Skeptoid #1012: The Rake That Comes for You in the Night

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• The creature known as the Rake, or Pale Crawler, is an internet urban legend originating from a crowdsourced creation thread on 4chan around 2005, later popularized by a 2006 blog post.  Copied to clipboard!
• The episode examines several purported historical encounters (1691, 1880, 1964) and a modern 2006 case, dismissing them as unreliable folklore lacking verifiable evidence.  Copied to clipboard!
• The most recent, highly publicized event—a 2021 911 call from North Carolina—is deemed inconclusive evidence for the Rake, especially since the caller only linked the creature to the event four years later in a follow-up interview.  Copied to clipboard!

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Introducing The Rake Legend

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(00:00:03)

• Key Takeaway: The Rake is described as a thin, pale, hairless creature whose attacks are legendary, prompting an investigation into its origins.
• Summary: The Rake is introduced as an internet monster, often depicted as a scrawny, pale, hairless creature crawling at night. The episode promises to study its most famous encounter to track down its origin story. The host, Brian Dunning, sets the stage for separating fact from fiction regarding this creature.

Physical Description and Lore

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(00:01:10)

• Key Takeaway: The Rake is characterized by tall stature, gray skin, sunken black eyes, and moves quadrupedally like a spider, only appearing at night.
• Summary: Detailed descriptions include tall, pale, thin features with gray skin, expressionless black eyes, and sharp teeth. It moves on all fours, never standing, and reveals itself by speaking in a thin, raspy voice before attacking. The creature is also known as the Pale Crawler.

Early Unreliable Accounts

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(00:03:02)

• Key Takeaway: The earliest alleged accounts of the Rake, dating back to 1691, 1880, and 1964, are dismissed as unreliable due to lack of attribution and internet-only circulation.
• Summary: The episode reviews several historical claims, including a ‘Mariner’s Log’ from 1691 and a supposed 1880 Spanish journal entry, all lacking external verification. A 1964 suicide note mentioning the creature is also deemed a poor fake by the host.

The 2006 Suburban Encounter

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(00:05:43)

• Key Takeaway: A 2006 story involving a creature attacking a child, followed by the parents’ fatal car crash, is highly suspect due to the subsequent lack of local media coverage.
• Summary: An unnamed woman claimed a rake sat on her bed, fled toward her children, and was later seen covered in blood before the parents died en route to the hospital. The failure of local news to publish this dramatic event strains credulity, suggesting fabrication.

The Verified 2021 911 Call

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(00:07:03)

• Key Takeaway: A verified 2021 911 call involved a driver hitting an unknown, pale object that landed in his truck bed, but the caller did not identify it as the Rake until a later interview.
• Summary: A man named T called 911 after hitting something on a North Carolina road that landed in his truck bed, which he later knocked off. The initial call described a pale object without feathers, but details matching the Rake legend were only added four years later in a YouTube interview.

Tracing the Internet Origin

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(00:13:00)

• Key Takeaway: The Rake legend was intentionally crowdsourced in 2005 on 4chan under ‘Operation Crawler’ and first published online in 2006 by Brian Somerville as fiction.
• Summary: Internet researchers traced the creature’s genesis to a 2005 4chan thread where users collaboratively invented the monster. Brian Somerville posted the compiled fiction as ‘Horror Theater: The Rake’ on July 20th, 2006, establishing it as internet legend.

Skeptoid Production Credits

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(00:14:45)

• Key Takeaway: Skeptoid is a listener-supported production featuring a dedicated team including Kathy Reitmeyer and music by Lee Sanders.
• Summary: The episode concludes by thanking premium supporters and listing production staff, including Director of Operations Kathy Reitmeyer and Music by Lee Sanders. Brian Dunning researches, writes, and hosts the program, which is available on major podcast platforms.