History Main / HiddenHarasser

This trope is the Horror-genre convention of a monster (or some comparable threat) making a point of toying with some hapless straggler, usually ''just'' out of sight of everyone else in the group, often when it has absolutely no reason to. It's like a sadistic cat toying with a mouse, sometimes just barely offering a glimpse before letting [[NothingIsScarier Nothing Be Scarier]]. At some more advanced stages, it might to approximate {{Gaslighting}}, which is an attempt to deliberately cause psychological harm by messing with a person's environment.

* In ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', the planet Vogsphere is infested with shovel-like parasites that prey on free thought by smacking anyone who has it in the face. Arthur gets bludgeoned twice and dismissed... right up until Ford gets hit right afterwards. Despite their best efforts, the characters all have to go running through the desert under constant attacks.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''

* 1st Edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons, Fiend Folio'' supplement. If a party of {{PC}}s breaks the seal of a meenlock den but doesn't enter it, the meenlocks will follow the party. They'll pick out one PC to harass by sending him telepathic messages that they are pursuing him and intend to make him one of them. The other [=PCs=] will perceive none of this and may assume their companion is going mad. Each hour of harassment inflicts penalties to the target's ability scores and combat abilities. That night, the meenlocks will attack the PCs' camp and try to capture their target. If they succeed, they will take the PC back to their den and turn him into a meenlock.

** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4975 SCP-4975 ("Time's Up")]] is a featherless birdlike abomination that makes a clock ticking sound as it stalks its human victims, driving them paranoid, and only stops once it's about to kill and feed on them. Interestingly enough, the SCP is physically contained at a site, but it MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll as it uses an AstralProjection of itself to hunt and kill. This projection can only be perceived by, interact with, and be interacted with its target victim, making it nearly impossible for others to save the victim.

** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4975 SCP-4975 ("Time's Up")]] is a featherless birdlike abomination that makes a clock ticking sound as it stalks its human victims, driving them paranoid, and only stops once it's about to kill and feed on them. Interestingly enough, the SCP is physically contained at a site, but it MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll as it uses an AstralProjection of itself to hunt and kill. This projection can only be perceived by, interact with, and be interacted with its target victim.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': The Evil Monkey that lives in Chris' closet, only to come out and [[GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger point at Chris]]. Nobody else sees it and they all think that Chris is imagining it.

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* 1st Edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons, Fiend Folio'' supplement. If a party of {{PC}}s breaks the seal of a meenlock den but doesn't enter it, the meenlocks will follow the party. They'll pick out one PC to harass by sending him telepathic messages that they are pursuing him and intend to make him one of them. The other [=PCs=] will perceive none of this and may assume their companion is going mad. Each hour of harassment inflicts penalties to the target's ability scores and combat abilities. That night the meenlocks will attack the camp and try to capture their target. If they succeed they will take the PC back to their den and turn him into a meenlock.

* 1st Edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons, Fiend Folio'' supplement. If a party of {{PC}}s breaks the seal of a meenlock den but doesn't enter it, the meenlocks will follow the party. They'll pick out one PC to harrass by sending him telepathic messages that they are pursuing him and intend to make him one of them. The other [=PCs=] will perceive none of this and may assume their companion is going mad. Each hour of harrassment inflicts penalties to the target's ability scores and combat abilities. That night the meenlocks will attack the camp and try to capture their target. If they succeed they will take the PC back to their den and turn him into a meenlock.

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* One Creator/RowanAtkinson sketch involves an invisible man tormenting a man on the subway.

We've all been there. It's never our idea to go into the big spooky house. It's never ''our'' idea to go hang out in the haunted graveyard. We'd much rather be at home, hanging with the friends who didn't accuse us of lying about that nasty sound we heard or the giant shadow we saw.

* The entire premise of the classic (and often parodied) ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is that Shatner's character can see a gremlin trying to sabotage the plane he's travelling in from his window seat, but it hides whenever anyone else looks. [[spoiler:At the end, he ends up being dragged off to a mental asylum, but it's implied that the damage to the plane might vindicate him]].

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* 1st Edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons, Fiend Folio'' supplement. If a party of {{PC}}s breaks the seal of a meenlock den but doesn't enter it, the meenlocks will follow the party. They'll pick out one PC to harrass by sending him telepathic messages that they are pursuing him and intend to make him one of them. The other [=PCs=] will perceive none of this and may assume their companion is going mad. Each hour of harrassment inflicts penalties to the target's ability scores and combat abilities. That night the meenlocks will attack the camp and try to capture their target. If they succeed they will take the PC back to their den and turn him into a meenlock.

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