Fiction or reality? Learn the story behind these terrifying characters who were born on the internet, who became urban legends and who have inspired series, movies, games and even crimes.
Slender man
The faceless man with the elongated figure who stalks his victims in the dark has been the protagonist of thousands of horror stories known as creepypastas and was recognized by the BBC as “the first great web myth”
This macabre being was created in 2009 by a user under the pseudonym Victor Surge , participant in a contest of images retouched with Photoshop on the Something Awful portal . Its popularity is due to the fact that it represents the fears of those who tell its story.
The character is so successful that he can be found in offline settings, such as video games or the movie Slender Man , produced by Sony and released in 2018.
His footprint in pop culture has also spawned unfortunate events. In 2014, two American teenagers were inspired by him to stab their classmate.
One of them claimed that the entity watched over her, read her mind and teleported. (You can see more of the case with the HBO documentary, Beware The Slenderman )
That terrifying woman with disturbing features who, according to legend, was cursed, caused such a stir in 2018 that she went viral worldwide.
It all started when a Facebook user claimed to have been contacted via Whastapp, at 3 AM, by this spectrum. He said that “Momo” had sent him photos of his victims.
The story spread quickly and that is how the Momo Challenge arose, which encouraged us to save the number and write to it at 3 AM. If Momo answered more than 2 times, it was a death sentence.
Although the story was very popular and terrified hundreds of young people, the reality is that the number belonged to a person in Japan who had “Momo” as a profile photo, which, by the way, is not an entity but a sculpture exhibited in in 2016 by Vanilla Gallery , an art gallery located in Tokyo.
Last year, the artist who created the MOTHER-BIRD sculpture, whose face inspired the character of Momo, announced that the figure had been destroyed and that “the curse” was no more. This in order to reassure the children.
Charlie charlie
The game and urban legend that was the boom in 2015, served as a kind of cheap Ouija board that scared thousands and thousands of children.
The game consists of placing two pencils in a cross on a sheet with the options YES and NO. Then the spirit should be invoked by asking: Charlie Charlie, are you there?
In case of “yes this”, the pencils will move and later the participants ask what they want. Legends on the internet said that Charlie was a demon or that he was the spirit of a brutally murdered Mexican child.
Although the game was already known by other names, it was not until 2015 that it went viral, thanks to a challenge started on Twitter. It was banned in many places for being considered diabolical, although it only caused nightmares and hallucinations among the most superstitious.
Jeff the killer
Almost as popular as Slenderman, this character is also the creation of a creepypasta released in 2008.
The urban legend is about an expert killer in knives, who cut his eyelids and his face creating a macabre smile. He appears in the home of his victims stealthily at night and whispers “time to sleep” in the dark, before killing them mercilessly.
It has penetrated so much in the group of Internet users that it already has online games. Only on Facebook you will find hundreds of profiles and groups with their name.
The photo that inspired the Jeff the Killer image is also said to have belonged to a girl who took her own life after being bullied and harassed on 4Chan forums.
The Black-Eyed Children
So that you sleep in peace tonight, we leave you the last but most chilling urban legend: the black-eyed children.
Supposedly they are characters with completely empty eyes and if you meet their gaze, terror begins to seize you. People in a car usually appear in pairs to ask for a ride.
The first known story was first published on a paranormal encounters website in 1998. But for some reason, this year the stories took on new life.
Nobody knows for sure if they are aliens, ghosts, or demonic entities. What the witnesses claim is that they take over your will and fill you with inexplicable terror.
And you: Did you already know these stories?