DARK WEB: AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CREEPYPASTA - PART 35: AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH VINCENT VENA CAVA

It's been a long while since I've shared a Dark Web feature on here, but it seems to be a good time to catch up with those features, that were published elsewhere before - sadly - those sites folded. But don't fear, from now on Dark Web will be publishing here - and I've lined up some fantastic stories and interviews with some genuine heavyweights in the field.

It's almost like these interviews could be for an exciting project in the future...

Usually these Dark Web features will focus on a single story, or a connected series, but this weeks does something a little different. Instead I focus on the work of a single author, one of the most successful and popular writers of Creepypasta the genre has produced — Vincent Vena Cava.

With a wealth of work to his name, including iconic pastas such as The Pastel Man, A Favor For a Favor, Picture This and the fantastic Wendall Lane Diaries, the LA-based author has caused quite a stir with his fiction, gaining recognition and approaches from several huge media companies, including 20th Century Fox (when he wrote The Eye of Ra, which was part of a viral marketing campaign for the movie The Pyramid) and Starz. He has also been published multiple times, including the inclusion of his stories Right On Time and Picture This in the short story anthology, The Creepypasta Collection: Modern Urban Legends You Can’t Unread. (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-creepypasta-collection-mr-creepypasta/1123556473)

All of this in just four short years since he first started publishing work on the web under the Vincent Cava name.

He even saw a project successfully funded on Kickstarter that combined his talents with those of genre YouTube heavyweight Mr Creepypasta and top DeviantArtist Chris Oz Fulton. The resulting Creepypasta Comicbook (of which I’m a backer) is a fantastic debut effort and fans are eagerly anticipating subsequent issues from the team.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had the tremendous pleasure of conversing with the amiable, humble and supremely talented Cava, asking him about his influences, storytelling processes, several of his most notable stories and what the future holds.

Our interview follows below.


HICKEY'S HOUSE OF HORRORS: Hi Vincent, and thank you so much for agreeing to speak with me. First, I'd like to ask you some general questions about your influences, before asking specific questions about some of your stories, including The Pastel Man, Right On Time and your Wendall Lane Diaries series. I hope that's ok?

VINCENT VENA CAVA: No problem, I'd be happy to answer your questions — and btw, you just named two of my worst stories! Haha! Is that what people know me for? Good God.

HHoH: Oh dear, you are too harsh on yourself, they're all fine stories! May I ask which two you're least happy with? As an aside, some of my favourites include The Hall Monitor, The Job, Selfie, The Ocean's Cool Air, and Little Black Bugs. I expect a few of those will be the subject of future features should you be happy to speak with me about them!

VVC: Thanks! The Pastel Man is the first thing people really noticed me for and I'm sure I'll be tied to it forever, haha. I believe the story has weak stakes and the prose is pretty amateur. I've been working for years to hone my craft since I decided this was something I wanted to make money doing and I feel like I've gotten better since then. Right on Time is just fan service and if you aren't familiar with Jeff The Killer then, in my opinion, the story is sort of weak (maybe even confusing?), but it is what it's supposed to be
I am fond of Wendall Lane though. 



HHoH: Here are my first few questions, they're non-story specific, but should give my readers more of an idea about you as a writer.
Which writers, horror or otherwise, do you consider yourself a fan of?

VVC: I'm a fan of so many authors! Some of my biggest influences are Vonnegut, Lovecraft, King, Heinlein, and Philip K. Dick.

HHoH:Do you consider yourself a fan of Creepypasta?

VVC: I'm a fan of anything that has to do with horror, but I'm not entirely sure what Creepypasta even is. It's such a fluid word.
It seems like everyone has their own definition of "creepypasta". What makes something creepypasta? Is it only stories featuring certain characters? Is it only scary stories? Who says what's scary? Does a story have to appear on specific websites like r/NoSleep or creepypasta.com to make the cut?
Last I checked, the author of The Martian, Andy Weir's, short story The Egg is featured on creepypasta.com. I don't think he posted it there, nor would I call it horror, but is it a creepypasta nonetheless? To me, are you a fan of creepypasta is a difficult question to answer because I don't even know how to go about defining it.

HHoH: What work of your own are you most proud of?

VVC: I'm really happy how people reacted to A Favor for a Favor. I've since given it a little rewrite and I think it's a better story now. Picture This was a really therapeutic story to write so I was happy when people responded well to it. I'm also pretty proud of the graphic novel I just took to Kickstarter.

HHoH: What is your favourite Creepypasta by an author other than yourself?

VVC: Hard to answer that question, so I'll stick to writers who are generally known for online horror. Anything by Matt Dymerski, T.W. Grim, Michael Whitehouse, and IPostAtMidnight is usually great. I think they're all really polished writers. Anything by them won't disappoint.

HHoH: You're a prolific writer, regularly releasing stories to the web. How do you keep the creative juices flowing? Is writing a process that you enjoy or is it more about getting your stories out there to an audience?

VVC: Keeping the creative juices flowing isn't a problem. I have more stories in my head than I can write. The slowest part of my process comes from crafting my prose and trying to develop a unique and interesting narrative that will fit with what I'm writing. Writing isn't just about telling people a story. It's about HOW you tell them a story. A lot of young writers don't realize that. When you do it correctly, your prose can be poetry.
And most importantly...
Read. Read. Read.
You have to read if you want to be a good writer. And you have to read great writers. I get people asking me what to read. Don't just read horror. Read Hemingway, read Melville, read James Joyce, and Asimov, and Clarke. Read Oscar Wilde, read Doyle, and London. Read non-fiction too! Read, read, read. Great stories can inspire you....you get the picture.

HHoH: Why do you think Creepypasta resonates so much with the fandom?

VVC: I think a lot of the fans of these online, user generated horror stories are younger or at least became fans when they were younger. This...trend is like a gateway for a lot of young people. It can introduce them to the world of literature and I think that's wonderful. Many times, these stories are not written for children so of course there's always intrigue for kids when it comes to taboo subjects.

HHoH: These fans have flocked to some characters, who really have become iconic to the community, such as The Rake and Jeff the Killer, a character you incorporated into your story Right On Time (you can hear Mr Creepypasta’s narration of the story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu9NvCTJbHs )
What inspired you to write a story that contributes to the Jeff the killer mythos?

VVC: I just wanted to pay a little fan service. Jeff is a popular character and people are usually excited to hear a new Jeff story. I figured why not try my hand at a little fan-fiction. I don't know if I'm actually contributing to the "Jeff mythos". I don't really consider any Jeff story to be canon. There are so many tales written by so many people. But that's cool. It makes the character and his personality somewhat amorphous. He isn't really defined by any set of rules and whoever is writing him can put their own spin on it.

HHoH: What drew you to the character?

VVC: The character's popularity is what drew me to him. Haha!
People like reading Jeff stories, I like writing stories, so why not try writing a Jeff story?

HHoH: Your Jeff is less sympathetic than the version traditionally portrayed, he's almost a force of remorseless destruction than a human, a lot like John Carpenter's original idea for Michael Myers in Halloween. What inspired you to portray the character in this way? 

VVC: To be honest, I never found the character to be very interesting and the broken emo kid thing isn't all that scary. That's the problem a lot of people have with Jeff, which is why I decided to write around him.
He couldn't be the protagonist in Right On Time. Protagonists don't give you nightmares. I believe the character can be frightening, so long as you move away from the "woe is me" stuff. If you want him to be scary, don't let the audience into his head.
You have to strip away anything that makes him human. Make him a monster. That's why Michael Myers works. And let's face it, the Jeff character is basically an amalgam of slasher movie clichés. I just followed the trend.

HHoH: What do you think the attraction is to Jeff for Creepypasta fans? 

VVC: I think most Jeff fans are pretty young. He's an antihero, he's counterculture. He plays by his own set of rules. If someone upsets him, he stabs them. I see why teenage girls and boys are into him.

HHoH: Do you have any further plans to feature Jeff in your stories? 

VVC: Not right now. I'd rather not write a ton of Jeff stuff, but maybe in a future comic book.

HHoH: Are you happy with Right On Time? 

VVC: I think Right On Time is good fan-fiction. The problem with it is that you need to know who Jeff The Killer is for it to make a whole lot of sense. Otherwise, it's just an interesting story with an "out of nowhere" twist. If you don't know what Jeff The Killer is, you might read it and wonder what the hell just happened. What did he mean by "go to sleep"?

HHoH: Do you have any plans to write stories featuring any other existing Creepypasta characters? (Excluding the Rake — who Vincent covered as part of his Wendall Lane Diaries series AND for the Creepypasta comic book)

VVC: Yeah sure. I'd love to write more stories based off some of the Internet's more popular characters. It's fun for me. I have no plans at this moment, but if it's something people would be interested in then I'm game for it.

HHoH: I mentioned the Creepypasta comicbook just now. I recently received my PDF copy of the comic and I wanted to extend my most heartfelt congratulations on what is a really great read. You must be very, very proud of it! Any news on whether there'll be an issue 2? I'd certainly be onboard if so!

VVC: Thanks for backing the comic! Glad you're enjoying it. Unfortunately our distributor (backerkit) had some trouble with ios mobile devices, but I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it.
We definitely want to put out a second comic, but first and foremost we want to focus on getting out all the rewards first. We’ll probably have a second comic up next year, hopefully twice as long.

HHoH: The Rake plays a major role in one of the stories in the Creepypasta comic that you have created with MrCreepypasta. I understand you spoke with Bryan Somerville (who I’ve interviewed for this Dark Web series before: http://www.ukhorrorscene.com/dark-web-steven-hickeys-essential-guide-to-creepypasta-part-28-the-rake-re-visited/) about adapting the character for the comic. How was it working with him?

VVC: I didn't really work with Somerville on the comic. I just asked him for the ok and gave him a short summary of the story, then he signed a contract giving me permission.

HHoH: The Rake is one of the more recognisable Creepypasta beasties, and you created one of your own with the monstrous Pastel Man. (Read the story here: http://www.creepypasta.com/pastel-man/)
His story is one that feels very much like an old-fashioned morality play. Was that your intention?

VVC: The Pastel Man is most definitely a morality play. All of my work fits those themes.
I very rarely write about good vs Evil
It is my belief that we all exist on a moral spectrum — No black and white, just shades of gray. That's why most of my characters are inherently flawed.
I also believe that an antagonist with a more sympathetic reason for doing bad is much more compelling than one who just wants to eradicate all humanity or kill a protagonist because he's a bad guy. My protagonists also usually only act out of self-preservation rather than altruism. They aren't heroes.
But they are more relatable… in my opinion at least.


HHoH: It's one of your earlier stories and earlier you stated that you weren't entirely happy with it. Would you ever consider re-visiting the story either with a sequel or rewrite?

VVC: As for my dislike for the story, I believe that it's prose is lacking compared to what I can do now and the protagonist could probably use a bit more motivation. He is, in my opinion, almost too ‘guilty’.
I am heavily considering giving the story a rewrite. I am also considering revisiting The Pastel Man in the second Creepypasta comic.

HHoH: One of your more recent projects to draw considerable recognition from the fans was the Wendall Lane Diaries. In your own words, how would you describe the series?
VVC: The Wendall Lane Diaries are centered around a house where reality is broken. It's a paranormal hot spot much in the same way the Bermuda Triangle is. One might encounter ghosts, monsters, reality warping paradoxes if they stay there long enough. The occurrences are random. The only thing they have in common is that they're confined to the house and the property it sits on.
I worked with the cast of Ash Vs The Evil Dead to put out five new stories in the series, narrated by Bruce Campbell, Lucy Lawless, Ted Raimi and others.

HHoH: I’ve heard the stories via MrCreepypasta’s YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3vq3HFjqkVkZabGSM02I8G960DBHu9xh) and just wanted to compliment you on how awesome they were. Bravo!
I just wondered if you could give my readers a little insight into how the collaboration with Starz came about?

VVC: Starz was interested in promoting their show Ash Vs The Evil Dead so they contacted YouTube creator Mr. Creepypasta to read original stories. They wanted the stories to be loosely connected.
Since he's not a writer, he asked me if I'd be interested in writing them. The whole thing was really intense, I had about two weeks to crank out five stories for the series.
In the end it was a fun opportunity to meet the great actors of the show and to speak with horror icons like Bruce Campbell.

HHoH: And finally, where is the best place for me to send my readers to get more news on your work? Are there any preferred links for me to send my readers to read your literature?

VVC: I'm so stupid, I don't have a landing page haha. But I'm all over social media. Twitter, Facebook, youtube, snapchat, tumblr, Instagram, ect. Every account is @vincentvenacava
Hope that answers your questions!

HHoH: It really does, thanks so much.


As one of the more senior and respected members of the community, Vincent Vena Cava’s story shows that, if you’ve got the talent, Creepypasta really can lead to great things.

Come back next time when I speak with another creative talent who’s been on the scene for a long time about one of the oldest, yet most recognisable and complex pastas ever.

DARK WEB: AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CREEPYPASTA — PART 28: THE RAKE REVISITED – AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BRYAN SOMERVILLE

PLEASE NOTE, THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED OVER AT UK HORROR SCENE HERE. ALL SUBSEQUENT CHAPTERS WILL BE PRINTED THERE FIRST

There are some truly unspeakable monsters in the Creepypasta universe. As terrifying as the human faces of evil such as Jeff the Killer are, it is the otherworldly creatures that have always best captured my attention.

From the monstrous wheezing thing in Michael Whitehouse’s Bedtime to the ubiquitous Slender Man, it seems to me that some of Creepypasta’s greatest creations are its supernatural entities.

This week I’m going to return to one of the most notorious of these beasties — The Rake.

For those of you unfamiliar with The Rake (those who didn't read my previous feature on the story HERE), it is a fascinating example of creation by committee.

Back toward the tail-end of 2005, an anonymous user posted a message to 4chan’s /b/ board that simply read: hey /b/ lets make a new monster.

From here lots of users put forward their own ideas about the most vile creatures they could imagine and, over time, some ideas started to stick. This led another user to start a new thread based on what was the most popular idea, with a post that read: Alright, this is for the people who like the three-eyes, no apparent mouth, pale skin one. Here’s what we’ve got so far: Humanoid, about six feet tall when standing, but usually crouches and walks on all fours. It has very pale skin. The face is blank. As in, no nose, no mouth. However, it has three solid green eyes, one in the middle of its forehead, and the other two on either side of its head, towards the back. Usually seen in front yards in suburban areas. Usually just watches the observer, but will stand up and attack if approached. When it attacks, a mouth opens up, as if a hinged skull that opens at the chin. Reveals many tiny, but dull teeth.

This eventually became Operation Crawler, although that name was later discarded in favour of The Rake.

The creature has its genesis from dozens, if not hundreds of contributors, but arguably one of the most important of those was a backstory written on the personal Something Awful blog by Bryan Somerville. Taking the form of a number of historical accounts of encounters with the pale-skinned monster, it gave us an insight into a being’s terrible, mysterious motives.

You can read it the Creepypasta Wiki here.

It’s a VERY strong story, and unlike the multiple (and often conflicting) origins that I’ve covered here for the likes of Jeff the Killer or Jane the Killer, this one seems to have been widely accepted as canon for the mysterious being. It’s probably the fact that the story is so well-written that has caused the fan community to embrace it, but from Somerville’s tale The Rake has become one of THE iconic creepypasta characters, appearing in hundreds of examples of fanart and even spin-off tales.

The Rake is even included in the first issue of the recently successfully crowd-funded Creepypasta comic book, as written by prolific Pasta author Vincent Vena Cava and arguably the most highly regarded Creepypasta YouTube reader, Mr Creepypasta.

But never forget that it was Somerville who truly breathed malevolent life into the diabolical frame first created by the users of 4Chan. For that, the Creepypasta community owes the very humble Somerville a debt of gratitude.

I’m delighted to say that Bryan agreed to speak with Hickey's House of Horrors about his role in the creation of one of the web’s most popular monsters.

The interview follows below.

HICKEY'S HOUSE OF HORRORS: Thank you for answering my questions.

First, in your own words, tell us a little about the Rake?

BRYAN SOMERVILLE: The Rake is a human. He was born into a small exiled group forced from the community into the wilderness. As the small group rapidly collapsed, the remaining few were forced to eat the dead. During this period, he matured rapidly and eventually moved on as the only survivor. He is not immortal. I'd like to keep the mystery there, but there is a backstory that fills in the "why" and "how" of the character.

HHoH: What served as your inspiration for the story?

BS: A simple question - what would a wild animal that was as smart as a human be like? One who was chased away by scared people with torches and guns for hundreds of years, with no hint of humanity remaining. This is the kind of thing I think of while lying in bed, so naturally it evolved into a bit of a recurring nightmare.

HHoH: Are you a fan of Creepypasta? If so, what is your favourite Creepypasta by a creator other than yourself?

BS: Huge fan. One of the stories I'll always remember was actually a photo essay about urban exploration. The author slipped small hints and silhouettes into the pictures and put together a story about a camera found in the woods while exploring an empty building.

Another is the classic Ted the Caver story. So disturbing without ever explaining a single thing. I love the mystery up to and including the lack of an ending.

I don't know who actually created these — and I'm sure I could find that out in a half second — but I don't want to. I like that they just exist.

HHoH: Why do you think Creepypasta resonates so well with the fandom?

BS: Good Creepypasta is something you read and move on from, maybe even forget. Then one night when you're alone, all the little bits in the back of your mind form some ridiculous, uncanny image and you can't get it out. I suspect it's the resonance that draws people in, and the little gaps you fill in with your own mind that connect it to things in your life.

HHoH: What do you think the appeal of the Rake is to fans?

BS: I honestly don't know — I rarely show it to people directly, I prefer they just find it as-is somewhere so it comes with an air of legitimacy. But I do know that people remember the imagery of "something" sitting on the end of their bed, and coming toward them to whisper into their ear. It's probably the lack of detail that allows people to make it their own. People scare themselves better than anyone else.

HHoH: Which writers, horror or otherwise, do you consider yourself a fan of?

BS: My favorite author is Paul Auster, which I got into through the "New York Trilogy". He has a sometimes weird way of describing the world, such that you don't know if the narrator is joking, making fun of you, or just unreliable. It adds this feeling of being slightly lost, or slightly behind the story, which is the perfect atmosphere for a very strange crime drama.

HHoH: What work of your own are you most proud of?

BS: No answer. Most of my writing is short form horror or comedy, most of it absorbed by long-dead wordpress blogs or sites like MySpace. It's really a stroke of luck The Rake survived, mainly because I posted it on one extra web site back in 2007, but then felt bad for self promoting, and never tried again.

HHoH: The fans are very passionate about the character. Are there any examples of fan art, such as images, films or readings, in particular that have impressed you?

BS: There's a sketchy drawing that I have always liked. It's not exactly what I imagined in my head, but it's pretty close. I like that one a lot.

There are also the fake camera pictures from what looks like one of those deer cameras people put up in the woods. I have always been a fan of the found footage style.

As far as readings, Chilling Tales for Dark Nights has done a few readings, and they have been really good. The guy who runs that channel reached out to me for permission, which is extremely rare, so I might be a bit biased.

(Hickey's Note: This one, by the always fantastic Otis Jiry is one of my favourites:

HHoH: By the same token, are there any unauthorised attempts to cash in on the popularity of the character that have upset you?

BS: Yes, that has happened a lot. I didn't even realize the story was "out there" until I came across it myself. My dad actually commented on a YouTube video and tagged me in it, saying basically "isn't this yours?". I always find them after the fact, and have never asked anyone to take anything down.

I wouldn't say I've ever been upset about it. I would always prefer people approach me for permission of course, but in fairness, it's not usually easy for people to figure out where exactly the story came from.

HHoH: The Rake appeared in the recent Creepypasta comic book by Vincent Vena Cava and Mr Creepypasta. Have you discussed the project much with them? Have you had much creative input? How was it working/speaking with them?

BS: Vincent and I have spoken several times. I have provided some basic input, although I am anxious to see what he comes up with. We still have some open communications so I won't go too much further here.

HHoH: And finally will you ever return to the story of the Rake in the future? And what else can your fans look forward to from you in the days ahead?

BS: The Rake has a very long and detailed backstory that I'd like to explore. There is always the problem with revealing too much and ruining what makes it creepy, so I'm taking my time on it. I usually try to have an explanation that avoids supernatural explanations, which makes it creepier to me because it could exist in reality. However I don't want to ruin what your mind added to the story, you know?

HHoH: Finally, are there any links to which you'd like me to send my readers to see more of your work?

BS: Actually, I'm not super happy with this story, but I just found it "anonymously" submitted on a creepypasta site — http://ghostsstory.com/Blog/26/the-woman-behind-the-door

I don't even remember where I posted this one, probably MySpace or something many years ago.

There are a few more out there, but they're never credited to me (almost always "anonymous") so I just occasionally run across them. I have something I'm kind of excited about but it's not quite ready yet. ;)

HHoH: Thanks again for agreeing to speak with us.

BS: Thanks!

The Rake is one of the most recognisable Creepypasta creations for one major reason — it taps into some of our worst fears and it’s incredibly well told.

Come back next time when I will write about another fantastic tale that revisits not one but two pastas that feature the very worst kind of human monster.

If you haven’t already, do please check out and Like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House @HickeysHorrors

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.

DARK WEB: AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CREEPYPASTA – PART 11: THE RAKE

PLEASE NOTE, THIS FEATURE FIRST APPEARED AT UK HORROR SCENE HERE. ALL SUBSEQUENT CHAPTERS WILL APPEAR AT UKHS FIRST.

At the heart of it, Creepypasta is all about creating a horror that lives on, one that people take to their hearts and help propagate.

Often this is done unwittingly, tricking an unsuspecting reader into believing that it is a genuine story and spreading it by way of a warning. But, on rare occasions, the reader is let in on the falsehood of the story and encouraged to adapt and expand upon it as they see fit. This becomes a kind of creation by committee.

It was through such a manner that one of the first and most enduring of Creepypasta monsters was created. That monster is called The Rake.

The creature that was to become The Rake was created on that regular Creepypasta birthing ground, 4chan’s /b/ board. An anonymous user opened the discussion towards the end of 2005 with the prophetic post: hey /b/ lets make a new monster.

Encouraging fellow users to submit ideas from the darkest depths of their imagination, different members of the /b/ community contributed, suggesting various types of weird and wonderful beastie.

However, along the way it became obvious that certain ideas were gaining more traction with the board.

Another anonymous user started a new thread based on one of these, which read:

Alright, this is for the people who like the three-eyes, no apparent mouth, pale skin one. Here’s what we’ve got so far: Humanoid, about six feet tall when standing, but usually crouches and walks on all fours. It has very pale skin. The face is blank. As in, no nose, no mouth. However, it has three solid green eyes, one in the middle of its forehead, and the other two on either side of its head, towards the back. Usually seen in front yards in suburban areas. Usually just watches the observer, but will stand up and attack if approached. When it attacks, a mouth opens up, as if a hinged skull that opens at the chin. Reveals many tiny, but dull teeth.

It was this idea which would eventually evolve into The Rake.

The thread makes for a fascinating read as certain ideas are embraced and others eventually discarded.

Among these is the since discarded name ‘Operation Crawler’, which was very popular during the early creative process.

The design of The Rake works on many levels, a mutated, nearly-human creature that is close enough to man to suggest intelligence and cunning, yet with the bestial savagery of an animal. I think it’s interesting that the name Operation Crawler was adopted since The Rake shares such a strong resemblance with the creatures referred to as crawlers by Neil Marshall and his crew for the film The Descent.

However, the creature now known as The Rake was able to carve out its own identity on 20 July 2006, when a Creepypasta story appeared on the personal blog of a user of Something Awful, Brian Somerville.

The story gives a detailed but still mysterious background to the creature, plus it established a decidingly unnerving M.O. The Rake is not just capable of wreaking terrible physical damage upon its victims, it also destroys their minds.

The full story follows below:

Primarily focused in rural New York state, self proclaimed witnesses told stories of their encounters with a creature of unknown origin. Emotions ranged from extremely traumatic levels of fright and discomfort, to an almost childlike sense of playfulness and curiosity. While their published versions are no longer on record, the memories remained powerful. Several of the involved parties began looking for answers that year.

In early 2006, the collaboration had accumulated nearly two dozen documents dating between the 12th century and present day, spanning 4 continents. In almost all cases, the stories were identical. I’ve been in contact with a member of this group and was able to get some excerpts from their upcoming book.

A Suicide Note: 1964

As I prepare to take my life, I feel it necessary to assuage any guilt or pain I have introduced through this act. It is not the fault of anyone other than him. For once I awoke and felt his presence. And once I awoke and saw his form. Once again I awoke and heard his voice, and looked into his eyes. I cannot sleep without fear of what I might next awake to experience. I cannot ever wake. Goodbye.

Found in the same wooden box were two empty envelopes addressed to William and Rose, and one loose personal letter with no envelope.

Dearest Linnie,

I have prayed for you. He spoke your name.

A Journal Entry (translated from Spanish): 1880

I have experience the greatest terror. I have experienced the greatest terror. I have experienced the greatest terror. I see his eyes when I close mine. They are hollow. Black. They saw me and pierced me. His wet hand. I will not sleep. His voice (unintelligible text).

A Mariner’s Log: 1691

He came to me in my sleep. From the foot of my bed I felt a sensation. He took everything. We must return to England. We shall not return here again at the request of the Rake.

From a Witness: 2006

Three years ago, I had just returned from a trip from Niagara Falls with my family for the 4th of July. We were all very exhausted after a long day of driving, so my husband and I put the kids right to bed and called it a night.

At about 4am, I woke up thinking my husband had gotten up to use the restroom. I used the moment to steal back the sheets, only to wake him in the process. I appologized and told him I though he got out of bed. When he turned to face me, he gasped and pulled his feet up from the end of the bed so quickly his knee almost knocked me out of the bed. He then grabbed me and said nothing.

After adjusting to the dark for a half second, I was able to see what caused the strange reaction. At the foot of the bed, sitting and facing away from us, there was what appeared to be a naked man, or a large hairless dog of some sort. It’s body position was disturbing and unnatural, as if it had been hit by a car or something. For some reason, I was not instantly frightened by it, but more concerned as to its condition. At this point I was somewhat under the assumption that we were supposed to help him.

My husband was peering over his arm and knee, tucked into the fetal position, occasionally glancing at me before returning to the creature.

In a flurry of motion, the creature scrambled around the side of the bed, and then crawled quickly in a flailing sort of motion right along the bed until it was less than a foot from my husband’s face. The creature was completely silent for about 30 seconds (or probably closer to 5, it just seemed like a while) just looking at my husband. The creature then placed its hand on his knee and ran into the hallway, leading to the kids’ rooms.

I screamed and ran for the lightswitch, planning to stop him before he hurt my children. When I got to the hallway, the light from the bedroom was enough to see it crouching and hunched over about 20 feet away. He turned around and looked directly at me, covered in blood. I flipped the switch on the wall and saw my daughter Clara.

The creature ran down the stairs while my husband and I rushed to help our daughter. She was very badly injured and spoke only once more in her short life. She said “he is the Rake”.

My husband drove his car into a lake that night, while rushing our daughter to the hospital. He did not survive.

Being a small town, news got around pretty quickly. The police were helpful at first, and the local newspaper took a lot of interest as well. However, the story was never published and the local television news never followed up either.

For several months, my son Justin and I stayed in a hotel near my parent’s house. After we decided to return home, I began looking for answers myself. I eventually located a man in the next town over who had a similar story. We got in contact and began talking about our experiences. He knew of two other people in New York who had seen the creature we now referred to as the Rake.

It took the four of us about two solid years of hunting on the internet and writing letters to come up with a small collection of what we believe to be accounts of the Rake. None of them gave any details, history or follow up. One journal had an entry involving the creature in its first 3 pages, and never mentioned it again. A ship’s log explained nothing of the encounter, saying only that they were told to leave by the Rake. That was the last entry in the log.

There were, however, many instances where the creature’s visit was one of a series of visits with the same person. Multiple people also mentioned being spoken to, my daughter included. This led us to wonder if the Rake had visited any of us before our last encounter.

I set up a digital recorder near my bed and left it running all night, every night, for two weeks. I would tediously scan through the sounds of me rolling around in my bed each day when I woke up. By the end of the second week, I was quite used to the occasional sound of sleep while blurring through the recording at 8 times the normal speed. (This still took almost an hour every day)

On the first day of the third week, I thought I heard something different. What I found was a shrill voice. It was the Rake. I can’t listen to it long enough to even begin to transcribe it. I haven’t let anyone listen to it yet. All I know is that I’ve heard it before, and I now believe that it spoke when it was sitting in front of my husband. I don’t remember hearing anything at the time, but for some reason, the voice on the recorder immediately brings me back to that moment.

The thoughts that must have gone through my daughter’s head make me very upset.

I have not seen the Rake since he ruined my life, but I know that he has been in my room while I slept. I know and fear that one night I’ll wake up to see him staring at me.

Like the web legend of Slenderman (will I ever manage to write a Creepypasta feature WITHOUT mentioning him?) the mysterious alien actions of the beast are perhaps more terrifying than its monstrous appearance. It’s an inherent fear in all of us that we may lose our rational grasp on the world, that the control we exert over the fears, pressures and worries of the world will slip and that we will become overwhelmed. One of the greatest horror writers of all time, H.P. Lovecraft, specialised in tales of otherworldly terror, in which seemingly calm, rational protagonists find their sanity shattered by encountering something from beyond their neat, ordered perception of reality.

Somerville’s tale of The Rake also alludes forbidden knowledge at the heart of the creature’s motivation.

It’s not an insult to say that Somerville doesn’t quite hit the highs of Lovecraft’s iconic stories (in truth, very few writers have), but he is a very good writer.

The style and language is crisp and fluent, while he cleverly blurs the line between fact and fiction by presenting the story as real-life witness accounts and journal entries (a technique used in the novel that birthed one of the most enduring monsters of all time — Bram Stoker’s Dracula). It’s no wonder that with a strong visual design and equally compelling back story The Rake’s popularity continued to soar.

The story was reposted on Live Journal on 20 December 2008, before then spreading like wildfire, appearing on the /x/ board at 4chan in April of the following year, then Something Awful in June, before appearing on the Paranormal subreddit in August 2010.

Since then it has been posted to all the usual Creepypasta sites.

So great was the reaction to the mythology behind the Rake that in December 2010 (a full five years since the thread that birthed the creature), a blog entitled Fuck Yeah the Rake appeared on Tumblr and served as a hub for fan art, stories and other posts re: The Rake. The site is still live and regularly boasts some quite fantastic creepy posts and gifs.

However, possibly the greatest moment in bringing The Rake to the masses occurred that same month when some pranksters took a still image of a Grim, one of the enemy characters from videogame Resistance 3, then sent that into a local Louisiana news station claiming to have encountered the beast while out hunting! Hilariously, it was broadcast (watch it here) and due to the character’s similar appearance to The Rake, soon YouTubers were claiming it was a genuine appearance of the monster.

However, one need not rely on videogame images to see a visual interpretation of the beast. It’s popularity has spread to sites such as Deviant Art, where a search for The Rake yields a staggering 19,000+ images, some of which are genuinely great. 

Creative fans have also created plenty of video and audio interpretations of the story. From readings (such as this excellent example by the guys at Chilling Tales for Dark Nights) to polished and accomplished short films (including this one, by the wonderfully talented filmmakers at Go For Broke Features ). It even appeared during the cleverly constructed EverymanHYBRID web series, in the episode Cops Checked, No Body (which, much like the Slenderman-influenced Marble Hornets, is one of the finest Creepypasta adaptations and an superb example of what can be achieved with interactive web story telling).

The gif of The Rake crawling through the woods from this episode has become one of the most popular depictions of the creature thus far.

So why is The Rake so successful? It seems that people still enjoy a good, old-fashioned monster story. With plenty of real-world horrors, it’s nice to put a fantastical face on fear and use that for a cathartic release. Cryptozoology is still a popular pastime on the web, with tales of big cats, lake monsters, sasquatch and the chupacabra still drawing attention, albeit often somewhat cynically.

Perhaps one of the reasons the tale is so successful is because, in a way, it belongs to all of us. With hundreds of thousands of tweaks, twists and interpretations, The Rake is the creation of too many individuals to name, with more takes on the creature appearing by the day.

The Rake is our monster — and it’s a damn fine one to boot.

Come back next week when I shall take a look at an equally enduring and otherworldly entity… the dark god of Creepypasta itself.

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Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.