topic 10 simplified
Slenderman
The monster from the internet
Every generation makes its own monsters. Stories from the distant past are about witches and werewolves in the forest. Nowadays we live in cities not forests, so we have a new cast of fictional villains. Mysterious hitchhikers loiter by the roadside and murderers come into our homes. Now, in the age of the internet, another monster has stepped into the limelight: Slenderman.
Man in black
Slenderman is tall and thin and has no face. He loiters in places where few people go, like forests and abandoned buildings. He wears a black suit, he is two metres tall and he can stretch his arms at will. Sometimes he is portrayed with tentacles on his back.
A star is born
Slenderman was born on 8 June 2009. The web forum Something Awful asked contributors to invent a modern myth to terrify people. One contributor, Eric Knudsen, posted two fake black-and-white photographs of a tall, thin man loitering behind groups of children. He also said that 14 young people and the photographer had gone missing after the photograph had been taken.
The creativity of crowds
The post caught the imagination of other forum users. They began to make their own stories about this faceless man. Soon Slenderman was appearing in fan art, horror stories, videos, and video games. One of his most popular outings was in the web series MarbleHornets on YouTube. These videos tell the story of a student haunted by Slenderman. The story uses video footage that was “found” after some students went missing.
Electronic terror
Slenderman is a digital bogeyman. He is an internet meme that went viral. His menace belongs to the computer age. When Slenderman strikes, all we see is a cloud of electronic snow.
Tragedy strikes
Five years later, the Slenderman story took a disturbing turn. In 2014 two 12-year-old girls in Wisconsin stabbed a third girl. The girls believed Slenderman would appear if they killed in his name. The third girl did not die, but the attack sent shock waves through communities both online and offline. Knudsen said he was very sorry about the violent attack, but he also said it was not the fault of Slenderman or horror writing.
A need for horror
Human beings enjoy being scared. Fear makes us feel more alive, and makes us live in the moment. When we are scared we don’t think about our boring daily routines. In an age where many young people sit at their computers in their safe bedrooms, a digital bogeyman like Slenderman may be a welcome visitor. A monster for our times.