COLLECTION SHEET

I. Name of collector:

Aisling, Student, Summer 2024

II. Type of folklore:

The subject of my research for this project was the short scary stories that originated online, specifically Creepypastas. They used to be primarily found on message boards, but now can be found all over the web, from YouTube to TikTok to old-school websites and emails. I hope to show that, certain creepypastas function as modern folklore, the people who consume them are their own distinct folk group, and that the creation and spread of these stories have much in common with traditional legends. According to Brunvand, the original stories posted online would fall under the category of oral folklore, while the art and homemade merchandise would be classified as material folklore. The subclass of folklore that these original stories fall into would probably be a form of legend, which the Brunvand textbook describes legends as “traditional prose narratives, resemble myths in that they are stories regarded by their tellers as true, despite being partly based on traditional motifs or concepts.” (Brunvand 196). Creepypastas are mainly found online, so I would further describe them as “Digital Legends” or, more broadly, “Digital Folklore”. The case of Creepypastas is strange because it has different definitions depending on what version of the stories you read, and the person reading the Creepypasta's point of view. First, the origin of the Creepypasta must be considered. The Creepypasta is a genre of internet writings that spawned out of the early Internet’s online versions of chain letters (chain email) or email legends and hoaxes, for example, the emails that claimed the reader would get money if they forwarded the email or followed other directions found in the email. As the Internet became more and more mainstream, these texts moved onto message boards and social media and became a staple of most people’s internet experience. These texts would be copied and pasted many times, and some became infamous.

In 2006, the message board 4chan coined a term for these “Copy and Paste” texts: “Copypasta”. Copypasta was born, and could loosely be defined as a generic term for any block of text that is copied and pasted repeatedly across the internet. Copypasta broke off into many subcategories, like dreamcorepasta, which is short text stories with surreal or “dream-like” elements, or the ARG which is usually small texts that incorporate interactive elements and encourage the reader to interact with the story by solving a puzzle or investigating a riddle. But the most popular of the “pasta” is the Creepypasta. These are short scary stories or supposed urban legends that can easily be shared by Copying and pasting the story. The form of storytelling naturally took off not because of the quality of the writing, but the digestible nature of the stories.

While not originally defined in the Creepypasta genre, a website that started in 2001 was seemingly a journal of a cave enthusiast named Ted and is considered the first Creepypasta by some. This website follows Ted as he gets into scarier and more and more unsettling situations in a cave he is exploring and writes about the entire experience. Others consider the “Rake” to be the first Creepypasta. The “Rake” is a story about a mysterious creature that came to be around 2003. Ted the Caver was considered by many who read it to be real, and the Rake was created by someone anonymous and was later developed by many other anonymous users in the 4chan message board it appeared in. The actual timeline of Creepypasta gets muddy, but I bring this up because its origins are important to defining the first generations of Creepypasta from the viewpoint of its classification as folklore.

The first stories from roughly 2001 to 2010, when compared to Brunvand's definition of what folklore is and what folklore is not, the stories do seem to fit as works of folklore. The five qualities of folklore defined by Brunvand are, “1.) its content is oral (usually verbal), or custom related, or material; 2.) it is traditional in form and transmission; 3.) it exists in different versions; 4.) it is usually anonymous; 5.) it tends to become formulated” (Brunvand 12). If we look at each point separately, the first Creepypasta stories meet these criteria. The Creepypasta was oral, although it was in a digital space, the stories are short, much like some traditional folk stories. The original stories had various iterations and these early Creepypastas created the literary template that many later Creepypastas stories would follow. Some of these early stories could also be classified as “Online Urban Legends” because they would be from the point of view of an anonymous person who experienced the Creepypasta. An example is the beginning of the famous Creepypasta “Candle Cove” which begins, “Does anyone remember this kid’s show? It was called Candle Cove and I must have been 6 or 7. I never found reference to it anywhere so I think it was on a local station around 1971 or 1972.” (Candle Cove) Most of the original stories were anonymous or attached only a screen name, and these stories also spread especially around schoolyards and online, although it was not only young children who liked these stories, a majority of the readers were under 30 during the initial years of Creepypasta 2006-2010. This leads to some actual belief in these stories, and unfortunately, at least one tragic incident related to Creepypasta.

The problem with classifying Creepypasta in 2024 within a folklore structure is that the landscape in which Creepypastas are consumed has changed. Many of the original authors of the seminal Creepypastas have revealed themselves, and Creepypasta has now been commodified by the mainstream. This leads to the question, is Creepypasta now “fakelore” or too mainstream to be considered of the “folk” anymore? It is also difficult to fully encapsulate the group of people who read or create Creepypastas into a neat group, but I will attempt to do so later. When talking of “fakelore”, the Living Folklore textbook explains fakelore by saying, “Early in his career, Richard Dorson introduced the term fakelore to describe these kinds of purposefully directed, created texts, first with reference to collections of fabricated folktales written and sold as popular entertainment.” (Sims 91) Popular examples of this are Paul Bunyan and most of the canon of King Arthur. Certainly, now we know that most of the popular Creepypastas are fiction, but new pastas are coming out all the time, and some of them can convince their readers that they are true. So while the classic Creepypastas are maybe now a mix of fakelore and folklore, they began their existence closer to being completely the traditional “Legend” that would be considered “Folklore”, and some Creepypasta still is very much what would be considered digital urban legends, or digital myth.

The group of readers and writers, which I will call the participants of the Creepypasta community seem to have an interesting social group that seems to comprise all ages, and all genders and spreads across the spectrum of horror lovers, people who just like to write and read and everything in-between. Their actual belief in the stories also seems to range from disbelief to fanatical. Sadly, on May 31, 2014, two 12-year-old girls in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA, tried to murder their friend to win favor with the “Slender Man”. The Slender Man is possibly the most popular Creepypasta character, and the girls thought if they killed their friend, they could live with him, like one of the Slender Man stories had said could happen if you murder someone. This was a very extreme and isolated incident, but it called into question what younger readers could think if they consumed Creepypastas. It also should be noted that one girl who did this was suffering from severe undiagnosed mental health issues. Most of the Creepypasta participants see these stories and, being a member of this group as pure entertainment. Alec Bojalad of Den of Geek explains reading these stories as like telling stories around a campfire, saying, “Cyberspace is home to millions of scary stories that are being read by the glow of a computer screen rather than the crackling flames of a campfire.” (Bojalad). This is important because now the group of participants in the world of Creepypasta no longer have to wait for a special occasion to get a little scared, the internet has not only given us 24/7 access to these spooky stories but also many more people may participate by consuming these stories anonymously and you can do it by yourself, alone, which for some may make the experience better or worse. This raises very interesting questions about how the Creepypasta or Digital Legends are being shared between people and how the writers can make some readers believe in the stories. The Living Folklore Textbook, explains that “Negotiating belief is about the interplay of listeners, tellers, and communities; the different levels and types of answers to the question of belief are all part of forming and expressing group identity.” (Sims 66) So in my interviews I tried to get a better picture if readers believe these stories or not, and the stories are mostly read as “an account of a happening in which the narrator or an immediate personal contact was not directly involved, and (that) is presented as a proposition for belief; it is not always believed by speaker or audience, but presented as something that could have occurred and is told as if it happened.” (Sims 66). Although some Creepypastas are more convincing than others, because of the subject matter, quality of writing, or the seriousness of the author, it seems like the group who participates in the community do at least for the moment they are reading the Creepypasta, suspend disbelief and allow themselves into the world of the pasta they are reading, where the things that are happening could be true.

I believe this is where the commodification of Creepypasta fails, and why it mostly remains a type of folklore. There is just not that authenticity of just finding a scary story on a website. For example, reading the original Creepypasta for most is much better when they are reading this creepy story on some weird website, than let us say, watching a Slender Man movie made by professional filmmakers. There seems to be more ease in at least temporary belief in the original format of the Creepypasta, it feels closer and more intimate, more like being at a sleepover and having a friend tell you about “Bloody Mary” (and it should be noted that there is a subgenre of Creepypasta called “Ritualpasta” that is a collection of new games that are like the classic children’s games “Boody Mary” or “Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board”) This group of Creepypasta participants usually trust other members of the group more than mainstream channels who try to monetize characters from popular Creepypasta. So it seems that this group does not have as much loyalty to the characters from the stories or the stories themselves, but rather the experience of the stories.

Acting as a modern-day Folk group, the group that consumes Creepypasta and the Creepypasta themselves, although contrived in certain aspects, share similarities with Folk groups, and the stories can be considered Folktales. The following sections will dig more deeply into the makeup of the participants of the Creepypasta Community as a Folk Group, what can be learned from speaking to them, and analyzing the stories, how people relate to them, and what this says when we look at the wider society that formed this form of entertainment and those who enjoy it. The group comprises members who all have an interest in Creepypasta. In the Living Folklore textbook, it explains that “A group brought together by skill or interest becomes a folk group as it incorporates more elements of communication.” (Sims 41) The members of the Creepypasta fan group not only communicate through leaving comments on stories online but also by sharing the stories and sometimes writing, editing, or expanding upon Creepypastas. They sometimes talk to each other online, and sometimes they discuss their interest in the stories offline. Also, even those who are less social are consuming the communication through written or oral stories. The Living Folklore textbook also states that “The Internet has become a powerful channel that offers people with common interests the opportunity to connect and interact in complex ways that reinforce a group’s sense of community.” (Sims 40) Because online groups are still a rather new and still expanding type of group, the rules are a little different from how they coalesce as a folk group.

III. Informant, place, and date of collection:

I could not find someone who could commit to a one-on-one interview with me, so I had to get creative. I thought about a way to get information from the Creepypasta community group that they might be more comfortable with and ran a Google form questionnaire. The Creepypasta readers could then have more time to think about answers to questions I had and also more privacy. I decided this would be best because it seemed as if the people in the group did not enjoy speaking about the community outside of online forums.

The Google Form ran from Thursday, July 4th to Friday, July 12th, 2024. I had a few friends post the link in their Discords, mostly places I thought more “online” people would hang out, because I do not know anyone in my personal offline life who reads these stories. To prevent being overwhelmed with responses, I closed the form after one week. I ended up getting five participants of varying levels of involvement in the Creepypasta community. Most wished to remain anonymous, but a couple agreed to speak from behind nicknames or screen names. I was surprised to find what these people had in common and what differed between their responses. These people were of varying genders and ages, and some had been in the Creepypasta “group” for a long time, while others were barely in the group at all. I knew one participant, but the others were strangers. It also was revealing to see how the members of this group interacted with the texts. This group is, of course, made up of individuals, but most seem to enjoy being anonymous in the group, so I will mostly keep their answers anonymous unless they state I could use their screen name or nickname. I believe, given the nature of the group, I am “interviewing” this will be the most appropriate way to quote what they said. Many but not all in this group are very much into anonymity.

IV. The exact text, custom, or object:

The Living Folklore textbook, explains, “Many other fan groups meet, grow, and evolve almost exclusively online, and their in-person interaction is secondary to their online identities if it occurs at all.” (Sims 58) I found this to be true of the members of the Creepypasta community that I received answers from. When asked if they had made any friends in the community, almost all of them said they had not, one participant said, “No. truth be told I don’t do friends” and another said, “Nope. Kat is an irl friend that became an author.” (in this answer, the participant is referring to a person who I know online.) When asked if they would go to an in-person convention, most seemed interested but were unsure of where they could find one, or if any even existed. One person interviewed said, “Sure, sounds different and fun. Could meet interesting people.” and another said, “I would if the meeting centered around one of the subjects that highly interest me.” and a member of the group who goes by the moniker “Cass Voit” answered, “To meet other horror authors is always a goal of mine.” For the record, I could not find any recent events like this, at least any that happened recently. The interesting thing about this group is that the members mostly seem to be OK with meeting each other offline, but this rarely seems to happen. Reading Creepypastas does not always have to be a solitary activity, it seems. One person interviewed explained, “I like to read it out loud at con (convention) parties.” So they do share them with others at social events.

The members of this group interviewed seemed to like to share the Creepypastas with people not necessarily in the community, but with people they already know in offline life or people who they were already friends with online. One member of this group explained, “I listen to them on YouTube and share the links to my coworkers when I think the story is really good.” another interviewee answered, “By YouTube videos and share them with friends” which means they mostly see them on YouTube and that is also how they spread them with friends. (Note: YouTube contains many Creepypasta stories that are animated, or just read aloud and even short film versions of Creepypasta stories, and YouTube and the Reddit /nosleep are two of the most popular ways to consume Creepypasta, although one person said when asked how they discover Creepypastas: “In the past, 4chan and youtube. Nowadays, mostly Tiktok.” So Tiktok is becoming a vessel for these stories now too.) This is interesting because it mimics how legends, myths, and urban legends spread before the internet, meaning that they are spread mostly among groups that know one another or are connected in some way, rather than through a book or television. These stories at least on some level rely on those grassroots methods of spreading, often between friends or relatives. So while these stories seem to proliferate online, there is still an intimacy to the way they are received.

When asked if they had ever added to or changed part of an existing Creepypasta, every person interviewed said they had not. They also explained that none of them felt like they were a part of any specific group within the Creepypasta community, and instead were just members of the larger group of people who consumed Creepypasta. Interestingly, when asked, two of the people interviewed said that they had taken part in spreading a Creepypasta hoax or ARG (Alternate Reality Game). One explained, “Sort of. I tried to spread a story about me contacting an ET on the dark web and forcing it on /x/ but didn’t have much success :^)” which is interesting because it’s rare for most people to admit to doing this, but the candid answer was much appreciated. The other person said, “Yes, that time I told people the SCP Foundation was actually real and it got ridiculed on purpose in order to look like a creepypasta. a psyop”. For the layperson, the SCP stands for “Secure, Contain, Protect.” The fictional Foundation is a secret organization dedicated to containing and studying anomalous entities, phenomena, and artifacts that defy natural law, it is organized like a Wikipedia or Wiki, and each story is a different case file that this mysterious foundation has written about a strange being or occurrence, etc. Imagine sort of like if the X-files had a website. People write their own SCP files, and the stories are usually short and dramatic. This person bringing this up segways into another topic in this group that I was interested in. Believability.

I wanted to see how much belief was necessary to enjoy these stories and become a member of the Creepypasta Community group. When asked how important believability was in these stories or if they had ever believed in a Creepypasta they had read, I got varied answers, but all felt important. (Quotes include the original capitalization and spelling.) Here are the answers:

“i think its more about originality. if they follow the same cliches, they are lame. but if they have a fresh twist, you still know they are fake, but you are more glad to have read it. i dont think i encountered one that i thought was true, but i once tried to convince people that the scp foundation was actually real and got turned into a “creepypasta” in order to conceal the initial data hack suffered by the cia.”

“I have come across a couple, they were well written.”

“Never. I think the believability part only matters in the early part of the story because it makes the reader get inmersed but eventually all creepypastas become paranormal one way or another. I’d be curious to read a good creepypasta without paranormal elements tho.”

“Daily news”

“The believability is not important to me”

This seems to show that this is more of an entertainment-related pastime than something these members of the group actually take seriously. While researching, I discovered a few mentions of very young children believing in the Creepypastas, for example, the tragic situation in Wisconsin. Often Creepypastas were stories that children traded at lunch or recess, but as they grew older, they did not believe in these stories anymore. All the people who answered my questions were adults, but when asked when they first started reading Creepypasta, the answers ranged from, “the age that I had access to internet. Probably 11,” to 40 years old, although the average age most started reading seems to be in their late teens. While people may write off Creepypastas as something that was mostly for younger people, there does not seem to be just one age group present in the group of Creepypasta readers. Because this is a new genre of storytelling though, there is no surprise that it seems there are mostly Millennials and Gen Z readers. Also, the height of popularity of the Creepypasta was (arguably) 2008-2015, so the age group I received made sense.

Another topic I was interested in asking members of this group was how they felt about the mainstream adaptations of Creepypastas. I asked what they felt about Creepypastas being made into movies and video games etc, and if they thought it changed the way they interacted with the stories. A few reacted positively to this question, but most agreed that the over-commodification ruined the experience of reading Creepypasta. One person said, “Once it becomes too commercial like the slender man or the SCP series, it loses part of its charm for me” while another participant said, “Everything adapted, these days, is because of money, and therefore sucks bad.” and also one member of the group said, “I don’t like those adaptions.” Which is pretty straightforward. The one genre of adaptation that some liked was the video games that had come out recently, Cass Voit explains, “The Park is a game that really worked for me. Then you have games like Slenderman and what not. Adding a visual element makes it easier to consume and more impactful.” Another participant said, “I love how they have been adopted into video games that amateur and professional developers create games based on the stories. It is super fun watching Septic Eye YouTube videos.” (Septic Eye is the name of an Irish YouTube Celebrity who makes videos of himself playing games.). I think that these video games were more accepted by the members of the group I interviewed because it was an interactive experience, and fits better in the spirit of the YouTube videos that the community seems to already enjoy watching.

When asked about being part of the group, most members of this group ironically did not consider themselves a member of any group. I believe most of them might have been confusing groups with communities or members of a specific website when I am just seeking the wider group of Creepypasta consumers or readers and writers. I probably should have been more clear about this, so that was my mistake. It seems there is no allegiance to a specific website or forum where Creepypastas are read or consumed, and there is no official comradeship, at least among the people I interviewed. When asked if there was any specific knowledge in the group they are a part of, Cass Voit said, “Unfortunately, I’m noticing a lot of theft of stories, and the thief being more successful than the original author.” When asked if there any unwritten rules or etiquette within the Creepypasta community about creating, sharing, or discussing stories, Cass expanded on the topic of author theft, and a little more about her friend Kat who she mentioned earlier, “My friend Kat is an author who has been robbed. She’s livid.” So it seems like one major rule in the Group is not to steal content from one another. This is unlike the offline legends and urban legends, where it is mostly anonymous, and shows that even though various stories are anonymous, some want to be known as the authors of their stories, and are protective of their work. One person interviewed explained that special knowledge about the types of topics that are found in Creepypastas can also be useful, “There’s a story about an interview with an alien that has so many technical details that to this day I wonder if it’s real.” Another thing I have noticed about this group is even though the writings they read are fantastical, fantasy, sci-fi, or speculative, they like the stories to be approached with seriousness. People who purposely write poor or hard-to-read Creepypastas are not looked upon well by the community. One member stated, “The only unwritten rule I can think of is making it obvious it is not true unless it is actually perceived as true.”

Another thing I wanted to see was if there was any regionality to the stories that the people answering my questions noticed when reading the Creepypastas. Most of the people asked said they notice Creepypastas from certain areas being almost their own type, one member of the group saying, “Yes, some of them are similar”. another member of the group expressed they had a preference for certain stories, stating, “Appalachian stories are particularly good in my opinion.” The variation in stories seems to be country of origin based, but much of the Creepypasta canon is in English. For example, Creepypasta is very popular in Japan, and ghosts and Urban Legends seem to be popular trends in their Creepypasta stories.

When speaking about the way technology has changed the way scary stories are written and distributed, one member of the group shared, “Ideas can be explored freely without fear of losing the initial investment or needing lots of effort/luck for your story to become an urban legend. Anybody can be a writer and any story good enough can become viral, or at least reach enough people for it to feel worth the effort.” Which is a very important thing to emphasize. It also indicates what I have found as well, that Urban Legends and Creepypasta are being released quickly, and there are numerous stories now. This could mean that there could be an issue of over-saturation, but it could also mean that everyone can find something that appeals to them. The transfer of ideas is important not only among Creepypasta fans but also in our society. Another participant discussed the ease with which you can find these stories online when she said, “Instant gratification on the internet: we don’t have to buy them in books or magazines anymore.” In terms of Creepypasta being folklore, specifically digital legends, this means that these stories no longer have to operate through mainstream channels anymore, they are no longer corporate, which of course adds credibility to them being pieces of folklore. The very nature of how the Creepypasta is shared and distributed is anti-establishment and therefore closer to folklore and sometimes fakelore than mainstream media.

Creepypastas and legends often reflect the fears of the society writing them. I was curious to see what the people I was interviewing thought some of those fears could be, and I got some very interesting responses. Most of the responses were similar and had to do with anxiety and society. One person responded when asked what themes the Creepypastas reflect to them, “Isolation and paranoia as a societal problem”. Another responder went into more detail and explained, ”Often the protagonist has been left alone. In this society, we have lost a lot of the fellowship/community mindset and try to do everything on our own, leading to loneliness. Another theme: kids not telling parents when they are in a dire situation or need help because they are afraid they will get in trouble. Then, of course, what happens is they get into further safety issues because they don’t have the help/resources they need. This is a commentary on how punishment is ineffective and in fact backfires when children make a wrong choice or mistake.” These responses lead me to believe that fear is broken down in some unique ways in many creepy pastas, but I will analyze this further in the analysis portion of this collection sheet. Another participant also brought up children being in trouble and said it was hard to read about “child markets”. Yet another participant says themes of Creepypasta are, “Things being cursed, or a trap, people not being what they seem, even oneself hiding something that one wouldn’t be comfortable knowing about... these themes seem to have in common mistrust, suspicion, and anxiety. We live in a society where these things are on the rise. Ultimately, we don’t trust God himself to not having created a cursed creation and creepypastas reflect this too.” The general theme is clear though, anxiety is a major theme in these stories. Of course, this is a general theme in horror, but Creepypasta, like urban legends, works because there is some amount of truth in their themes. In The Study of American Folklore textbook, it says, “Basic modern anxieties often lie behind popular urban legends.”(Brunvand 209) and further explains that often “new” urban legends at their core may have some older prototype, and when we look at a “Slender man” story, we find he has much in common with the killer with a hook for a hand or other old urban legends about psycho killers. He lives in the woods, he stalks people, he can be escaped from, and people spread stories of experiences with him where they narrowly avoid capture and assumed death. But also because urban legends are “a story …reported as true individual experience,” (Brunvand 205) this may be why it is a rule in the group that the intent of telling the story must be serious, and not a joke or presented as obviously untrue, to maintain the belief is a good way to get these modern day legends to spread.

To go further into what a Creepypasta is made of, I asked the participants to explain common tropes or themes they have noticed while consuming Creepypasta and if they had anything in common with folktales they had read or heard of. Some answers I received were “Uncanny valley, things that seem to be off, something or someone who seems to be one thing but is another, the rules of reality changing, etc.. seem to be common themes in the one’s I’ve read/listened to. I think these elements are shared with folktales, too.” which goes along with the theme of things appearing to be one thing, but actually being or becoming another, and it brings to mind the instability of modern life. Another person said, “Maybe the black and white. The supernatural (weird creature, cursed video game). they compare around the fact that both attribute supernatural characteristics to otherwise bland, boring and sterile things and beings and animals. Reality is boring and lies are great, amazing, cute and entertaining.” which reaffirms the fact that these stories do not have to be proven true to be enjoyed, much like traditional legends. Other themes and tropes mentioned were, “Violence, crimes, and disappearings” and “The follow trope, the escape trope” When asked about the actual writer's craft of Creepypasta, patterns of writing that the group pointed out were, “Some write it like a documentary, some write a narrative scene.” and “The story suddenly takes an abrupt turn towards the unrealistic.” The documentary style is common among many urban legends and although supernatural themes are not as common in the Urban Legend, it is the focus on the mundane in the Creepypasta that keeps them somewhat grounded in reality as pointed out by my interviewee when they mention “bland boring things” or when another mentioned an everyday item like a video-game turning out to be cursed.

When asked if any specific characters were particularly memorable, the participants had diverse answers. I wanted to see what sort of specific Creepypasta scared them or was something that stuck with them. I wanted to see if the fear was what they all remembered from the experience. In this way, I was trying to understand what drew different members of the group to the Creepypasta. Most elaborated on a character, but interestingly, some felt that the characters were not focused on or fleshed out in Creepypastas. Here are some answers received:

“i loved this Creepypasta about mr. noseybonk. it was about the rape and killing of the protagonist’s mother by the hands of mr. noseybonk, but in the end, in a moment of lucidity, the protagonist saw it was actually his father, or maybe it was him himself, I don’t remember. very fucked up, if u asked me. Memorable, you could say. I liked how there wasn’t anything supernatural about it.”

“Slenderman and Sirenhead: The kind of “i will get you no matter what the obstacle” concept scares the shit out of me.”

“Most creepypastas I’ve read don’t seem to put much attention on specific characters.”

“The Rake with El Chupacabras” (The Rake is sometimes considered the first Creepypasta.)

When asked what characters were the most popular in the group and had become infamous or iconic, Slender Man came up several times, and even the killing that had happened in his name was mentioned. “There’s the slenderman case of a teen killing another teen. I think that speaks for the popularity of slendy” one person answered, and others explained, “Not sure but I think creepypastas that are open to be expanded are the ones that become the most popular.” This indicates the ability of the group to come together on these stories and add to them and have a self-made canon of the characters. The collaborative nature of the Creepypasta group is something that many in the group cherish, and this is also what keeps the stories fresh in the group. Another participant explained other common characters in the Creepypasta universe by saying, “Some common ones: skinwalkers, cryptids, Big Foot. They are popular because there are many people who believe they have actually encountered these creatures in real life.”

I do think I gathered quite a bit of information from the people who chose to be in my project. I feel happy that they were all varied types of people, sexes, and ages, and I think it led to a relatively diverse discussion of What the members of this group had to say about not only Creepypasta, but some of the informal rules of the group, and what appeals to them about the Creepypasta, or the new digital legends that have come into existence recently.

V. Context:

The members of the group of people who consume Creepypasta (in written, verbal, video, or other media forms) are a diverse group of people. Some have been reading since they were very young and the experience of this has shaped their thoughts on what horror means and can be. Most members of this group use Creepypastas to entertain themselves and although most do this when alone, some share the experience and stories with others by giving others links to whatever way the story is communicated to them. While this is entertainment, they also see a deeper commentary in these stories, such as the expression of societal problems, children’s fears, or repression of one’s deeper, dark desires.

The Internet has allowed this group to form from people all over the world, and while most may choose to remain anonymous, some choose to interact with the group from their real identities or online aliases. While many in the group read Creepypasta privately, some so enjoy reading it aloud or may pass the story on orally to friends, coworkers, or family. While most of the group just consumes stories and may not even interact with the community anonymously, some write and share their own stories, anonymously or from an alias or even their real name. Some members of the group even expand on pre-existing stories and ARG games. Although there are varying levels of sociality, they are all members of the same group because of their ingesting Creepypasta or one of the spin-off genres such as Ritualcore, ARG’s, or Dreamcore “pasta”. There also is an amount of material folklore made within the group in the form of plushes, drawings and paintings, animations, and costumes. The costumes are often worn to general horror conventions because this is the one large gathering where some fans of Creepypasta can find one another (as was stated earlier, as far as I could tell there are no “Creepypasta specific” conventions or gatherings that I could find.)

The members of the group are spread among different distribution platforms and although some may have a loyalty to a certain website, podcast, YouTube channel, etc, most do not. Interestingly, most in this group do not consider themselves part of a “group”, and do not compare themselves to other readers or writers of Creepypasta. Some, though, have friends among the various online communities. While questioning members of this group many times, they would have similar answers to each other, and their membership of this group is found in less obvious ways, but they all seem to mostly know the same major story plots and characters and most common distribution networks for the Creepypastas.

VI. Analysis:

Creepypastas exists to fulfill the function of ghost stories and urban legends in the modern world. Like ghost stories or urban legends, they embody contemporary anxieties and fears, they just travel a lot faster and are a lot less regionally localized than these sorts of stories were before the Internet. Common themes of Creepypasta such as fears about technology, isolation, or loss of control are not just worries that are in the Creepypasta community but exist all across our society on and off-line. Part of the reason humans like ghost stories is the meta-contextual elements like “controlled fear” or a “safe” fear. The reader or listener of the Creepypasta gets to experience fear in a controlled, safe environment. It is like facing a fear with a psychological safety net. Creepypastas can also be a safe way to explore societal taboos and engage in morbid fascinations acceptably. These stories, like their offline counterparts, the ghost stories and urban legends may also appeal to those who need more intense and novel experiences, and these stories may fulfill that need. And of course, for some, there is a “high” felt when engaging with content that makes their adrenaline rise.

Another common aspect among individuals who derive pleasure from Creepypastas and Horror is the utilization of such narratives to signify their bravery or exhibit a heightened emotional fortitude compared to others. People who are into “scary” things are often proud that they enjoy things that are frightening or intense. Some even make their enjoying of this media part of their identity. I feel part of the reason Creepypasta became so popular in the 2010s with mostly younger people is that these children, while searching for an identity wanted to be experimental and push their boundaries, and reading Creepypasta could replace the traditional playground legends and tall tales. But also children and teenagers love to feel in control. They love to feel like they are “good” at things and better than others because they are still trying to understand their place in society as well. These young readers may have postured to be “tough” or “unafraid” and used their consumption of Creepypastas as a sort of “proof” that these aspects of themselves were true. Additionally, the act of sharing Creepypastas fosters shared experiences and insider knowledge, ultimately strengthening social bonds among peers. The Creepypasta is a safe way for people of all ages to engage in frightening stories, while some who read believe in these stories, these stories are online, and this adds extra layers of removal from what is going on in the story so it still feels safer. If one gets too scared, reading the story, they can stop, and the controlled exposure is something that would appeal to most. Also, the simplicity and short-form style of the Creepypasta story make it ripe for recirculation and also is easier for younger readers to engage with, which is much like the folk ghost stories and urban legends that came before.

Another aspect of reading these stories is psychological catharsis, which people also get from ghost stories, horror films, and other forms of controlled horror, such as horror movies. Creepypasta stories, like the ghost stories before them, provide a way to confront and process fears of death, the unknown, and the supernatural. When we hear stories about death in such a removed way, it’s more digestible and easier for us to think about. This can lead to more comfort when engaging with death in our everyday lives. Also, the relief that some feel when the story is over can make you appreciate the safety of everyday life more after listening to such stories. In the same vein, some readers enjoy putting themself in the story and may feel the rising action and tenseness of the story, the fear at its height, and then let those feelings go when the story is over, which can act as a release of stress or simply be entertaining.

Perhaps the largest takeaway from looking at the Creepypasta is that it is a community, a group. Without the group, the Creepypastas would not spread as far as they have, and without the group, there would most likely only be a few writers. The group needed to read and recirculate these stories. The Creepypasta community is interesting because while it comprises many anonymous people, and the people I heard from did not have any friends in the group, it has a large social element to it. Most of the Creepypastas are created through collaboration. It does not seem like you have to have any sort of status or role to write your own additions to existing work or write your own Creepypasta. The rules seem pretty lax, and while some websites are no longer accepting stories about certain characters to be hosted on their sites, (Creepypasta.com no longer accepts Slender Man stories) there is no rule saying you cannot post the stories on your own site. While there are so many grey areas involving copyrights, and some of the original authors have revealed their offline identities and associated that identity with the story they have created, there does not seem to be any sense of strict ownership of the characters or realities of the Creepypastas. While it is frowned upon in the community to steal another writer or creator’s work, the Creepypastas, for the most part, belong to the people. The identity of the group, rather than consisting of individual personalities, functions more like a living, breathing ecosystem fueled by creativity. The group requires only that you like Creepypastas and consume them in some way. This, however, does not make the group less of a folk group. The transmission of the stories is still very informal and infinitely adaptable, meaning each member of the group is free to interpret the texts in their own way. I believe what we are seeing with the stories this group is creating is almost like watching the creation of new folktales, but on a much faster timetable than ever before because of the internet and how quickly information can travel.

The society that created this group is in some ways similar to what it has always been. The only difference is not people can turn to the Internet to seek answers, friendship, belonging, or experiences. It only makes sense that the Internet would have its own versions of folklore come about. Humans have been telling each other stories for a very long time, and there is nothing that would indicate we would stop anytime soon. The Internet also provides people with an outlet to explore things they care about or are curious about anonymously because many people feel scared or shy to do so even in our modern society which is becoming more tolerant in some ways but remains strict, judgemental, and old-fashioned. The main themes of Creepypasta as quoted by my interviewees and in research I did, are often isolation, corruption, technological over-dependance, general anxiety and things not being what they seem, (as well as too many others to list) are all very modern fears. With our world becoming increasingly online, it is easy to feel isolated, easy to become addicted to things like social media, and when you are online increasingly, you cannot believe many things you see (ie. deep fakes, bots, catfishes). It is also easy to see all that is going on in the world and see corruption at every turn in its most literal sense. Like literature often reflects the zeitgeist of its time, the Creepypastas show what we in the 21st century are afraid of clearly. Of course, the normal villains are also there, the murderer, the child molester, and the corrupt government, but Creepypastas uniquely reflect more of the personal struggles of the time we live in. While there is always something going on in every era, we are unique in the way of us having the Internet. We have a truly collective space that for the first time is bringing together all different races, peoples, sexualities, identities, and political affiliations. This literal melting of us all has never before happened in the human race. We are in a time where everyone can leave a mark on the online-world. This is a spectacular thing but also can be a source of anxiety. I think that these unique circumstances led to the birth of the Creepypasta.

Not only are all different types of people participating in these stories, games, and ARGs but also for the first time, in real-time, we can just look into what other people are afraid of. Before the Internet, when you heard a ghost story or urban legend, it remained in this nebulous place, where because of its anonymity of it, it could either feel very real to you or seem less likely to be true because it was “just one of those old stories”. The Creepypasta, because of its hyper-fast creation and spread, feels more tangible because there is always an origin post, so we have a definite idea of what the original story is, we can still interact with its creation unlike the ghost stories and urban legends of the past. I am interested in how these differences in the formation of folktales, and folklore will play out in the future. Although the Creepypasta is not nearly as popular as it once was, there are still many people who read or write them, and it will be interesting to see how the stories travel and expand in the future.

VII. Works Cited:

Bojalad, Alec. “Beware the Creepypasta: Scary Storytelling in the Internet Age.” Den of Geek, 10 Aug. 2018, www.denofgeek.com/culture/beware-the-creepypasta-scary-storytelling-in-the-internet-age/.

Candle Cove - Creepypasta. 5 June 2009, www.creepypasta.com/candle-cove/.

“Creepypastas: Horror Folklore for the Digital Age.” SCAN, scadscan.com/2022/03/03/creepypastas-horror-folklore-for-the-digital-age/.

‌Creepypasta Stories - Scary Stories and Original Horror Fiction | Welcome to CreepypastaStories.com! Scaring You with Paranormal Stories and Original Horror Fiction. A “Creepypasta” Is a Short Piece of Horror Fiction. 9 Oct. 2020, www.creepypastastories.com/. Accessed 1 July 2024.

“Creepypasta Wiki.” Creepypasta.fandom.com, creepypasta.fandom.com/.

Curator, Creepypasta com Content. “Creepypasta - Scary Stories and Original Horror Fiction.” Https://Www.creepypasta.com/, www.creepypasta.com/.

“Has Creepypasta Reinvented Classic Folklore?” Gizmodo, 7 Jan. 2014, gizmodo.com/is-creepypasta-a-form-of-folklore-1495902436.

‌‌Jan Harold Brunvand. The Study of American Folklore : An Introduction. New York, Norton, 1998.

‌Sims, Martha C, and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore : An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah, Utah State University Press, 2011.

‌Black, Aisling. “Your Thoughts on Creepypasta.” (Google Forms Survey) July 4th- July 12th 2024

Please see the References tab for all works I used in my research