The Slender Man: From Urban Legend Across The Blurred And Brutal Lines Of Reality

What is perhaps most interesting about the Slender Man legends is that it is very much a case of urban folklore with definite and documented origins, one that we have seen grow before our collective eyes. And in doing so, it has offered those who research or simply have an interest in such things as legends, myths, and folklore, the opportunity to see such a legend grow and develop right in front of them, and so perhaps offering how such legends and myths of ancient times grew and maintained their presence in the human psyche thousands of years later. And also why, despite, in this case, the solid, concrete documented origins, some people still insist they have had genuine encounters with this mysterious figure.

The legend very much crossed over into reality with the Waukesha incident (also referred to as the Slender Man Stabbing) in 2014 with the attempted murder of a young girl by two of her friends in order to appease the Slender Man. This should make us contemplate just what it takes for a myth to become reality, and how much perception really does matter to that process. What is nothing but a fictional creation for most can become a cold reality to others, and consequently, while indirectly, to the rest of us.

Indeed, the Slender Man legend is as unique as it is unsettling. And one that will undoubtedly continue to grow as the years and the decades go by. Just where the Slender Man and its position in the subconscious of humanity might be in hundreds of years is perhaps equally as fascinating. We will start, though, with a look at the intriguing start to the Slenderman legend.

The (Documented) Origins Of A (Fictional) Legend!

Unlike many other myths – both ancient and contemporary – the origins of the Slender Man are very definite. They can be traced back to the exact date of 10^th June 2009 and the Internet forum, Something Awful. ^[1] It was on that forum that users were asked to create “paranormal images” that could be passed off as something real, unnerving, and most importantly, real.

One user who took up the challenge would submit two photographs under the name Victor Surge (whose real name is Eric Knudsen) ^[2], photographs which were indeed unsettling, largely because of the slow burn nature with which most people first see them. What perhaps made Surge’s submitted photographs stand out was the captions of text he submitted with each of the pictures, which also succeeded in adding a further chilling backstory, as well as giving his discreet but spine-chilling character a name.

The first picture, which you can see below, shows a group of children who are clearly disturbed and scared, while a tall, slim, dark figure is seen standing discreetly in the background.

With this picture, Surge added the following text:

We didn’t want to go, we didn’t want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time…

-1983, photographer unknown, presumed dead

The second picture shows children playing in a park, much happier, but with the same unnerving figure standing in the background. In this picture, there is even the suggestion of “tentacles” stretching from the figures back but, in a moment of genius on Surge’s part, this is explained away in the caption text as “film defects” adding a sense of credibility and seriousness to the photographs, and the strange, menacing man. You can see that picture below.

The caption for the picture reads:

One of two recovered photographs from the Stirling City Library blaze. Notable for being taken the day which fourteen children vanished and for 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 13^th 1986

To say the pictures captured the attention of thousands would be an understatement. As soon as the pictures went online, the legend of the Slender Man was born. And he would take on a life of his own.

Just Who Is The Slender Man?

Knudsen drew inspiration from several well-known horror characters and writers, and would state in a 2016 interview with Vanity Fair that he had wanted to create something “whose motivations can barely be comprehended, and (which caused) unease and terror in a general population”. ^[3] And as the Slender Man spread across the Internet, not only had he achieved this, but the legend grew, and grew rapidly.

His description is indeed one of an unnerving nature. Unusually tall and slim with arms that are much longer and out of proportion to the rest of his body, with some descriptions stating the arms to be like tentacles (others state tentacles come from Slender Man’s back). Perhaps most unsettling, however, is his face, or more to the point, the lack of it. Most depictions either have a blurred face with no discernable details, or a completely blank, white face.

Whether it is because they can be of a menacing and unsettling nature, the Slender Man was often associated with the woods and dark forests. Even more disturbing, he is said to reside in abandoned locations such as houses, buildings, or even caves, which certainly sit well with other, supernatural creatures, both fictional and alleged real entities. The Slender Man, according to the legends, can also transport himself from one location to another as he wishes.

There have even been symptoms or signs agreed upon that the Slender Man is near or watching you. These include sudden paranoia, intense nightmares, apparent partial memories that suggest hallucinations, as well as the sudden onset of nosebleeds. What is perhaps interesting with these, is that they are very similar to many of the discreet signs of alien abduction. And while we are not for one moment suggesting that the Slender Man (a completely fictional character, remember) is actually an alien, but what we might suggest is that some of the apparent claims of real encounters with the Slender Man might actually have been alien abduction – only recalled as encounters with the Slender Man, particularly in the young. Speculative, admittedly, but worth noting.

The reasons for Slender Man’s immediate popularity and how fast it spread around the Internet to become an overnight urban legend are intriguing in themselves. The legend of the Slender Man, though, was about to step from the digital, virtual, and, in this case, imaginary world of the Internet, and into the reality of the American public in a most chilling and disturbing way.

The Crossover Into Cold Reality – The Waukesha Stabbing

On 31^st May 2014 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser led their mutual friend, Payton Leutner (also 12) to the woods nearby. Once there, they turned on her, stabbing her no less than 19 times before leaving her for dead. ^[4] They had been playing hide-and-seek in the moments before the attack. By the time it was over, Leutner would have injuries to her arms and legs, as well several wounds in her torso, two of which were to major organs and another narrowly missing a major heart artery.

The victim managed to drag herself out of the woods and was eventually discovered on the roadside by a passing cyclist who immediately notified authorities. She would name her attackers who were arrested a short time later at a nearby store, the knife they had used in the attack still in their possession.

They would state that they had carried out the attack for the Slender Man. ^[5] And while Weier did appear to feel guilt over her part in the frenzied assault (Geyser was seemingly unconcerned), she claimed that the Slender Man would be displeased with them if they had not carried it out.

You can watch the short news clippings of the case below.

The Slender Man In The US Courtroom

Needless to say, rightly or wrongly, there was a great deal of interest in the attempted murder trial that followed the young girls’ arrests and subsequent charges of attempted first-degree murder for Geyser and attempted second-degree murder for Weier.

In fact, Weier’s statements, both in police interviews and in the court, provided an insight into the whole, harrowing affair. She offered that Slender Man was “the leader” of the Creepypasta world and that killing showed dedication to him. She would also state that it was Geyser who had suggested killing their friend in order to make themselves “proxies” and prove their dedication to him.

According to Weier, she and Geyser believed that Slender Man was real, and the killing of Leutner would prove this to people. They also believed that this mysterious “supernatural” figure lived in the Nicolet National Forest, in a strange mansion, a residence they planned to visit immediately after the attack.

The sickly affair began to unfold shortly after school on Friday. Weier and Geyser had gone straight to her home where Weier proceeded to pack a backpack with such things as granola bars and water, spare clothes, and pictures of her family, later stating that she wished to remember them after arriving at Slender Man’s mansion.

Following this, they made their way to Geyser’s home, whose father would drive them to Leutner’s home a short time later before taking all three of them to Skateland. They returned to Geyser’s home at 9:30 pm, with all three girls sleeping in Geyser’s bedroom.

Weier further revealed that the original plan was to kill Leutner in her room at 2 am by placing duct tape over her mouth and then stabbing her in the throat. They would then pull the covers over her as if she were sleeping before making their way to what they believed was Slender Man’s mansion. However, at some point during the evening at the skatepark, the plans changed. Weier noticed that in the bathroom at a park nearby, there was a drain on the floor that would allow the blood to drain away. They decided the following morning they would visit the park and commit the killing there.

“This Was Really Happening!”

On the Saturday morning the three girls made their way to the park. Weier would recall that before they left, Geyser flashed a look of the knife under her jacket to her. It was at this point that she began to feel a little uneasy with the fact that “this was really happening”.

They did indeed find themselves in the bathroom. And according to Weier, there was an attempt made by Geyser to restrain Leutner but she suffered a “nervous breakdown” and had to be calmed down by her friend. Despite this apparent attempt, Leutner remained with the girls, and they agreed to walk to the nearby woods and play hide-and-seek.

Geyser would seek first, with the other two girls going to hide. This is where things began to escalate, eventually resulting in the frenzied attack.

Weier suggested to Leutner that she hide on the ground, face down in the dirt. Leutner, however, refused to do so. At this point, Weier forced the victim to the floor and proceeded to sit on her to stop her from getting up. Geyser was nearby, and Weier expected her to come over and stab their friend.

Leutner, though, began to shout, meaning that passersby might arrive to see what the matter was. Weier got up from her back so she would quieten. Geyser, according to Weier, passed the knife to her and indicated she should stab their victim. Weier then claimed that she was too squeamish and immediately passed it back to Geyser. It was at this point, the frenzied attack was launched.

Ultimately, the two girls pleaded guilty and were given lengthy sentences. Weier, although sentenced to 25 years to life, only three of these had to be spent incarcerated in a mental health facility, followed by supervision until the age of 37. In the summer of 2021, she was released from the facility and then subject to the public supervision order. Geyser was sentenced to 40 years to life and remains incarcerated at the time of writing in a mental health facility.

The short video below looks at the trial a little further.

The Fallout

As we might imagine, there was much discussion and debate as to the influence of the Slender Man, not only Weier and Geyser, but society, particularly the young, as a whole. And this debate was not limited to the state of Wisconsin but led to a wider nationwide debate. One result of these debates was the blocking of Creepypasta Wiki in the Waukesha School District.

The administrators of the website responded that the attack in the district was an “isolated incident” (although as we will examine shortly, this would prove not to be the case, although through no fault of their own) and that the website was a “literary website” and not one that promoted nor condoned murder. Eric Knudsen (Slender Man’s original creator) would state that he was “deeply saddened” by the attack.

As the discussions on the case and connection to the Internet character of the Slender Man went on, the debate began to shift to the overall effect of the Internet, in general. It is easy to see how a knee-jerk reaction might have happened. However, while there were plenty of recommendations to parents regarding what their children might view on the Internet, it was argued that such influence as had seemingly happened in the Slender Man stabbings could just as easily have come from horror novels about all manner of scary creatures.

How “Real” Can An Imaginary Figure Be?

At this point is perhaps worth pausing for a moment and examining just how real a legend such as the Slender Man – who we know was created for the purposes of an Internet forum – can actually be?

We might state, for example, that in the minds of the two girls who carried out the attack in Wisconsin, Slender Man was very real. And what’s more, they were seeking not only the approval of the Slender Man but were looking to prove to the world of his authenticity. Perhaps the fact that they carried out such a vicious attack did, in a roundabout way, bring the Slender Man to life, making him a reality to all of us.

What’s more, the case in Waukesha is not the only one where the Slender Man has been connected to grim and potentially deadly events.

In June 2014 – only weeks after the attack on Waukesha – a 13-year-old girl who was said to have had an obsession with the Slender Man, attacked her mother with a knife in Hamilton County, Ohio. ^[6] Fortunately, the victim survived to speak of the attack – which she blamed on her daughter’s mental health issues. She would state that she had arrived home on the night in question and found her daughter waiting for her in the kitchen wearing a white mask. She would continue that her daughter had written about “demons” and “insanity”, as well as several references to Slender Man.

Around the same time, in Las Vegas, Nevada ^[7] a man was accused of killing a member of the public and two police officers ^[8] before committing suicide with his wife was connected to the Slender Man legend. According to a neighbor, the gunman had an obsession with the Slender Man and often dressed up in costume as the spooky figure.

Only months later, In September 2014, a 14-year-old girl would set her family home on fire in Port Richey in Florida, allegedly “inspired” to do so by the Slender Man. ^[9] According to the police report, the teenager fled the premises as the flames took hold and spent the night in a bathroom in a nearby park where she was arrested. Although the home was entirely destroyed, all inside made it out alive.

The teenager had an apparent obsession with the Slender Man – as police discovered from her Internet history, as well as her own admission that she had “been reading a lot” about him online. Whether the Slender Man did, if only in her own mind, inspire the young girl to set the fire at the house, the police certainly believed there was a connection.

Connections To Suicides?

There has also been a spate of suicides that the Slender Man legend has been connected to that took place in between the end of 2014 and the early summer of 2015 at a Pine Ridge Reservation, an Oglala Lakota reservation in South Dakota. The New York Times would report that there had been in excess of 100 suicides in the six months leading up to their report in May 2015, and that “several officials with knowledge of the cases said that at least one of the youths who committed suicide was influenced by Slender Man”.

What is particularly interesting about these unfortunate events is that there is a local belief in a “suicide spirit” whose various names elude very much to the Slender Man. This spirit was known by several names, including the Tall Man, the Big Man, or Walking Sam, and would encourage its unfortunate victims to commit suicide. ^[10]

Were these apparently Slender Man-influenced suicides unique to the youth of Pine Ridge Reservation, perhaps because of the local folklore of the Tall Man (or Walking Sam)? It is perhaps intriguing in itself that such legends that are very similar to the fictional legend of the Slender Man even exist, if we assume that Slender Man’s creator had no knowledge of them.

There was also an account of a potential mass suicide that almost took place on the reservation when multiple teenagers ventured into nearby woodland. The aim was simple – to hang themselves from the trees at the same time. ^[11] According to the report, a local paster named John Two Bulls got wind of the tragic incident about to unfold and managed to make his way to the location and bring proceedings to a halt. Talk among many of the reservation community believed the teenagers had been led there by Walking Sam.

Whether such an effect of the Slender Man has occurred in other suicides around the world in the decade or so since its creation is unknown. However, it is clear that this fictional character has had very real influence in the lives of other people around the world.

“Lacy” – Several Encounters With The Slender Man

We could do worse than turn to the research files of Nick Redfern and an account he relays of a trainee flight attendant from Erie, Pennsylvania, who claimed to the researcher that she had several encounters with the Slender Man beginning in 2016. ^[12] She would claim that these encounters began shortly after she read the book by Robin Swope, Slenderman: From Fiction to Fact. What is also of interest is that, by her own admission, she quickly became obsessed with the mysterious and very fictional figure after reading the book. As Redfern writes, Lacy didn’t see the Slender Man in the flesh in “3-D physical form”. She did, though, “encounter him on her laptop”.

One evening in the summer of 2016, her laptop was on the side in sleep mode while Lacy was watching television. Suddenly, however, the laptop came to life seemingly of its own accord. Even stranger and more unnerving, for the briefest of moments, Lacy could see what appeared to be a strange image that was somewhere “between a man and a long-legged bug”.

She tried to push the incident from her mind, telling herself that the image had been a trick of the lights and shadows of the room. However, two nights later, a very similar incident took place, and she knew that something rather extraordinary was taking place.

On this second occasion, as her laptop suddenly came to life, another image quickly presented itself. However, rather than being a bony, tall body, it was a clear depiction of the Slender Man’s face. Or perhaps a more accurate description would be a lack of it, as “the eyes, the nose, and the ears were all missing”, just as the legend states is the case.

Lacy was immediately terrified by the events and raced out of her apartment, making her way to her mother’s house where she would spend the night.

Several weeks passed with no further incidents, and Lacy began to put the episodes from her mind. However, late one evening, around 11 pm while she was wrapping presents on the floor of her living room, her laptop suddenly came to life once more. This time, though, rather than see a strange figure or a blank, featureless face, a quiet, deep voice spoke to her, stating, “We Are Friends” before the laptop returned to its sleep mode as if nothing had happened.

This time, Lacy was almost beside herself with terror and made a conscious decision to cease all of her reading and research into the Slender Man. Such was her terror that she even deleted all of her research files, and even went as far as burning the aforementioned book in a metal bin in the yard of her mother’s house. Following this, the strange visits suddenly stopped.

According to what Lacy told Redfern, it was her belief that her intense research into the subject of the Slender Man had “caused the Internet itself to realize” it and so presented her with the Slender Man himself. This might sound a little outrageous, but we will return to this notion very shortly.

Tentative Similarities To The Spring-Heeled Jack Sightings

It might be worth our time straying slightly into the sightings of Spring-Heeled Jack from the 1830s to the very early years of the twentieth century (although these later sightings were much fewer and more spread apart). ^[13]

There have been many suggestions put forward for who, or what might be responsible for Spring-Heeled Jack, ranging from a deranged maniac to a supernatural entity, or possibly even an alien being. However, to some researchers, admittedly more from the mainstream, it is clear that the initial Spring-Heeled Jack sightings were the work of one person who was then copied throughout the years (which would explain the sightings in different parts of the UK and decades later).

If this was the case, does that make Spring-Heeled Jack a Victorian version of the Slender Man, using real sightings and (largely non-violent) attacks which are then reported in the newspapers and so contribute to the ever-growing legend of this mysterious menace on the streets of London and further afield? And even if a small number of the reports were leaning more to the fictitious, they still achieve their aim of adding another layer of intrigue to the legend.

Indeed, might we see Slender Man take on a more “physical” role in the real world over the coming years, albeit one that would seemingly be one that is much more horrific than the largely mischievous nature of Spring-Heeled Jack?

If Perception Is Reality…?

It is interesting that in the days leading to me writing this article I spoke with my son (who is almost 20 years old) about the Slender Man.

What was interesting to me was how he stated, matter-of-factly as if he were referring to a nursery rhyme, that “anyone of his age knows who Slender Man is” and what’s more, they have known about him for as long as they can remember, even though they are perfectly aware that he just a myth and recently created legend.

In this sense, to anyone born after 2000, the Slender Man is simply an accepted part of (imaginary) life and takes a place in the same realm as The Boogeyman might have for previous generations. This shows the sheer power and reach of the Slender Man legend, and perhaps also demonstrates the delivery method, in this case, the Internet, and how effective a tool for information sharing it truly is.

We are, seeing the creation, development, and growth of an urban legend – modern-day folklore – in real-time. And it is for this reason that many who study myths, legends, and folklore – both from a research perspective or a scholarly level – are so fascinating, as it perhaps gives us a window into how such legends and myths of the past were formed, and what truths might be within them.

In this case, we know that from a completely fictional character, a “real” version sprang, if only in the minds of the two young girls who attempted to then murder their friend in this imaginary menace’s name. Once more, for those involved (including the victim), the Slender Man was suddenly very real, as were the consequences of the actions he influenced.

When we consider the suicides that we examined above – if we assume the connections made are correct – then we might state that for these tragic people who felt their only option was to take their own life, the Slender Man was also very real.

These real events have, over time, become intertwined with the legend of the Slender Man – for example, some legends speak of him convincing people to take their own lives. In this sense, the fictional Slender Man feeds the “real” Slender Man, and vice-versa.

There is a saying that perception is reality – if someone thinks something, then unless they somehow change their perspective, it might as well be as they think it is. This is perhaps the same for those who, for whatever reason, perceive the Slender Man as very real.

The (Unknown) Power Of The Human Mind

This idea of perception being reality, if in a twisted and skewered type of way, is perhaps worth staying with a little while longer.

In the movie Shadow People, for example, the idea is floated toward the end of the film that just knowing and then consequently believing in the menacing, shadowy entities was enough for them to appear and wreak havoc, almost as if they were only real in the minds of those who were aware of them. And while this stopped short of saying (in the film) that Shadow People were completely imaginary, it was an intriguing twist and notion. Might much the same be said for the Slender Man for similar reasons? That somewhere in the human psyche there is a contemplation of his authenticity, even if the person is not aware of it.

Why, then, do the Slender Man legends, in particular, appear rife for this conversion from fictional creature to a perceived real entity? And why does this not happen with other manufactured horror characters from the movies such as Freddy Krugger, for example?

It is perhaps interesting to note that some legends such as Dracula (and vampires, in general) have been acted out in the real world, with many people committing murder in the belief that they themselves are vampires. Perhaps, subconsciously, the human mind rejects the movie horror figures and contemplates those of legend and folklore simply because a tiny part of them can’t be 100 percent certain they are entirely fictitious.

It is also interesting to highlight the words of researcher and writer, Miguel Romero (also known as Red Pill Junkie) who would comment on the “reality” of the Slender Man in the modern world as being a “cultural remix between the older myth of the Tall Man/Suicide Spirit which already existed among Native Americans prior to the rise of the World Wide Web, and the newer, more potent icon of Slender Man” ^[14] which had found its way into the reservation as it had in many other homes around America, and indeed the world. And while Romero is certainly not saying the Slender Man is real in the conventional sense of the word, he certainly appears to be real enough to have a drastic effect on the minds of various young people.

There is, though, another possibility, however unlikely, that we should consider. And it is to that train of thought where we will turn our attention next.

Imagined Into Reality?

Although this is rampant speculation, and certainly not meant in a disrespectful way, it is still perhaps worth considering such ideas as the Psychic Internet Theory put forward by researcher and author, Peter McCue.

At its most basic, the Psychic Internet Theory suggests that each human mind subconsciously has the ability to connect to others, much like computers connected via the Internet. And what’s more, the power of these collective and connected minds can manifest what they are subconsciously tapped into in reality. For example, if a group of people with an interest in UFOs all descended upon a UFO hotspot, they might very much be expecting to see a UFO, even if these expectations are subconscious. This potential concentration of subconscious mental energy might very well result in the said UFO appearing – like a collective hallucination, but real at the same time.

Admittedly, these ideas are speculative and bordering on outlandish, but also make a certain amount of sense given how little we know of the human mind. And then if we bring in legends from the ancient world, in this case, that of Ptah, one of the creator gods of ancient Egypt they become even more intriguing. It is said that Ptah sat upon a “winged chair” and was able to bring his thoughts literally to life – so much so that he essentially imagined the world into existence.

As unlikely as it might be (although we should remind ourselves that the ancient Egyptians themselves declared such writings as fact and not legends or myths) if there was any truth to legends of Ptah, might we all, or at least our subconscious minds, have the ability to manifest our thoughts into reality?

At this point, it is worth our time reminding ourselves of the account of Lacy as relayed by researcher Nick Redfern. It was her belief that her own interest and research had resulted in the appearance of the Slender Man on her laptop.

We might also consider the claims of such alleged advanced technology that cause hallucinations in masses of people., as well as the alleged experiments of intelligence agencies of a person manifesting objects into reality from the power of their mind alone.

As the legend of the Slender Man grew and circulated around the Internet, might it be possible, however unlikely, that the collective subconscious of the human mind then brought it to life and imagined it into reality? If a group of people – in this case, connected together by the Internet itself – began to imagine seeing the Slender Man for real through Internet forums and message boards, even if they were not aware of it, might the power of their subconscious mind have manifested this entity into existence?

It is perhaps comforting to us that such notions are unlikely for if there were any truths to them it would mean not only an altering of our perception but the need to confront a terror that we couldn’t (or in this case, could) imagine.

Something Both Fictional And Real?

As we can see, then, the Slender Man could be argued to be both entirely fictional and very real at the same time, at least from certain perspectives. If, for example, the two 12-year-old girls in Waukesha had not believed in the reality of Slender Man, they would surely have not attempted to murder their friend in order to appease him. Much could be said of the other attacks by youngsters that followed. Was this some kind of “mass hysteria” or did the Slender Man slip into the perceived realities of many young minds around the same time, and so ultimately bring him to life through their actions.

And we might also consider the suicides of the Pine Ridge Reservation. While we might argue that each person who tragically took their own life must have had their own personal demons working against them, if they also “bought into” or believed the legends of Slender Man enough (which, remember, were almost becoming intertwined with ancient legends of the suicide spirit) then, to them, this dark character suddenly becomes very real.

The fact is, for those who have to deal with such attacks and suicides with a connection to the Slender Man, the consequences of that respective (and at times, collective) belief are also very real, and very tragic.

Without a doubt, though, from a research point of view, from various perspectives, disciplines, and fields of interest, the Slender Man legends and how they have unfolded have been a chance to watch the development and evolution of modern folklore in real-time, as it happens, as opposed to observing a fully formed legend from thousands of years ago. The opportunity to do this offers potential insight into many such legends and folklore of yesteryear.

Where the Slender Man legend may go from here, if it grows in stature or declines in interest remains to be seen. It will remain, though, one of the most intriguing, unsettling, and unique legends in history, of that there is little doubt.

The short video below looks at the Slender Man in a little more detail.