In 2009 the internet forum known as, “Something Awful”
launched an online contest. The objective of the contest was to generate the
ultimate creepy photo. Many of the photos submitted were of a familiar
fictional character known as “Slender Man”. The Slender Man is abnormally tall
and very thin with no facial features. Often, he is depicted with extended and
reaching tentacle-like appendages and is said to take and torture children. The
urban legend recently took an alarming twist when several murders and attempted
murders took place that were associated with Slender Man.
In early June 2014, two girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa
Weier, both age 12, from Waukesha, Wisconsin, lured a classmate into a wooded
area during a sleep over and stabbed her almost 20 times. According to the
report, the girls were both heavily involved in the legend of Slender Man and were
allegedly Proxies of the dark entity. According to the website, theslenderman.wikia.com,
“A Proxy is the term given by the DarkHarvest00 ARG to their Unknown Proxy. The theory
behind the name is that Proxies are entities or people who are under the
influence or control of Slender Man (or
the same force that influences Slender Man), and act based on its wants/needs-
hence, Proxies serve as an in-between- a proxy- for Slender Man.”
The Wisconsin victim did survive and is reportedly making a full recovery.
However, a second attack, also involving Slender Man, happened just a few weeks
after that in Hamilton, Ohio. A 13 year old girl, dressed as Slender Man,
attacked her mother in their kitchen. The mother only received a few superficial
wounds from the attack but was ultimately very traumatized by the ordeal.
A 3rd case of Slender Man attacks happened again, just a short
time after the Hamilton event. Jerad and Amanda Miller of Nevada, dressed as
Harley Quinn and Slender Man, entered a food court in LasVegas where they shot
two police officers while they were having lunch. The couple then fled and hid
out in a local Wal Mart for several hours before they finally committed suicide
together.
Just as UFO’s evolved from the 60’s and Cryptids from the
70’s, the Slender Man events have sent the urban legend surging into the
paranormal mainstream; growing substantially into an actual entity who may oppress and possess
the living. Reports similar to the Slender Man can be associated with
beings like shadow people and even extraterrestrials and aliens. Websites like
4Channel.com, CreepyPasta.com and hundreds of paranormal forums all over the
web have been reporting Slender Man as more of an actual entity rather than a myth
and the paranormal community has definitely started to look at the legend more openly
and appropriately with the recent attacks.
However, the establishment of Slender Man only stems from the internet
source that conjured it. A simple fictional ghost based on entertainment and
lucid imagination. As the paranormal community continues to look for answers
regarding the origins of Slender Man, it divides us into groups; those of us who
are satisfied with having an answer and those who will always be looking for
some supernatural significance. It also serves as an example of what gets
posted to the internet, isn’t always the truth.
