How the Internet Created a Cryptid

In this video, I discuss the Rake and the impact the creepypasta has had on the internet!

[Pastraspec]

Don't miss out on the DOAI VHS tapes! Only available for a few more days!

[scribblersvale]

I still remember finding and watching a video about the Rake around the height of Creepypasta. It was titled something like "THE RAKE CAUGHT ON CAMERA" or something along those lines. It was some dude recording themself acting all panicked for a few minutes, walking around and saying "It's in the backyard" or something, before turning a corner and revealing it was just a gardening rake laying in the grass.

[wyatt]

I don’t care what anyone says, the fact that an entire news station reported on that screenshot will always be the funniest thing

[crowmudgeon]

This story traumatized me more than arguably anything else on the internet. To this day, nothing freaks me out more than the idea of waking up to see something sitting at the foot of my bed.

[chipkid]

the rake steals food from my fridge every night. he won’t leave. he’s basically just like a dog. he keeps eating the shredded cheese.

[wyatt]

To me, the scariest thing about the Rake is its name. It sounds so unnatural and doesn’t fit the creature at all that it really adds to its mystery

[funnylucina]

I just wanted to say that background of all the creepypasta characters is really freakin sweet

[cruye]

I remember once reading a speculative "cryptobiology" post on the Rake, about what that sort of creature would logically be like, what would it feed, how it would have evaded notice for so long and what not. Ended up being a sort of hominid/ape-shaped scavenger like a coyote.

[LivenUp]

God the Rake. Im terrified of that thing. When it got really popular I lived in the rurals. Surrounded by forest and acreage. I got so nervous everytime I left my home in the dark or looked out the big windows. Just the idea of a pale figure skittering low to the ground in the dark is horrifying.

[probablydeadinside]

i had a nightmare about the rake once
the biggest part of the nightmare was when i and my brother ran into his room to hide, i had tried to push the dresser in front of the door but just wasn't strong enough
i hid under a blanket, my brother hiding under his own on his bed, and as i waited, i heard it open the door, approach me, and place its small palm and lengthy fingers directly over my heart, simply going 'she's here'
and then i woke up
i've had nightmares about slenderman, jeff, tails doll, etc, but only the rake gave me an ACTUAL proper nightmare, which to me speaks to how well done the concept is
(my other 'nightmares, ' as an example, consisted of jeff and slenderman breaking into my house just to lounge on the couch and loveseat to watch tv)
edit: forgot to add about the slenderman dream, that i had approached him and tried to sit next to him, and without looking away from the tv, he pushed me away by my face

[rambbler]

I have always had pets, and the idea of something that is not my pet, sitting at the foot of my bed, and just watching me while I'm asleep and none the wiser because I just think its one of my pets is HORRIFYING to me.

It reminds me of that creepypasta where someone's dog kept licking them in the middle of the night, only to find out when they wake up that their dog was murdered and couldn't have been the one to lick them.

Definitely some of the stuff that scared me the most as a kid.

[HelpTheGremlinIsLoose]

The fact that the rake of all creatures was featured on a news broadcast makes me a weird kind of happy

[victorvaldez]

One thing that helps the picture of The Rake is also what helps analog horror, lack of image quality in general is more forgiving to suspension of disbelief. The other factor is all monsters are scarier the LESS you see of them, your imagination will fill in the blanks with much more terrifying images than anything that a special effects crew can do.

[DjDeadpig]

Honestly, after years of seeing the picture, my warped perception of “cuteness” urges me to want to pet the Rake for some reason.

[deadlybaconman]

I think what really showed how influential the rake was at the time had to be the sheer amount of "we found the rake at 3 am!!!" type videos that came out when I was younger, that picture of it in the woods scared the life outta me when i was kid lol

[liamramos]

1:56 now I imagine a little Clyde being afraid of going to sleep.

[khaotickiri]

"Imagine this scenario, late one night while tossing and turning-"
I DREAM OF WHAT I I NEED A

[SpectrumAnalysis]

My favourite Rake creepypasta I don't remember the name of, but it went something like this:

A young boy wakes up in his room in the early hours of the morning, seemingly disturbed by something. Luckily he's partially facing the room, and can look around a bit. He notices he's being watched by a creature (The Rake.) His fight or flight kicks in and he freezes, hoping the creature will think he's still asleep. The Rake watches him "sleep" for hours on end not noticing he's actually awake, and eventually it crawls out of his room into the hallway. The boy hears some wet thudding, some muffled cries of pain and gurgles, and he knows what's happened.

The creature returns to his room, dragging a pair of chairs behind it. Over the next few minutes, it drags in and poses on the chairs the dead and mangled bodies of his parents. He positions them as if they're tenderly watching their child sleep. Finally, The Rake uses their blood to paint something on the wall, but the boy can't see what it says because he can't move his head too much. The creature walks over to him, gets on all fours, and crawls under his bed to hide and wait for the boy to get up.

Hours pass, with the kid unable to do anything but see glimpses of his parents bloodied bodies and pretend to be asleep to prevent his own demise. After a while, he risks gently moving his head to get a better look at the crude painting The Rake made on his wall and his blood freezes.

"I know you're still awake."

He spends the morning hours, as the sun slowly climbs, debating how fast he can run, if he can make it to the open window, if he has any hope of escape. One thing becomes clear from the outset: he's fucked, and all he can do now is debate just how fucked he is.

[galaxycamerata]

I love the fact that The Rake, in the initial stories, sounds and visually acts like some feral creature. And then people start saying it talked to them.
Then someone hears it talk in complete, audible sentences.
And it talks about planning things.
I love these gradual reveals that not only is it conscious, it is SMART. Smarter than most people who would even see it. It isn't just fighting to survive, at least not in a way it lets us perceive assuming it has the cat like "refusal to let people see it as injured" reflex. It chooses cruelty for reasons it won't even bother rationalizing to its victims.

[JYoungbloodVO]

I remember there was this show on Destination America, Monsters and Mysteries in America. Each episode focused on a certain state or area in America and what cryptids/supernatural happenings happened in them, interviewing witnesses and creating dramatic reenactments.

One episode had a segment on the Rake. It was about a woman who attended a college, eventually coming across and becoming stalked by the Rake.

I was young, but really into creepypastas, and was generally angry that they were trying to pass it off as this creature that could exist. This video gave me some further context, if I wasn't on the internet that much, I would've believed in the Rake too.