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The Origin of Slender Man
Slender Man is a ‘mythical creature often depicted as a tall, thin figure wearing a black suit and a blank face”(Parkinson). In myths and legends, Slender Man can stretch and shorten his arms akin to tentacles. The myth of Slender Man was born in modern times in June 2009, when a the comedy web forum ‘Something Awful’ asked for entries suggesting ideas for a modern myth which would terrify people. In response, Eric Knudsen, using the pseudonym of Victor Surge, morphed photographs belonging to the 1980s to create a tall, sinister looking figure lurking behind a group of children. Knudsen added vague text to suggest that fourteen young people and the photographer had since gone missing (Parkinson).
While Slender Man is a modern creation, the darkness attributed to him seems to be an extension of monsters in popular imagination in the pre Internet era. Slender Man is often said to have originated from Germany’s Black Forest or from ancient Egypt. Even cave paintings in Brazil have been said to depict his movements (Dewey).
The Spread of the Legend
Knudsen’s idea sparked a creative outpouring from readers and contributors. The vagueness, infinite mutability, fuzzy details and the feasibility of adapt Slender Man to any time and place proved to be the perfect takeoff point for people to join in and add to the persona of Slender Man (Dewey). Thousands of people made drawings of Slender Man and wrote stories about him. Slender Man appeared in video games and in a You Tube series. In many ways, the myth of Slender Man was built upon and embellished in the same way that open sourced software is created and expanded (Parkinson). While Slender Man began his avatar in the Internet, he gradually spread to niche forums like 4chan’s paranormal board. His popularity earned him prominent pages on Wikipedia and ‘Creepypasta’, a site dedicated to Internet horror stories. By 2011, the legend of Slender Man had become so evolved and morphed from its humble origins that even his originator, Surge, was surprised (Dewey).
Rise of the Teen Scare Icon
The surge in writings and depictions of Slender Man eventually created a hype around him, with the result that Slender Man gradually came to embody the ultimate horror in the minds of today’s teenagers. The ability accorded to Slender Man to teleport himself anywhere and to grab his victims with his tentacle arms added to the irresistible power of the creature. The aura of mystery surrounding Slender Man managed to unleash the dormant fears of adolescents, letting them see in Slender Man all the fears and scary thoughts they had in their own minds. Slender Man was distinctly different from gory depictions in horror series like ‘Saw’ and ‘Hostel’. The terror unleashed by Slender Man was less to do with physical features and characteristics than with the mind. As Slender Man could morph into anything the mind could imagine, he became a psychological terror in the minds of adolescents. In many ways, he became everyman’s boogeyman in the twenty-first century (Tillotson).
The Wisconsin Stabbings
The hype and terror surrounding Slender Man would have remained in the realms of dark fantasy, but for the tragic events in Wisconsin in June 2014. Two 12-year-old girls lured a friend into a wooded area in Waukesha, Wisconsin over a weekend and stabbed her 19 times. The victim was left in the woods to crawl on her own and ask for help. It was only miraculous that the victim was saved in time. Subsequent inquiries revealed that the two attackers had come across Slender Man in the website, ‘Creepypasta Wiki’. They had followed the meme and were convinced that to rise to the realm of Slender Man, they would have to kill someone. They made numerous plans to kill their friend, including ideas about stabbing her while asleep and killing her in the park bathroom. Finally, they carried out their attack while playing a game of hide and seek in the park (Hanna and Ford).
The Influence of Myths
Myths and legends have existed since times immemorial. Folklore and fairy tales have long subsisted on terror. Dark and complex expressions of fear have abounded right from Snow White to Pinocchio. These fears crystallize the fears of childhood and embody the fears one must overcome to make the difficult transition to adulthood (Gabler).
Challenges in the Internet Era
The phenomenon of Slender Man and the stabbings, ostensibly to rise to the realm of Slender Man, raise disturbing questions about the influence of myths and legends in the Internet era. While such myths existed prior to the Internet era too, they did not have the means of spreading as fast and as widely as Slender Man, whose idea spread explosively due to access to the Internet. While it is impossible to control every idea that arises on the Internet, it would definitely be instructive for parents and school authorities to counter epidemics of virulence, as occurred with Slender Man, by keeping tabs on what their wards are doing on the Internet. While total monitoring would drive children to underground chat rooms and un-verifiable activity, it would be prudent to make them aware of the deleterious impact that runaway imagination of adolescent minds can have on their lives and on the psyche of society. Perhaps a case exists to pull the adolescents away from too much of Internet access, and push them into sports fields where they can spend their adrenaline and exercise their hormones.
Works Cited
Dewey, Caitlin. “The Complete, Terrifying History of ‘Slender Man’, the Internet Meme that Compelled two 12-Year Olds to Stab their Friend.” WashingtonPost.com. June 3, 2014. Web. March 1, 2016.
Gabler, Neal. “The Culture: How Urban Myths Reveal Society’s Fears.” LATimes.com. November 12, 1995. Web. March 1, 2016.
Hanna, Jason, and Dana Ford. “12-Year-Old Wisconsin Girl Stabbed 19 Times; Friends Arrested.” CNN.com. June 4, 2014. Web. March 1, 2016.
Parkinson, Justin. “The Origins of Slender Man.” BBC.com. June 11, 2014. Web. March 1, 2016.
Tillotson, Kristin. “April 2011: Tall, Skinny, Scary- and All in Your Head.” StarTribune.com. June 3, 2014. Web. March 1, 2016.
