One of Minecraft's most enduring urban legends is Herobrine, an early internet horror story of a strange figure lurking just out of bounds within the randomly generated blocky worlds, stalking players from afar. It originated on 4chan's /v/ board 16 years ago, with vague screenshots of "White Eyes" standing in the fog - the supposed phantom of Notch's fictional deceased brother forever haunting the game.
Players took that first hazy screenshot and created an entire mythos around the white-eyed Steve, with Copeland's viral stream of Herobrine watching him fall into a pool of lava catapulting the urban legend to new heights, leading to playground gossip about summoning rituals that would pull this phantom into your world. Mojang even leant into the legend, noting that Herobrine had been 'removed' with every update. Sure, in hindsight, it was obviously an internet in-joke, but as a kid, it only made the foggy low render distance that much creepier.
If you want to read more about the story of Herobrine, and the missing Copeland stream that was recently uncovered, check out our in-depth coverage of it here.
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