Slenderman
| Published on Creepypasta.com | January 2010 |
|---|---|
| Length | 856 words · about 4 minutes to read |
| Story level | Short |
| Reader rating | 8.5/10 from 14,975 votes |
| Category | Beings and Entities |
Possibly the most famous Creepypasta character of all time and certainly the one that has crossed most frequently into mainstream media, The Slenderman also known as Slender man, is a character borne of a variety of earlier influences, but which itself represents an evolution in the uses and development of folklore.
Violent real-life events linked to the Slenderman character increased its infamy and even led to a ‘Moral panic’ based on the possible negative influences and danger that the fictional character posed to children.
If only you hadn’t looked back. Though it was autumn the day had seemed long and the brief walk toward home short. As the sunlight began to fade you and your two friends left the playground behind and trudged reluctantly home, knowing that you would be forced to pick up the games and conversations the next day. The next day, that never came. If only you hadn’t looked back. But you had.
Turning just for a moment, you had glanced back toward the treeline. Seen the fingers of their branches clawing up toward the sky and beside them, the figure.
At first, you’d thought you must be mistaken, that your eyes in the hazy blur of twilight were playing tricks on you, but no. When you looked again ‘he’ was still there. Taller than any man could be, thinner even the willowy branches that extended ever upward from the trees. He loomed in the distance, like the shadow of some horrible dark truth and you knew instantly that you had to look away, that if you didn’t tear your eyes from that blank featureless face then soon the blank would wash over you, become you and you would walk slowly but surely, as if pulled by some magnetic force toward him, toward him though you feared him, though you were scared of his unnatural height, the aching blank whiteness of his face, the arms that seemed to stretch towards you and the slithering tentacles behind.
You turned. Screwing up your eyes, telling, willing yourself not to look, not to see, not to give in and go to him. You scream to the others telling them the same, telling them not to look. But as you open your eyes you realize, they have already looked. They were already gone.
Slenderman Appearance
Though adaptation and modification by various authors means that Slenderman’s appearance can vary somewhat depending upon the source, the most common features remain the same.
The character is usually depicted as an abnormally tall humanoid, usually wearing a dark suit and tie. Slenderman’s face is almost always completely featureless and often either white or a pale grey, though in some depictions this ‘blank’ face does feature an animalistic mouth.
Slenderman is often said to be able to extend or stretch his limbs, particularly his arms at will, and either has tentacles protruding, just visible from his back or has tentacle-like appendages in place of his arms.
The character commonly inhabits liminal spaces, such as the entrance to woods and forests or areas of abandoned ground on the outskirts of more populated areas.
Whilst there are a wide variety of Slenderman stories out there, much of the character’s effectiveness comes from the fact that there is no single definitive version, the initial posts that introduced the character being only fragmentary quotes linked to an image rather than an actual short story or complete narrative.
Much like his appearance however, though the details alter some elements seem to remain as constants, such as the character appearing by woods or forests, enticing children away from their parents and friends never to be seen again. Another common trope is that the Slenderman exerts an influence upon the victims making them the perpetrators of crimes or violent actions. The character has also been said to cause illness (particularly a cough known as ‘slender sickness) and to induce those who encounter him to suicide. These latter features, namely incitement to violence or suicide became more prominent and commonly associated with the character in a case of art imitating life after real-life violent events or cases of attempted suicide were linked to the character
Origins
Despite some media outlets adding to the aura of the Slenderman mythos by claiming that the figure’s origins are unclear, in fact the character’s origin is easily traceable.
Slenderman in his original form was created by Eric Knudsen under the alias Victor Surge. Knudsen was responding to a call on Something Awful, for posters to contribute digitally altered photographs that would then serve as the basis for new mythologies or stories.
Knudsen’s effort, posted on June 10 2009 showed groups of teenagers and children with the now-familiar figure of Slenderman standing in the background. At first glance, the images seem normal but the figure’s anomalous size and featureless face once noticed give the pictures an eerie and unsettling feeling. Alongside the images, Knudsen provided small snippets of out-of-context text purported to be witness accounts that give hints about the scenes depicted and their relation to the anomalous figure of the Slenderman.
By attaching short snippets of text with his images Knudsen transformed the lone image into the first Slenderman story, albeit in a nonlinear and fragmentary form. Following this initial appearance, the Slenderman character was then picked up by other users, who either fit him into their own narratives or wrote short accounts of alleged encounters with the character, sculpting as they did some of the features recognized today.
With each new detail and new account, posters helped in building a mythos around the character that because of its viral scope and a myriad of conflicting details and accounts did not retain a ‘canon’ version and this process happened fast.
The day after Knudsen’s post, a user named Leechcode five posted a photo with a backstory featuring Slenderman, by 14th June a user name TrenchMaul had used Slenderman in his own story. A user known as Thoreau-Up posted a story about a figure in Germany who stalked children on the edge of the forest, providing an invented historical reference point for the character.
On June 20th of the same year, Slenderman became the subject of a YouTube video series, based upon an earlier Something Awful post by user Troy Wagner. The series which alleged to detail interactions or discoveries about the Slenderman made whilst working on a film project named Marble Hornets. This series of videos was supported by a Twitter feed and a second Youtube channel allowed the character to move from being a text, image, and forum-based phenomenon to being an ARG, with the character now being referred to, discussed and modified across a number of different platforms and modalities by an ever-growing number of contributors.
SlenderMan Creepypasta Story
After waking up with a jolt, the girl laid in bed a few seconds longer. Reaching over to switch on her bedside lamp, she tried to remember exactly what had stolen her sweet slumber away. When she couldn’t, the brunette swung her legs over the side of the bed and heaved herself up. Checking the time on her phone, she snorted when she saw it was midnight- the witching hour. Knowing that sleep would only evade her, she left her bedroom for the kitchen, a good cup of coffee on her mind. As she passed by her front door, a chill spread like liquid fire down her spine. It’s only winter, she told herself, focusing again on the coffee plan.
Also read: Maisie Went Missing Last Year
Measuring out scoops, water, and preparing her cup kept her occupied, but as the dark liquid boiled, she had nothing left to keep her mind from wandering off. The chill returned and she couldn’t help but glance behind her to the front door. It stood there innocently enough, just like always. The dead bolt was still in place and she could see nothing amiss with it. Turning back to her coffee, she did her best to forget about the feeling. With her cup in hand, she started back towards her bedroom. As she walked by the front door, she decided that a quick glance out of the peep hole would help calm her restless mind.
The chill worsened with each step she took towards the door and further away from the safety and warmth of her blankets. She pressed her empty hand against the cold, metal door and took a deep breath before leading her eye to the peep hole. At first, she could only see an inky blackness and somehow seemed to swirl in itself. When she blinked in surprise, the void melted away. She wished it hadn’t. In its place, there stood what she could only guess was once a man. The limbs were long and inhumanly awkward, with bulky joints branching off into several arms, not unlike the branches of a tree.
The creature was draped in a black suit, somehow making the thing more nightmarish to her. The icing on the proverbial cake, however, was what passed as the hellish thing’s face. It was as though her mind blurred the ghastly visage to spare itself further shock and horror. She shoved herself away from the door with the hand still pressed against it. The scalding mug of coffee fell, the liquid burning her bare legs as she fell backwards and tried to crawl away from the door. She knew, somehow, that her mind hadn’t been playing tricks on her. As she crab walked away from the door, she watched as tendrils as black as the void she first saw snake around through the cracks.
The girl was trapped between the instinct to flee and the gut feeling to not turn her back on the door. When the door jolted, the urge to flee overcame her and she slipped in the burning liquid as she tried to make it back to her room. She knew deep down that she was trapping herself in a corner, but she had to get away from the door. The girl was halfway down the hallway when she heard the previously locked door creak open. She screamed and slipped into a wall, cracking her chin on it and stunning her. After that, there was only blackness. * * * * * “Nicole?” a warm, male voice snapped the woman out of her trance.
As she turned around, she was met by one of her sister’s doctor’s. She nodded, not sure if she should say anything, or even if she could find her voice if she did have something to say. That morning, she had gotten an urgent phone call from the hospital, saying that her sister, Lindsay, was there. Before they had even let her see her, the doctor’s had pulled her off to the side and insisted that they talk to her about what might have happened. Phrases like ‘self-inflected’ and ‘assault’ had been thrown around and Nicole felt her mind reel. She still hadn’t fully understood what they had been saying until she saw Lindsay with her own eyes.
Her little sister had a bandage wrapped around her head, covering both of her ears as well as her eyes. They said it was to keep her now deadened eyes from drying out and to try to keep infection out of the wounds Lindsay had made to her ears. The doctors had guessed that either she or someone else had jammed a pencil into them to keep her off balance or to deafen herself against something. There was a mix of first and second-degree burns on her hands, legs, and feet, from what was assumed to be the coffee her neighbors found slipped all over the entry to her apartment.
As Nicole walked into her sister’s hospital room the first time, she thought she had spied the silhouette of a man in the window. That, she knew, was impossible. Her sister’s room was on the third story of the hospital. CREDIT: Anonymous
Behavior
Much of the fascination with Slenderman is rooted in the overall aura of mystery that he is wrapped in. Despite the fact that it is rumored he kills children almost exclusively, it is difficult to say whether or not his only objective is slaughter. Often times it is either reported or recorded that he can be found in sections of woods, and these generally tend to be suburban. He also has been reported seen with large groups of children, as many photographs portray. It is commonly thought that he resides in woods and forests and preys on children. He seems unconcerned with being exposed in the daylight or captured in photos. It is often thought as well that he enjoys stalking people who become overly paranoid about his existence, purposefully giving them glimpses of himself in order to further frighten them. For this reason, it seems like Slenderman very much enjoys psychologically torturing his victims. He also often appears to float or drift around rather than walk, which suggest the possibility of him being an ethereal being rather than a creature or a man. This would also explain why he is able to remain mobile in spite of his poorly proportioned body.
Even though Slenderman was fabricated on SomethingAwful forums (or was he?), some people have already claimed sightings. He is seen mostly at night peering into open windows and walks out in front of lone motorists on secluded roads. His main intentions appear to be kidnapping children, as when he is seen near them in photographs, they usually disappear shortly afterward. The Slenderman has also inspired many stories such as those of Marble Hornets. In the end, though, his purpose remains unknown. An interesting take on Slenderman by a pasta member who is relying on the Marble Hornets series for evidence/facts:
“There has been a big misconception about my pal the Slenderman due to the appearance of this article. He does not have hair or a face. Everything else is correct. There is also some questioning as to whether or not there is more than one. I find that unlikely. It’s most likely Slendy fucking with your head in order to make you think that there is more than one, which he has been known to do. As of now, Slendy has 3 or 4 known accomplices.
These are Hoodie, Maskie, The Rake and possibly The Observer. Not much is known yet because the next episode of the Noah Maxwell ARG has not yet been released. In the Marble Hornets ARG, Hoodie and Maskie are possibly his followers. In the Everyman Hybrids ARG, the Rake seems to be working with him, but we aren’t really sure if that is true or not.”
Slenderman Historical References
Brazilian Cave Paintings
The earliest argued reference to the legend is within the cave paintings found in the Serr da Capivara National Park in the Northeast of Brazil, which are believed to date from as far back as 9000 BC. These paintings show a strangely elongated character leading a child by the hand, but make no reference to the extra appendages.
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
The next known possible reference to the Slenderman comes from around 3100 BC in lower Egypt, with references to the “Thief of the Gods” or the “Thief of Kuk” becoming commonplace during the reign of Pharaoh Wazner. Hieroglyphic carvings representing the Thief were found in the pharaoh’s tomb, who was rumored to have had some kind of encounter with the entity. The carvings resemble a strange figure with multiple upper limbs, one that has never been found in any other hieroglyph language.
German Woodcuts
Renowned German woodcutter Hans Freckenberg created at least two woodcuts featuring a character he described as Der Ritter (The Knight) during the mid-sixteenth century that were discovered in Halstberg Castle in 1883. Whilst Freckenberg was well-known for his realistic depiction of human anatomy – something that was unusual among woodcuts of the time – these pictures featured a skeletal, multi-limbed character. Historians are unsure of the exact symbolic nature of the character, with some claiming that it is a personification of the religious wars that raged in Europe at the time, while others say it represents the mysterious plagues that have been believed to be the reason for the mysterious abandoning of the Hastlberg Castle and the nearby village in 1543. However, many insist that Freckenberg was attempting to represent “Der Großmann” (the Tall Man). According to legend, he was a fairy who lived in the Black Forest. Bad children who crept into the woods at night would be relentlessly chased by Der Großmann, who wouldn’t leave them be until he either caught them or they were forced to tell their parents of their wrongdoing. Even then, there is a chilling account from an old journal, dating from about 1702:
“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 Großmann.
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.”
Romanian Mythology
There is also a Romanian fairytale which tells the legend of the Tall Man, featuring this description which may have taken to refer to the Slenderman “The tall man stood in a clearing, dressed as a nobleman, all in black. Shadows lay over him, dark as a cloudy midnight. He had many arms, all long and boneless as snakes, all sharp as swords, and they writhed like worms on nails. He did not speak, but made his intentions known,” In the fairytale, the Tall Man causes a mother to kill her husband and child before he slid from a fireplace and “clenched her in his burning embrace.”
English Mythology
There is also an English myth referring to the “Tree Man,” who is said to have a slim body with appendages that looks like tree branches. He is only known to be seen in the woods and was used as a story that parents told their children to thwart bad behavior. There have been quite a few disappearances of children that have been said to be linked to the “Tree Man.”
The Slenderman Movie
Other Slenderman Stories:
Jeff The Killer Versus Slenderman More classic Creepypasta stories can be found here:
Jeff The Killer
Ben Drowned
Candle Cove
Slender Man: quick facts
- Created on June 10, 2009, by Eric Knudsen (posting as “Victor Surge”) for a Something Awful forum contest to make paranormal photos.
- Spread through fan stories, art and the found-footage YouTube series Marble Hornets (2009–2014).
- Became a gaming hit with Slender: The Eight Pages (2012) and Slender: The Arrival (2013).
- Starred in his own Hollywood film, Slender Man, in 2018.
Slender Man FAQ
Is Slender Man real?
No. Slender Man was invented in 2009 for an online photo-editing contest. Everything since then is fiction built by fans and writers.
What is the Slender Man lore?
Slender Man is an impossibly tall, faceless figure in a black suit, sometimes shown with tentacle-like arms, who stalks and takes people, especially children. He was created by Eric Knudsen, posting as “Victor Surge”, in a Something Awful photo-editing thread in June 2009, and the legend grew through fan stories, the Marble Hornets web series and the 2012 game Slender: The Eight Pages.
Who created Slender Man?
Eric Knudsen, using the name “Victor Surge,” created Slender Man on the Something Awful forums on June 10, 2009.
What does Slender Man look like?
A very tall, thin figure in a black suit with a blank, featureless face, often shown with unnaturally long arms or tentacles.
What is Marble Hornets?
A found-footage YouTube series that ran from 2009 to 2014 and helped turn Slender Man into a worldwide legend.
Is there a Slender Man movie?
Yes. Slender Man was released in 2018. An earlier film, Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story, came out in 2015.
Is Slender Man a creepypasta?
Yes. Slender Man was created by Eric Knudsen for a Something Awful photo-editing contest in 2009 and spread online as one of the defining creepypastas.
Go deeper into the legend with who created Slender Man and the complete timeline of Slender Man.
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NOW ALL OF YOU QUIT YOUR JABBERNABBING BICKERING!!! IF COMPUTERS COULD SAY WHAT YOU WROTE IT’D BE LOUD ENOUGH TO WAKE THE DEAD!!!!!! Ahem, anyways, just let the topic on whether or not Slenderman (Der Ritter, as he is called in Germany) is real. There has been a lot of evidence, though, from woodcuts to even cave art of a child being led away by a very, very tall figure. Don’t forget the kidnappings of the 1900’s, and please don’t forget about the ‘insane’ folk have all saw the same creature! His appearance might differ from time to time, but netherless, he has been accurately described by those who saw him. Just because you are afraid of something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I’m deathly afraid of spiders and bees, but are they make-believe? No. There are plenty of other creatures out there that haven’t been discovered-the Bonobo Apes weren’t discovered until several decades ago, and if a creature that big can hide out for centuriesd, why not Slenderman? Lack of evidence doesn’t mean lack of presence; I figured that one out the hard way. Can you see atoms? brain waves? cells? No yuo can’t, but they’re still there; same with Slenderman. A legend means that no-one can prove if it’s real or not, myth means that it never happened; please get your facts straight before you end up bashing each other over something utterly ridicoulus! Just so you know, Jeff the Killer is a real person, but his story has been twisted a bit to make him seem more horrifying. And to think that you all have been told off and given a lesson by a 13-year-old girl! Good day, and please learn to respect others! :-)
To all slender people. I tried to find you on FACEbook but you were not there
wast up slendy my friend antoine said yall doing a great job a killing.
I’d like one more order of this pasta, please!
U peepl who don’t know your memes need to geet wit teh program.
And yes, I pulled an LOLcat typing move.
Problemo? :D
guys this is all real believe it or not i was walking home one day from my friends house he lives by some woods and all the sudden i heard screaming in the woods so i ran to where the screaming was coming from and all i heard was static….THAT FUCKING STATIC!!! and when i looked down i saw a camera that was still recording and when i picked it up it had gone dead so i put it in my bookbag and started walking out of the woods then i heard a noise like whispering saying..”you’ll never make it out alive” then the static got louder and when i turned back all i saw was a black tuxedo and long arms….then everything went blank and i cant rememberanything after that.
Dude, I only read “THAT FUCKING STATIC!!!” but I still like your comment.
Static. Static Everywhere.
Simple Logic.
Oh look a big bird behind you, look at those feathers its so beautiful look behind you please…
What if there are a bunch of slendermen then take all the children 0_0
I heard scarier shit
Are you like the offspring of Jane the Killer and Eyeless Jack? Cause your user name suggests that to me…
~Simple Logic.
um,,,
…..Nichole is my name…
Hello, This Is A Similar Thing That Happened To Me, I Was In The Passenger Seat When My Dad Was Driving.. A Man In A Suit Was Standing In The Road, He Had Long Arms That Were Obviously Unhuman, We Stopped Then He Disappeared. We Carried On.Suddenly, He Appeared Again, The Wheels Of The Car Span Round And We Crashed Into A Tree. The Glass From The Window Shattered And Fell Into My Father’s Eye.. We Were Rushed Into The Hospital, We Were At The 7th Floor. As I Went To Get A Drink I Got My Crutches, Then Looked Out Of The Window The Man Stood Their. When I Looked Away Again He Got Closer, “I Must Be Hallucinating,” I Murmured. I Took A Step Back, The Suited Man Got Into The Building, I Collapsed And Screamed For Help. The Skin Of My Leg Suddenly Pealed Off, The Man Got Closer And Closer. I Screamed Again..
It wasn’t what I thought it would be…. I thought it would be more creepy, easier to comprehend, You know what I mean? And he didn’t have to add in that the main character was a brunette, we can create an image in our mind of the characters how we want them to be in our heads.Besides, the last paragraph needs some improvements, it doesn’t really state whats really happening in that specific time, so the reader gets confused and can’t comprehend whats happening in the story, but besides those things, it’s a good story! ;)
Hmm,
Wasn’t the Slender Man Creepypasta based off of the
Boogie(However you say his name) Man? Or had I heard wrong?
Whatever you guys do, ABSOLUTELY do not try to search up personal info on slenderman, i.e. his real name…I made that mistake years ago and im still on the brink of paranoia
This sucked as much as the stupid games that somehow got popular
I Hide in the shadows, watching you. I Slip through the woods, stalking you. When I see you, it’s already to late, for my dark evil curses, are doomed as your fate. I am your so called SlenderMan! I am the beast that haunts your child’s dreams. I am a beast, who knows no pity. You cannot hide from me. I’ll find you no matter what.
well excuse me princess but Slendermen can’t find me =p
He is always there.
He is always watching.
He will find you.
He will find you.
Omnomnomnomnomnomnomnom
Omg you guys are so funny. If you actually know about Slender you watch the Marble Hornets on youtube. They had an interview and its not true all three of them and the slender man toy they use sitting together and saying how much fun it is. RETARDS ITS NEVER GOING TO BE REAL!
buyyyyyaaaaa
heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
I enjoyed it, I liked going back to the basic slenderman stories. By chance, does any body know the original slenderman?
This is slightly sad. You all should know that “yeah, mabye Slender mans not real.” But your all dumb because no one really knows if he is real or not! Creepypastas are monsters based off URBAN LEGANDS!!! Basiclly no one knows if they are real or not.
Lol gotta admit its a decent pasta, nom nom
I’m coming.
Too long so I’m not reading it. Sorry no time, I’m in a talent show in a few so gotta get ready, Yay :)
i like sandwiches!
that was wierd and confusing!!!!