Jeff the Killer (lost unedited image of Creepypasta character; date unknown)

A later touched-up version of the "Jeff the Killer" photoshop; used by Killerjeff in his Creepypasta story of the character.

Status: Lost

Jeff the Killer is a Creepypasta character portrayed as a noseless and pale-faced man without eyelids and black loops around his eyes. The infamous character gets commonly used as an internet screamer over time, becoming a widespread Creepypasta tale. The character is also incorporated with the catchphrase "go to sleep."

Origins

The first known appearances of the picture spawned from a Japanese site called "Pya.cc," where there happened to be two separate versions. The earlier variant derived from numerous Japanese imageboards, with Gazo05 becoming one of the oldest to publish in August of 2005.

When used in an EXIF viewer, the EXIF data (exchangeable image file format) from the secondary edit indicates its alias goes by "Prettyface.jpg." An estimate of two links got associated with the filename. The first archive displays the thread, whereas the second one caches the first image.

Theories

On an anonymous imageboard site known as 4chan, some users speculate the still image is a screenshot of a girl's video call from Livestream sharing website, Stickam. The story follows the girl who appeared to be unattractive and was autistic. A snapshot of her Livestream mysteriously floated around 4chan's random board, /b/. In the post's captions, the original poster (OP) impersonates the girl asking if they were pretty or requesting to make the photo look more beautiful. Eventually, many responders participated in tampering with the picture by progressively making it more repulsive. The OP acted to complain about the photoshops as very much more were made. As a result, the poster left the board.

Another rumour scattered that an additional photo was either attached to her Stickam page or shared privately. It was a photograph of her standing next to a family member, wearing a sweatshirt. One of the first notices of this was on a paranormal post of /x/.

Mr. Mulholland, the person who posted the early variant on Pya.cc, claimed it arose from a Japanese video of a middle-aged woman. Considering the photoshops that emerged from Japan, it is uncertain Stickam could be their source.

Spread

Posted in November of 2007, a YouTube video entitled, "NNN臨時放送," featured the later edit around the fourth minute and eleven-second mark.

In August 2008, an internet user named "Killerjeff" posted the image on the Newgrounds forums. In the post, he stated it was a picture of himself.

In October 2008, "Killerjeff" uploaded a video presentation of a Creepypasta based on the character. The video gained popularity beyond 700,000 views over time and got deleted due to copyright claims.

In 2011, a story made by "Killerjeff's" brother, "GamerFuelTV," was submitted towards the Creepypasta Wiki.

Debunkery

On April 20th of 2008, the image was commonly believable to originate from a sister who committed suicide. On 4chan's random board, /b/, the OP attaches a picture in the post claiming it got taken the final hours before her alleged suicide. Rumour has it she got made fun of on the forums because of her appearance as internet users went their way photoshopping the photo. Consequently, she passed away the next day, leaving OP shocked.

During an investigation of the early Jeff the Killer image findings, a couple of users stumbled upon a Myspace account presenting the woman's photo labelled "Katy Robinson." An early instance of the image measures back to early 2005 on a Christian parody site, "TrueChristian.com." The woman's actual name is Heather, and she is still alive to this day. Heather insists she has nothing to do with the "Jeff the Killer" images or the bizarre 4chan rumour.

The whereabouts of the images are still unclear, and thus, the origin is still an underlying mystery.

Gallery

• 

  An early edit of the infamous "Jeff the Killer" photoshop. Original author unknown.

• 

  A screencap of a thread featuring the "Katy Robinson" photo, discussing her alleged cause of death. Debunked years later.

• 

  It is believed that the eyes from the least edited Jeff the Killer image came from a picture of this toy.