Creepypastas are

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

-related

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

s or images that have been copied and pasted around the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. These Internet entries are often brief, user-generated, paranormal stories intended to scare, frighten, or discomfort readers. The term "creepypasta" originates from " copypasta", a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words

List of creepypastas

''1999''

''1999'' is a creepypasta that started as a blog by Camden Lamont which was updated in real-time. It tells the story of a Canadian man named Elliot, who is investigating a mysterious public access channel called Caledon Local 21. The mascot of the channel is "Mr. Bear", the star of the series ''Mr. Bear's Cellar''. Elliot remembers writing to Mr. Bear when he was younger, and during the investigation, he finds a police station with several Mr. Bear tapes, including an episode where Mr. Bear murders several children. In one of the last updates, Camden says he was contacted by an email address that supposedly belongs to Mr. Bear. The blog ends on a cliffhanger after Camden mentions the email address.

''Abandoned by Disney''

''Abandoned by Disney'' is a creepypasta written by Slimebeast about a man

exploring Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

an abandoned Disney resort, named '' Mowgli's Palace''. The story's climax comes when the man finds a room marked "CHARACTER PREP 1" which is inhabited by a photo-negative Mickey Mouse

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

that seems to be alive and flees when he witnesses it rip off its own head.

''The Ayuwoki''

''The Ayuwoki'' began as a YouTube video created in 2009 by fiction writer Thomas Rengstorff, to promote an animatronic robot with a mask resembling a distorted likeness of the late

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

. In early 2019 it morphed into a meme, a challenge, and an urban legend that also spawned a video game; it caused several authorities to calm any fears regarding the meme's influence. The Ayuwoki gets its name from a Spanish misspelling of the lyrics "Annie, are you okay?" from the song "

Smooth Criminal "Smooth Criminal" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on November 14, 1988, as the seventh single from his seventh album, '' Bad'' (1987). It was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. The lyrics add ...

''The Backrooms''

The Backrooms is a short passage originally posted to 4chan's /x/ board in 2019 as a caption to a photograph of a hallway with yellow carpets and wallpaper. The story purports that by " noclipping out of bounds in real life", one may enter a realm known as the Backrooms, an empty wasteland of corridors and rooms with nothing but "the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in", as well as malevolent entities that hunt the traveler across three separate areas of the Backrooms, "Levels 0 through 2". Over time, The Backrooms has been successively expanded into a mythos, with online writers adding information on new levels, entities, items, and phenomena within the Backrooms. The location in the original photograph which spawned the Backrooms story is still unidentified as of 2022. Backrooms images are an example of

liminal spaces In anthropology, liminality () is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they w ...

. On January 7, 2022, YouTuber and VFX artist Kane Pixels uploaded a short analog horror film ''The Backrooms (Found Footage)'', which follows a cameraman who records his experience in The Backrooms after he noclips in. Since then, it has garnered acclaim from the viewers, with over 43 million views as of December 23. Since the original upload, Kane has expanded upon his take on the Backrooms lore with more videos.

''The Expressionless''

''The Expressionless'' is a story that was added to the Creepypasta

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in June 2012. The story is set in June 1972, where a woman appeared in

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...

wearing only a gown drenched in blood. The woman had a mannequin-like face and a kitten clamped in her jaw. She pulled the animal out and threw it aside, and then collapsed. The doctors decided that sedating her would be the best option. After attempting to sedate her, the woman rose from the bed. The staff attempted to restrain her, but it didn't stop her from brutally massacring and cannibalizing the entirety of the present personnel using her sharp teeth. One female doctor survived and nicknamed her "The Expressionless".

''Hi I'm Mary Mary''

''Hi I'm Mary Mary'' (often stylized as ''hiimmarymary'') is a story told through multiple

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

videos, starting in July 9, 2016. The story follows Mary, a woman who one day woke up in a house similar to her grandparents' home, however, nobody else is there and nothing can be done to escape. Mary decides to record her experiences in the house, and eventually the garden, to keep herself occupied. During the day, the house is mostly normal and calm. However, during the night, strange and demonic figures representative of

mental illnesses A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

appear to torment her.

''Jeff the Killer''

''Jeff the Killer'' is a story accompanied by an image of the title character. In the most notable version of the ''Jeff the Killer'' story which originated in 2011, a teenager named Jeffrey Woods is attacked by a group of

bullies A bully is someone responsible for bullying, using aggression to intimidate or dominate others. Bully may also refer to: Animals * American Bully, a breed of dog * Bull Terrier or bully, a breed of dog * '' Gobiomorphus'' or bully, an Australia ...

. The fight ends with Jeff being nearly arrested for assault, which his brother Liu takes the blame for, getting taken away resulting in Jeff becoming depressed and introverted. His concerned parents force him to go to a party, where he gets approached by the same bullies he got in a fight with before. There, the bullies doused him with

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

and set him on fire. After being discharged from the hospital and having his bandages removed, Jeff becomes insane, carving his own face to leave a smile-shaped scar, burning off his eyelids, and killing his family. He becomes a

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

who sneaks into houses at night and whispers "go to sleep" to his victims before killing them. The story quickly became one of the most popular creepypastas and would inspire many other stories, including ''Jane the Killer''. The character of Jeff was created by DeviantArt user “sesseur”, the pseudonym for Jeff Case of Auburndale, Florida. The story above wasn't made by sesseur himself, but rather "a fan of his earlier work." Sesseur began posting about Jeff on Newgrounds in 2008 under the alias "killerjeff", describing a

Bloody Mary Bloody Mary originally referred to: * Mary I of England (1516–1558), Queen of England and Ireland, so called because of her persecution of Protestants Bloody Mary may also refer to: Film * '' Urban Legends: Bloody Mary'', a 2005 horror fil ...

-like ritual which supposedly can be performed to summon Jeff. According to the original story, Jeff "accidentally spilled a bucket of acid on his face while trying to clean his bathtub". A 2013 article asserted that the original image of Jeff the Killer was an extensively edited picture of a girl who committed suicide in the fall of 2008 due to people online ridiculing her appearance. However, in 2018, after extensive research done by the users of 4chan's /x/ (Paranormal) board, this rumor was debunked; the earliest known instances of the image that was used in the creepypasta appearing online at the time had been found on the Japanese imageboard website pya.cc, dating back to September and November 2005. In 2022, an even earlier instance of the image was found dating back to July 2005 on the Japanese image sharing site fileman.ne1.jp.

''Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv''

''Mereana Mordegard Glesgorv'' is the title of a twenty-second-long video uploaded to YouTube in 2008 by a user called erwilzei. It depicts footage with a red filter, of a man silently staring into the camera. A slightly longer version was later produced, depicting the man suddenly smirking towards the end; this was accompanied with a short story which claimed that several viewers who saw the footage in its entirety, which ran for approximately two minutes, were driven insane by what they saw, cutting out their eyes and mailing them to YouTube's headquarters. The man seen in the video was later identified as Byron Cortez, a citizen of the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

''Penpal''

''Penpal'' is a six-part creepypasta novel by Dathan Auerbach. The original stories were published on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

, and were collected as a self-published paperback in 2012.

The Rake

The Rake is a strange humanoid creature described as resembling either a naked man or a large hairless dog whose sightings have been reported on four different continents, occasionally being referred to as a " Skin-Walker", with the earliest known account being a mariner's log in 1691. Named for its massive, incredibly sharp claws, the Rake lacerates its victims in their sleep and in some cases, whispers to them in a frightening voice. Those fortunate enough to survive an encounter with the Rake usually end up traumatized by its appearance and behavior. The Rake is often listed as one of the most famous Creepypasta monsters. In 2018, a film based on the Rake was released on TubiTV and

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

. The film was poorly received by critics.

''The Russian Sleep Experiment''

''The Russian Sleep Experiment'' tells of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

agents and scientists experimenting on both

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

s and

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in which the prisoners are kept in a sealed-off room which was filled with an experimental gas to prevent sleep. This mysterious gas turns the prisoners into violent zombie-like monsters. In the end, the commander demands a researcher to enter the room and start killing the prisoners, with one of them uttering "So nearly free" or "Finally put to rest" before they die.

Siren Head

Siren Head is a fictional monster created by Trevor Henderson. It is a tall emaciated being with a pair of symbolic sirens where a head would normally go, which are capable of emitting various noises both natural and man-made, including sirens,

radio broadcasts Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...

white noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used, with this or similar meanings, in many scientific and technical disciplines, ...

, and human voices. An ambush predator, it always hides in plain sight and sometimes mimics the voices of its past victims to lure any potential prey closer. The creature is one of many monsters in Trevor Henderson's found-footage style art including

Cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

Cat,

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

Worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...

, Long

Horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

, Cartoon

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

, and more, and has been the subject of multiple video games, the most popular being a short horror game independently developed by Modus Interactive with the permission of Henderson. The game was originally created in 2018 for a

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

-themed

Game Jam A game jam is an event where participants try to make a video game from scratch. Depending on the format, participants might work independently, or in teams. The event duration usually ranges from 24 to 72 hours. Participants are generally program ...

, and gained an increase in popularity in 2020 after being showcased by various big gaming YouTubers and streamers, including PewDiePie,

Markiplier Mark Edward Fischbach ( ; born June 28, 1989), also known as Markiplier, is an American YouTuber. Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, he began his career in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is currently based in Los Angeles, California. In addition to uplo ...

, and

Jacksepticeye Seán William McLoughlin (born 7 February 1990), better known as Jacksepticeye, is an Irish YouTuber, best known for his vlogs and comedic Let's Play series. , his channel has over 15.7 billion views and 28.9 million subscribers, and is the mo ...

. Siren Head was also included in a popular '' Fallout 4'' mod, called ''Whispering Hills''. Another game, titled ''Sirenhead'', was developed by UndreamedPanic and praised for its visuals and sound design.

Slender Man

Slender Man is a lanky humanoid with no distinguishable facial features, who wears a trademark black suit. The character originated in a 2009 Something Awful Photoshop competition, before later being featured as a main antagonist in the ''

Marble Hornets ''Marble Hornets'' (abbreviated ''MH'') is an alternate reality game YouTube web series inspired by the Slender Man online mythos. The first video was posted on YouTube on June 20, 2009, following a post that its creator, Troy Wagner, created on ...

'' alternate reality game. According to most stories, he targets younger people who supposedly go into his forest looking for him. The legend also caused controversy with the Slender Man stabbing in 2014. The character is featured in various films, television series and video games and is fondly remembered as one of the most iconic

Internet urban legends An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

of the 2010s.

''Ted the Caver''

''Ted the Caver'' began as an Angelfire website in early 2001 that documented the adventures of a man and his friends as they explored a local cave. The story is in the format of a series of blog posts. As the explorers move further into the cave, strange hieroglyphs and winds are encountered. In a final blog post, Ted writes that he and his companions will be bringing a gun into the cave after experiencing a series of nightmares and hallucinations. The blog has not been updated since the final post. In 2013, an

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

adaptation of the story was released, called ''Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver''.

''Torture Soup'' (''Blank Room Soup'')

''Torture Soup'' or ''Blank Room Soup'' is a video in which a man is seen reluctantly eating a bowl of soup with a large spoon. Midway through the video, the man begins sobbing uncontrollably while two masked people caress his head and back. There are several theories about the clip, one of them affirms that the man who appears in the video had to endure four days of starvation, and then he was forced to eat the remains of his deceased wife and children. The video was uploaded to

under the headlines "Blank Room Soup" and "Torture Soup", and quickly became popular. The costumes used in the video are costumes of characters known as RayRay, created by Raymond Persi; the characters were originally devised in 2002 when Persi began to draw these characters based on his vision of himself. There are many claims that the video was not created by Persi, and that the costumes featured in the video were stolen after a live show, and that the video was later released to him.

Zalgo

Zalgo is a recurring creepypasta character who is alternately interpreted as a deity, an abstract supernatural force, or a secret collective. The concept originated in 2004 on the Something Awful forums, with edits of cartoons to depict characters mutating and bleeding from their eyes while praising Zalgo. The depictions were coupled with a unique form of distorted text that became known as Zalgo text.

Lost episode creepypastas

Lost episode is a common subgenre of creepypasta and revolves around lost episodes of various media properties. These lost episodes are usually explained as having been prevented from airing, or pulled during broadcast due to controversial, mature, or unsettling aspects being shown, such as graphic violence, gore, and adult themes.

''Candle Cove''

Candle Cove ''Candle Cove'' is an online creepypasta horror story written by web cartoonist and author Kris Straub in 2009. The story centers on a fictional television series titled ''Candle Cove'', that could only be viewed by a small group of people, pre ...

'' is a 2009 story by Kris Straub written in the format of an online forum thread in which people reminisce about a half-remembered children's television series from the 1970s involving a young girl - the series' protagonist - going on adventures with a cast of pirates. The posters share memories of the puppets used in the series, and discuss nightmares that they experienced after watching certain episodes (such as those involving a villain called the Skin-Taker, and one that had no dialogue and involved the puppets screaming relentlessly while the protagonist was reduced to hysterical crying). One poster then asks their mother about the series and is told that the mother just used to tune the television to static, which the child would watch for thirty minutes.

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

announced a television drama based on the story in 2015, adapted by

Nick Antosca Nicholas J. Antosca (born January 23, 1983) is an American film and television writer, producer, and novelist. He is the creator and showrunner of the horror anthology television series '' Channel Zero'' (2016–2018). He also co-created and sh ...

and Max Landis. The story makes up the first season of '' Channel Zero'', which premiered on October 11, 2016.

''Dead Bart'' ''(7G06)''

''Dead Bart'' is a story by writer K. I. Simpson. It features the Simpson family going on a plane trip together, but while being his usual, mischievous self, Bart ends up breaking a window on the plane and getting sucked out, falling to his death. After an apparently very realistic view of his corpse, the show's second act features a surreal take on the Simpson family's grief. Act three opens with a title card saying one year has passed.

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

Marge Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret (name), Margaret. Notable Marges include: People *Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist *Marge Anderson (1932� ...

, and

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...

are skeletally thin, and still sitting at the table. There is no sign of

Maggie Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret. Maggie may refer to: People Women * Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician * Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist * Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...

or the pets. They decide to visit Bart's grave. Springfield is completely deserted, and as they walk to the cemetery the houses become more and more decrepit. Emotionally abandoned, they arrive at Bart's grave where Bart's body is simply lying in front of his tombstone, appearing similar to the corpse in act one. The family starts crying again, but eventually, they stop and blankly stare at Bart's body. Near the end, the camera starts to zoom into Homer's face and according to summaries, Homer also tells a joke during this part. In a later update, it's revealed that Homer is saying "If only we were all that lucky." The episode ends with a zoom-out of the cemetery, featuring the names of every single Simpsons guest star on the tombstones, with the ones that have not died yet all having the same death date.

''Squidward's Suicide (Red Mist)''

The full story is told from the perspective of a person who interned at Nickelodeon Studios in 2005 as an animation student. The student and some other coworkers received a tape to edit titled " Squidward’s Suicide" for the series ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...

''. The staff initially assumed it was just an office prank. In the firsthand account, the video consists of Squidward preparing for a concert. After Squidward finishes playing at the concert, the crowd jeers at Squidward. The next shows Squidward forlornly sitting on a bed, while strange and upsetting noises play and become louder in the background. The scene is spliced with quick flashes of murdered children, each time the noises getting louder when cutting back to Squidward — now bearing red 'hyper realistic' eyes. Eventually, Squidward shoots himself after a detached, deep voice commands him to do so, and the video ends. The circulated image of red-eyed Squidward associated with this creepypasta was referenced in the series and included in the original uncut airing of the season 12 episode "SpongeBob in RandomLand". According to

Vincent Waller Vincent Paul Waller (born September 30, 1960) is an American writer, storyboard artist, animator, and technical director. He has worked on several animated television shows and movies, the most notable ones being ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' and ' ...

(the showrunner and co-executive producer of season 12), the purpose of the reference was to make fun of "try-hard edgy fanfiction", and he has referred to "Squidward's Suicide" as a "ridiculous fanfiction". He further clarified that it was only intended as a reference and that the "Red Mist Squidward" character is "FAR from canon".

''Suicidemouse.avi''

''Suicidemouse.avi'' is a nine-minute

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

video uploaded to YouTube in 2009, with the video posing as being forgotten Mickey Mouse footage made by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

himself during the 1920s

golden age of American animation The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the late 1960s, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the ...

. The "forbidden" cartoon begins with a 3-minute animation loop of Mickey walking down a street with a dull, almost depressed look on his face. All the while, the sound of a piano being played poorly can be heard in the background. After the 6-minute mark, the video cuts to black as the sound of TV

replaces the original banging piano music. The video then cuts back to Mickey, who starts sneering after a while, and the sound of a garbled cry can be heard. It is at the 8-minute mark that the audio changes once again, this time to a woman screaming in agony, and as the screams get louder and louder, the picture changes; the streets and sidewalks Mickey is walking on start to travel in impossible directions, while the buildings look destroyed. Mickey's face begins to fall apart as his eyeballs roll to the bottom of his chin like marbles in a fishbowl anod disappear, his smile creeps up to the left side of his head, and eventually he ends up looking demented. The screaming continues until the 9-minute mark when the episode ends, while the original story and footage of Mickey ends there, one interpretation shows a scene with Mickey spinning and then falling to the ground, dying, and a demon appears, making a loud screeching noise, before disappearing. An image of Mickey's head appears on the screen (similarly to the ending of classical Mickey Mouse cartoons around the time) for approximately 30 seconds, while what sounds like a broken music box plays in the background, with a Russian text that roughly reads: "The sights of Hell bring its viewers back in". The remaining 30 seconds is supposedly unknown to the public, though it is suggested that whatever took place during those last 30 seconds was so mentally traumatic, that it resulted in the employee who first screened the episode committing suicide after watching it and uttering the phrase "Real suffering is not known." This creepypasta was adapted into a movie on June 15, 2018, directed by Christo Lopez. The budget was over $5,000 and it was filmed in the United States.

''The Wyoming Incident''

''The Wyoming Incident'' is the case of an alleged interruption of the transmission in

Niobrara County Niobrara County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 2,467, making it the least populous county in Wyoming. Its county seat is Lusk. Its eastern boundary abuts the west lines of the ...

, Wyoming in 2006. During the interruption, viewers saw disembodied human heads performing various poses and emotions. The story goes that those who watched for a prolonged period of time presented everything from vomiting, hallucinations, and headaches. These physical ailments are believed to have been caused by the high-pitched noise that played throughout most of the video. The hacker who allegedly did this was never found. As a tribute to the story, a video game developed using the Raycasting Game Maker program was released in 2010 and later was updated in 2018.

Fanfictions

While the following stories do not fit the typical definition of creepypastas – often being written from an in-universe perspective, they are sometimes associated with the genre:

''Cupcakes''

Originally posted to the /co/ board of

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...

by Drecker Jones, under the pen name "Sergeant Sprinkles", ''Cupcakes'' is a fanfiction based on the show '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic''. In the story,

Rainbow Dash The ''My Little Pony'' franchise debuted in 1982, as the creation of American illustrator and designer Bonnie Zacherle. Together with sculptor Charles Muenchinger and manager Steve D'Aguanno, Zacherle submitted a design patent in August 1981 fo ...

visits

Pinkie Pie In the '' My Little Pony'' franchise, the Earth ponies are ponies without a horn or wings. They were the first ponies to come out in 1983. They lack the ability to cast magic spells like unicorns, or the ability to stand on clouds like the ''pega ...

after getting invited by her to the bakery. Rainbow Dash was told she'd be making cupcakes with Pinkie Pie, however, Pinkie Pie knocks her out with a drink. Rainbow Dash is taken to a dark room full of severed pony heads. Pinkie Pie states that she will be making cupcakes out of Rainbow Dash. The story describes the ways Pinkie Pie mutilates Rainbow Dash to death. The story ends with

Apple Bloom This is a list of characters from ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'', an Animated series, animated television series based on the My Little Pony toyline created by American toy manufacturer and multimedia company Hasbro. The series features ...

joining Pinkie Pie, who is now making cupcakes out of Diamond Tiara.

''Rainbow Factory''

Created by internet user Aurora Dawn, ''Rainbow Factory'' is another fanfiction of '' My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic''. It tells the story of two Pegasi,

Scootaloo The ''My Little Pony'' franchise debuted in 1982, as the creation of United States, American illustrator and designer Bonnie Zacherle. Together with sculptor Charles Muenchinger and manager Steve D'Aguanno, Zacherle submitted a design patent in ...

and Orion, who fail a flight test due to trying to help a third Pegasus, Aurora, who broke their wing while flying. They are transferred to a large weather factory that is managed by Rainbow Dash. After being locked in a large room with several others, Rainbow Dash reveals how rainbows are made through the use of mutilated, live Pegasi being put through a machine called a Pegasus Device that converts their corpses into individual colors (known as Spectra), which are then mixed to make rainbows. After attempting to retaliate against Rainbow Dash and the cruelty in the factory, Orion is chained up to the machine and is twisted until his ribs shatter, before being tossed in the Device. Scootaloo attempts to escape from a now-maniacal and insane Rainbow Dash, but is proven fruitless as she is captured by guards and attached to the machine, where she utters her last words to Rainbow Dash; "You have beautiful eyes." The ending of the story is ambiguous as to her fate. There is a sequel to this set twenty years later, centered around two other foals who escape being turned into rainbows, and the lives of the workers in the weather factory.

Video game creepypastas

These creepypasta focus on video games containing grotesque or violent content; this content may spill over into the real world and cause the player to harm themselves or others. Many video game creepypastas involve malevolent entities such as ghosts or artificial intelligence.

BEN Drowned

Created by Internet user Alex Hall (a.k.a. "Jadusable"), ''Ben Drowned'' tells a story of a college student only identified as Jadusable who buys a used copy of the video game '' The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'' from an elderly man at a yard sale. Jadusable finds that the cartridge is haunted by the ghost of a boy named Ben, who drowned, as well as an entity that seems to have taken his name only identified as BEN, and an enigmatic force known as the Father. After performing the Fourth Day Glitch, Jadusable encounters disturbing glitches and ominous messages such as "You shouldn't have done that ..." and "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?", and begins to encounter Ben in the game, who takes the form of the Elegy of Emptiness statue. The story would later spiral into an Alternate Reality Game with the introduction of an in-universe website belonging to the Moon Children, a mysterious cult. After an eight-year-long hiatus, the story returned in 2020, once again in the Alternate Reality Game format, for its final arc, dubbed "Awakening", which featured adjacent plotlines about a man calling himself Jadus recounting his experiences during a societal collapse due to a virus known as H.E.R.O.E.S, people waking up in a mysterious hotel run by a man named Abel, and a return to the haunted Majora's Mask cartridge.

''Catastrophe Crow!''

''Catastrophe Crow!'', also known as ''Crow 64'', is a creepypasta revolving around a fictional 3D platform game for the Nintendo 64 developed in Germany that was never released, whose developer, Manfred Lorenz, supposedly disappeared at sea. The story of the video game was first released when a video produced by YouTuber Adam Butcher was released, titled "What Happened to Crow 64?".

''GAMEBOY ADVANCE SP BLUE EDITION CREEPYPASTA''

''GAMEBOY ADVANCE SP BLUE EDITION CREEPYPASTA'', is a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

of video game creepypastas written and narrated by YouTuber Chris "Oney" O'Neill. O'Neill uses recurring tropes from the creepypasta genre with the addition of redundant and absurdist details, including verbal descriptions of elements used in visual media such as

thought bubble Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a charac ...

s and Gaussian blurs. The original story was posted on O'Neil's YouTube gaming channel

OneyPlays Christopher Luke O'Neill (born 21 November 1990), also known by his Internet pseudonym Oney () or OneyNG, is an Irish animator, YouTuber, voice actor, musician, and video game designer. He is known for his Flash animations and being the founder a ...

in November 2017, with a song adaptation of the creepypasta made by the fellow YouTube channel The Living Tombstone uploaded December 2017. The story is a man's retelling of an experience "53 years ago, back when ewas a fully grown little boy" wherein a car "clobbered" him through a window and into the bedroom of a little boy playing with a GameBoy Advance SP. The protagonist steals the GameBoy for himself and plays on it ''Super Mario and the Legend of the Stolen GameBoy Advance SP Blue Edition'' until the Mario in the game curses the protagonist for stealing him. Hoping to lift Mario's curse, the protagonist returns to the boy's bedroom to and give back the GameBoy, only to find the boy's family there lowering the coffin of the boy (who had died over the loss of his GameBoy) into a grave. After falling into the grave and returning the GameBody to the dead child, Mario lifts the curse and returns the protagonist home unharmed. Having learned his lesson about stealing, the protagonist declares everything would be alright even though "the child remained permanently dead".

Herobrine

Originally posted by an anonymous user on

, Herobrine is a supernatural being or ghost that haunts single-player worlds of the

sandbox video game A sandbox game is a video game with a gameplay element that provides players a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or alternatively with a goal that the players set for themselves. Such games may ...

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...

''. The character is supposed to look like

Steve ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, one of the default character skins available for new players of ''Minecraft'', except for a pair of glowing white eyes which lack pupils. Theories which explain the Herobrine's supposed origins range from his purported identity as the supposedly deceased brother of ''Minecraft'' creator Markus Persson, to an "unlucky miner" who haunt living players out of a desire for vengeance.

''Lavender Town Syndrome''

This legend purports that, shortly after the original Japanese release of the video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Green'' in 1996, there was an increase in the death rate amongst children aged 10–15. Children who had played the games reportedly screamed in terror at the sight of either of the games inserted into the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

handheld console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...

, and exhibited other erratic behavior, before committing suicide through methods such as

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

, jumping from heights, and creatively severe

self-mutilation Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

. Supposedly, the suicides were connected to the eerie background music played in the fictional location of Lavender Town in the games. In the game's canon, Lavender Town is the site of the haunted Pokémon Tower, where numerous graves of Pokémon can be found. The legend alleges that children, besides being the primary players of the games, are more susceptible to the effects of the Lavender Town music, because it supposedly incorporates

binaural beat In acoustics, a beat is an Interference (wave propagation), interference pattern between two sounds of slightly different frequency, frequencies, ''perceived'' as a periodic variation in amplitude (music), volume whose rate is the Difference (math ...

s and a high-pitched tone that adults cannot hear. It has been speculated that the legend was inspired by an actual event in Japan in 1997, in which hundreds of television viewers experienced seizures due to a scene with flickering images in an episode of the ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

, titled "

Dennō Senshi Porygon is the 38th episode of the ''Pokémon'' anime's first season. Its sole broadcast was in Japan on December 16, 1997. In the episode, Ash and his friends find at the local Pokémon Center that there is something wrong with the Poké Ball transm ...

''NES Godzilla Creepypasta''

''NES Godzilla Creepypasta'' is a story written by Cosbydaf, who also produced the sprite artwork for the story. It relates the tale of a character named Zach who plays an unusual copy of the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

game '' Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!''. As Zach progresses through the game, simple glitches begin to turn into entirely new content and new monsters - including members of Toho’s monsters that never appeared in the game and monsters from entries in the ''Godzilla'' franchise that were released after ''Monster of Monsters!'', and wholly-original creatures unrelated to either of the prior two categories - and eventually, a malevolent, supernatural being by the name of Red reveals himself. As the mystery behind the nature of Red unravels, it is revealed that the demon has closer ties to Zach than he ever could have expected. The story concludes with Zach - having defeated Red during the final battle - selling the game on eBay, unable to bring himself to keep or destroy the mysterious cartridge. The story is often praised for its extensive use of custom-made screenshots, depicting thousands of sprites created by the story's author. A fangame based on the story is being developed; a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

was released in 2017.

''Petscop''

Petscop ''Petscop'' is a YouTube Horror fiction, horror web series by Tony Domenico, made to resemble a YouTube Let's play, Let's Play series. The videos follow "Paul", the protagonist, exploring and documenting a supposedly 'long-lost PlayStation (conso ...

'' is a web series released on

which purports to be a

Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strateg ...

of a "lost and unfinished" 1997

video game of the same name. In the game, the player character must capture strange creatures known as "pets" by solving puzzles. However, after the narrator of the series enters a code on a note attached to the copy of the game he received, he can enter a strange, dark, and hidden section of the game: the Newmaker Plane and the depths below it. Although the puzzles continue, the game's tone shifts dramatically, and numerous references to child abuse appear; ''Newmaker'' appears to refer to the real-life case of

Candace Newmaker Candace Elizabeth Newmaker (born Candace Tiara Elmore, November 19, 1989 – April 19, 2000) was a child who was killed during a 70-minute attachment therapy session performed by 4 unlicensed therapists, purported to treat reactive attachment ...

, who was murdered during

rebirthing therapy Attachment therapy (also called "the Evergreen model", "holding time", "rage-reduction", "compression therapy", "rebirthing", "corrective attachment therapy", and "coercive restraint therapy") is a pseudoscientific child mental health interventi ...

''Polybius''

An urban legend claims that in 1981, an arcade cabinet called ''

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

'' caused nightmares and hallucinations in players, leading at least one person to suicide. Several people supposedly became anti-gaming activists, after playing ''Polybius''. One of the oldest urban legends regarding video games, ''Polybius'' has entered popular culture, and numerous fangames exist as attempts to recreate the game from numerous accounts of its nature.

''Pale Luna''

''Pale Luna'' is a creepypasta which tells the story of a

text-based adventure game '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the f ...

, named "Pale Luna." Never distributed outside the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, the game starts with some text that states: "You are in a dark room. Moonlight comes through the window. There is GOLD in a corner, along with a SHOVEL and a ROPE. There is a DOOR to the WEST. Command?". After the player completes level 1, the next level displays text that says: "Reap your reward. PALE LUNA SMILES AT YOU. You are in a forest, there are paths to the NORTH, EAST, and WEST. Commands?". Most players describe the game as a joke in bad taste and extremely lazy programming, as well as broken and unplayable. However, a player named Michael Nevins plays a copy to see if there is something beyond; after five hours of play and several reboots, the game displays the following text: "PALE LUNA SMILES WIDE. There are no paths. PALE LUNA SMILES WIDE. The ground is soft. PALE LUNA SMILES WIDE. Here. Command?". After Nevins chooses a series of commands: "Dig hole. Throw gold. Fill hole," the game shows the following text: "Congratulations, 40.24248 -121.4434." After thinking for a while, Michael concludes that these numbers are coordinates leading to the

Lassen Volcanic Park Lassen Volcanic National Park is an American national park in northeastern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak, the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range. Lassen Volc ...

in northeast California. The next day, Nevins, equipped with a compass, a map, and a shovel, begins his search through the park. During his search, he realizes that the paths he takes are comparable to those of the game. After a long walk, he reaches the coordinates' exact location and begins digging until he finds the head of a girl with blonde hair in an advanced state of decomposition. After Nevins informs the authorities about the terrifying discovery, the girl is identified as Karel Paulsen, an 11-year-old girl who was reported missing by the San Diego Police Department a year and a half previously. After Michael's discovery, an investigation is carried out to find the identity of the programmer of the video game. However, the rest of Karen's body and the identity of the author of Pale Luna are never found. It is known that some collectors have offered great fortunes for the few copies of the video game.

Sonic.exe

''Sonic.exe'' is a creepypasta initially created by JC -the- Hyena. The original story follows a teenager named Tom, who receives a CD from his friend Kyle and a note telling him to destroy it. Finding Kyle's warning to be a joke, Tom decides to play it, finding it to be a haunted version of ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' (1991). The haunted version of the game contains an eldritch entity known as X, who takes on a form almost identical to

Sonic Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain *Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider and CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities *Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...

, with bloodied, black eyes and glowing red pupils. In each of the three levels, Tom plays as Tails, Knuckles, and

Doctor Eggman Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the main antagonist of Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Eggman was created and designed by Naoto Ohshima as part of many design choices for Sega's new mascot. After the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, Oh ...

, only for them to be killed and enslaved by X at the end of them. After all the characters are killed, a "hyper-realistic" image of the character appears with the caption "I AM GOD". Tom turns around, only to see a stuffed Sonic toy crying blood on his bed, his fate unknown. The original story was posted for the first time on the Creepypasta Wiki in August 2011 and was removed in January 2014 due to complaints of its poor quality when compared to other gaming creepypastas, despite it being somewhat influential. The growing backlash towards the story led its author to publish a protracted diatribe about his grievances with the Creepypasta Wiki's decision, which only fueled further criticism. An unofficial edit of the ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...

movie trailer A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and techni ...

was made to depict Sonic as X.

''Toonstruck 2''

''Toonstruck 2'' is a story revolving around the sequel to the video game ''Toonstruck'', which was developed but not released due to the commercial flop of the first game. The protagonist of the story, an adventure game geek named Dave, buys a rare copy of the game from a creepy man in a black raincoat; as he plays ''Toonstruck 2'', its atmosphere becomes increasingly sinister, and the game begins to change the real world around him (the original ''Toonstruck'' was about a cartoon animator transported to the toon world through TV). The story alleges that ''Toonstruck 2'' was based on art from the sketchbook of a mentally ill cartoon animator who murdered his boss, bought by one of Virgin Interactive's executives at a murderabilia auction, and the real reason for its cancellation was that its contents were too shocking. SVG's Christopher Gates wrote: "The incomplete storyline has proved to be fertile ground for fans, who seem more than happy to fill in the blanks... If ''Toonstruck'' had been finished, maybe it would've faded away. But it wasn't, and the mystery has kept ''Toonstruck'' fans engaged for over 20 years — and counting."

Analog Horror

Although not strictly fitting the definition of creepypasta, analog horror was built on many of the tropes pioneered by earlier creepypastas.

''Local 58''

''Local 58'' is a

web series created by Kris Straub revolving around a news channel that is being constantly hijacked. The web series is notable for its effects to make it look like an actual television broadcast. Each episode revolves around a different scenario in which the news channel is being hijacked. For example, "Contingency" shows a hijacking where a foreign country had allegedly captured

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the broadcast tells the viewers to commit suicide via gunshot. The broadcast then concludes that "the 51st state is not a place" before the broadcast abruptly changes to a message apologizing for the 'hoax' that had been played on-air. Another entry in the series, "Weather Service", details through

Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite, or broadcast television, and both ...

messages a seemingly-apocalyptic alien event involving the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

or a force based on it 'infecting' those who gaze at the satellite. The video culminates in a person attempting to implore the audience not to look at the Moon, only to become 'infected' themselves after fighting with an entity instructing the audience to do the opposite, the final shot being that of the 'infected' human turning the camera feed to the full Moon while a large number of people can be heard screaming in terror in the background.

''The Mandela Catalogue''

''The Mandela Catalogue'' is a YouTube analog horror series created by Alex Kister that takes place in the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin, after it has suddenly become haunted by the 'Alternates', which can mimic people's voices and appearances and use psychological techniques to induce their victims to commit suicide. The series gained popularity in 2021 after a number of YouTubers posted videos covering it. As of December 2022, the series has 13 videos across 2 "acts". An

indie game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

inspired by the series was created, titled ''Maple County''.

''Gemini Home Entertainment''

Gemini Home Entertainment ''Gemini Home Entertainment'' is a horror anthology web series created by Remy Abode and periodically released on a YouTube channel of the same name. The series takes place in the 1980s and 90s and is presented as a collection of clips from VH ...

'' is a YouTube analog horror anthology series produced by Remy Abode. The series shows the contents of a set of VHS tapes produced by various entities and released by the eponymous Gemini Home Entertainment, a fictional media distributor. Over the course of the series, it becomes apparent that the material the tapes contain represent information about an ongoing extraterrestrial assault on the Solar System masterminded by 'The Iris', a sentient rogue planet, which has created numerous alien and paranormal entities to subjugate humanity and invade the Earth.

References

{{reflist * Creepypasta