I recently created a brand new Minecraft world in single-player mode. Everything was normal
at first, as I started cutting down trees and building a work table. Suddenly I noticed
something moving in the dense fog. My computer is very slow, so I have to play with a very
short rendering distance. I thought it was a cow and I followed it, hoping to get some
leather for an armor.
But it turned out that it was not an animal. Turning around and looking behind me, there
was another character with the default appearance. But his eyes were blank, empty. I didn't see
any avatar names on it, and double-checked to make sure I wasn't in multiplayer. He didn't
stay there long, either, he looked at me and quickly ran into the mist. I went out after
him to chase him, out of curiosity, but he had already vanished.
I kept on with the game, not quite knowing what to think. As I explored the world, I
saw things that seemed totally out of place, at least for what a random map generator usually
does: 2x2 tunnels in the rocks; small pyramids of sand perfectly shaped in the middle of
the ocean, and entire forests of trees with all their leaves cut off.
I constantly had the feeling that this mysterious player was there, deep in the mist, but I
could never see him clearly. I tried to increase my rendering distance every time I thought
I could see him, but it didn't help.
I saved the map and checked on forums, to see if someone had also met him. But no one
else mentioned him. I opened my own thread, telling my story, and asking if anyone had
had a similar experience. The post was removed after only five minutes. I tried again, and
this time they deleted it even faster. Then I got a private message from a user named
"Herobrine" with just two words: “Stop it!”. When I went to investigate his profile, the
typical error page appeared.
Then I received an email from another forum user, who had got to see the thread I was
trying to create. He told me moderators can read private messages between users, so we
were safer using our emails. He told me that he had seen the mysterious player, and also
had a small list of others who had come across him. Their worlds were full of constructions
that were obviously not made by the machine, and they described a character without pupils
in his eyes.
Almost a month passed before I heard from my secret informant again. Some of those who
ran into the mystery player had searched for information about the alias Herobrine and
found that it was frequently used by a Swedish player. After gathering more information,
it was revealed that he was nothing more nothing less than the brother of Notch, alias Markus
Persson, the developer of the game himself. I wrote to him directly, asking if he had
a brother. It took him a while to answer me, and he did it briefly: “I had a brother,
but he is no longer with us”.
I haven't seen the mystery player since our first encounter, nor have I noticed any more
strange changes in my world. But I have proof of what I'm saying, I was able to press the
"Print Screen" key and take a screenshot the first time I came across him. I will keep
searching, I hope that one day the truth will be discovered...
This disturbing testimony was published by an anonymous user on the Minecraft forum on
August 30th, 2010. The message, already deleted, was accompanied by an image of the game, where
a strange figure can be sensed through the mist.
According to the Minecraft wiki, Herobrine is an unknown entity that appears to players
within the game. His eyes are blank, sometimes he dresses like a dead miner, and when chasing
him, he disappears as mysteriously as he appeared. He creates random buildings such as pyramids
or torch-lit underground compléxes, and he also tears tree leaves apart.
There are many speculations about his origin. But the most widespread version says that
it was the username and skin of Notch's younger brother, who died sometime after Minecraft
was launched. And that his character is preserved in the game as a ghost.
In fact in version 1.6.6 they discovered that one of the notes included in the patch code
said “Removed Herobrine”, which caused a lot of rumors among users. But it is said
that it was really a distracting maneuver for Notch, to avoid being asked further on
the subject.
According to the official information, Herobrine doesn't exist and never existed, since there
are no textures or traces of this character in the game files. But the testimonies and
graphic evidence continue to make us doubt it. Maybe next time you think you're alone
in your Minecraft world, you should take a good look around you...