Creepypasta are essentially internet horror stories, passed around on forums and other sites to disturb and frighten readers. The name "Creepypasta" comes from the word "copypasta", an internet slang term for a block of text that gets copied and pasted over and over again from website to website. Creepypastas are sometimes supplemented with pictures, audio and/or video footage related to the story, typically with gory, distorted, or otherwise shocking content.

 

The internet urban legends known as creepypastas had a breakout year in 2016 as the internet-based folklore tales took off, thanks in a large part to Syfy’s new anthology horror series, Channel Zero, which took on individual stories for the small-screen. This sudden spotlight came after years of being passed around on message boards, YouTubevideos, and even special websites that were made for deconstructing and supplementing individual story mythology. Creepypastas aren’t just for weird recesses of the internet anymore.