he might have as a living, breathing human being. But motivation for a ghost is kind of hard to figure since honestly their concerns would be something far different from the living.

So in all honesty any and all questions about Toby are bound to be left as they are largely because, well, the creators of the series must have seen Toby as a means to an end and little more. Otherwise it seems like Toby might have gone on to be something a great deal bigger in the horror genre.