The Tendrils of the Slenderman

by David Weatherly

Originally published in PARANOIA Issue #59

The Slenderman

Imagine a tall figure in a black suit.  His face, if there is one, hidden in the shadows, a glimpse of pale, unnatural skin.  He has impossibly long arms that reach out like slim tendrils grasping at those who get too close.  Strangely, it seems that there are more than just two arms and, octopus like; they move constantly making it difficult to even be sure what you’re seeing.  This figure has been seen in school yards, outside of homes and at sites where disasters have occurred.  He is a nightmare figure, haunting the dreams of many and blamed for the disappearance of both children and adults through the ages.  He is the Slenderman.  But is he real or a complete work of fiction?

By most accounts, it seems that the Slenderman was born from something awful, that is, the Something Awful website and forums.  In 2009, members of the forum were called to participate in a contest.  The challenge was to create a fake photograph that depicted something paranormal in nature.  There was more however.  Once the fake photo was created, it had to be promoted on the Internet as the genuine article.  Those with an interest in the paranormal had to be convinced that the subject of the photo-shopped image was real.

The results seem to be far beyond what the originators imagined.  In a brief time, the Slenderman meme rapidly traveled to all corners of the Internet.  A video series was posted, an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) was created and countless blogs appeared to discuss this weird being.  Tales were passed via twitter, facebook, email and discussion boards.  The Slenderman it seemed was gaining momentum.

The Myth Unfolds

The modern Slenderman mythos began in May of 2009.  On May 1st, a member on the something awful forums by the name of “Gerogerigegege” opened a new thread and issued this challenge:

“Creating paranormal images has been a hobby of mine for quite some time.  Occasionally, I stumble upon odd web sites showcasing strange photos, and I always wondered if it were possible to get one of my own chops in a book, documentary, or web site just by casually leaking it out into the web–whether they’d be supplements to bogus stories or not.”

Once the contest was opened, a barrage of photoshopped pictures and creepy stories followed.  Haunted objects and weird creatures were in abundance but nothing lit the community on fire like the images posted on June 10th.

Answering the paranormal oriented challenge was forum member ‘Victor Surge’.  Surge’s photos were fairly simplistic and that seemed to be part of their power.  By choosing a subtle route, Surge created a mystery that was open to interpretation but contained a disturbing, underlying tone.  The initial photos, and their brief descriptions, placed the “Slender Man” in the mid nineteen eighties.  The scant information included allowed those reading to leap to numerous conclusions and imaginations ran wild.  One photo is credited as ‘photographer unknown, presumed dead’.  It shows a group of people that appear to be running from a strange, tall figure that lurks in the background.

The second photo is more disturbing, it depicts a playground scene with several schoolchildren on and around a play set.  In the background near a tree is a figure, barely discernible in the shadows, with several children around him.  A brief statement accompanied this picture:

“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.

1986, photographer: Mary Thomas, missing since June 13th, 1986.”

This description appears to be the first use of the name “Slender Man” to define the mysterious being.  The name quickly morphed into the now common “Slenderman”.

The next day, June 11th, Surge added a document which he claimed was a police report from 1955.  The report was covered with scribbled notes and what was purported to be blood stains.  Among the notes was the statement: “Slenderman, Slenderman, kill us already, kill us, kill, kill, kill”.

Victor Surge continued to add material to the thread.  Drawings done by children, clippings from newspapers, more photographs with a thin, barely discernible figure hiding behind trees and statements from those who had encountered the Slenderman.

At this point, there was still little known about the dreaded being.  It was implied that he was responsible for disappearances, the loss of life and perhaps disasters.  It was clear that he was something otherworldly and that he invoked terror in those he stalked.

As the postings continued, adjustments were made to the myth.  Users seemed to appreciate the more subtle aspects of the myth since it left more to the imagination.  Member “WoodrowSkillson” posted: “…its better when you don’t notice them (the tentacles) at first, and only later you realize just how alien the Slender Man is.”
Victor Surge was very active on the forum and when asked about the Slenderman’s origins responded:

“The Slender Man as an idea was made-up off the top of my head, although the concept is based on a number of things that scare me.  The name I thought up on the fly when I wrote that first bit.”

Surge also stated on the forum:

“Having an unearthly creature, such as a skinwalker or something, stalking you has always been much scarier than ghosts in my opinion.”

The Slenderman quickly moved beyond its initial inception by Victor Surge.  Others began to add to the mythos and the figure blended with various bogeymen of the past, growing and morphing into an even more disturbing creation.

A poster named “Thoreau-Up” advanced the mythos by tying the Slenderman into the past, claiming that the creature’s origins went back to German medieval folk tales.  He writes:

“I’ve been following the signs for quite some time.  There are woodcuts dated back to the 16th century in Germany featuring a tall, disfigured man with only white spheres where his eyes should be.  They called him “Der Grofsmann”, the tall man.  He was a fairy who lived in the Black Forest.  Bad children who crept into the woods at night would be chased by the slender man, and he wouldn’t leave them alone until he caught them, or the child told the parents what he or she had done.”

Thoreau-Up goes a few steps further by posting an account from “an old journal, dating around 1702” and “translated from German”.  The entry tells the tale of a child’s abduction:

“My child, my Lars…He is gone.  Taken from his bed.  The only thing that we found was a scrap of black clothing.  It feels like cotton, but it is softer…thicker.  Lars came into my bedroom yesterday, screaming at the top of his lungs that “the angel is outside!” I asked him what he was talking about, and he told me some nonsense fairy story about Der Grofsmann.  He said he went into the groves by our village and found one of my cows dead, hanging from a tree.  I thought nothing of it at first…but now, he is gone.  We must find Lars, and my family must leave before we are killed.  I am sorry my son…I should have listened.  May God forgive me.”

Within a week, the Slenderman’s history expanded greatly.  Aside from countless modern tales, there were now stories that placed him in the Middle Ages, and, even further, back to Lower Egypt circa 3100 BC.  It seemed there was no stopping the development of this legend and it was about to take another leap forward.
The Buzz of Marble Hornets

The next significant phase in the development of the Slenderman came in the form of video.  The first of many was a series called “Marble Hornets”.

The unfolding tale of Marble Hornets is narrated by “Jay”, a friend of the film’s producer. Marble Hornets was purported to be a student film that detailed the story of a twenty something’s return to his childhood home.  The project took place over two months with periodic scenes being shot and directed by Alex the man behind the film.  Most of the film took place outside, close to the director’s home in a wooded area, in an attempt to replicate a rural small town.  After two months, Alex suddenly ended the project without explanation.  His only comment was that he found “unworkable conditions” at the shooting location.  Jay found the situation odd.  Soon after he received the news from Alex, he noticed that the director became distant and began to avoid everyone, choosing to sit alone in his house.

Jay finally visited Alex at his home.  According to his tale on the Marble Hornets website, he was quite disturbed when he saw Alex:

“Something about him was worse than I’d originally thought. He had lost a good bit of weight, and looked pretty sickly. I pretended like I didn’t notice and we just hung out for awhile. Right before I left, I asked him about Marble Hornets and what he was planning on doing with all of his tapes of raw footage. With almost no hesitation, he simply said “burn them.”

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