Everybody Loves to Fear a Bogeyman

Photographs altered to appear real and proffered as further documentary evidence of Slender Man's existence add a dimension of authenticity beyond anything an old-school storyteller could conjure when trying to convince listeners that werewolves or other monsters really exist. When the cops interview Anissa and Morgan, the girls explain that by killing Bella they hoped to be initiated into Slender Man's circle. Morgan, the dreamer, walks behind with the third girl, Anissa. Bella, the most sociable of the three, walks in front. This "evidence" of his existence seems to have made Slender Man strangely real for some people. Slender Man taps into a thread that's a near constant in folktales from Rumpelstiltskin to Hansel and Gretel: the fear of losing children. To use the academic jargon of the day, folktales articulate the anxieties that preoccupy us. Far back in the mists of time, in 2009 to be precise, a Photoshop wiz named Eric Knudsen, using the nom de guerre Victor Surge, decided to post some of his work on the comedy website Something Awful. As a meme, Slender Man has had a robust life on the website Creepypasta, a forum where people post spooky stories. In many cases, work devoted to Slender Man claims not to be fiction but, rather, documentary material recording his existence. This was g en erat ed ᠎with GSA Con tent　Generator Demov er si᠎on!

And this confusion between fact and fiction is what brought Slender Man out of the shadowy corners of the Internet and into the harsh glare of mainstream media. Suddenly, Slender Man is international news. During the press conference that follows, the police draw attention to the Slender Man myth's influence on the attack and urge parents to be aware of the danger. In 1981, after seeing the film "Taxi Driver" at least 15 times and driven by a desire to get the attention of actress Jodi Foster, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. James Holmes, the young man who killed 12 people and injured 70 at a screening of a Batman film in 2014, claimed to be Batman's nemesis, the Joker. In recent years, more than one scholar has argued that Slender Man is a manifestation of a new kind of myth-making gaining traction in the Internet age. After all, she wasn't the one who actually carried out the stabbing. But Morgan, who is prone to somewhat erratic behavior, breaks off and starts singing and pacing back and forth. Morgan, the girl who did, professes to still believe that Slender Man is real.

But blaming Slender Man misses the mark. When questioned, Anissa renounced her belief in Slender Man. This is Slender Man. In the case of Slender Man, however, the people who became dangerously confused were 12-year-old girls. So, somewhere in the fearful woods there's a thin, faceless bogeyman with long, long limbs who lures children to him. Many people who commit acts of violence cite figures from pop culture as their inspirations. He can induce madness and an affliction known as "scribbling in," which causes people to draw and write nonstop. Of course, suspension of disbelief is still necessary, but for those already predisposed to engage, at least temporarily, in magical thinking, Photoshop helps. Now add two more crucial ingredients: Photoshop and the Internet. Language is the original vector for memes, but in the past two decades the Internet has sped the growth and evolution of memes a thousandfold. It wouldn't be the first time that a faux-documentary fiction would have real-world consequences.

Children must be taught the difference between fiction and reality. He also appears in YouTube videos, alternate reality games, blogs, fan art, cosplay and wiki pages. An encyclopedia-style entry on the Creepypasta Wiki speculates on his long history, even suggesting that certain ancient cave paintings include depictions of him. The blood sacrifice would earn their entry so they could be numbered among his minions and live with him in his forest mansion. And that border blurs so much, the bogeyman begins to creep into the real world. Think of Orson Welles' infamous broadcast of "The War of the Worlds," during which some listeners were convinced that a real Martian invasion was underway. In other words, he's a new and creepy manifestation of Death. In 2009, Anthony Conley strangled his brother to death with his bare hands, later saying that he identified with the character of Dexter, the serial killer from the TV show of the same name.

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