The Midnight Man

"DO NOT turn any of the lights on during the Midnight Game. DO NOT use a flashlight during the Midnight Game. DO NOT go to sleep during the Midnight Game. DO NOT attempt to use another person's blood on your name. DO NOT use a lighter as a substitute for a candle. It will not work. AND DEFINITELY DO NOT attempt to provoke the Midnight Man in ANY WAY."

- Rules of the Midnight Game

"Even though we had a forty minute period of absolutely nothing, there wasn't a single ounce of relief to come with each passing minute. Relief felt like weakness to me, and weakness felt like something the Midnight Man would see."

- The narrator of "The Midnight Game in Florida" recounting their experience

The unnamed being known as the Midnight Man is the main antagonist of "Midnight Game", a Creepypasta published on 4Chan. He has since inspired several spinoffs and is not to be confused with the film incarnation of the same name.

Midnight Game
The Creepypasta takes the form of a set of instructions on how to perform the ritual. Whoever is doing the summoning needs to write their full name on a piece of paper and allow a drop of their own blood to soak into the paper (as stated in the rules above, it needs to be their own blood or it will not end well for the summoner). All the lights must be turned off when the ritual is being performed. The summoner must then place the paper with the name in front of the door, before lighting a candle and placing it at the top of the paper. To summon the Midnight Man, the summoner must knock on the door twenty-two times, the last knock must be at 12:00 or it will not work, blow out the candle and shut the door. This allows the Midnight Man to enter the house. The summoner must then survive until 3:33 AM. If they break any of the rules listed above, the Midnight Man will make the game much more terrifying or simply kill them. If the candle goes out, the Midnight Man is near them and they must relight it in ten seconds or the Midnight Man will immobilise them, create a hallucination of their worst fear and rip out their organs, one by one.

Biography
The Midnight Man was initially used as an executioner to punish those who went against the gods of the religion in question. While this religion has not been practised for years, there is still a high risk of death or insanity to anyone who plays the Midnight Game.

The Midnight Man Challenge
In 2013, two teenage girls named Maddi and Tori, along with their boyfriends Quentin and Chase, filmed themselves playing "the Midnight Man Challenge" on fifteen different .avi files. During tape six, Maddi says that they have felt the occasional drop in temperature, but have not encountered the Midnight Man.

In tape seven, Maddi talks about Chase's candle going out (a sign that the Midnight Man is near), forcing him to create a circle of salt on the floor to sit in, as the Midnight Man cannot enter a circle of salt, and Tori sat with him (quitting the game).

In tape eight, Maddi says that Quentin's candle went out and proceeds to mock "these three dipsh*ts who couldn't light a candle", before realising that this may provoke the Midnight Man.

Tape ten begins with Maddi going into a bedroom and commenting on how cold it's become. Her candle then goes out, causing her to panic. Luckily for her, she is able to relight her candle and continue with the game.

In tape eleven, Maddi talks about how she saw a figure in the kitchen, but it disappeared when she turned around. Maddi's candle then goes out because the Midnight Man is near, prompting her to run to where her friends are and make a circle of salt around herself.

Tape twelve appears to be simply the friends telling funny stories, however at the end of the clip a plate breaks in the kitchen, presumably caused by the Midnight Man.

Tape fourteen begins with Maddi saying that Tori left the circle into the camera. She then hears footsteps, followed by Tori screaming in fear. This prompts Chase and Quentin to jump up and leave the circle to find her.

Tape fifteen is the final tape and is described by the narrator as the most disturbing thing he has ever seen. After reaching 3:33 AM, when the Midnight Man is supposed to leave, Maddi jumps up and turns on the lights, revealing the bodies of her friends. She screams and runs out of the house, making it onto the street before tripping. She drops the camera and the narrator sees the Midnight Man walking towards her on the tape.

The Midnight Game in Florida
The unnamed narrator and his friend Ryan decide to play the Midnight Game. However, during the game Ryan referred to the Midnight Man as "the night man", causing the narrator to begin singing the song "The Nightman Cometh" from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. This is a direct provocation of the Midnight Man.

Later that night, when the narrator is looking at his watch, the candle goes out. He relights it in five seconds and comments to Ryan how close it was. Ryan asks him what he said and tells him that he heard him whisper something (a sign that the Midnight Man is near). As they leave the area and walk past the bathroom, the narrator sees the Midnight Man standing in the bath.

At 1:47 Ryan and the narrator enter the narrator's bedroom to get the salt they need to opt out. After grabbing the salt, the narrator realises how cold it is and that Ryan has not entered the room. Turning around, he realises that the Midnight Man is sitting on his bed and looking at him. He runs out of the room terrified and drops one of the two salt shakers, forcing Ryan to retrieve it. Ryan's candle goes out and the narrator runs for his life, only turning round when Ryan re-lights the candle.

After deciding to avoid the eastern wing of the house, as this is where the Midnight Man appears to be, the narrator and Ryan sit down on a futon to rest. The narrator begins to get hopeful that they will survive the night, however this only serves to attract the Midnight Man, as he appears to be able to sense optimism or weakness. As the narrator tries to run, Ryan's candle goes out and he runs after him and creates a circle of salt around both of them. The narrator then blows the candle out and sits in the circle with Ryan.

Towards the end of the game, the narrator hears the Midnight Man whispering the word "no" over and over for about thirty seconds. Eventually, the clock hits 3:30 and the Midnight Man leaves. However, that night the narrator has nightmares about people he knows becoming terrifying zombies and can't help feeling like he lost. The next day, he asks Ryan if he had any nightmares and he says that he dreamed about being constantly drowned by the Midnight Man and resurrected, implying that they have been left permanently mentally scarred by the experience.

Trivia

 * Unlike other Creepypasta villains who are summoned as part of a ritual, such as The Man in the Fields, the Midnight Man does not reward the people who successfully complete the ritual.
 * This is most likely because the Midnight Man believes that they have disobeyed that gods, as punishing these people was the original purpose of the ritual.
 * It is unknown why the Midnight Man killed Maddi in "The Midnight Man Challenge", as she successfully completed the ritual. However as her friends broke so many of the rules (with Quentin leaving the circle to go to the toilet and Chase falling asleep), it is likely that this was to punish her for their actions.
 * It is implied in "The Midnight Man Challenge" that the Midnight Man has the ability to teleport, as he is gone by the time Maddi turns around after seeing him in the kitchen.
 * Ryan's nightmare of being constantly drowned and resurrected is similar to the incarnation of the Midnight Man in the 2016 film "The Midnight Man", as this is the penalty in the film if somebody fails the ritual.