Aiden Vale

Aiden Vale
Born	(2001-10-17) October 17, 2001 Austin, Texas, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Freelance designer
Years active	2023–present
Known for	Central figure in The Mint Requiem incident

Aiden Vale (born 17 October 2001) is an American freelance designer and writer, widely known as the central figure in the psychological event series commonly referred to as The Mint Requiem'. The case, which drew significant attention in 2025, centers around Vale’s involvement in a chain of unexplained psychological and paranormal incidents linked to a now-defunct dental clinic in Travis County, Texas.

The subject of several speculative investigations, internet folklore, and dramatized reconstructions, Vale’s personal writings, interviews, and documented psychological assessments have contributed to the cult status of the Mint Requiem timeline. His alleged sightings of a woman known only as "Mint Girl," along with themes of mirrored realities and dental experimentation, have formed the basis of both psychological study and internet myth.

Early life

Aiden Vale was born in Austin, Texas, in 2001. He was raised in a middle-class household and attended public school, showing early interest in design, writing, and digital art. Vale attended community college for two years before beginning freelance design work for small businesses and independent creative projects.

History

2019-2025

Vale began working as a freelance designer in 2019, focusing primarily on branding, digital art, and user interface layouts for small businesses and independent creators. Largely self-taught, he gained recognition in local circles for his minimalistic yet emotionally expressive design style, which blended clean visual structure with abstract symbolism. His early portfolio included logo work for music venues, e-commerce websites, and mental health awareness campaigns.

By 2021, Vale had established a steady client base and was known for his attention to emotional tone and storytelling within design. He frequently incorporated subtle narrative cues into his visuals, and several clients noted his ability to “capture a feeling before it has words.” He worked under various online aliases and was active on design platforms such as Behance and Dribbble, although many of these profiles have since been deleted or anonymized.

Vale often spoke about the psychological aspects of design, once stating in a now-deleted blog post, “Good design doesn’t just look clean — it reflects the soul of what’s missing.” This philosophy became more prominent in his later work, where themes of memory, identity, and decay began to subtly surface, particularly in the months leading up to the Mint Requiem incident.

Despite his deteriorating mental state in mid-2025, Vale reportedly continued to deliver projects to select clients. Some of these final works included fragmented UI concepts and animated glyphs that followers believe contain embedded references to his experiences. A few of these designs have since been archived and analyzed by digital art communities, with some claiming they display “non-Euclidean layering” and “impossible alignment.”

Vale’s contributions to the independent design community remain influential among niche creators, with his work now viewed through a posthumous lens that blends artistic innovation with personal tragedy.

Unconfirmed future

In the months following Vale’s disappearance in October 2025, rumors began circulating about a potential unreleased project allegedly left incomplete on his encrypted personal server. Several former collaborators claimed to have seen early concepts for a multimedia design experience titled ''Refraction Point'', described as an interactive portfolio that would “reshape based on who was looking at it.” No official files have been recovered, though screenshots allegedly linked to the project surfaced on anonymous forums in early 2026. The interface shown in these leaks featured reversed typography, blinking cursor trails, and a mint-colored loading screen that would not progress beyond 33%.

Additionally, one archived message on a private design Slack group suggested that Vale had been working on a personal web-based exhibit meant to chronicle “the invisible design of memory.” The domain he registered for this project—''mint-loop.net''—now redirects to a black screen with the phrase: “She’s still buffering.”

Due to the surreal and fragmented nature of these discoveries, it remains unclear whether these projects were legitimate works in progress or posthumous fabrications created by fans of the Mint Requiem narrative. Nonetheless, they have contributed to ongoing speculation that Vale intended to blur the boundaries between digital space, personal narrative, and mental decay.

The Mint Girl incident

Background and lead-up

In the months preceding the incident at the dental clinic, Vale had reportedly been undergoing treatment for recurring tension headaches and jaw discomfort, which he described as “a dull pressure behind the eyes.” He visited several local dentists, eventually receiving a referral to the West Harrow Dental Group—a private practice with limited online presence and no listed specialists. According to messages retrieved from his emails, Vale was initially reluctant to attend the appointment, stating in one draft: “Something about that place feels off. Like it’s too clean, like it’s waiting for me.”

Around the same period, friends and colleagues noted a shift in Vale’s behavior. He became increasingly withdrawn, frequently referencing a sense of being “followed by moments,” and claiming that certain reflections in shop windows “didn’t sync up” with his movements. In a group chat, he once joked about “needing a dentist for the soul,” a line that would later be quoted in several fan adaptations and academic papers.

The morning of his appointment—18 October 2024—Vale wrote a journal entry describing a vivid dream in which he was trapped in a white, humming room with no doors, being asked silent questions by people with smiles but no eyes. He concluded the entry with: “My mouth hurts, but my memory hurts more.”

That afternoon, he walked into the waiting room of West Harrow Dental for what was, according to multiple timelines and interpretations, his last unfractured moment.

The Mint Girl encounter

On 18 October 2024, Vale reportedly experienced what he described as a "formative romantic fixation" after a brief encounter with an unidentified young woman in a dentist’s waiting room. According to his personal notes and later interviews, the woman dropped a breath mint while exiting the room, which Vale pocketed and kept. This event, trivial to most, became a focal point in Vale’s personal writings over the following months.

Witnesses in the waiting room at the time recalled little about the woman, other than her quiet demeanor and the fact that she seemed “disinterested, almost annoyed” during her brief stay. Vale, however, would later describe the moment as “cinematically unreal,” claiming that their eyes met just before she dropped the mint—an event he interpreted as a “nonverbal handoff” or omen.

The mint, which he preserved in a small plastic bag labeled with the date and time, became what Vale referred to in his journals as a “static anchor”—a term he later associated with lucid memory retention and emotional echoing. He began referencing the event in design sketches, poems, and voice memos, often assigning the woman mythic qualities and referring to her only as “Mint Girl.”

In a voice recording dated 22 November 2024, Vale stated, “I don’t even know if she’s real anymore, or if I just projected the idea of her into that moment. Either way… I think she’s part of me now.” Mental health professionals reviewing these early writings later noted signs of parasocial delusion and early onset derealization, though no formal diagnosis was made at the time. Online forums would later debate whether Mint Girl was ever real, or a construct triggered by a latent psychogenic response during a period of stress.

The Mint Requiem incident

In April 2025, one year after the initial encounter, Vale returned to the clinic, only to discover it had been destroyed in a fire under circumstances the local fire department described as “deliberate but unexplained.” Following the visit, Vale’s behavior became increasingly erratic. He claimed to experience dissociative episodes, visual hallucinations, and gaps in memory.

In a widely-circulated Reddit post later verified to have been authored by Vale, he described discovering a hidden protocol known as the "Patient Reflection Program", which allegedly involved dental experimentation tied to psychological fragmentation and alternate mirrored realities. The post referenced the presence of multiple identical mints, dreamlike time slips, and a “burned clinic beneath the clinic.”

These claims, dismissed by authorities as delusional, became the center of a growing internet mythos. Several local residents later reported recurring dreams involving "mirror dentists" and disappearing appointments. A FOIA request for the clinic’s former patient list revealed a redacted file containing Vale’s name and a next appointment date listed as "6 days ago."

Surveillance footage from nearby buildings was reportedly corrupted, and witnesses described strange electrical malfunctions in the area at the time of the fire. A partially recovered fire inspection document mentioned heat signatures “inconsistent with standard combustibles,” and noted structural damage to an underground section of the clinic not listed in public blueprints.

Following the visit, Vale’s personal journals—later released online in fragments—describe frequent blackouts, auditory distortions, and visions of a “burned hallway that shouldn’t exist.” Friends reported he began obsessively sketching dental instruments merged with mirrors and frequently mentioned a “second waiting room beneath the first.”

The post was titled Reflection 0.1 and was pinned with the caption: “You were there too. Look at your dental records.” In it, Vale outlined his belief that the Patient Reflection Program was designed to fracture the self through memory dislocation and optical anchoring—procedures allegedly performed using mirrored dental tools in unauthorized sub-clinical spaces.

One notable claim was that he found multiple identical mints in his pocket after dreams, each slightly decayed in different ways. He also described waking up with teeth slightly rearranged in his mouth, and claimed that brushing with mint toothpaste caused “interference” with what he called “mirror bleed.”

These posts, though deleted within hours, were archived and widely circulated across forums, sparking amateur investigations and content creator deep-dives. One independent researcher matched elements of Vale’s sketches to an abandoned experimental dental grant proposal filed in 2003 under the codename “R.E.F.L.E.C.T.”

Mirror Tooth

"Mirror Tooth" redirects here. For the comic book storyline, see Mirror Tooth.

Main article: Mirror Tooth

In late 2025, production began on a dramatized limited series titled Mirror Tooth, inspired by the events surrounding Vale and the Mint Requiem case. The series, released on the independent streaming platform NerveLine in April 2026, fictionalizes the psychological breakdown and disappearance of a designer who becomes obsessed with a woman in a waiting room and the mint she leaves behind. The project was helmed by director Corvin Heller, known for psychological thrillers and experimental visual storytelling.

While the series took creative liberties, including the addition of a supernatural antagonist known as “The Extractionist,” it was praised for its faithful adaptation of Vale’s emotional descent, journal excerpts, and digital art themes. The character of “Aiden V” was portrayed by actor Elias Thorn, whose performance received critical acclaim for its vulnerability and intensity.

Fans noted that several visual elements in the series—such as the use of mirrors, flickering dental lights, and decaying x-ray overlays—appeared to be lifted directly from Vale’s unreleased design work. This has led to ongoing speculation that producers gained access to private files or collaborated with individuals close to Vale.

Return and reappearance

On 11 March 2027, over a year after his unexplained disappearance, Vale was reportedly found alive in a disused sublevel of the original West Harrow Dental facility—a section presumed to have been destroyed during the 2025 fire. The discovery was made by local archivist and urban explorer Kelsie Rowe, who had entered the property while researching post-fire infrastructure. She later told local media that she was drawn to the location by "the smell of mint and humming fluorescent lights that shouldn’t have had power."

According to emergency responders, Vale was discovered unconscious but physically unharmed. He was found lying in a room surrounded by broken mirrors, dental chairs stripped of fabric, and several CRT monitors that flickered with abstract visuals resembling his past design work. He was reportedly clutching a melted plastic container believed to have once held mints.

Medical personnel noted that Vale showed signs of dehydration and exhaustion but no serious injury. He had no immediate recollection of the preceding 17 months.

Vale was admitted to a private recovery facility for evaluation. In late April 2027, he provided a written statement to a close friend, later shared publicly, in which he claimed he had been "trapped beneath a recursive layer of the clinic"—an environment he referred to as "The Other Waiting Room." According to the statement, this psychological space was shaped by his own memories and emotional fixations, particularly tied to Mint Girl and the object he had kept since 2024. He described the space as a "looping simulation of unprocessed grief and imagined intimacy."

Vale claimed that escape only became possible when he willingly let go of the mint itself, stating that his fixation had become the anchor holding him inside the fragmented space. An official investigation revealed no working electrical infrastructure in the area Vale was recovered from, and the sublevel where he was found was permanently sealed by county officials days later. Though authorities remain skeptical of Vale's account, online communities following the Mint Requiem saga widely interpret the event as his escape from what has been referred to as a "constructive dissociation field." As of mid-2027, Vale has remained largely out of the public eye. He is believed to reside in a rural area outside Austin, Texas.

Business ventures and affiliations

Throughout his career, Vale was associated with a number of independent creative ventures, several of which blurred the lines between design practice, experimental art, and psychological theory. Though he never operated under a formal corporate structure, his work extended into multiple digital and conceptual platforms, often under aliases or unlisted contributor roles.

Loopfield

Founded in 2022, Loopfield was a digital arts collective co-created by Vale and two unnamed collaborators. The group focused on experimental interactive web projects involving nonlinear navigation, visual recursion, and emotional interface design. Loopfield gained niche recognition in online art communities for projects such as ''The Mouth is a Door'' and ''Click//Forget''. The collective’s official site went offline in 2024, though archived fragments remain accessible via internet preservation tools. The final message posted to the site read: “We built the loop. He walked into it.”

MintLoop Studio

Vale also operated under the pseudonymous brand MintLoop Studio, believed to be a solo venture through which he pitched advanced UI concepts and experimental narrative systems to clients. While never formally registered as a business, MintLoop Studio appeared on several freelance invoices and design showcase sites between 2023 and 2025. The studio’s branding heavily incorporated themes of breath, erosion, and fractured user interaction. A now-deleted teaser video for the studio’s “Phase Two” project briefly surfaced on social media in mid-2025, featuring the phrase: “Smells like menthol. Sounds like regret.”

Soft//Memory Technologies

Though never officially credited, Vale is believed to have contributed to the early ideation process of Soft//Memory Technologies, an Austin-based startup working in emotion-responsive interface design and augmented cognitive layering. Internal documents leaked in early 2026 list “A.V.” as a temporary consultant on a prototype system involving biometric reflection tracking. Some researchers have speculated that elements of the canceled game project ''Residuum'' originated from concepts developed during this period.

Neon Obelisk

Beginning in 2021, Vale posted anonymously on underground design and speculative art forums under the alias Neon Obelisk. Using this name, he published image packs, interface concepts, and short-form surreal fiction, often tied to themes of memory loss, duplication, and forgotten versions of the self. Several of these posts are considered proto-lore for what would eventually become the Mint Requiem mythos. The final post from the Neon Obelisk handle, dated September 2025, read: “If you see her, don’t tell her I blinked.”

Public response and legacy

Vale has become a cult figure in digital horror communities and speculative fiction circles. His writings were compiled and published anonymously online under the title Requiem for a Waiting Room. A dramatized retelling of his story, titled *Mirror Tooth*, was released on streaming platforms in 2026, further fueling public interest in the case. Some academics have analyzed Vale’s experience through the lens of dissociative identity disorder, while others cite it as an example of modern myth-making and post-reality storytelling.

Health and conditions

Following his second visit to the site of the West Harrow Dental Group in April 2025, Vale began exhibiting signs of acute psychological distress. Friends and close contacts reported a rapid deterioration in his mental health over the course of several weeks, including disorganized speech, vivid hallucinations, and extreme paranoia. In voice memos and journal entries, Vale referenced “reflections that don’t wait for me,” and claimed to experience sensations of “temporal drag” and “identity slippage.”

Although never formally hospitalized, Vale was briefly evaluated by a private therapist in May 2025. Notes from the assessment, later leaked online, suggested symptoms consistent with derealization disorder, obsessive romantic fixation, and possible delusional disorder with somatic elements, particularly related to his claims of physical changes in dental structure and “mirror interference” triggered by oral hygiene.

Vale also frequently complained of somatic discomfort, including persistent jaw pain, tooth sensitivity, and recurring nosebleeds, which he associated with “cross-dimensional dental work” performed without consent. No clinical evidence supported these claims. Dental x-rays shared in one Reddit post showed no abnormalities, but digital artifacts in the scans—later attributed to file corruption—became a key point of interest in speculative online communities.

He frequently described experiencing "memory echoes," claiming that certain events in his day had already occurred but with subtle differences. These reports, combined with his increasingly erratic writing, led several amateur investigators to speculate that Vale was suffering from a rare form of fictive temporal dissociation—a theoretical condition not recognized by official psychiatric bodies but discussed in speculative psychology circles.

Business ventures

Outside of his freelance work, Vale was involved in several independent creative projects that extended beyond traditional design. In 2022, he quietly co-founded a small digital arts collective called Loopfield, which focused on collaborative multimedia experiences blending visual design, audio manipulation, and interactive storytelling. The group released several web-based “micro projects” between 2022 and 2024, many of which have since gone offline. Archived versions of these sites show early experimentation with glitch aesthetics, recursive navigation structures, and user-driven narrative loops.

Vale also briefly consulted for an emerging augmented reality startup in late 2023, contributing interface concepts and thematic branding centered on “mirror-activated interactions.” While his name was not listed in any official documentation, internal correspondence leaked in 2026 referenced an unnamed contributor who “designed prototypes that responded emotionally to user reflection angles.”

His most controversial and mysterious endeavor, however, was an unreleased game project uncovered post-disappearance.

Residuum

Rumors of a narrative-driven game titled Residuum first surfaced in a private game dev Discord in September 2025, just weeks before Vale’s disappearance. Described as an “asymmetrical psychological clicker,” the game allegedly centered on a character trapped inside a decaying operating room who could only progress by deleting pieces of their own memory.

Early design documents attributed to Vale suggested the game would feature branching storylines based on how long players stared at in-game mirrors, with choices measured not by action, but hesitation. The color scheme, UI mockups, and font selections found in the leaked materials matched those used in Vale’s last known design works.

Although the game was never officially announced or released, an encrypted file named residuum_ver0825 was reportedly found in a private Git repository linked to his now-defunct Loopfield profile. Attempts to launch the file caused system instability, with some users claiming their webcam light flickered during play attempts, even when disabled.

In popular culture

Television

• The 2026 streaming series Mirror Tooth is loosely based on Vale’s case.

Video games

• Several indie games released between 2025 and 2027 include references to "the Mint Box" and "The Other Waiting Room".
• Internet creepypasta writers often cite Vale’s timeline as foundational in a new genre known as "dental liminal horror".

See also

• Liminal space
• Backrooms
• Psychological horror
• Unexplained disappearances