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'''Jeff the Killer''', also called '''''Killer Jeff''''', is an infamous [[creepypastas|creepypasta]], internet urban legend, fictional character, and image commonly used in [[Screamer|screamers]]. Jeff the Killer refers to an edited image of a pale, noseless, unknown person with black eyes with white and black pupils, a long canine-like smile, in a dark room with laundry hanging in the background. The creepypasta, first created around 2008, suggests that the person in the image is a 13-year old serial killer named Jeff who sneaks into people's homes and whispers "Go to sleep" before killing them with a knife. A user named Sesseur was the first person to create a story behind the image, but his version does not revolve around the person in the image being a serial killer. Instead, a remix version of the story was made more popular than the original, and revolves around | '''Jeff the Killer''', also called '''''Killer Jeff''''', is an infamous [[creepypastas|creepypasta]], internet urban legend, fictional character, and image commonly used in [[Screamer|screamers]]. Jeff the Killer refers to an edited image of a pale, noseless, unknown person with black eyes with white and black pupils, a long canine-like smile, in a dark room with laundry hanging in the background. The creepypasta, first created around 2008, suggests that the person in the image is a 13-year old serial killer named Jeff who sneaks into people's homes and whispers "Go to sleep" before killing them with a knife. A user named Sesseur was the first person to create a story behind the image, but his version does not revolve around the person in the image being a serial killer. Instead, a remix version of the story was made more popular than the original, and revolves around how Jeff psychopathically became a serial killer from his insanity. | ||
This image became controversial shortly after it was believed to be of a supposed woman named "Katy Robinson," who had allegedly committed suicide in 2008. This belief started on [[4chan]] in 2005, but after years of extensive research, it was revealed that the images originated on various Japanese message board and forum websites, including pya.cc and gazo05.chbox.jp in 2005.<ref name=":0">docs.google.com/document/d/1QN-ekAPPiW-b2iCGDikyseemBV73ek_7ZB7EgRVQHSI/edit</ref> This more famous image, in particular, is also an edited version of another earlier version, called White powder (2) (also called JTK 1), which appears to be an edited image of a person with googly, cartoon eyes and a large smile. The former file name of this image was "prettyFACE.jpg" on 5chan before it was posted onto pya.cc.<ref name=":0" /> The more famous version was edited further to make the mouth stretch out and the eyes edited to have white and black pupils. | This image became controversial shortly after it was believed to be of a supposed woman named "Katy Robinson," who had allegedly committed suicide in 2008. This belief started on [[4chan]] in 2005, but after years of extensive research, it was revealed that the images originated on various Japanese message board and forum websites, including pya.cc and gazo05.chbox.jp in 2005.<ref name=":0">docs.google.com/document/d/1QN-ekAPPiW-b2iCGDikyseemBV73ek_7ZB7EgRVQHSI/edit</ref> This more famous image, in particular, is also an edited version of another earlier version, called White powder (2) (also called JTK 1), which appears to be an edited image of a person with googly, cartoon eyes and a large smile. The former file name of this image was "prettyFACE.jpg" on 5chan before it was posted onto pya.cc.<ref name=":0" /> The more famous version was edited further to make the mouth stretch out and the eyes edited to have white and black pupils. | ||
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== History and development== | == History and development== | ||
The back-story behind Jeff was first made by [[DeviantArt]] user Sesseur, but he was not the author of the story above. Sessuer's story, which was uploaded to [[YouTube]] on October 3rd, 2008,<ref name="Daily Dot">III, Fernando Alfonso. “4chan Hunts down the Origins of an Internet Horror Legend.” The Daily Dot, 1 June 2021, <nowiki>https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/4chan-x-origins-jeff-the-killer/</nowiki>. </ref> was completely different than the one shown above, and suggests that Jeff accidentally spilling a gallon of acid onto his face while cleaning a bathtub,<ref name="Horror Stab" /><ref name="Daily Dot" /> while the more famous version, which was written by a fan of his earlier work, is about the consequence of Jeff becoming an insane serial killer. Jeff's real name in the actual story was Jeffery C. Hodek, rather than "Jeffrey Woods" | The back-story behind Jeff was first made by [[DeviantArt]] user Sesseur, but he was not the author of the story above. Sessuer's story, which was uploaded to [[YouTube]] on October 3rd, 2008,<ref name="Daily Dot">III, Fernando Alfonso. “4chan Hunts down the Origins of an Internet Horror Legend.” The Daily Dot, 1 June 2021, <nowiki>https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/4chan-x-origins-jeff-the-killer/</nowiki>. </ref> was completely different than the one shown above, and suggests that Jeff accidentally spilling a gallon of acid onto his face while cleaning a bathtub,<ref name="Horror Stab" /><ref name="Daily Dot" /> while the more famous version, which was written by a fan of his earlier work, is about the consequence of Jeff becoming an insane serial killer. Jeff's real name in the actual story was Jeffery C. Hodek, rather than "Jeffrey Woods" for that manner. On August 14, 2011, the image was posted to 4chan captioned "Go to sleep"; the caption had become known as Jeff's signature catchphrase. | ||
Prior to the original backstory video, Jeff The Killer was seen on the account "killerjeff" on [[Newgrounds]],<ref name="Nerdvana">Houston, Madison. “From Legendary Horror Icon to Internet Meme: Jeff The Killer.” Nerdvana, 1 Mar. 2017, nerdvanamedia.com/sci-fi-fantasy/legendary-horror-icon-internet-meme-jeff-killer/118341/.</ref><ref name="Daily Dot" /><ref name="Gizmodo" /> which was created by Sesseur on June 7, 2006, pretending to act as his version of Jeff. In one of the account's news posts, posted on August 10th, 2008, Sesseur stated that he had found the photoshopped image on [[Encyclopedia Dramatica]], and he decided to create a back-story behind it. Jeff was originally supposed to be a game similar to Bloody Mary, where the person must hide in a closet with all of the lights in the room turned off, sit down cross-legged, and repeat the sentence "''He's in here with me''" three times while turning their head back and forth. After doing this, the person must close their eyes and call out the name "Jeff," so that Jeff will appear in front of them. This can be stopped by standing there and complimenting him; otherwise, the person will have nightmares.<ref>killerjeff.newgrounds.com/news/post/169853</ref> | Prior to the original backstory video, Jeff The Killer was seen on the account "killerjeff" on [[Newgrounds]],<ref name="Nerdvana">Houston, Madison. “From Legendary Horror Icon to Internet Meme: Jeff The Killer.” Nerdvana, 1 Mar. 2017, nerdvanamedia.com/sci-fi-fantasy/legendary-horror-icon-internet-meme-jeff-killer/118341/.</ref><ref name="Daily Dot" /><ref name="Gizmodo" /> which was created by Sesseur on June 7, 2006, pretending to act as his version of Jeff. In one of the account's news posts, posted on August 10th, 2008, Sesseur stated that he had found the photoshopped image on [[Encyclopedia Dramatica]], and he decided to create a back-story behind it. Jeff was originally supposed to be a game similar to Bloody Mary, where the person must hide in a closet with all of the lights in the room turned off, sit down cross-legged, and repeat the sentence "''He's in here with me''" three times while turning their head back and forth. After doing this, the person must close their eyes and call out the name "Jeff," so that Jeff will appear in front of them. This can be stopped by standing there and complimenting him; otherwise, the person will have nightmares.<ref>killerjeff.newgrounds.com/news/post/169853</ref> | ||
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The earliest sighting of this image was on the Japanese message board, pya.cc, where the two images (including the less edited and the greater edited ones) were uploaded.<ref name="Reddit">[Jeff the Killer - new image origins? "<nowiki>https://www.reddit.com/r/creepypasta/comments/bd5wzp/jeff_the_killer_new_image_origins/</nowiki>"] - u/[deleted] on Reddit.</ref> These two images are uploaded between September 10 and November 16 in 2005, by users Mr. Malholland and Omega Boruto (Omega Volt). The first image, named "White powder (2)" was a less edited version than the one used for the character of Jeff. The second earliest appearance of the image was on August 2, 2007, when it was featured in a Japanese [[screamer]] video titled "[[NNN Special Broadcast|NNN臨時放送]]", which was probably for a horror film project named "Victims of Tomorrow". The image appears at 4:11, before the text "おやすみなさい" appears on a black screen, which translates in English to "good sleep", which is similar in manner to "go to sleep." After finding the image through extensive research, it was found that the woman in the picture was named "Katherine White", who still lived with her two kids. One Reddit user also contacted Katherine through Facebook to ask if she was aware of being rumored to be dead by 4chan users, to which she responded back by threatening those who made that rumor about her death on /b/ with a lawsuit.<ref name="Reddit" /> The image of this woman was originally posted to the site TrueChristian.com on November 17, 2004.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20061122165849/http://www.truechristian.com/favoa.html</ref> | The earliest sighting of this image was on the Japanese message board, pya.cc, where the two images (including the less edited and the greater edited ones) were uploaded.<ref name="Reddit">[Jeff the Killer - new image origins? "<nowiki>https://www.reddit.com/r/creepypasta/comments/bd5wzp/jeff_the_killer_new_image_origins/</nowiki>"] - u/[deleted] on Reddit.</ref> These two images are uploaded between September 10 and November 16 in 2005, by users Mr. Malholland and Omega Boruto (Omega Volt). The first image, named "White powder (2)" was a less edited version than the one used for the character of Jeff. The second earliest appearance of the image was on August 2, 2007, when it was featured in a Japanese [[screamer]] video titled "[[NNN Special Broadcast|NNN臨時放送]]", which was probably for a horror film project named "Victims of Tomorrow". The image appears at 4:11, before the text "おやすみなさい" appears on a black screen, which translates in English to "good sleep", which is similar in manner to "go to sleep." After finding the image through extensive research, it was found that the woman in the picture was named "Katherine White", who still lived with her two kids. One Reddit user also contacted Katherine through Facebook to ask if she was aware of being rumored to be dead by 4chan users, to which she responded back by threatening those who made that rumor about her death on /b/ with a lawsuit.<ref name="Reddit" /> The image of this woman was originally posted to the site TrueChristian.com on November 17, 2004.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20061122165849/http://www.truechristian.com/favoa.html</ref> | ||
Another story was created to explain the origin of these images, made by a few users on 4chan's /b/ imageboard. The story involves an alleged woman named "Victoria", who was a webcam model on the site [[wikipedia:Stickam|Stickam]] who used /b/ as self-promotion of herself. A /b/ user took a screenshot of her face and posted it to the board with the caption "Am i pretty?". Later, other users on 4chan began photoshopping the image and posting their edited version back as a reply, with one of the users posting the less-edited image with the caption, "''Now you are.''" The woman then found out about the post and quickly vanished off the internet.<ref><nowiki>[https://archive.4plebs.org/x/thread/23477917/ "Finding the unedited image of "Jeff" (Oldfag Edition)"]</nowiki> 28 Sep 2019 - Anonymous on 4chan.org</ref> This Victoria is another example of people who were rumored to be the person in the image. One more rumor suggests the image is of an overweight Japanese girl in a room with hanging laundry who spammed her image across the Japanese image board 2chan ( | Another story was created to explain the origin of these images, made by a few users on 4chan's /b/ imageboard. The story involves an alleged woman named "Victoria", who was a webcam model on the site [[wikipedia:Stickam|Stickam]] who used /b/ as self-promotion of herself. A /b/ user took a screenshot of her face and posted it to the board with the caption "Am i pretty?". Later, other users on 4chan began photoshopping the image and posting their edited version back as a reply, with one of the users posting the less-edited image with the caption, "''Now you are.''" The woman then found out about the post and quickly vanished off the internet.<ref><nowiki>[https://archive.4plebs.org/x/thread/23477917/ "Finding the unedited image of "Jeff" (Oldfag Edition)"]</nowiki> 28 Sep 2019 - Anonymous on 4chan.org</ref> This Victoria is another example of people who were rumored to be the person in the image. One more rumor suggests the image is of an overweight Japanese girl in a room with hanging laundry who spammed her image across the Japanese image board 2chan (Futaba Channel) in 2004, although this theory has yet to be proven. | ||
The original file name of the less-edited Jeff the Killer image is White powder (2), suggesting the existence of another version which predates the existing two. Some people have speculated that an image known as "Green Eyed Jeff" may be the original, though this theory has been proven false.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVAie3i18SA</ref> Investigators where able to track down Mr. Malholland, the pya.cc user who first posted the White powder (2) image on that site, on his Twitter account Miyama. His responses to the investigators questions were: | The original file name of the less-edited Jeff the Killer image is White powder (2), suggesting the existence of another version which predates the existing two. Some people have speculated that an image known as "Green Eyed Jeff" may be the original, though this theory has been proven false.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVAie3i18SA</ref> Investigators where able to track down Mr. Malholland, the pya.cc user who first posted the White powder (2) image on that site, on his Twitter account Miyama. His responses to the investigators questions were: | ||
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*'''Miyama's White powder (2) (JTK 1) edit''': web.archive.org/web/20180118092048/pya.cc/pyaimg/pimg.php?imgid=17882 | *'''Miyama's White powder (2) (JTK 1) edit''': web.archive.org/web/20180118092048/pya.cc/pyaimg/pimg.php?imgid=17882 | ||
*'''Screenshot of current earliest upload (earlier JTK 1)''': linkpicture.com/q/July242005JTK.webp | *'''Screenshot of current earliest upload (earlier JTK 1)''': linkpicture.com/q/July242005JTK.webp | ||
*''' | *'''Earliest version of JTK''': web.archive.org/web/20051025223113/gazo05.chbox.jp/occult/src/1123087197322.jpg | ||
*'''More famous image used for the character of Jeff (JTK 2)''': web.archive.org/web/20210618155920/pya.cc/pyaimg/pimg.php?imgid=20716 | *'''More famous image used for the character of Jeff (JTK 2)''': web.archive.org/web/20210618155920/pya.cc/pyaimg/pimg.php?imgid=20716 | ||
*'''Original story with no audio''': youtube.com/watch?v=5RSDIIEoLkA | *'''Original story with no audio''': youtube.com/watch?v=5RSDIIEoLkA | ||
