Jeff the Killer is a particularly infamous Creepypasta.
The story was formed sort of spontaneously by a user named "Sesseur" on the old Encyclopaedia Dramatica back in 2008, based on speculation about the origin about a particularly unsettling picture on the Creepypasta article called "joy.jpg
◊". A video on YouTube soon surfaced with a 2005 edit of this picture to be deranged and scary in October of 2008.
This is a combination of original research and memories of former ED editors, whose words must be taken at face value because in 2011 most of the relevant image discussion pages and user profiles for ED were deleted in their entirety when the lead admin attempted to erase the site off the internet; though ED was resurrected, the discussion pages with any information relevant to the case were not recovered. However, like everything else on the Internet, one person's guess is as good as anyone else's.
It eventually become almost synonymous with Creepypasta itself, mostly known thanks to the ridiculous amount of spinoffs, as well as its infamously Narmy and unrealistic origin story, both of which have turned something originally totally off-the-rails frightening into something...well, not so much. Over the years, the other well-written Creepypastas have resulted in this Jeff the Killer becoming increasingly derided and disliked, so much so that it got removed off the Creepypasta Wiki and placed on its sister site, the Trollpasta Wiki, dedicated to non-serious and poorly written Creepypastas (referred to at one point on the Wiki as crappypastas). A remake was posted in 2015 but was also criticized for the fact that, while it managed to fix the broken grammar and plot holes, it still wasn't that great overall.
The origin of the image associated with the Creepypasta may be more interesting than the story itself. For years, multiple rumors flew around the image, including that it was an edited photo of an overweight girl who was bullied on 4Chan and killed herself, or that it was an edited photo of an early camgirl. In 2015, Sesseur claimed in an interview that he made the image himself with a latex mask and some makeup. But shortly after, copies of the image and its alt were found on the Japanese internet dating back to years before Sesseur's first post, as far back as 2005. According to sources on the Japanese internet, including some of the earliest uploaders of the image, the original image was part of a video of a middle-aged woman getting close to the camera, causing her face to appear white, although this image or video has never been found and may well be lost to time, assuming these rumors are even true. YouTuber blameitonjorge has documented the search for this image.
Original
- Jeff The Killer (2008): The original Jeff the Killer, created by Sesseur.
Audio Plays
- The Morgue Files: An Audio Play horror anthology series created by David Near and Chazz Ravenelle, featuring transformed stories of creepypasta characters and other original takes on horror. A side-series called The Pinehearst Sessions, features interviews with Jeff the Killer, here named Jeffrey Mason.
Literature
- Jeff The Killer (2011): The iconic Jeff the Killer written by GameFuelTv.
- Jeff: A sequel by Tridecalogism. Written in second person.
- Jeff The Killer's True Orgins: A rewrite by Sykokillah published on Spinpasta and in abridged form on JTK Wiki.
- Jeff the Killer (2015): The "official" remake of Jeff the Killer made by K. Banning Kellum, which won a community vote to be the new Jeff the Killer story on the creepypasta Fandom wiki. It has a "Creator's Cut" and several sequels on Spinpasta.
- Jeff The Killer Rewrite (My Liu): A rewrite by Sirius Nightshade, which won 2nd place in the community challenge for the new Jeff the Killer story
- Jeff The Killer (JZoidberg): A rewrite by JZoidberg. It won 3rd place in the community challenge for the new ''Jeff the Killer.
- JTK: A version of Jeff the Killer by Slimebeast.
- Go to Sleep (A Jeff the Killer Rewrite): A 2018 rewrite by Master_of_cringe.
- Jane the Killer: Jane Richardson is a young woman when Jeff murders her parents. She becomes a government assassin after surviving the experimental self-enhancing "Liquid Hate".
- Jane the Killer: The Real Story: Jane Arkensaw is Jeff's classmate who oversees his story unfold as a bystander and ends up getting burned alive by Jeff.
- Homicidal Liu: The story of Jeff's brother Liu becoming a killer after surviving Jeff's murder attempt.
Music:
- Madame Macabre:
- "Painted Smile": A song about Jeff the Killer cornering a victim.
- "My Prey": A song of Jane the Killer and her desire to kill Jeff.
Video Games:
- Isolation: A series of two RPG Maker games about Jeff the Killer.
- Isolation is the story of a young male teenage protagonist is forcibly placed in rehab by his parents after claiming he's seen Jeff the Killer. Now that the boy is all alone, Jeff decides to take the time to strike.
- Obsession, the direct sequel to Isolation has Lilian (Lile) is a teenaged girl forced to accompany her parents to visit her grandparents. When their car breaks down mid-trip, the family must stay at a run-down motel. While there, Lile discovers something, or someone, creepy inhabiting the motel.
- My Dear Brother Jeff: A RPG Maker game staring college-student aged Liu, who decides to visit his not-so-imaginary pyromaniac brother Jeffrey Dahmer at the hospital, only discover that he has escaped, and intends to exact revenge on his family for abandoning him.
- Go To Sleep: A RPG Maker game. You play as Carolina, a down-on-her-luck paranormal detective, who is sent to investigate a mansion where the yet-unknown Jeff commits his murders. You must find the scattered pages to help you solve the case, whilst avoiding Jeff at all costs.
- Creepypasta Land: is a 2015 indie horror game made with RPG Maker VX Ace, created by Brazilian Youtuber, Lucas Boato de Souza. The nameless protagonist, move into a huge house in Crelles Town when they notice several Creepypasta characters infesting the town. Jeff is the first monster they encounter.
- Friday Night Trepidation: is a Friday Night Funkin' mod directed by Dr. Daynaze and RALorenzo. This mod has Boyfriend rap battle against classic Creepypasta characters such as ''Jeff the Killer, Slender Man and Pokémon Lost Silver's Gold.
Webcomics:
- Pastamonsters: A somewhat Slice of Life type webcomic by Comickit on Deviantart. It chronicles multiple Creepypasta characters, including Jeff.
- The Seer (Madame Macabre): The Seer is a Creepypasta comic by Madame Macabre starring Ms. Korbyn Jumping Eagle, who fully awakens her to the world of spirits and monsters around her. This places her into a new role as "the Seer", the bridge between the Under and Over Realms; now she must learn to work with her strange new allies and escape the monsters sent after her by Zalgo - all while maintaining her life as a college student.
