Slender Man is the modern creation of a horror icon in the age of digital storytelling and urban legends. Purported to have varying traits, powers, and motives, the myth of the Slender Man has grown to influence a number of pop culture fields such as film, fiction, and video games.
The Slender Man is a ghoulish figure who stalks and kills unsuspecting victims. The character first appeared in the Something Awful Internet forum in 2009 and thus is an example of early digital folklore. Slender Man has gone to market in a popular video game series and several low-budget, limited-release films. (Alex Malikov/Dreamstime.com)
Slender Man was originally presented in the Something Awful Internet forum in 2009 by Eric Knudsen. Under the username Victor Surge, he posted two Photoshopped black and white images and a fake news story in response to a thread prompting users to create original paranormal images. Knudsen and other participants in the forum added to the story of this new creature, Slender Man. Soon after, the images and false accounts skyrocketed in popularity.
Slender Man’s desires and physical characteristics vary slightly depending on the source. However, several aspects remain the same, no matter the version. Assistant Professor Shira Chess, scholar of the Slender Man myth, succinctly describes him as an otherworldly creature who is “faceless, thin, and grotesquely tall … and almost always wears a suit…. He is the textbook definition of the uncanny … his similarities to human form yet otherworldly features and appendages make him almost human, but not quite” (Chess 2014). He is often shown in the background of images, standing and watching others. It is this ominous staring with supposed malevolent intent that causes fans to flock to read more chilling tales of this ambiguous supernatural monster. Professor Chess noted that “it is the inhuman unknown that makes his story so terrifying” (Chess 2014). Later stories, adding layers to the myth of the Slender Man, moved the monster from passive lurking and staring into a more violent and active role, as Jeffrey Tolbert, a folklorist from the University of Indiana, observed. “In some of the narratives supplied by forum members, Slender Man removed the organs of his victims, placing them in plastic bags before replacing them in their owners’ lifeless bodies. In others, he would impale his victims in the branches of trees” (Tolbert 2013).
Slender Man became an Internet sensation, and not all of the creations involving Slender Man addressed the dark and sinister side of this digitally constructed myth. Some fans chose to address Slender Man’s possible sensitive, protective, or sensual sides. Erotic fiction, in addition to horror stories, Photoshopped images, and videos were posted on a variety of online sites. Slender Man memorabilia also appeared in the form of T-shirts, posters, Halloween costumes, and jewelry. The myth of the Slender Man also crossed over into the gaming realm in 2012 with the release of the free downloadable computer game Slender by Parsec Productions. Later expanded into Slender: The Eight Pages, it was subsequently followed by a 2013 sequel, Slender: The Arrival, from Blue Isle Studios. The popularity of the story of Slender Man and the computer games led to the release of Slender: The Arrival in major game console form (PlayStation and Xbox) as well.
The influence of Slender Man, unfortunately, did not end within the realms of art. The digital myth took a decidedly dark turn in May 2014 when two Wisconsin preteens stabbed a friend in the woods as a way to contact Slender Man. After reading fan fiction on one of the numerous websites featuring Slender Man stories, the girls planned on killing a fellow female classmate to prove the existence of Slender Man and make a sacrifice to him. Reports from the police noted that the girls “truly believed Slender Man was real: He teleported and read their minds, they claimed” (Dewey 2014). The victim was stabbed nineteen times and left for dead in the woods; she survived, crawling out of the forest in search of help. The creator of the original Slender Man posting, Eric Knudsen, issued a statement expressing his sympathy to the victim and the families of those involved. Zach Parsons, an author on the Something Awful website, told readers, “Don’t hurt others or yourself because of Something Awful” (Parsons 2014).
The myth of the Slender Man continues to grow as more people modify the use of his presence to suit their artistic needs. His faceless, otherworldly nature allows him to be an “infinitely morphable stand-in for things we can neither understand nor control, universal fears that can drive people to great lengths” (Dewey 2014).
Josianne Leah Campbell
See also Scary Stories; Urban Legends/Urban Belief Tales
Further Reading
Chess, Shira. 2014. Culture Digitally Blog. “The Two Slender Mans.” September 10. http://culturedigitally.org/2014/09/the-two-slender-mans/. Accessed July 7, 2015.
Chess, Shira, and Eric Newsom. 2015. Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dewey, Caitlin. 2014. “The Complete, Terrifying History of ‘Slender Man,’ the Internet Meme That Compelled Two 12-Year-Olds to Stab Their Friend.” Washington Post, June 3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/06/03/the-complete-terrifying-history-of-slender-man-the-internet-meme-that-compelled-two-12-year-olds-to-stab-their-friend/. Accessed July 7, 2015.
Parsons, Zach. 2014. “Please Do Not Kill Anybody Because of Slender Man.” Something Awful website. June 4. http://www.somethingawful.com/news/slenderman-not-real/. Accessed July 7, 2015.
Surge, Victor. 2009. “Create Paranormal Images.” Something Awful website. June. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3150591&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=3. Accessed July 3, 2015.
Tolbert, Jeffrey A. 2013. “‘The Sort of Story That Has You Covering Your Mirrors’: The Case of Slender Man.” Semiotic Review, November 5. http://www.semioticreview.com/index.php/thematic-issues/issue-monsters/22-the-sort-of-story-that-has-you-covering-your-mirrors-the-case-of-slender-man.html. Accessed July 6, 2015.