2005 was a Remarkable, Historic year

In late August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast causing widespread destruction, particularly in New Orleans and surrounding areas. Jason Steele (20 years old in 2005) was living in New Orleans at the time and lost his job, car and most of his possessions in the Hurricane. Jason had nothing, but still wanted to get his mother something for her upcoming birthday. Jason's mother loved unicorns so he decided to create an animated short about adventurous unicorns.

Jason's mother uploaded this animation to New Grounds in November 2005 where it started to gain views and attention. Geoff Swanson uploaded the video to YouTube in 2006 where it went viral. Charlie the Unicorn has over 200 million online views (combined), has a cult following and launched Jason Steel’s career.