Monday, November 9, 2015

Slender Man

Ryan Wells



    Since 2009, Slender Man has been out in the public across the world, and is a topic of discussion.  In that year, his existence started on a Photoshop contest blog, Something Awful (NY Times). It contained a picture of a well-dressed man, in black suit and tie, hovering over a young child.  And it is said that he closely follows children. Whenever out in the woods at night, people keep their eyes open for this horrifying creature.  But according to his legend, that is the last thing you would want to do.  This is because he would put you in a trance like state, and lure you in the woods to your death (Creepy Pasta).


His existence has been popular since the thread, but even more so since June of 2014, when he was associated with a stabbing of 13 year old girl.  Two other pre teens, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, felt that they were obligated to kill her for “Slender Man”.  Even though they stabbed the girl 19 times, she ended up surviving and even making it to the court appearance. But, why do this for Slender Man?  In the interrogation tapes, they are even saying that they saw “Slender” while exiting the woods.  What gave them the reason to believe that they were doing right, by committing such an awful crime?  Maybe, it is the effect that people have on everything in society.  Making everything bigger than it actually is to start with.
 

Even though he is said to have been born on 2009, his appearance ties him in with other legends, of different countries.  For example, “The Dark Man” in Scotland or the “Tall Man” in Germany (Creepy Pasta).  Egyptian Hieroglyphics also have presentations of what are thought to be him. Different markings of all kinds of cultures have something that is comparatively similar.
After all of these “attacks”, they have even made video games based off of his appearance.  In these action-packed games, you walk around looking for papers, with a flashlight.  Eventually, if you come up face to face with Slender Man, and don’t get all of the papers, you meet your demise.  So it is safe to say, society makes everything bigger.



Works Cited:

Dewey, Caitlyn. “The complete, terrifying history of ‘Slender Man,’ the Internet meme that compelled two 12-year-olds to stab their friend.”  Washingtonpost.com Washington Post, 3 June 2014. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.

Manjoo, Farhood. “ ‘Slender Man’ story and the New Urban Legends.” Nytimes.com. NY Times, 9 July 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

“The Slender  Man.” Creepypasta.com. Creepy Pasta. Web. 12 Oct. 2015



Links for Further Research:

“Slender Man.” Slenderman.com. Slender Man. Web. 12 Oct. 2015
http://slenderman.com/
This link goes to the game in which slender man is in.  The downloadable site.

“Who is Slender Man?” YouTube. YouTube, 2 Feb. 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxtIyzWrFyM
This link is a more concrete look at Slender Man, in an ABC 20/20 setting.

Goldstein, Jack. 10 Amazing Slender Man Stories. Andrews UK Limited, 2013.Google Book Search. Web. 12 Oct. 2015. 
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1783331828
This link has 10 stories of Slender Man.  Also, biblical views as a whole.



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