Creepypasta Wiki:Creepy Clichés

The following is a list of what are generally considered to be overused clichés. That doesn't mean to avoid them at all costs; in fact, some of these are overused because they are highly usable. But if the story you're planning on writing incorporates many of these, that should be a warning sign, as they tend to bring the reader out of the story, and will more than likely interfere with their suspension of disbelief.

General Clichés

 * The true nature of reality being beyond man's ability to know.
 * Anything starting with the phrase "I know you're not going to believe this".
 * Also "I used to be a skeptic, but..."
 * Scary shit in mirrors.
 * Generic places that are scary ("I live in a town somewhere and this happened to me" as opposed to "I live just outside of Boston, here's what happened").
 * The numbers 13 and 666.
 * Creepy shit smiling at you. AlixeTiir 00:56, July 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Random, pointless violence (people disemboweling others or being disemboweled, people fucking up someone's eyes, etc.). Not only is it cliché, it's annoying; it's an obvious cheap gimmick to add some crazy disturbing aspect to your story. Neito 04:15, July 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * A time traveller killed/tried to kill [Insert Famous Person Here]. Usually the famous person is a president, such as in The President and Leon Czolgosz.
 * Falsely beliving something is over, and then creepy shit happening again anyway.

Video Game Clichés

 * Haunted cartridge.
 * Classic childhood game with super-violent content added.
 * The cartridge/label shows obvious signs of tampering. Furbearingbrick 21:58, August 16, 2011 (UTC)
 * Obviously technically impossible stuff, such as games that delete themselves in such a way that you can't recover them, or games with "perfect" copy protection. (Such as Killswitch, which is both.) This includes older games having graphics/sound/visual effects beyond the system's technical limitations.
 * "Hidden" content in popular games (such as Pokémon, that have been gone over with a fine toothed comb a thousand times).
 * Takeoffs on meme/fad characters (Herobrine, etc.)
 * The game knows my name (even though I never put it in anywhere/the game has no ability for me to change my characters/save files name).
 * Song generally regarded as "creepy" plays on repeat (HI, LAVENDER TOWN THEME!). MothmanVQX 00:43, July 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Not being able to turn off/unplug the game console/tv. Assassin's_Creed has a good (bad) example of this one toward the late middle. Rather than doing this in order to explain why you didn't just turn off the game when it started getting creepy, simple human curiosity is a much more sane explanation.
 * On the same note, being unable to turn the volume off/down. Furbearingbrick 21:58, August 16, 2011 (UTC)
 * Violent and disturbing occurances being described as being "hyper realistic".
 * Buying the game from someone at a yard sale; the seller usually having a story behind the game (i.e. "the kid who used to own this game was a very disturbed but brilliant hacker." Ben (Aka Haunted Majora's Mask))
 * Trying to relive some childhood nostalgia. (i.e. Easter Egg-Snow on Mt. Silver, Pokemon Lost Silver, Super Mario 64, Jessica)
 * This applies to Pokemon pastas: Unowns leaving creepy messages to the player. (i.e. Pokemon Lost Silver, Nightmare in Kanto)
 * This mod was PMed to me personally/found it on a skeezy looking site/found on a random disc and ZOMG IT'S SUPAH CREEPY GUIZ. Jvk1166z.esp, for example. Neito 20:30, July 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * The game's talking to me, telling me to go away, turn back or something of that sort. MARIO, even though it's a real hack, is exactly this. Neito 20:33, July 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Characters begging you (or appearing to beg you) not to go to certain places or do certain things, like Elliot in the NiGHTS Into Dreams pasta.
 * Roblox. That's all there is to say. Dronian 23:32, July 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Describing a game in such a way as to make it creepy (Play, My Perfect World, Shattered) Neito 05:03, July 28, 2011 (UTC)

Lost Episode Clichés

 * Got it on a website that doesn't exist anymore and nobody else in the universe has a copy.
 * Like with video game pastas, obtaining the episode from a garage or yeard sale.
 * I was an intern - SHUT THE FUCK UP. How many times have I heard that? Originally from Squidward's Suicide, but used in others like Pearl.avi. Wadster97 23:56, July 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * File extensions. "Supersuicide.avi", you are a "faggot.exe". Use them with caution. Wadster97 23:56, July 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * A spike in the suicide rate of the target audience after it was aired (also applies to video games). MothmanVQX 00:43, July 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Content that could obviously never get past the FCC or any channels Standards and Practices board ending up being broadcast (Barney Lost "Episode", for example.)
 * Using "Goodbye" (INSERT CHARACTER HERE) as the title of the creepypasta (See Mike Lu & Og Lost Episode: Goodbye Mike) Dronian 13:22, August 6, 2011 (UTC)
 * Almost every fucking one of these pastas is "The death of (insert character here)". YeMonkeycxr
 * Posting the story and/or video up on a website, only for it to get deleted in minutes. Legendarygunner1987