Posted April 13th, 2013 12:23am

LAUGHING JACK

Laughing Jack is the 2013 creation of DeviantArt user “SnuffBomb”.

“It was a nice summer day, my 5-year-old son James was playing outside in the backyard of our suburban home. James has always been a quiet boy, he plays by himself mostly, he never had many friends, but he has always had a wild imagination. I was in the kitchen feeding our dog Fido when I heard what sounded like James talking to someone in the backyard. I’m not sure who it was he could be talking to, could he have finally made a friend? Being a single mom it’s hard for me to always keep an eye on my son, so I decided to go outside and check on him.When I went into the backyard I was a bit confused, because James was the only person back there. Was he talking to himself? I could have sworn I heard another voice. “James! It’s time to come inside.” I called out to him. He came inside and sat down at the kitchen table, it was about lunchtime so I decided to make him a turkey sandwich. “James. Who were you talking to out there?” I asked. James looked up for a moment, “I was playing with my new friend,” he said smiling. I poured him some milk and continued to pry, as any good mother would. “Does your friend have a name? Why didn’t you ask him to have lunch with us?” I asked. James stared at me for a moment before replying, “His name is Laughing Jack.” I was a bit taken back by what he had said. “Oh? That’s a strange name. What does your friend look like?” I asked a bit confused. “He’s a clown. He has long hair and a big swirly cone nose. He’s got long arms and baggy pants, with stripy socks, and he always smiles.” I realized my son was talking about an imaginary friend. I suppose it is normal for kids his age to have imaginary friends, especially when he has no real kids to play with. It’s probably just a phase…”

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Posted April 3rd, 2013 11:34pm

SLENDERMAN

Created by Eric Knudsen, also known as “Victor Surge”, the Slenderman first appeared on the Something Awful forum in 2009.

“If only you hadn’t looked back. Though it was autumn the day had seemed long and the brief walk toward home short. As the sunlight began to fade you and your two friends left the playground behind and trudged reluctantly home, knowing that you would be forced to pick up the games and conversations the next day. The next day, that never came. If only you hadn’t looked back. But you had.Turning just for a moment, you had glanced back toward the treeline. Seen the fingers of their branches clawing up toward the sky and beside them, the figure.At first you’d thought you must be mistaken, that your eyes in the hazy blur of twilight were playing tricks on you, but no. When you looked again ‘he’ was still there. Taller than any man could be, thinner even the willowy branches that extended ever upward from the trees. He loomed in the distance, like the shadow of some horrible dark truth and you knew instantly that you had to look away, that if you didn’t tear your eyes from that blank featureless face then soon the blank would wash over you, become you and you would walk slowly but surely, as if pulled by some magnetic force toward him, toward him though you feared him, though you were scared of his unnatural height, the aching blank whiteness of his face, the arms that seemed to stretch towards you and the slithering tentacles behind.You turned. Screwing up your eyes, telling, willing yourself not to look, not to see, not to give in and go to him. You scream to the others telling them the same, telling them not to look. But as you open your eyes you realise, they had already looked. They were already gone.”

Posted March 30th, 2013 3:12pm

JEFF THE KILLER

The story of Jeff the Killer traces back to 2008, originally uploaded to Encyclopedia Dramatica by a user named Sesseur.

“You wake at 3AM. Disturbed by some subtle shifting sound within the room, just on the edge of hearing. Propping up on one arm you survey the room looking for some source for the noise, hoping beyond hope that you won’t find one. At first, your hopes are raised, everything seems to be silent, everything seems to be still. But it isn’t.From behind the long concealing drape of the curtain a voice, with flickering serpentine hiss whispers“Go to sleep…”. Suddenly, you know what’s about to happen and exactly who is waiting to meet you.”

Posted February 12th, 2013 1:48am

THE RAKE

The Rake was initially uploaded to 4chan in 2005 by an anonymous user, and from there his story developed.

“As the sun begins to set and the trees huddle together in small dark groups as if shielding themselves against the coming of night, you step quietly and quickly through the carpet of fallen leaves and stray twigs, recognising and noting as you do every rustle, every snap of a branch created by your own footfalls.You note them so that you can distinguish them from the other sounds, the soft rustlings of leaves, the crack of bracken somewhere behind you. You increase your speed knowing that night is not the only thing drawing closer.The sound increases as your pace and heartbeats quicken, you turn and in the fading light catch a single glimpse of the hunched, crawling thing that is pursuing you. Creeping forward like an animal and yet looking so horribly human. You only caught a single glimpse, but then you start to run. One glimpse, is enough.”

Posted February 1st, 2013 8:54am

BEN DROWNED

Created by Alex Hall, known online as Jadusable, BEN Drowned first appeared on 4chan in the year 2010.

“Finally, after a long day you get a moment to yourself. You take a deep breath, sigh out the weight of the day’s pressures and collapse onto a bean bag, lifting the controller, to load up a game and enjoy some much needed escapism. This time however, escape might not be so easy.This time, you have loaded up an old retro game that you bought from a garage sale, a lesser known offshoot from a well known game franchise that you’ve always had a soft spot for. Unfortunately though, you are clearly not the only person who had affection for this game or even the only one exploring the game’s pixelated reality, because, on the game’s leader board another name, the name of the game’s previous owner, flashes brilliantly. This previous owner has left his mark on the game, but has not necessarily left…As you continue with the gameplay, glitches begin to appear, operations and scenarios that shouldn’t be possible begin to unfold and increasingly you get the feeling that although it is your hands on the controller, it is you who is being controlled.Suddenly the screen changes, an oddly discordant tune, warped by the slow drag of playing backwards rings out from the speakers and a face, at once familiar and somehow changed appears on the screen. As long, crimson streaks of fresh blood drip from the eyesockets the face, staring forever outwards seems to see without seeing, staring at you, through you, into you. It is at this point that you begin to realise…”“You shouldn’t have done that.”