Slender Man - who is he? Scary stories and mystical stories

We are often frightened by the horrors of big cities. The darkness lurking in city slums, in dark basements, attics and underground utility tunnels. Maniacs and murderers, brownies and modern versions of sorcerers and shamans. But what about the darkness beyond the city? In the depths of the dark forests, where no one will hear your calls for help. And no one will have time to come to the rescue, even if you call (and often mobile phones do not work at all in some remote areas). That's where Slenderman lives. Where you can’t get away from him, you can only hide and hope to somehow outwit your pursuer. It is impossible to fight him. And this is exactly the fear that you don’t need to face. Don't look - not even because you're afraid of it. Just because you want to live.

Network horror

Slenderman was brought to life by the Create Paranormal Images competition, held on Something Awful. The competition involved creating supernatural and even scary things from ordinary photographs using a graphic editor - in essence, a competition for the skill of photomontage. The first two black-and-white photographs of Slenderman, taken by Erik Knudsen and posted on the forum, showed the character chasing several children. According to legend, the photographs were found in the Stirling city library, which suffered a fire, but these photographs survived. They were made in 1983, on the day of the disappearance of 14 children. Moreover, the photographer, Mary Thomas, went missing in 1986. Who would have thought that, based on just two black and white photos, an entire horror universe would emerge in the style of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” or “Friday the 13th,” with a very stylish and memorable central villain?

Even now, stories and tales are written about Slevder, in which various versions of the history of its origin are expressed and rather terrible events are described. Some fans, who are well aware that the Thin Man is a fiction, still believe in the possibility of his existence. There are even testimonies of people who allegedly encountered Slenderman in dark forests.

Who are you, Mr. Slender?

Nothing is known about the origin of Slender. Despite the large number of hypotheses that are expressed in various projects dedicated to this character, it is worth knowing that not a single hypothesis is official - and there is no official version. Where he came from and what he needs is unknown, this makes him even more interesting.

Among the abilities of the Thin Man are “lengthening” one’s own limbs at will, teleportation over short distances, the ability to erase human memory (many of those who encountered it subsequently forget about it), as well as strong capabilities in the field of telepathy. Slender Man also senses when someone is looking at him, and anyone who looks at him or even thinks about him too often thereby attracts the attention of the Thin Man. Slender loves to look into the windows of houses, and it does not matter on what floor these windows are located.

Nightmare show

As you might guess, the series was filmed in a pseudo-documentary style and showed us the adventures of ordinary people who encountered Slenderman. It is based on the film “Marble Hornets”, which schoolboy Alex Krali filmed to get a test at his educational institution. However, filming was quickly stopped - according to Krali, “it became impossible to work.” While looking through Alex's notes, his friend Jay begins to notice some very strange phenomena on them. After Jay begins his investigation, he encounters a strange and dangerous creature - Slenderman (in the series he is also called the “Operator”). In addition, in “Marble Hornets” it is stated that when the Thin Man appears, video cameras begin to behave very strangely, and sometimes even refuse to work in the usual mode, rather working in the style of a “photo camera”.

The series frightens with classic moves: sharp scary sounds, the appearance of Slender as a vague silhouette, scenes of violence in which the main characters fight each other (it was in the series that the concept of “proxy” was introduced - this term refers to people who have become weak-willed servants of Slender) . Hot on the heels of “Marble Hornets,” other series appeared, copying the style of the first web show. They were also filmed in the style of web diaries, and some of them offered different versions of the origin of Slender Man.

In addition to “Marble Hornets,” there are several other web series about Slender. There are also short films, and the first full-length film about the Thin Man has already been announced.

Survival Horror

Nothing is known yet about whether “Slender 3” will ever appear in the gaming world. Also, nothing is known about a possible full-length film - but if it ever appears, we would still like to see a good expensive horror, and not another stylization of an amateur video. Slender has an excellent video heritage, even if it develops independently, but cinema is still a slightly different art.

Slenderman (“Skinny Man” translated into Russian) is one of the most famous characters of “scary” Internet folklore. Presumably, it was invented in 2009 by a certain Erik Knudsen, who published two black and white photographs depicting children being pursued by a mysterious creature on the Something Awful forum. The photographs seemed very realistic to Internet regulars and quickly attracted the attention of the virtual public.

The character was so loved by Internet users that he quickly turned into the hero of numerous stories, video games, TV series and films. However, here’s what’s interesting and strange: although the fictionality of Slenderman is not seriously hidden by anyone, there are many individuals who claim to have encountered this monster in person, or simply firmly believe in its reality. People study this urban legend, go on expeditions in search of the monster and find, as they claim, evidence of the existence of the Skinny Man in the form of photographs and videos.

Slenderman's appearance is very unusual. He appears to be a very tall man with disproportionately long limbs that can bend at any angle. The entity's head is completely covered with pale skin - hair, ears, eyes, nose and mouth are completely absent. The skinny man is always dressed in a funeral suit with a black jacket and tie and a white shirt. It is believed that countless black tentacles sometimes emerge from the monster’s back, capable of becoming infinitely long. With the help of them, the entity allegedly catches its victims.

What is Slenderman capable of?

Slenderman is a kidnapper. Most often, he kidnaps children, and they are never found again. Who this is - a ghost, an evil spirit, an alien, a mutant or a fiend of hell - is unknown. The Skinny Man's intentions are completely unclear, and such uncertainty makes him doubly terrifying. A dangerous entity appears in forests, fields, abandoned buildings and other empty places, lying in wait for its victims. If you notice him standing in the distance, even kilometers away from you, you will no longer have the opportunity to escape or resist the monster.

The symbol of Slenderman is a circle crossed out with a diagonal cross. They say that such signs appear near the habitats of the Skinny Man, and you can avoid an unenviable fate only by immediately leaving when you see such a drawing. Many eyewitnesses report seeing ominous symbols on trees in the forest, on walls in abandoned structures, and on the ground. Of course, it is logical to assume that they are simply drawn by fans of this urban legend, but who can know for sure...

Slenderman is considered an excellent telepath. In this regard, he does not necessarily have to chase his victims. The monster can manipulate people nearby and force them to walk into its trap on their own. Kidnapped children usually experience nightmares several days before their disappearance and attempt to leave the house in an unconscious state. Some of them, whose relatives do not keep an eye on them, succeed in this, and they disappear into the night without a trace.

A skinny person affects electronics, so if in a deserted place far from civilization you experience noise in your headphones or interference on the screen of your video camera, then you should probably get out of there quickly. If you photograph or film the monster, it will not let you escape. Seeing it with your own eyes is also signing your own death warrant. You can walk two steps away from Slenderman masquerading as a tree and calmly go home without noticing him. But if you realize that there is something strange in front of you and see this figure as a thin giant, you will be in trouble.

The evil entity can shorten and lengthen its body and limbs. In terms of movement, the Skinny Man appears to be inactive. He can stay in one place for a long time at a considerable distance from people, waiting until he is noticed. Slenderman rarely walks or runs, but he instantly teleports from one point to another, so it is almost impossible to hide from him. However, many witnesses claim that they were able to safely escape from the monster's possession after they spotted it or even captured it on camera.

Perhaps the image of the Skinny Man was borrowed from somewhere. For example, in Slavic mythology there is a thin and long spirit pole (from the word “pole”). This evil spirit walks at night and looks into people's windows, warms itself near the stove corpses and scares people, and also commits minor dirty tricks. From a distance, a pole often resembles a large dry branch on the roof of a house. However, this spirit is practically harmless to humans.

In German folklore, you can find a character named Grosmann (Tall Man), who is something of an evil fairy, but in appearance he is very similar to Slender Man, except that he has a face with two large round eyes. In Grosmann, the Germans frightened the children who went for a walk in the forest without permission. According to myths and legends, the Tall Man lived in the Black Forest and dragged naughty children into the wilds of the forest, where he devoured them.

And in Japanese myths there are nopperapons - tall supernatural creatures whose faces turned into smooth purple balls at night.

Photos and videos of Slenderman

On April 12 of this year, the attention of Internet users was captured by a photo taken, judging by the timecode, on January 22, 2009. The photograph shows a teenager looking into a winter forest, where a tall, dark figure with a pale face lurks among the snow-covered trees. Needless to say, many regulars of the World Wide Web immediately issued a verdict: the children took pictures of the Skinny Man.

The story behind this photo is that several American children from Minnesota skipped school and instead went to have fun in the woods. At a certain moment, one of the truants took out his phone and decided to take a photo of his friend. However, as soon as the photographer pointed the camera at his friend, he noticed a thin giant in dark clothes between the trees and told his friends about it in horror. The children immediately rushed away from there, but the photographer managed to photograph the creepy stranger.

The video below, obtained late last year, also caused quite a stir. It shows a British cyclist speaking into a traffic camera. The young man leaves a message for someone and leaves, after which a tall, thin figure separates from one of the trees in the background and begins to walk on the ground. It is noteworthy that the sound on the recording at this moment is noticeably loud. When the cyclist returns to the camera, the supposed Slender Man is still crossing the field in the background.

Many people have thought about the following question: could the Skinny Man, originally invented by someone, become real due to the large number of people who believed in his existence? After all, the human mind is capable of more than that. Thought, as we know, is material, and the thoughts of many people, directed in one direction, can have a colossal impact on reality. This is how, those in the know say, world religions were born...

In this article you will learn:

Slenderman origins, history and games. Who is Slenderman? And who came up with it? Where can I meet a terrible character?

Creation

Thin Man, Slender Man, Operator- this character has many names. He is a popular online horror character. It was invented by Victor Serge (pseudonym) in 2009, while participating in a paranormal phenomena competition. The author created several photographs in which Slenderman was visible in the background. The anti-hero immediately became an urban legend, about whom stories were written, games, cosplays and fan art were made.

Appearance:

Slender is a very tall, thin, pale man. He has very long limbs that have no joints and can bend in any direction. The villain can also grow tentacles on his back. A thin man has no face. He is always dressed in a black funeral suit, white shirt and tie, which many take for some kind of agent.

Slender: The Eight Pages

This is the first Slenderman game in which the player will have to play the role of a woman, Kate, whose mother died and who wanted to sell the house, but she began to suffer from hallucinations in which she saw Slenderman. Seeing him at home, Kate ran into the forest of Oakside Park with a video camera. Her goal is to collect 8 notes written by children who were hiding from the Faceless One and disappeared. The villain himself will be on your heels, and the more notes are collected, the more often he will appear.

Slenderman view

Slender: The Arrival

In the second game, the player will have to be in the shoes of a certain Lauren, who arrived at the house of her friend Kate (the woman from the first game). Entering the house, the girl found a room hung with notes about the Thin Man, and then heard a scream in the forest. Grabbing a flashlight, Lauren hurried into the forest of Oakside Park. Pursued by Slenderman, she collected all of Kate's notes and hid from the faceless man and his assistant (a masked man) in the Cullman mine. Soon the girl found herself in a room where there was a TV, as well as Kate’s tape. After watching the recording, Lauren began to climb out of the trap. Having got out, she discovered that the forest was on fire. The girl reached the radio tower, where Slenderman caught her. (In the new version, the ending was changed, in which the heroine probably died at the hands of the distraught Kate, who was lured to her side by the Thin Man).

Capabilities:

Thin Man can teleport. He is an excellent telepath, as he lacks many senses due to his faceless face. The villain can change the victim’s memory, manipulate it, and make it his “slaves” - Proxies (people under the influence of Slendy). Slendy sends nightmares and hallucinations to his victims. He feels when they are thinking about him and immediately tries to find these people and take them to him.

As soon as Slender is near electrical devices, interference begins.

The faceless can also lengthen his limbs, body and grow long tentacles.

Slender is characterized by low activity. Usually he just stands back and watches.

He grabs his victims with tentacles or hypnotizes them.

Habitat:

The villain lives in forests and empty buildings. He only attacks single individuals. Loves to knock on houses and look into windows.

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On May 7, a new horror film “Slender” will be released in Minsk cinemas. The film will tell the story of a film crew preparing a video about the mysterious disappearance of a family. On family archival recordings, members of the film crew unexpectedly discover the strange figure of a man in a black suit with incredibly long arms. Slenderman, the monster from the video, will now not leave the group of cameramen alone.

Let's face it, not the newest plot for a horror film. However, additional attention to the premiere is attracted by the fact that Slenderman (also called Slenderman, Thin Man, Skinny Man, Stickman) is a popular Internet meme.

Where did Slenderman come from?

In June 2009, a specific event was held on the Something Awful forum, under the terms of which it was necessary to create a photo montage by adding some frightening detail to the most harmless images. One of the users of the Victor Surge forum posted two photographs with captions under them as part of the project.

“We didn’t want to go, we didn’t want to kill them, but his stubborn silence and outstretched arms both frightened and reassured us... / 1983, photographer unknown, presumed dead.”

"One of two photographs that survived the fire of the Stirling City Library. Notable for the date - the day of the disappearance of fourteen children - and the object, called the "Thin Man". Officials explain the distorted proportions by defects in the film. The fire in the library occurred a week later. The photographs themselves were confiscated as physical evidence / 1986, photographer: Mary Thomas, missing June 13, 1986."

Later, the author himself and other forum participants began to post pseudo-documentary photographs depicting Slenderman. As a rule, these are low-quality photographs in which a tall, thin figure of a faceless man in a black suit is visible either in the fog or in the forest among the trees. So gradually the Stickman began to acquire an “evidence base” and fan art.

Description and abilities of the Stick insect

First of all, it must be said that Slenderman is a product of the collective network mind, and there are no specific canons in the depiction of this urban legend. Most often, the monster is presented as an excessively tall, thin man with long arms and a complete absence of face. He is dressed in a strict black suit and white shirt with a tie, similar to how people usually dress for a funeral. His limbs have no joints and can bend in all directions; in some versions, Slenderman's arms can be lengthened or shortened. Sometimes he is depicted as multi-armed or with tentacles.

Due to the fact that he does not have a face and, accordingly, sensory organs, the Stickman has very developed telepathy. He feels his victim, can hypnotize, instill amnesia, and make him see nightmares. At night, he spies on his victims through the windows, no matter what floor they live on, and taps his fingers on the glass. It lives mainly in forests, where it easily camouflages itself as a tree; its appearance is often accompanied by fog. It often attacks lonely children lost in the forest. It is common for him to stand in the distance among the trees and fog, observing the victim, without showing outward signs of aggression. At the same time, it is unknown what exactly Slender does with his victims, but the abducted people, most often children, cannot be found.

Slenderman in popular culture

The image of a terrible monster, born on the Internet, quickly migrated to cinema and computer games. So already in June 2009, the first episode of the web series “Marble Hornets”, dedicated to the Stick Insect, was posted on YouTube.

In addition to the web series based on the Sleder myths, several computer games have been released. The most popular of them is “Slender: The Eight Pages”, it is distributed free of charge on the Internet. The participant of the game must find 8 notes from children kidnapped by the monster in the night forest without getting caught by Slenderman himself. In 2013, a sequel was released - "Slender: The Arrival" on a commercial basis.

What if he is real?

Despite the fact that Slenderman was invented on the Internet and his story was not initially even disguised as reality, there are zealous fans who believe in the existence of this monster. Fans point to earlier references to Slenderman in legends and fairy tales, citing the Tall Man (German: Der Großmann) from German folklore as an example. The Germans used the tall man to scare their children so that they would not go too far into the forest alone. The tall man is described almost like Slenderman, except that he has a semblance of a face - two large glowing orbs instead of eyes.

Some fans talk about their own encounters with Slenderman and even post video “evidence” online. Judging by the following videos, Slender visited residential areas of Moscow and Samara.

Because of the fanatical belief in Slenderman, terrible things sometimes happen. So last spring in the US state of Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls tried to sacrifice their classmate to a fictitious monster. The poor girl miraculously survived after being stabbed 19 times.

Slender- the first urban legend born from the imagination of Internet users to become widespread. The image of a tall, long-armed man, dressed in a black suit and without a face, inspires the creators of computer games, musical compositions and films.

Slender also inspired Wardega, a famous prankster and video blogger from Warsaw, who decided to scare lonely passers-by in the evening.

So, on May 7, beware of an incredibly tall man in a suit. After all, it will appear in thousands of cinemas around the globe.

Victoria Shchukevich, Bycard

I was sitting at home and playing the game "Slenderman". Suddenly I heard something break in the kitchen. I was very scared, but still went there (only later did I realize that I had done it in vain). When I walked into the kitchen, I saw something that changed my life forever. I saw Him. He (Slenderman) looked at me angrily, bared his bloody teeth and... disappeared! I tried to calm myself down for about 30 minutes, when I calmed down a little, I went into the room. Because of the shock, I wanted to turn off the game and go to bed, but I saw the note and decided:
- Now I’ll collect a couple of notes and go straight to bed!
When I was about to take it, I saw that it was written on it in Russian (!): “Well, how do you like my joke?”
I thought, “What the?”
Again I thought that I needed to turn off the game, but again I saw the note and thought: “One note will not change the world.”
And I immediately went to her to take it.
It said (again in Russian): “Turn around.”
My heart was beating like crazy, but I turned around. Slender was there! He covered my mouth with his cold hand and jumped out the window, no need to explain that I flew with him, and I live on the 7th floor! But we were almost down. I thought we would crash, but as soon as Slender's feet reached the ground, he jumped back and jumped onto a tree. We jumped through the trees for about 30 minutes. As a result, we “jumped” into the forest. After that I switched off.

I only “turned on” in a wooden house unknown to me.
Slenderman was sitting by the window. He looked at me sadly and said:
- You are so young, what a pity that you will die soon.
- What? I'm not going to die!
- Ha ha ha, how naive you are!
“I hate it,” I thought.
- I can even tell when you die.
- I will not die!
- Okay, you won’t “die” in 24 hours.
After these words he disappeared. I came to my senses, thought about what happened and concluded: “We need to run!” Suddenly I was overcome with fear, I was in a deep forest (but the fact that I was talking to Slender also scared me a lot). I left the house, saw huge spruce trees, but then went wherever my eyes were looking. Suddenly I heard a dog barking and followed the sound. The barking became louder (I was getting closer), suddenly the barking turned to a pitiful whining, and then completely died down. I realized that Slender killed this dog (I hate it). Then a note fell from the tree: “19 hours left.” I burst into tears, and then I just fell to the ground and fell asleep. I woke up again in a wooden house. Slenderman stood over me and cleaned (from the blood) a knife (this knife is sharp). I was seriously scared. He said:
- 24 hours have expired!
- You led me astray in the forest!
- Well, I was just hungry. - With these words he cut my throat.
I saw a blinding white light. God (not Slender) stood in front of me. God told me:
- You should not die from evil spirits, we will give you a second chance.
- So I will be reborn?
- No, you will get another body.
- But who will I become?
- You will become Jennifer (I wanted to become a flower).
- Who is this?
- This is an English girl who loves everything mystical.
- O.k. I'm ready.
And I woke up, it was a bright day, I went to look at myself in the mirror and couldn’t believe my eyes, I really had changed and it wasn’t a dream. It’s strange that I remember that conversation with God. I went out into the street with a pure soul. My friends were walking there (I didn’t know them before, but I probably still have Jen’s memories). Everything was fine until the moment my parents and I went into the forest to pick mushrooms. We were quietly picking mushrooms, not bothering anyone, and then Slenderman appeared in front of me (how he got me). In one hand he held my head (ex-head) in his hand, and in the other the heads of my parents. I saw this and cried (I cried so hard that it could be heard throughout the forest). My parents (new ones) came running, they asked what happened, I answered that I just stepped on the glass (don’t tell them about Slender), they hugged me and said that everything was fine. The next day they were hit by a car...