Slender Man in the News

[Edited to include additional study information.] Hello again, everybody.
 
Last year I created this thread as a way to learn more about the relationship between the Mythos and traditional folklore genres. (Thanks again to everybody who responded to my questions.)
 
The article I wrote on Slender Man dealt with an idea called ostension, which in a nutshell is sort of the acting out of a narrative. The recent attempted murder in Wisconsin and its link to the Slender Man Mythos are a kind of ostension, and I'm interested to know what everybody thinks about this.
 
I'm working on a follow-up research project about the Slender Man internet character and the recent violent crimes that have been linked to it.. If you are interested in participating, please respond to the questions I’ve posed in this post.  I will collect your responses and possibly quote some of them in ongoing research and publication in academic books or journals.  There are no risks or benefits and you will not receive any payment for your participation.
 
For questions about the study, please contact the researcher Jeffrey A. Tolbert at (812) 679-8495. For questions about your rights as a research participant or to discuss problems, complaints or concerns about a research study, or to obtain information, or offer input, contact the IU Human Subjects Office at (800) 696-2949 or by e-mail at irb@iu.edu.
 
Taking part in the study is voluntary.  You may choose not to take part by not responding to my questions.  Not taking part in the study will not result in any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are entitled.  Your decision whether or not to participate in this study will not affect your current or future relations with Indiana University.
 
Does this story affect the way you think about the Mythos? How do you think the mythos might change in response to this kind of event? Does the negative media attention the Mythos has garnered impact your enjoyment of it?  Why is Slender Man, specifically, being connected with the violent crimes in Wisconsin and Ohio?  Is there something about an internet legend that makes it more likely to be “acted out” in this way?
 
I'm eager to hear your thoughts on all of this. Thanks in advance for checking out this thread and thinking about these issues.

Please see the Study Information Sheet at this link (pw: slenderman2014) for additional information.

I feel horrible for the victim's family. I really do wish them well.

I think the girls who did this need psychological help, they are old enough to know right from wrong but they obviously have psychological issues.

This is a tragedy and I give my best regards to the victim's family.

My heart goes out to the families of all involved.

Too many people will blame "evil influences from the media" or "mental illness," or both, as if that explains everything. I have to wonder what was going on in the lives of these girls that running away to live with Slendy was better than what they had, worth killing for.

I remember the 1980's Satanic Panic, which (among other things) included a parental rampage against Dungeons and Dragons. Not HappyFunTimes. I don't want to see something like it again.

Magnus96 wrote:

This is a tragedy and I give my best regards to the victim's family.

I agree, it's very tragic. The victim will likely have a long and painful recovery. Thankfully she survived, but I imagine it will take a long time to recover from a trauma like this.

UncleDark wrote:

Too many people will blame "evil influences from the media" or "mental illness," or both, as if that explains everything. I have to wonder what was going on in the lives of these girls that running away to live with Slendy was better than what they had, worth killing for.

I remember the 1980's Satanic Panic, which (among other things) included a parental rampage against Dungeons and Dragons. Not HappyFunTimes. I don't want to see something like it again.

UncleDark, I suspect you're right. Your mention of D&D is also pretty interesting in that regard. I can see some obvious links between D&D, LARPing, and role-playing in general, and the Mythos.

But I wonder why Slender Man inspired this act, specifically. Why not Jeff the Killer, or the Rake, or other similar creepypasta characters?

The Angry Scholar wrote:

But I wonder why Slender Man inspired this act, specifically. Why not Jeff the Killer, or the Rake, or other similar creepypasta characters?

Simple. Because Slenderman is the biggest of them all. I mean, let's be honest here. The Rake isn't a "household name," and not everyone can hear Jeff the Killer without rolling their eyes and letting out a pained noise. (Myself included.)

Slenderman just so happened to be the one to get big.

NearTheEnd wrote:

The Angry Scholar wrote:

But I wonder why Slender Man inspired this act, specifically. Why not Jeff the Killer, or the Rake, or other similar creepypasta characters?

Simple. Because Slenderman is the biggest of them all. I mean, let's be honest here. The Rake isn't a "household name," and not everyone can hear Jeff the Killer without rolling their eyes and letting out a pained noise. (Myself included.)

Slenderman just so happened to be the one to get big.

I think you're right. Slender Man is definitely the most well-known, at least at the moment. Still, the accused apparently got their knowledge of Slender Man from the Creepypasta wiki, where they could have read about any number of other internet monsters.

Do you have any thoughts about how this will impact the Mythos, or creepypasta in general?

The Angry Scholar wrote:

Magnus96 wrote:

This is a tragedy and I give my best regards to the victim's family.

I agree, it's very tragic. The victim will likely have a long and painful recovery. Thankfully she survived, but I imagine it will take a long time to recover from a trauma like this.

UncleDark wrote:

Too many people will blame "evil influences from the media" or "mental illness," or both, as if that explains everything. I have to wonder what was going on in the lives of these girls that running away to live with Slendy was better than what they had, worth killing for.

I remember the 1980's Satanic Panic, which (among other things) included a parental rampage against Dungeons and Dragons. Not HappyFunTimes. I don't want to see something like it again.

UncleDark, I suspect you're right. Your mention of D&D is also pretty interesting in that regard. I can see some obvious links between D&D, LARPing, and role-playing in general, and the Mythos.

But I wonder why Slender Man inspired this act, specifically. Why not Jeff the Killer, or the Rake, or other similar creepypasta characters?

I think its just a random coincidince it was slenderman. If this guy hadn't seen the mythos he'd kill someone in the name of christopher walken or some shit, it wasn't the fault of the slenderman community. Just someone who was fucking crazy who saw a name and went "I should kill someone in the name of that." Honestly this is the same thing that happens with D&D like uncledark said, and what happens with gaming, tv, gambling, anime, books, and that meth dealer down the street who took so much meth he cant speak english anymore. And like near said the reason this didn't happen with the rake or jeff the killer because they aren't as bad. When something gets bad, the fucking insane people notice it. In my opinion its stupid for anyone to think that this was caused by slenderman. I don't know the whole story of it, maybe the stabber was completly insane or maybe their parents didn't tell them shit about the difference between the internet and the real world. Either way I don't know all of it, but it's still pointless to blame anything on the internet for it.

tl;dr "bitches aint shit but tricks n hos" -Ghandi

level100nidoking wrote:

I think its just a random coincidince it was slenderman. If this guy hadn't seen the mythos he'd kill someone in the name of christopher walken or some shit, it wasn't the fault of the slenderman community. Just someone who was fucking crazy who saw a name and went "I should kill someone in the name of that."...And like near said the reason this didn't happen with the rake or jeff the killer because they aren't as bad. When something gets bad, the fucking insane people notice it. In my opinion its stupid for anyone to think that this was caused by slenderman. I don't know the whole story of it, maybe the stabber was completly insane or maybe their parents didn't tell them shit about the difference between the internet and the real world. Either way I don't know all of it, but it's still pointless to blame anything on the internet for it.

I don't think it was random. Slendy is one of the most clearly supernatural creepypasta critters, one who is obviously more than just another dark-haunting bogeyman. The Rake doesn't have his otherspace hideout, and Jeff is just pathetic.

The idea of him carrying children away figures into this very importantly.

The attackers here are a pair of 12 year old girls. They lured another 12 year old out into the woods and stabbed her 19 times, missing her critical bits by sheer chance. The two, when questioned by the police, said that they did it so that they'd gain Slenderman's favor and go live with him in his mansion in the woods.

Nothing is ever as simple as "they're just crazy." I agree that this isn't the fault of the creepypasta community, but that's where folks will point if they aren't willing to look beyond the simple, easy answers.

As I have said before, if not Slenderman, it would have been because of Vampires.  If these girls were so out of their mind to try to kill their classmate over something they read on the internet, it could have been anything they read on the internet.

UncleDark wrote:

I don't think it was random. Slendy is one of the most clearly supernatural creepypasta critters, one who is obviously more than just another dark-haunting bogeyman. The Rake doesn't have his otherspace hideout, and Jeff is just pathetic.

UncleDark, in what sense is he "more than just another dark-haunting bogeyman"? What makes you feel that way?

Tiro1000 wrote:

As I have said before, if not Slenderman, it would have been because of Vampires.  If these girls were so out of their mind to try to kill their classmate over something they read on the internet, it could have been anything they read on the internet.

You think that they were just looking for an excuse to commit violence? They claimed that they believed Slender Man would let them come and live in his mansion.

The Angry Scholar wrote:

You think that they were just looking for an excuse to commit violence? They claimed that they believed Slender Man would let them come and live in his mansion.

I don't think it was an excuse, no. But it really could have been anything. Slenderman just so happens to be popular. You have to keep in mind that they were 12. Very easily impressionable. If not Slenderman, it could have been...oh, I dunno... Henry the flying child-eater that Joe Schmo made up on the internet one day that just so happen to catch attention. So on and so forth. Basically, anything of this genre can easily wiggle its way into and really mess up a child's mind. Anything. Vampires, werewolves, creepypastas, fears from the fear mythos... Absolutely anything. This time it just so happened to be Slenderman.

As for the effect it will have on the mythos... I say give it a few months and everything will return to normal. Its gonna be awkward at first, yeah, but... I mean, we live in America. Or at least I do. And that's where the incident took place. Hate to say it, but violent outbursts are becoming an everyday thing. And yeah, its sad, and I hate hearing about it and my heart really goes out to the victims and their families. Honest. But every time I hear of a stabbing or shooting or what have you, I think "Wow, another one?" As harsh as this sounds, things like this just aren't a big shock anymore. Its sad, really.

NearTheEnd wrote:

The Angry Scholar wrote:

You think that they were just looking for an excuse to commit violence? They claimed that they believed Slender Man would let them come and live in his mansion.

I don't think it was an excuse, no. But it really could have been anything. Slenderman just so happens to be popular. You have to keep in mind that they were 12. Very easily impressionable. If not Slenderman, it could have been...oh, I dunno... Henry the flying child-eater that Joe Schmo made up on the internet one day that just so happen to catch attention. So on and so forth. Basically, anything of this genre can easily wiggle its way into and really mess up a child's mind. Anything. Vampires, werewolves, creepypastas, fears from the fear mythos... Absolutely anything. This time it just so happened to be Slenderman.

That's what I meant.  Thanks for clarifying hun.

I see this in a half-half way.

Girls fell into fakelore and became obsessed with it. They started to believe it and decided to kill.

When questioned by police, the girls believed partially that Slenderman exists (hence no remorse). Plus, there's a certain leverage to that. They can shift some blame to the Slenderman as well. "It's kinda us, but not all us" mentality.

So this kind of event was inevitable?

It seems somewhat unusual to me in that the accused chose a fictional creature as their motivation. Occasionally similar events occur based on real-world traditions, like this case of a woman in Maryland who believed her children were possessed. But Slender Man was created as a fiction. Do you think the Mythos has become "believable"?

And do you think that interest in the Mythos might decline as a result of this event, and media pressure, etc.?

timeobserver2013 wrote:

Girls fell into fakelore and became obsessed with it. They started to believe it and decided to kill.

Hello again, TO! It's interesting that you call it "fakelore." That's the aspect of Slender Man that makes me wonder about the issue of belief here. Other fictional characters--Homer Simpson, Mickey Mouse--don't inspire this kind of belief, at least not that I'm aware.

Definitely a devastating event... feel very sorry for the victim who will probably be scarred for life.

As stated above, these girls obviously did become too obsessed. Too much time on their hands, too many late nights and not enough guidance from parents. I don't want to sound like a mother hen here but if your twelve year old child, who has barely seen the world, starts to visit sites and watching videos about the Slenderman or other paranormal creatures you can't expect them to know that they're myths. 

I also don't know what parents would let their twelve year old children head off into the woods/park at a late hour anyway. That should signal red flags, well, at least to me it would.


When I first discovered about The Slenderman, the top results on Google were all articles and images that said nothing about the creepypasta.com contest or the 'real' origins of this creature. We're talking about twelve year old girls who have not fully developed in terms of their decision making capacity. 

After being bombarded with 'facts' of Slender's existence, I doubt that any sort of information to say otherwise would change their minds. 

I remember reading something earlier in the year about girls who threatened to commit suicide after they discovered Justin Bieber had been smoking pot. Obviously that is not fairly comparable to this situation, but, it does display that obsessions can be very dangerous especially to young minds.

Personally I think it's been inevitable for a while now. I'm sorry if I anger anyone when I say this but this was bound to happen.

Look around the web and you see young girls obsessing over creepypasta and seems to be rather unhealthy, I mean some of them may just be young girls/boys having fun but there's tons of young girls(And boys) that completely obsess over these fictional characters and its kinda disturbing. people constantly act as if this stuff is reality ad many talk about how they believe in the Slender man and that they saw him or are in love with him. I see this kinda obsession constantly on the web and it really freaks me out, I know that some of them are playing around but many of them seem to be genuinely obsessed with these characters.

I knew that someone would take their obsession to an extreme, I didn't think something like this would happen but I knew something extreme would happen.

Once again I don't wanna anger anyone with this post but I did see this coming, it was inevitable with all the fanboys/fangirls obsessing over these characters. But I will say that if it wasn't Slendy, then it probably would've been something else, like Vampires, Werewolves, or other mythical creatures.

I know Daily Mail is not that good of a source but.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2651285/ANOTHER-knife-attack-linked-Slender-Man-Mother-claims-disturbed-daughter-13-stabbed-obsessed-creepy-horror-character.html

.....I don't know what to say, this ain't gonna be good for the mythos, it will clear up but not for awhile.

The girl was wearing a mask and a hoody. If she got that from Hoody and Masky, this might hit close to home, or home.

That second case is... definitely not what I wanted to see. Maybe just paranoia but I wonder how many of the obsessed out there on the edge will now be tipped over due to all the media coverage and sudden explosion of reinforcement from the news stories. Group psychosis can take hold over events like this and the internet is almost tailor made for spreading it.

I have to admit, after this second incident, I did consider pulling my stuff down. But that wouldn't actually address the problem at all and really, the cat's out of the bag. I think the mythos has a lot of features that could appeal to people on the edge. A lot of the characters in the series are, themselves, deal with issues like obsession and feelings of hopelessness and people reading could identify with that. Unlike vampires, werewolves, ect, those deal with giving power to the afflicted in exchange for humanity. A lot of Slender Man stuff is the opposite, it's more like a sickness that wears the characters down, isolates them. In some of the series the characters with the most severe mental issues seem to summon or attract Slender Man making things worse for them but also causing chaos for those around them. I guess that would be a kind of power to inflict some of the pain they are feeling onto those around them. So while I agree that if it wasn't Slender Man it would be something else, I can also see why Slender Man might be appealing to those suffering from issues that make them feel powerless or hopeless.

Right now it's sensational, hell I've had my family calling me asking me all about it since they saw it on the news and they knew I had written about it and couldn't believe it. But we'll just have to cross our fingers and hope that it just fades back into obscurity once this initial period wears off.

Unless some big group decides that Slender Man is the next Harry Potter or Dungeons and Dragons in terms of occult corruption of the youth I think the mythos will go back to normal in a few months. And everyone can just stop freaking stabbing people.

I talk about Marble Hornets to my parents, mainly because I'm excited to see a movie coming out and that they're also into independent projects, which they really like (more foreign than horror though...but nonetheless independent, college projects). 

Just be on the look out for trolls or attacks by such people who might blame us. Stay low at times, or make an official response as a community.

To sum up these heinous acts, what we have in our hands is a figurative Tulpa Effect.

timeobserver2013 wrote:

I know Daily Mail is not that good of a source but.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2651285/ANOTHER-knife-attack-linked-Slender-Man-Mother-claims-disturbed-daughter-13-stabbed-obsessed-creepy-horror-character.html

Thanks TO, I hadn't seen this one yet. (Here's a link to the local news station: http://www.wlwt.com/news/hamilton-co-mom-daughters-knife-attack-influenced-by-slender-man/26370588#!Wux3U).

It seems like Slender Man is more of an afterthought here. In the article above, they make it clear that the mother made the connection after she heard about the Wisconsin stabbing. Pretty terrible, regardless.

I was really hoping this wouldn't happen.

Another update so far: 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/09/justice/las-vegas-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

http://abcnews.go.com/US/slender-man-now-linked-violent-acts/story?id=24058562

CNN and ABC mentioned that one of the Las Vegas cop killers was a cosplayer (Slendy is one of them). Looks like they're trying to imply a connection. I hope we're not going off track with this, but this is an update I have found via Unfiction.

This second case is really beginning to make me wonder...