| “ | "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." | „ |
| ~ A suicide note from 1964 detailing the author's experience with the Rake. |
The Rake is the titular main antagonist of the Creepypasta story of the same name. It is a humanoid creature with large teeth and claws that stalks it's victims and appears at the end of their beds as they sleep, or in the woods or in their houses.
Since 2006, pictures, fan-art and video blogs have been made of the monster, including numerous allusions in the Slenderverse YouTube series EverymanHYBRID.
Origin
The Rake originated on 4chan's /b/ board in late 2005. A thread was started by an anonymous user, who stated "Hey /b/ lets make a new monster!" Naturally, there were many ideas, but one stood out, and another user created a new thread based on this idea. The thread started with this post:
"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."
The creature eventually formed into what we now know as 'The Rake'.
The Rake went through many design and name changes during its beginning. One of the more prevalent names was "Operation Crawler". Below are a couple of the "checkpoints" from the thread where it originated, which were the following:
6 feet tall is good humanoid pale grayish skin, 2 large eyes on the front of the head because of trips >>14832777 and nature, no nose, a mouth that is slightly visible then opens on a hinge to reveal hundreds of dull but not blunt teeth, consumes meat but genitals don't matter because no interviews really talk about that, seen in suburban areas minding its own business attacks when approached but mostly just stares at people, and looks human enough to be able to disguise with fedora and trench coat or similar.
Revision #2
Approximately 6' tall, but seen crouching, humanoid with pale, grayish skin, 2 slightly larger than human eyes, no nose, a mouth that is smaller than human, but when provoked or attacked, opens freely on a hinge down to the neckline, showing hundreds of dull but not blunt teeth, unknown origin, unknown diet, seen in suburban areas, opens it's mouth and widens its eyes when provoked, attacks when approached, and if not provoked or approached it just stares.
The first and most well-known story about The Rake was posted to the personal blog of SomethingAwful user Brian Somerville on July 20th, 2006. It was the first story in a series entitled "Horror Theater", but Somerville does not indicate if the text was taken from another website or if it was written specifically for that blog post. According to the mythology, firsthand accounts of The Rake has been described as early as in the 12th century and documented for the first time in 1691. The story also alleges that strange events in the northeastern U.S. involving the creature led to brief local media interest in the summer of 2003, but most written accounts of the creature have been mysteriously destroyed since.
Spread
Reposts of The Rake copypasta began appearing on LiveJournal as early as December 2008. The story made its way to 4chan's /x/ (paranormal) board by April 2009 and to SomethingAwful by June of that year. In August 2010, the story was first posted to the Paranormal subreddit. The Rake was eventually added to horror story databases including Creepypasta.com, Creepypasta Wikia and Creepypasta Index. It was also featured on several paranormal-related websites, including Unexplained Mysteries and The Slender Nation.
In December 2010, single topic blog Fuck Yeah The Rake was launched on Tumblr providing a centralized site for the copypastas, "sightings" and fanart about the myth. That month, a picture of a monster character from the first-person shooter game Resistance 3 known as a Grim appeared on a local news station in Louisiana, with the reporter stating a viewer took the photo at a local hunting ground. Due to the Grim's similar build and features as the one described in the Rake story, many YouTube commentators interpreted it as this monster.
The Image
The image was taken on November 30th, 2010 and gained widespread traction across the internet to a point in which large local news stations were talking about it. Nobody had an idea on what to make of this terrifying ordeal, until it was later revealed to be a Resistance 3 Game hoax.
Appearance
The Rake is descried as a pale, thin, and naked humanoid figure or a large, deformed hairless dog. It's often seen as having white eyes. The Rake also has incredibly sharp claws, which is why it was dubbed 'The Rake'.
Personality
The Rake is very mysterious, but it seems to be quite sadistic, cruel, and misanthropic, preferring to stalk, torture, and then murder its victims. The Rake is not always evil, sometimes it just prances around in the wilderness, if it gets looked at or pictured it will either attack or stalk you and then kill you later. Never the less, the Rake is still a dangerous threat who will not hesitate to slaughter anyone in a sadistic and monstrous way.
Powers and Abilities
The Rake is a feral misanthrope who will not hesitate to kill anyone who it deems to get in its way, its strength, stealth and speed allow it to be able to get the better of humans and overpower them with ease, and maneuver around destinations quickly without being seen and able to utilize its rake-like claws as a weapon, able to inflict massive damage to the victim. It doesn't seem to be able to take physical damage, or has been attempted to be captured.
Facts
- The Rake's existence is unclear, it is rumored to have been a human at one point that was mutated and gifted immortality, which seems likely due to its humanoid appearance. It is also possible that the Rake is some kind of alien from another world or planet.
- The Rake has been alive for hundreds of years, dating back to the 17th century, proving it to be an immortal entity.
- Has connections to the Slender Man
- The creator's name is unknown.
- The Rake was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft.
Gallery
