Has Creepypasta evolved?

While no longer the predominant ‘internet horror’ as it once was, the characters of these online horror stories have found continued relevancy through nostalgia and even cinema, with Slenderman receiving a feature film in 2018.

In recent years, another such creature, The Rake, has shifted from fiction into reality, gaining new status as a terrifyingly real urban legend — or so it seems.

Origin of The Rake

The Rake finds its origin on 4chan’s /b/ board, where in 2005 a thread dared users to create a new monster. While much of the thread has been lost to history, it resulted in the creation of The Rake. A series of back-and-forthing would produce the basic ingredients for the creature going forward: a pale humanoid which walks on all fours and has an appetite for killing.

In 2006, Brian Somerville of the SomethingAwful forums would pen the most well-known story of The Rake. The story details multiple encounters with The Rake from across history, alleged to be the only remaining information on the creature after a ‘media blackout’. In these accounts, The Rake acts as an observer and an intruder, causing mental distress in its victims.

“He is The Rake” by TheIckyMan on Deviantart.

Somerville’s story would then get shared across the web and The Rake would earn its place as one of the most well-known Creepypastas.

Spread of a Legend

Like many Creepypastas, fan content did a lot of heavy lifting for spreading The Rake, with narrated stories and fan-art making the creature a recognizable figure in internet horror. While never reaching the height of such characters as Slenderman or Jeff the Killer, The Rake nevertheless received moderate attention, with two video games, The Rake: Back to Asylum and The Rake: Hostel releasing in 2012, right in the midst of the success of Slender: The Eight Pages.

The 2010 webseries everymanHYBRID would establish stronger ties between The Rake and Slenderman. Starring friends Vincent, Evan, and Jeff, EverymanHYBRID begins as a fitness YouTube channel before devolving into full-on supernatural horror with appearances from Slenderman. EverymanHYBRID also featured sparse appearances from The Rake, linking the creature directly to the complex Slenderman mythos, popularized by such series as MarbleHornets and TribeTwelve.

everymanHYBRID would inspire another webseries itself, entitled ‘WhisperedFaith’ in 2013, which featured The Rake as its primary antagonist. in 2018, the same year as Slenderman’s cinematic debut, The Rake received a low-budget picture from director Tony Walsh.

Based on these projects alone, one might think The Rake exists merely to ride on the coattails of Slenderman, but thanks to the internet, the creature has managed to exist outside him — sometimes in unexpected ways.

When Fiction Becomes Reality

As the internet becomes one of our primary sources of communication, it’s perhaps no surprise that Creepypasta has been able to bleed into folklore. When it comes to The Rake, sightings of a humanoid creature have resulted in The Rake inspiring an entirely new cryptid: The Pale Crawler.

Sighted in wooded locations and abandoned buildings across the United States, Pale Crawlers closely resemble The Rake’s original description. In fact, a quick look at any YouTube comment section will often see them being directly referred to as The Rake. Usage of the name suggests not only that The Rake legend is alive, but that it’s spreading far beyond its original source.

Turning the TV on to the Destination America channel, one might be surprised to see The Rake being covered alongside Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster in such TV shows as Monsters and Mysteries in America and Paranormal Caught on Tape.  Another of their programs, Monsters Underground, even has an episode where its lead crew hunts The Rake — a creature that should be fictional.

With this, it’s evident that The Rake has become more than just a Creepypasta. It’s entered the paranormal lexicon; if not as a true cryptid, then as a reference point for a new phenomenon. But what does this say about the scary stories we tell online?

Is The Rake Real?

It seems a question with an obvious answer: No. The Rake remains a product of the internet. But that doesn’t change the fact that people are seeing something, and they’re identifying it with The Rake story, partially because it’s become so recognizable.

Whether you believe their encounters or not, this fact shows there’s power in internet horror. Through words alone, and the way these words can be spread across the web, we have the ability to create monsters.