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Slender Man
A tall, faceless figure in a suit. Long, tendril-like arms. Created on the internet in 2009. But something strange happened—people began seeing him. In 2014, girls stabbed their friend for him.
2009 - Present
Internet/Worldwide
100+ witnesses
Slender Man is a fictional supernatural character created online in 2009 that became a cultural phenomenon and was associated with real-world violence.
Origin
According to documented history:
The Slender Man was:
- Created on June 10, 2009
- On the Something Awful forums
- By Eric Knudsen (“Victor Surge”)
- As a Photoshop contest entry
- Designed to look like vintage paranormal photos
Description
Slender Man appears as:
- Extremely tall and thin
- Wearing a black suit
- Having no face
- With elongated arms or tentacles
- Stalking children
- Appearing in woods or backgrounds
Spread
The character spread through:
- Creepypasta stories
- Video games (Slender: The Eight Pages)
- YouTube series (Marble Hornets)
- Fan art and fiction
- Became a genuine legend
The 2014 Stabbing
In Waukesha, Wisconsin:
- Two 12-year-old girls
- Stabbed a classmate 19 times
- Claimed Slender Man told them to
- They wanted to become his “proxies”
- The victim survived
Tulpa Theory
Some suggest:
- Belief can create entities
- Slender Man may have become “real”
- A thought-form brought to life
- This is called a tulpa
- The theory is controversial
Cultural Impact
Slender Man represents:
- Internet folklore creation
- Moral panic about online content
- The power of collaborative storytelling
- How fiction can affect reality