Beware the Slenderman

Many of you will probably be aware of the 'Slenderman' phenomenon.  'Slenderman' was created as part of a PhotoShop competition in 2009, whose remit was to create convincing and frightening paranormal figures.  He's a very simple figure: an extremely tall man, dressed in a dark suit with shirt and tie.  He's faceless, too - perhaps his most striking and sinister feature.  Sometimes, he's depicted with tentacles spiraling out of his back.  He lives in a mansion deep in a dark forest.  He stalks children and takes them back to his mansion - either to kill them, or to keep them as 'proxies': personal servants who are dedicated to him. 

Since his creation as an image, 'Slenderman' has developed into a powerful urban myth.  The mythology has spread around the world via the internet - especially through sites like Creepypasta Wiki, where stories and images were first posted.  He's very much an archetype, found throughout mythology and folk tales, and across cultures.  Think of figures like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Boogey-man, The Thing, Melmoth, the Wandering Jew, the Yeti, the Sasquatch, etc.  Perhaps the closest model would be the Grimm's brothers' fairy tale The Pied Piper of Hamelin.  The Pied Piper was a strange figure who turned up out of nowhere to help the citizens of Hamelin with their rat problem.  He lured the rats away to their deaths with a pipe tune.  The town councillors had promised to reward him for this.  But they cheated him.  So... he got his own back by playing another tune and luring all of the town's children away with him to a secret mountain, where he kept them.  'Slenderman' is similar to the Pied Piper in that his intentions are enigmatic and uncertain.  Is he acting for good or evil?  Or both?  Perhaps the most important and powerful thing about him is that he can be whatever anyone wants him to be.  He can be different things to different people.  Creepypasta Wiki reflects this, with the users posting their own interpretations in images, home videos, and fan fiction.  He taps into all sorts of human fears and insecurities... and also our need, perhaps, for some kind of superhero figure or monster to believe in.  He's usually seen in images and videos as a furtive figure, lurking in the background.  Is he merely observing at a distance?  Or is he coming to get you?  With no facial expression to go on... who knows?

The power of this myth, and the way it can lead people to blur the lines between reality and fiction, can be compared to something like the character of Sherlock Holmes.  Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 19th century.  We know this.  If he had existed as a real person, he'd be dead now, anyway.  Either that or he'd be a highly improbable 160 or so years of age.  But again, he didn't exist.  And yet... people still write to him from around the world at his fictional address of 221b Baker Street!

As we know, the people most susceptible to believing in such myths are normally children.  Santa Claus.  The Tooth Fairy.  Superman.  It's powerful stuff to them.  You may also, therefore, be aware of the recent case in the US, where two young girls - Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier - have been tried for the attempted murder of a friend of theirs, Payton Leutner.  All three girls were twelve at the time of the incident, in 2014.  Geyser and Weier (who were complicit in the plan) lured Leutner into some woods, where Geyser stabbed her 19 times.  They then ran off and left her.  Leutner miraculously survived the attack and was found.  The other two were later arrested walking along a highway.  During the investigation, it came out that both girls had been obsessed with the 'Slenderman' stories and firmly believed in his existence.  They maintained they committed the act to protect their families, because they had come to believe that 'Slenderman' was going to kill them.  When they left Leutner after the attack, they were supposed to be making their way to the forest that they believed 'Slenderman' lived in.  They wanted to find his mansion, tell him what they had done to appease him, and live with him as 'proxies'.

It's a very sad, disturbing and distressing case.  Geyser, it transpires, is schizophrenic.  She inherited it from her father - though hers is a far more severe condition.  She had delusions and hallucinations, and was incapable of separating fact from fiction.  Weier was a loner.  An introverted child without friends, who found escape in her iPad, where she discovered 'Slenderman'.  When she met Geyser, they became inseparable, and shared the obsession.  Both girls are still only 15, but were tried under the adult jurisdiction.  Geyser has been committed to 40 years in a mental institution, Weier to 25 years.  The outcome, too, has thrown computer use for young children into a harsh spotlight.  I won't comment on that.  It all gets covered in this remarkable documentary about the case.  If you can steel yourselves to watch it, it's a fascinating insight into the power of myth - and perhaps a wake-up call about where technology might be taking our children if it shuts them off from the world, or if they escape into it if the world shuns them. 

Beware The Slenderman