Requiem of a Miner: The Coming of Herobrine
A while ago, some guy made up a bullshit story about an NPC called Herobrine. He was supposed to be the embodiment of Notch's dead brother or some shit like that, but I didn't pay it any mind. I mean, the internet is full of creepy stories that are made for the sole purpose of scaring you, and my enjoyment of Minecraft was not about to be spoiled by some douche with an affinity for the occult. However, while I didn't care much for the story, I did take note of the realism implemented. They really went the extra mile with including the screenshot and various examples of in-game attempts to see something far away. It almost seemed real.
Almost.
I kept playing Minecraft like normal, and eventually I forgot about Herobrine altogether. After all, Notch said it was fake, so why should I dwell on it? It wasn't until about two weeks ago that I started to notice some strange things happening while in single player. I'd be walking around a fairly clear area, and my character would suddenly jerk its head up, even if I hadn't moved the mouse. Fog would gather around in a thickness that I couldn't see through even on my high end PC. I initially passed it off as just a bug in the version I was playing, but that didn't seem likely after a while.
For one, it only happened when I was in survival mode. The fog usually gathered when I was near water, and the random head spasm would happen when I was walking through a place where I could see directly ahead of me very clearly. It's like the game was hiding something from me, but I couldn't figure out what.
Then I remembered Herobrine.
I wanted to punch myself for even giving an iota of credibility to the idiot who made the story, but I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe I had been wrong. As the odd occurrences got more and more frequent, I started to get more unsettled. A few times, I thought I could almost hear a soft "ugh" sound, like the one the player makes when he takes damage. I wasn't getting hurt, so I couldn't imagine what was causing it. Then, after a particularly problematic ordeal of getting through the open desert (My characters head looked up suddenly almost every five seconds) the game started to get foggy.
"I must be nearing water," I thought out loud. I kept moving, and I started to hear the sounds of someone taking damage again, only this time, it was getting closer. The noise repeated in one second intervals, and I couldn't pinpoint the location. I would hear it from the right, so I would swing right, only to hear the sound emanate from behind me. I'd spin around and be faced with nothing but the fog, which was now so thick that it enveloped the entire game screen.
I was freaking out at this point, seriously creeped out by what was happening in my game. When I turned around again, I just about jumped out of my skin.
Herobrine was RIGHT behind me. He was just standing there, staring me in the face with his lifeless eyes. I realized I had been holding my breath, so naturally, I exhaled. Only when I did so, Herobrine slid backwards in time with my breath. It was like he was actually being blown back by an outside stimulus.
Terrified, I shut the game off. I sat there for a while, still in shock of what I had just witnessed.
"This is insane," I said, still thinking out loud.
I reopened Minecraft and sat there for a while with my password entered, wary of what might happen when I log in. Finally, I gathered my courage, and logged in. When I entered my game, the fog was gone, and there was no trace of anything that had happened earlier.
I kept playing, unable to get the image of Herobrine sliding backwards out of my head. Finally, I'd had enough. I decided to ask around on Minecraft Forums, Planet Minecraft, and the like. Most of the topics I made were met with heavy criticism. People would tell me I was crazy or that I was trolling, supporting the notion by saying that Herobrine was fake. When I tried to explain my story, the post containing my encounter would get deleted.
"Well, fuck," I thought. Then I saw that I had a new private message, and I realized the connection to the original Herobrine mythos. The guy who made this shit up explained a similar problem, only his version had people actually knowing what he was talking about. Taking in a deep breath, I checked the message. My jaw dropped when I saw the username.
It was apparently from Notch. Whether or not it was a guy posing at Notch on the forums, I couldn't be sure. But he made a pretty damn convincing Notch. His profile was accurate and everything. The message was the only thing that didn't fit.
"The dead return to make a scare. They taunt and play, to see how you fare. Should they deem you worthy to claim, you then shall leave this mortal plane."
At first, I stared at the message in awe. Either Notch had read one too many nursery rhymes, or this was code. If it was a code, it wasn't a very good one. It pretty much spelled out what it was trying to say very plainly. Ghosts are here, testing you. If they "like" you enough, they'll take you with them. But how did it apply to me?
I wracked my brain for the answers, when suddenly I remembered a part of the original story. The first thing that implied Herobrine was not of this world was the message from Notch. Notch's brother is dead, and Herobrine is supposed to be him. If the dead are back, and that really is Notch, then I'm pretty much screwed. Unless...
I haven't opened Minecraft for a few days, and I'm starting to wonder if I would be dead by now had I continued playing. Today's a rather foggy day, so I can't do much outside. I keep hearing a faint noise too, but I don't pay it any mind. Herobrine can't get me if I don't log in, right?
I think I'm finally sa
Credited to ecopper12
Originally published on February 15, 2012
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