Herobrine

Herobrine is a rumored Hostile Mob found in Minecraft. He is the center of endless speculation and Creepypasta, producing explanations of his origins such as a ghost, Notch's dead brother, revenge carried out by a fired Mojang employee, and a slew of others.

While many players claim to have seen this mysterious pseudo-player (who is apparently able to manipulate the world, just like Steve), no concrete evidence of Herobrine has been produced to date (no, guys, YouTube videos don't exactly prove he's out there.) 

The Story of Herobrine

This is the most famous story about Herobrine:

I had recently spawned a new world in single-player Minecraft. Everything was normal at first as I began chopping down trees and crafting a workbench. I noticed something move amongst the dense fog (I have a very slow computer so I have to play with a tiny render distance). I thought it was a cow, so I pursued it, hoping to grab some hides for armor.

It wasn't a cow though. Looking back at me was another character with the default skin, but his eyes were empty. I saw no name pop up, and I double-checked to make sure I wasn't in multiplayer mode. He didn't stay long, he looked at me and quickly ran into the fog. I pursued out of curiosity, but he was gone,

I continued on with the game, not sure what to think. As I expanded to world I saw things that seemed out of place for the random map generator to make; 2x2 tunnels in the rocks, small perfect pyramids made of sand in the ocean, and groves of trees with all their leaves cut off. I would constantly think I saw the other "player" in the deep fog, but I never got a better look at him. I tried increasing my render distance to far whenever I thought I saw him, but to no avail.

I saved the map and went on the forums to see if anyone else had found the pseudo-player. There were none. I created my own topic telling of the man and asking if anyone had a similar experience. The post was deleted within five minutes. I tried again, and the topic was deleted even faster. I received a PM from username 'Herobrine' containing one word: 'Stop.' When I went to look at Herobrine's profile, the page 404'd.

I received an email from another forum user. He claimed the mods can read the forum user messages, so we were safer using email. The emailer claimed that he had seen the mystery player too, and had a small 'directory' of other users who had seen him as well. Their worlds were littered with obviously man-made features as well, and described their mystery player to have no pupils.

About a month passed until I heard from my informant again. Some of the people who had encountered the mystery man had looked into the name Herobrine and found that name to be frequently used by a Swedish gamer. After some further information gathering, it was revealed to be the brother of Notch, the game's developer. I personally emailed Notch, and asked him if he had a brother. It took him a while, but he emailed me back a very short message:

I did, but he is no longer with us.

-Notch

I haven't seen the mystery man since our first encounter, and I haven't noticed any changes to the world other than my own.

Hello.My name is Nitro.I can also relate to the story above.So,what happened is I had just spawned in and started cutting down trees.I was on single player,then I saw it,him.He ran past my screen and scared the crap out of me.

Later after I built my house I went mining.I was super deep down and as soon as I placed a torch I saw him looking at me.I was so scared because it felt like the Minecraft devil staring at my soul.I left as fast as possible.

Later I decided to try to make a Minecraft forum.I checked it the next day & it was gone!I tried a lot more times until on my Xbox I received this message:                

"Stop.This is your only warning" 

At this time I just quit.

i saw him 3 times im blazemico so 1. i was digging dirt AND I HIT HIM

2. i was outside i saw a zombie BUT IT WAS HEROBRINE

3. i was runing on trees then I SAW HIM UNDER A TREE

sorry that it was so short i hate typing

Herobrine Trivia 

Milsom's, Herobrine is back and you're done nothing about it. You're putting Minecraft at risk and if nothing is done is 3 days I'm sorry but well have to send someone else for the rewards. Which will be amazing goods worth lots of money. You're failing us. You are not worthy unless you act now.

- Notch

• According to Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, 4J Studios had removed Herobrine from the game, but on the loading screen, it says "we're not sure." Could this be proof that Herobrine isn't just a Minecrafters nightmare?
• Some accounts and countless YouTube videos claim that Herobrine is able to fly, throw fireballs, mine and place blocks, and possesses a rather disturbing territorial mark of Redstone Torches.