Welcome back, guys. I'm sorry for my absence in the last couple of weeks, but with COVID-19 and being off work for the next 30 days, things have been a little strange. I decided I needed to work on my mental health and have been spending my days of quarantine gardening and painting. I have never painted before- besides my house, of course. But regardless, I started painting, and I'm pretty impressed with myself.
Anyway, so after a bit of a break from work-related stuff, I am back. Today I have the legend of Slender Man for you, a being that has transfixed me since I can remember. After I tell you some background information and effects of Slender Man, I have a special announcement, so get ready. Okay, so who is Slender Man? He is a fictional character or creepypasta created by Eric Knudsen in 2009 on a forum called Something Awful. This tall, thin, white-faceless being is everything that-awful. Standing 6-14 feet tall, wearing a suit, and sometimes having tentacles protruding from his back, I wouldn't want to run into him. Also, where do you get a suit to fit someone 14 feet tall? He is known to stalk, kidnap, and terrorize children. He is found in the forest and on playgrounds, hiding in the shadows, attempting to hypnotize children. Slender man is known to cause amnesia, coughing, and delusions, and those who encounter him suffer "slender sickness." The victims are overcome by rapid paranoia, nightmares, and hallucinations, followed by nosebleeds. He is also said to drive people permanently insane. The legend evolved in 2010; Slender Man had a daughter, Skinny Sally, and would carry her on his shoulders.
(Source: NBC News)
This creepypasta went viral, and many children became obsessed with him. Some took their obsession to a different level, and Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser from Waukesha, Wisconsin, were a couple. The twelve-year-olds wanted to prove themselves to Slender and wanted to become his proxies. This meant that their families would stay safe, and they would go live with Slender in his mansion in the forest. To do this, they needed to kill someone, and that is where their best friend, Payton Leutner, also twelve, came into the story.
(Source: CNN) Weier and Geyser set up a sleepover and planned on killing Leutner the following morning in a public bathroom in David's park on May 31, 2014. There were drains on the floor, which they figured would take care of the blood. They didn't go through with it. Instead, they decided to play hide-and-seek. During the game, Weier and Geyser attacked Leutner with a five-inch kitchen knife. They stabbed her a total of 19 times throughout her arms, legs, and torso. After repeatedly stabbing their best friend, they tell her they are going to get help. I'm sorry, but what?! Like, oops, I just stabbed you 19 times, brb. Well, obviously they didn't get help. They were picked up on the side of the road hours later. Leutner, who is a fucking fighter, survived her attack and was able to get help. She spent seven days in the hospital before being released. That's absolutely amazing. I just don't think I could do the same if I were stabbed 19 times- fuck, I don't know if I could do that after just getting stabbed. At a certain point, survivor mode has to kick in. I mean, they are twelve years old! Crazy. Weier and Geyser were deemed "not guilty by mental illness". Weier received 25 years and Geyser, 40 to life. Okay, a couple of things I would like to note about this case. The big one is mental health. If Slender man is a fictional character, the Weier and Geyser were in desperate need of help. After the attack, the girls were put in isolation; they couldn't even see their parents. This is where I get weird vibes- they are only twelve, and they obviously believe in this Slender Man. Also, they didn't receive mental help until after the trial. I don't think that is right. I am not saying what they did wasn't horrible, but they are still children- their brains are still developing. I remember being crazy at that age, not kill my best friend crazy, but I don't know. I guess it is one of those angsty teens who draw up dark energies. Geyser would later be diagnosed with schizophrenia, but her sentencing still stands. That wasn't the only tragedy to come from this Slender Man character. In June of that year, a woman in Cincinnati, Ohio, was attacked by her thirteen-year-old daughter. The girl lunged at her with a knife. On September 4, 2014, a fourteen-year-old girl set her house on fire with her mother and nine-year-old brother trapped inside. The girl was known to be obsessed with Slender Man and Soul Eater by Atsushi Okubo. In 2015 Slender Man attacked Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux tribe has a version of Slender Man called the Suicide Spirit and several individuals from ages 12-24 took their lives that summer. I have a couple of theories about Slender Man. The first theory is that Eric Knudsen created this creepypasta, and people became obsessed with it. The energy people put into Slender Man made him real. This can happen with poltergeists, so why not with Slender Man? Slender Man could just be a creepypasta, and people took their fascination with it too far. It could be as simple as that. Another theory is that Slender Man is a modern telling of an older being. Apparently, he is adapted from folklore- meaning he could be much older than 2009. Could Knudsen be hypnotized to write about this being, drawing it out of the shadows? Is there a possibility that he is real? I want to say yes and that he is much older than the creepypasta. I say this because since I was five, I have been haunted by something. I'm not crazy. I know this because others have seen him too and somewhere, lost after several moves, there was a picture of him. Now, regardless of if you believe me of not- it's a good story. This being is what brought me into the paranormal world and still lurks around me today. Now for my announcement. My next story will be a personal one; the hauntings of this being that have followed me my entire life. It won't be super long, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Until then, -Tye
One more thing, a documentary on Slender Man come out a couple of years ago and is on Youtube. I'm going to check it out tonight, let me know your thoughts. Oh yeah, it's called Beware the Slenderman.
Always Cite Those Sources:
Bosman, Julie. “Pine Ridge Indian Reservation Struggles With Suicides Among Its Young.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 May 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/05/02/us/pine-ridge-indian-reservation-struggles-with-suicides-among-young-people.html.
“Slender Man.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man.
“Slender Man Stabbing.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing.
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