MARIO Victim #1 — Distorted red horror face used as Mario Victim creepypasta icon

MARIO Victim #1

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Published October 8, 2026

MARIO Victim #1 is a distorted, red-tinted image of a screaming face hidden inside the files of a 2010 Super Mario World ROM hack creepypasta titled 'MARIO.' SMWCentral users pulled the picture from a renamed text file in the game's folder, kicking off a 13-year hunt for the source photo that only closed in September 2023.

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Overview

Victim #1 is the face itself: cropped tight, with blackened eye sockets and smeared red-and-black tones that make the subject look mid-scream1. In the creepypasta, the image is tied to an in-game message about a corpse whose 'eyeballs were unable to be found' and whose body carried handprints with unidentifiable fingerprints5.

The picture lived for over a decade with no known source, which turned it into a running identification puzzle in creepypasta threads before anyone extracted the actual photograph4. Fan artists and modders borrowed both the face and the 'Victim #1' label for horror edits, most visibly in Friday Night Funkin' mods built around the MARIO ROM hack premise8.

Origin & Background

Platform
SMWCentral forum (ROM hack) / Reddit and YouTube (later spread)
Date
2010

On December 28, 2010, SMWCentral user Adam posted a creepypasta describing a Super Mario World ROM hack titled 'MARIO,' whose download folder included an odd file named 3007014.txt1. In-game, Mario's sprite colors looked dull, the story's intro accused Mario of being the real antagonist, and message boxes grew more hostile the further Adam played, including one labeling a dead woman 'Victim #1' with missing eyeballs and unidentifiable handprints on her body5.

The next day, SMWCentral user Kieran Menor posted that renaming 3007014.txt to a JPEG revealed an edited red-and-black photo of a face with gouged-out eyes, widely read as the Victim #1 the game described2.

How It Spread

The image stuck in creepypasta circles for over a decade with no confirmed origin. On November 18, 2022, Redditor /u/Ank57 argued on /r/creepypasta that the source photo was actually of English broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson, pulling 428 upvotes4. Two days later, /u/trickydaclown555 posted artwork of Victim #1 from the Friday Night Funkin' mod 'Mario's Monday Night Massacre' to /r/FridayNightFunkin, which hit 470 upvotes8.

The actual source turned up on September 1, 2023, when YouTuber Midnight Krick reported that a user named 'G O D' in the 'Victimcord' Discord had tracked down the original photo and gotten the photographer to confirm it6. The same day, X user @blameitonjorge shared a four-image breakdown walking the plain photo through the edits that produce Victim #1, racking up 42,900 likes7.

The source photo had been sitting publicly on Flickr since February 25, 2007 under the title 'creepy me,' with over 24,000 views by the time it was identified3. The uploader's nearby photos suggested it was shot at a Harajuku festival that year5.

Timeline

2007-02-25

The source photo 'creepy me' is uploaded to Flickr, likely shot at a Harajuku festival.

2010-12-28

SMWCentral user Adam posts the MARIO ROM hack creepypasta.

2010-12-29

Kieran Menor converts 3007014.txt into a JPEG, revealing the Victim #1 face.

2022-11-18

Redditor /u/Ank57 claims on /r/creepypasta that Victim #1 is a photo of Jeremy Clarkson.

2022-11-20

FNF mod 'Mario's Monday Night Massacre' artwork of Victim #1 hits /r/FridayNightFunkin.

2023-09-01

Midnight Krick reports the Victimcord Discord's source-photo discovery; @blameitonjorge shares the edit breakdown on X.

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