The Rake is a creature believed to be a humanoid in appearance, with several references in folklore and horrific urban legends, originally appearing on the internet as a Creepypasta. The creature reportedly attacks humans for unknown reasons and often causes its victims great psychological trauma. Several theories as to its development Rake point towards internet threads and online discussions; however, others believe alcoholic delusions fueled the idea of the creature before then. The Rake has also been tied to alternate figures, such as the Slender Man, an internet meme and subject of several video games. It is based on ancient folklore referencing an unnaturally tall and skinny man mysteriously lurking in the woods. It is theorized that the Rake could possibly be a proxy of Slender Man, subject to its own self-mutilation and psychological disorders. A YouTube channel showing images and footage captured of the rake was closed down, but if you search "the Rake caught on tape", you will find a half-hour video showing you these episodes.
Eyewitness Accounts[]
The first account of the Rake's existence was a mariner's log written in 1691, identifying The Rake by name. The next account, written in the 1800's, described the Rake as having hollow black eyes and being terrifying in nature. In 1964, a suicide note was written in which the author claims to have committed suicide due to repeated encounters with the Rake and the fear that the creature will torment him horribly.
Currently, the most complete (and completely fictional) tale of the Rake was written in 2006. The story begins with a woman waking her husband up early in the morning. As she sat up to go to the restroom, she saw what seemed to be a naked and incredibly pale man, or even a large hairless dog, at the foot of the bed and gasped. The husband curled up when he saw the figure. After a few moments of this, in one fast motion, the Rake scurried to the husband's side of the bed and stared at him for a moment. Seconds later, the creature ran into the children's room. It fled, covered in blood as the couple approached the room, leaving the mangled body of their daughter. Her last words were "He is the Rake."
The husband rushed the daughter to the hospital, but accidentally drove into a nearby lake and drowned with the daughter inside. Several months after this horrible event, the woman began researching the creature she now identified as the Rake. Through her research, she noticed the pattern of repeated visits in the reports she read. Based on this, she began digitally recording her room each night and listening to the tapes during the day to find out if the Rake had revisited her. At the start of the third week, she heard the first signs of a visit in the form of a shrill voice that she immediately recognized. She did not know where she had heard it, but regardless, she knew the sound. She noted that " I [She] can’t listen to it long enough to even begin to transcribe it." The woman was later found dead on her floor.
Another encounter with the Rake occurred in 2017. Three girls sighted it inside a wood right next to their neighborhood in Austin, Texas. One of the girls thought it was a cloaked man hunched over (the same girl's eyes turned pure black after this encounter), another believed to be a Wendigo, while the last girl thought it was a bush. Later, one of the girls found a video that had Rake footage on it. She showed it to one of the other girls. They realized that what they had seen only a short distance from them was, in fact, the Rake.