Follow TV Tropes

Following

Literature / Butcherface

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/butcher_face_by_nekobaby12_d5czlzc.jpg
"This is it. This is it. They won't know. They'll never find me. This is where I'll hide."

"Butcherface" is a short story written by A.J. Garlisi, originally published on Reddit's nosleep forum in April of 2012.

The story concerns an unnamed narrator, his friend Chris, and a mysterious box they find under the floorboards of Chris's basement while remodeling his new house. The horrifying contents in the box lead to several terrifying encounters with the elusive man only known as "Butcherface", and Chris and the narrator's attempts to find out who (or what) he is and just what exactly his overall goal is..

A smash hit when it was realeased, it has now joined the ranks of one of the internet's most famous Creepypastas, alongside such classics as "Jeff the Killer", and "Ben Drowned", although "Butcherface" is much more professional and well-written than its infamous counterparts. In addition, it is one of the only stories on Nosleep that has become famous outside Reddit, along with other stories form the subreddit such as "Borrasca" and "Feed the Pig".

It has been read and recorded by at least fifteen different YouTubers, and a professional version was featured on The Nosleep Podcast.

It can be read here.


"Butcherface" contains examples of:

  • Antagonist Title: Butcherface, obviously.
  • Bad People Abuse Animals: In the course of the story, Butcherface rips the faces off of two dogs, crushes the head of a still-alive rat and does several other nasty things to animals.
  • Big Bad: Butcherface, obviously.
  • Bit Character: Jesse serves no real purpose in the story other than to connect Chris and the narrator through Myspace. Having him in the climactic scene at the lake house at the end is completely unnecessary.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Evan's DVD copies of the tapes, Chris's girlfriend's iPod, and the CV symbol.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Shirley and Louise, Evan, and Chris's girlfriend.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Despite his abuse and murder of animals and his threatening nature, Butcherface draws the line at killing people.
  • Fan Art: This page's image, provided by nekobaby12 of Deviantart.
  • The Hero: The narrator and Chris, although they do several legally and morally questionable things in their quest to find out who Butcherface is.
  • Jumping the Shark: Perhaps due to the story's feature on The Nosleep Podcast (which stops at part 3), many users felt that the story dragged on longer than it needed to up to part 7 and a second Reddit account being made to finish the story, and as such, most readers stop reading the story at part 3.
  • Mundane Ghost Story: Despite most of the story's events being extremely far-fetched, surprisingly, not a single supernatural thing happens in the entire story.

Top