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The Slender Man (also called simply Slender Man, Slenderman, Slender, or Slendy) is a fictional supernatural character that originated as a creepypasta Internet meme created by Something Awful forum user Eric Knudsen (using the pseudonym Victor Surge) in June 2009.

Stories of the Slender Man commonly feature him stalking, abducting, or traumatizing people, particularly children. The Slender Man has become a pop culture icon, although he is not confined to a single narrative, and appears in many disparate works of fiction online. Fiction relating to the Slender Man encompasses many forms of media including literature, art, video series such as Marble Hornets (2009–2014), in which he is known as The Operator, and video games such as Slender: The Eight Pages (2012) and its successor Slender: The Arrival (2013). The Slender Man also inspired the Enderman in Minecraft. He has also appeared in a 2015 film adaptation of Marble Hornets, where he was portrayed by Doug Jones, and an eponymous 2018 film, where he was portrayed by Javier Botet. In 2014, a moral panic occurred over the Slender Man after several violent acts were connected to fans of the character, most notably a near-fatal stabbing of a 12-year-old girl in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Early stories featured the Slender Man targeting children and young adults. Marble Hornets also introduced the idea that Slender Man could interfere with video and audio recordings, as well as "⦻", a symbol which became a common trope of the Slender Man fiction and as a general representation for the character.

The Slender Man was created on 10 June 2009, on a thread in the Something Awful Internet forum.

In her book, Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology, Professor Shira Chess of the University of Georgia connected the Slender Man to ancient folklore about fairies. Like fairies, the Slender Man is otherworldly, with motives that are often difficult to grasp; like fairies, his appearance is vague and often shifts to reflect what the viewer wants or fears to see, and, like fairies, the Slender Man lives in the woods and kidnaps children. One of the earliest additions was added by a forum user named "Thoreau-Up", who created a folklore story set in 16th-century Germany involving a character called Der Großman, which was implied by the writer to be an early reference to the Slender Man. In 2012, the Slender Man was adapted into a video game titled Slender: The Eight Pages; and the official website crashed after too many people tried to download the game. Several independent films about the Slender Man have been released, including Entity and The Slender Man (2013), released free online after a $10,000 Kickstarter campaign.

During an early 2015 epidemic of suicide attempts by young people ages 12 to 24 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Slender Man was cited as an influence; the Oglala Sioux tribe president noted that many Native Americans traditionally believe in a "suicide spirit" similar to the Slender Man. Lynn McNeill, assistant professor of folklore at Utah State University, observes that the increase in benevolent portrayals of the Slender Man seems to have begun shortly after the stabbing in Waukesha and states that this trend towards a benevolent Slender Man may be a reaction by fans of the character to the violence of the stabbing. But... there's one fundamental difference that sets the two movies apart: The Ring is good, and Slender Man is terrible." Writing for The Verge, Carli Velocci called the Slender Man movie "a nail in the coffin of a dying fandom".

In 2013, the Slender Man appeared as the antagonist of the season 3 Lost Girl episode "SubterrFaenean", in which the Slender Man was said to be the basis for the Pied Piper legend.

Quick Facts

• In her book, Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology, Professor Shira Chess of the University of Georgia connected the Slender Man to ancient folklore about fairies.
• In 2013, the Slender Man appeared as the antagonist of the season 3 Lost Girl episode "SubterrFaenean", in which the Slender Man was said to be the basis for the Pied Piper legend.
• The Slender Man also inspired the Enderman in Minecraft.
• Marble Hornets also introduced the idea that Slender Man could interfere with video and audio recordings, as well as "⦻", a symbol which became a common trope of the Slender Man fiction and as a general representation for the character.
• In 2014, a moral panic occurred over the Slender Man after several violent acts were connected to fans of the character, most notably a near-fatal stabbing of a 12-year-old girl in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Slender Man". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.