Slender Man

[[File:Slender Man graffitti.png|thumb|right|166px|A graffiti of the Slender Man character.]]
{{folklore}}{{internet}}
{{cquote|We didn’t want to go, we didn’t want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time…|||1983, photographer unknown, presumed dead.}}
The '''Slender Man''' is a [[supernatural]] bugbear that was created by Eric Knudsen, an elementary school teacher,<ref name="Mar">Mar, Alex. [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/07/slender-man-into-the-woods-how-an-online-bogeyman-inspired-children-to-kill Into the woods: how online urban legend Slender Man inspired children to kill]. ''[[The Guardian]]'', Dec. 7, 2017.</ref> using the handle "Victor Surge", on the ''Something Awful'' forums on June 8, 2009. He is usually depicted as a tall, faceless, unnaturally thin male figure in black formal clothes. He abducts or otherwise traumatizes children.<ref name="KYM">[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/slender-man Slender Man] at Know Your Meme.</ref> 
 
He made his first appearance as an entry in a thread proposing a contest whose aim was to [[troll]] [[paranormal]] believers and Internet communities by deliberately [[image manipulation|altering photographs]] to include supernatural elements, in an attempt to have believers accept them as genuine.<ref>[http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3150591&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 "Create Paranormal Images"] &mdash; Gerogerigegege; Apr 30, 2009, ''Something Awful'' forum</ref> His first appearance was in a grayscale photo of some children, and bore the caption: "We didn’t want to go, we didn’t want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time…" &mdash; 1983, photographer unknown, presumed dead."<ref name="Dane">Patrick Dane, [http://whatculture.com/history/why-slenderman-works-the-internet-meme-that-proves-our-need-to-believe.php Why Slenderman Works: The Internet Meme That Proves Our Need To Believe]. ''What Culture'', Oct. 31, 2012.</ref>

A second image by Surge bore this legend:<ref name="Dane"/>

{{cquote|One of two recovered photographs from the Stirling City Library blaze. Notable for being taken the day which fourteen children vanished and for what is referred to as “The Slender Man”. Deformities cited as film defects by officials. Fire at library occurred one week later. Actual photograph confiscated as evidence.|source=1986, photographer: Mary Thomas, missing since June 13th, 1986.}}

==Spread and variations==
[[File:Symbol_Proxy.png|thumb|left|175px|Symbol identifying the Slender Man's "proxies".]]
The Slender Man took on a role in [[folklore]] unintended by its creator.  The image was never accepted by [[ghost]] or paranormal believers, but went [[viral]] as a [[meme]], inspiring fan art and fiction. As a meme without an official canon beyond Knudsen's first images, descriptions and accounts of the character vary widely. The usual description is that of an unnaturally tall faceless figure in dark formal clothes; sometimes he is wreathed by tentacles that he uses to ensnare or molest his child victims.<ref name="KYM"></ref> As stories and variations spread, the character changed to something that harrows people, driving them mad through fear and turning them into its servants, termed "proxies". He has an affinity for woods and forests. He either tries to lure children out of their worlds, or inspires his "proxies" with a desire to kill.<ref name="Mar2">Mar, Alex.  [http://www.vqronline.org/essays-articles/2017/10/out-came-girls Out Came the Girls: Adolescent Girlhood, the Occult, and the Slender Man Phenomenon].  ''Virginia Quarterly Review Online'', Fall 2017</ref>

The character was picked up by the {{wpl|creepypasta|"creepypasta"}} Internet community that creates and shares works of horror fiction online, and often tries to insert them as new [[hoax]]es or [[urban legend]]s. Several months after the character was created, callers to [[George Noory]]'s ''[[Coast to Coast AM]]'' radio talk show began asking about the Slender Man.<ref name="Goldman">Alex Goldman, [http://www.onthemedia.org/story/managing-monster/ TLDR #13 &mdash; Managing a Monster], podcast, Jan 30, 2014</ref> The character inspired a long running series of fan videos shot in [[The Blair Witch Project|shaky camera]] style called ''Marble Hornets''.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/user/MarbleHornets Marble Hornets], [[YouTube]] channel.</ref> According to Shira Chess, the Slender Man represents the convergence between traditional folklore and the [[open source]] ethos of the [[Internet]].<ref>Shira Chess and Eric Newsom: ''Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology.'' (2015, Palgrave Pivot. ISBN 978-1137498526.)</ref>

Participants in the Slender Man community claimed that learning of the existence of Slender Man was the first step towards obsession with the character, through his power of [[mind control]].<ref name="Mar2" /> A variation of the {{wpl|Bloody Mary (folklore)|"Bloody Mary"}} style legend arose spontaneously among children. It was believed possible to summon Slender Man by performing various rituals. This gave rise to "[[legend tripping|ostension]]",<ref name="WABC">[http://7online.com/news/faceless-slender-man-linked-to-more-slashings-shootings-/104215/ Faceless Slender Man Linked to More Slashings, Shootings], WABC-TV 7, June 9, 2014</ref> in which a supernatural [[cautionary tale]] turns into a dare to test the truth of the legend by performing the forbidden deed.<ref>{{wpa|Legend tripping}}</ref> Acting out the Slender Man legend had a number of tragic results.

In 2018, several years after Slender Man's popularity had peaked, he became the basis of a teen horror flick from Sony Pictures' Screen Gems production company. By all accounts, it was terrible.<ref>The [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5690360/?ref_=nv_sr_1 IMDb] and [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/slender_man/ Rotten Tomatoes] pages for the 2018 film ''Slender Man''.</ref>

==Crimes==
[[File:SlenderManInTrinidad.JPG|thumb|right|140px|The Slender Man, sighted in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 2012]]
In 2014, the Slender Man was an inspiration or motive for several separate crimes.  

===Wisconsin stabbing incident===
In Waukesha, [[Wisconsin]], two 12-year-old girls stabbed another 12-year-old girl. They told police that they were seeking to become proxies.<ref name="Waukesha">[http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/waukesha-police-2-12-year-old-girls-plotted-for-months-to-kill-friend-b99282655z1-261534171.html Charges detail Waukesha pre-teens' attempt to kill classmate]. ''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel'', June 2, 2014</ref> According to the girls, Slender Man is able to [[telepathy|read minds]] and [[teleportation|teleport]] himself. The victim fortunately survived. The two girls had formulated an intense friendship based on shared fantasy in which Slender Man figured prominently.<ref name="Mar" />   

Significant doubts were raised by their behavior about both girls' mental competence. In March of 2015, a Wisconsin court ruled that the two girls could be tried as adults.<ref>[http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-wisconsin-slender-man-20150313-story.html# Girls in Slender Man stabbing case to be tried as adults], Associated Press, Mar. 14, 2015; ''Chicago Tribune''.</ref> In September of 2017, one of the two girls pled guilty to attempted second degree intentional homicide, but was found mentally ill by a jury.<ref>Associated Press, [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/16/wisconsin-girl-found-mentally-ill-in-slender-man-stabbing-case Wisconsin girl found mentally ill in Slender Man stabbing case], ''[[The Guardian]]'', Sept. 16, 2017. </ref> She was sentenced to twenty-five years in a [[psychiatry|psychiatric]] hospital.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/21/slender-man-case-anissa-weier-sentenced Slender Man case: girl who stabbed classmate gets 25-year hospital sentence.] ''[[The Guardian]]'', Dec. 21, 2017</ref> The other descended into florid psychosis in police custody, and her lawyers accepted a plea deal that confined her to a [[psychiatry|psychiatric]] institution.<ref name="Mar" />

Eric Knudsen, creator of the character, issued a statement that he is "deeply saddened by the tragedy in Wisconsin" and that his "heart goes out to the families of those affected by this terrible act," and that he will be giving no interviews on the subject.<ref>[http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/slender-man-stabbing/slender-man-creator-speaks-stabbing-i-am-deeply-saddened-n122781 'Slender Man' Creator Speaks on Stabbing: 'I Am Deeply Saddened'], NBC News, June 4, 2014.</ref>

===Other crimes===
Later that same year, in Port Richey, [[Florida]], a 14-year-old girl reportedly set her family's house on fire. This crime was allegedly inspired by the Slender Man and Atsushi Okubo's manga series ''Soul Eater''. A sheriff's deputy said that "She had visited the website that contains a lot of the Slender Man information and stories… It would be safe to say there is a connection to that."<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-inspired-slender-man-set-house-fire-police/story Teen Inspired by 'Slender Man' Set House on Fire: Police], ABC News, Sept. 5, 2014.</ref>

Other crimes may involve the Slender Man somehow. A Las Vegas man who killed 2 police officers and a civilian along with his wife in a [[murder]]-[[suicide]] was known for dressing up as the Slender Man. A Cincinnati mother whose daughter attacked her with a knife while wearing a mask believed that the Slender Man inspired the attack. The daughter wrote macabre fiction involving the Slender Man.<ref name="WABC"/>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Crime]]
[[Category:Internet culture]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]
[[Category:Trolls]]
[[Category:Urban legends]]
[[Category:Horror]]
[[Category:Pseudomythology]]
[[Category:Video games]]

Categories: Crime, Internet culture, Paranormal, Trolls, Urban legends, Horror, Pseudomythology, Video games