Creepypasta

Synonyms:
See also:	Copypasta
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Creepypasta is a type of online horror fiction that crosses over into many fandoms. The term originates from the internet term "copypasta", which means any block of text that is copied and pasted over and over again on different websites. Creepypastas are sometimes supported by images or audio.

Common types of creepypasta include "lost episode" stories (myths about episodes of TV series that were supposedly created but never aired, such as "Squidward's Suicide", a SpongeBob SquarePants lost episode), stories about video games purported to infect your computer (or your life), and urban legends like Slender Man and Polybius.

Creepypasta likely dates back to the 1990s - when the text of chain emails would be pasted on internet forums and in Usenet groups - or early 2000s, when Ted the Caver, a well-known early example of Creepypasta, was posted on Angelfire. Creepypasta gained prominence online in the late 2000s, spawning online communities such as creepypasta.com, the Creepypasta wiki, and Reddit's r/nosleep. This led to the development of a more permanent archive and fandom surrounding Creepypasta, with Creepypasta characters appearing repeatedly in different stories.

Darcie Nadel's 'Brief History of Creepypasta' recalls,

Eventually, dedicated creepypasta websites did come about, with creepypasta.com launching in 2008, which brought about a massive change in the creepypasta community. Now there was an archive for these stories, and continuity became part of them. Fanworks and spinoffs came about, with different authors borrowing characters from other creepypastas in order to use them in their own stories. This was prominent with characters like Jeff the Killer, the Rake, and most especially Slenderman.

Creepypasta Fandoms

• Ben Drowned
• Candle Cove
• Slender Man
• Ted the Caver
• Jeff the Killer
• SCP Foundation
• The Backrooms
• Luna Game

Links & Resources

• SCP Foundation: Secure, Contain, Protect - A creepy pasta wiki which pretends to be a real organization giving information on various events and creatures.
• Creepypasta - Fandom at AO3
• /r/creepypasta and /r/nosleep on Reddit
• creepypasta.com
• Creepypasta Wiki
• Monsters in our Memes - Creepypasta month by Tale Foundry