Why do we obsess over Slender Man so much?
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Slender man is scary for two simple reasons: you can't fight him, and you can't outrun him. Once he sets his sights on you, you're his. He'll toy with you like a cat does to a caught mouse. He's a fictional enemy who you CAN NOT BEAT, but you watch as many struggle in vain to shake this supernatural predator from their trail. Plus you have the added bonus of his reasons for doing what he does being entire unknown.
I won't say that he is actually scary for everyone, but he symbolizes the horror genre better then any Hollywood film we've been given recently. The fear of the unknown enemy we can't beat is probably one of the bigger fears we can tap into, and Slender Man does exactly this.
I won't say that he is actually scary for everyone, but he symbolizes the horror genre better then any Hollywood film we've been given recently. The fear of the unknown enemy we can't beat is probably one of the bigger fears we can tap into, and Slender Man does exactly this.
never heard of him, thanks for bringing it to my attention.Saviordd1 said:IGNORE THE POLL, I accidentally pressed enter when writing it and now I can't fix it, sorry.
I don't get it, I've seen countless horror movies, read lovecraft, read Stephen King, and yet the one thing that leaves me up at night...
I don't get it, overall he doesn't seem that scary, he isn't visually disturbing, he isn't super fast or strong.
But he's fucking scary, and I'm not the only one to think so, the internet seems to be obsessed with him, and I have to ask.
Why?
What makes him so scary to all of us? What make's him so special?
So I guess that's what I'm asking, why do you think Slender Man manages to scare so many people compared to all the other horror things in the world?
TL;DR
Why is Slender Man so popular and scary to us all.
Also, if your not scared of the guy, tell us why.
as a horror fan to another I would recommend Clive barker (who Stephen king recommends)
interesting character, Ive never heard of it before though I shall research the subject and get back to you.
I don't get it... isn't it just the Anonymous logo embellished into a Boogeyman by some imaginative forum dwellers?
Perhaps it's because I can remember a time before the Slenderman was thought up, but it just doesn't seem scary because it's so obviously fake and the product of some obvious pop-culture references combined on the Internet, e.g. Eugene Tooms from The X-Files + The Tall Man from Phantasm + The Anonymous logo, + any one of the dimension shifting/perception tricksters from lots of Sci-Fi + a Spider = Slender Man.
Now if you really want to see a scary made up entity, then check out the Silent Singer:
Perhaps it's because I can remember a time before the Slenderman was thought up, but it just doesn't seem scary because it's so obviously fake and the product of some obvious pop-culture references combined on the Internet, e.g. Eugene Tooms from The X-Files + The Tall Man from Phantasm + The Anonymous logo, + any one of the dimension shifting/perception tricksters from lots of Sci-Fi + a Spider = Slender Man.
Now if you really want to see a scary made up entity, then check out the Silent Singer:
at risk of warning or ban I have to say if his arms are that big imagine the size of his.....Dangit2019 said:He's not scary. He just wants to be roommates!
Would you like some more tar for that wide brush?AC10 said:
I like Slender Man. I don't find it scary, but I do like the Youtube video drama things.
That said, once I was driving home from work at about 1am, thought I saw Slender man, and almost crashed my car.
It's fine. It's Roland telling a story from his youth. A bit like Wizard and Glass.amaranth_dru said:
I'd recommend it. I read it when it came out and I'm no reading the series yet again.
OT - Who's this 'we'?
On June 8th, 2009, a ??paranormal pictures? photoshop contest was launched on the Something Awful (SA) Forums. The contest required participants to turn ordinary photographs into creepy-looking images through digital manipulation and then pass them on as authentic photographs on a number of paranormal forums. Something Awful users soon began sharing their faux-paranormal creations with layered images of ghosts and other anomalies, usually accompanied by a fabricated witness account to make them more convincing. On June 10th, SA user Victor Surge posted two black and white photographs of unnamed children with a short description of ?Slender Man? as a mysterious creature who stalked children.
People are obsessed with Slender Man? Well that's news to me.
All these obsessed people find Slender Man to be terrifying? Well that's news to me.
Honestly, I read his little bio when he was first thought up. I thought it was a bit creepy, but it certainly didn't draw me into a terrified obsession. There's just nothing that scary about the guy. And quite honestly, I didn't know there was a raving obsession with him on the internet. Really I've only seen one topic on this site involving him prior to this one, and it was simply to suggest that they should make a movie based off him because they've already made a game based off him.
However, the aspect of fear comes from the fact that his myth says he's a stalker. That he singles people out and then follows them around for who knows why. People fear the unknown, and having no face means you have no way at all of seeing intent or emotion. When dealing with a human, you can read their emotions and guess at their intent by their facial expressions. With Slender Man, that's not possible. It's a faceless, unknowable (apparent) evil whose motivations are a mystery, but apparently deadly.
All these obsessed people find Slender Man to be terrifying? Well that's news to me.
Honestly, I read his little bio when he was first thought up. I thought it was a bit creepy, but it certainly didn't draw me into a terrified obsession. There's just nothing that scary about the guy. And quite honestly, I didn't know there was a raving obsession with him on the internet. Really I've only seen one topic on this site involving him prior to this one, and it was simply to suggest that they should make a movie based off him because they've already made a game based off him.However, the aspect of fear comes from the fact that his myth says he's a stalker. That he singles people out and then follows them around for who knows why. People fear the unknown, and having no face means you have no way at all of seeing intent or emotion. When dealing with a human, you can read their emotions and guess at their intent by their facial expressions. With Slender Man, that's not possible. It's a faceless, unknowable (apparent) evil whose motivations are a mystery, but apparently deadly.
If you want a more psychological angle on ol' Slendy, it's the fact that he's an imperfect mimic- for whatever reason, he's an inhuman, faceless creature, wearing (or appearing to wear) an ordinary suit and tie- he hits the uncanny valley pretty hard... yet from a distance, or in poor lighting, you'd think he was human. Also add in the the factor that- at least in many tellings- there's no way to know what he actually wants. It's very difficult to defend yourself against something when its very motives are unguessable.
We all saw Nightmare Before Christmas. It traumatized us.
That, or it's the effects of the Silence's mind control. You never know?
Wait, what's that picture? When did that get posted?
That, or it's the effects of the Silence's mind control. You never know?
Wait, what's that picture? When did that get posted?
he was made by a bunch of crazies on /x/, the paranormal board of 4chan. he was engineered to be disturbing on the most fundamental levels.
humans have several universal fears that seem to stem from early hunter-gather stages of pre-civilaization humans, one of them is a dark forest. it is believed that early humans lived in trees for safety, but largely inhabited plains, so a think forest where line of sight is abnormally restricted would make sense to be unsettling, while most dangerous things emerge at night, and our eyes are built to see in the light, not darkness so we inherently fear the dark. as such Slender Man is mostly seen at night where his glowing head can be seen and is typically attributed to the forest. as for his face, its rather simple. humans look at the face for recognition, and fellow humanity. if we recognize something that seems human but isn't, we are immediately appalled by it, this is normally called the un-canny vally. Slender Man is purposefully directly in the center of this vally with his blank face and dis-proportioned limbs, but we still recognize his overall shape and even his clothing as human. finally we have his targets, which are, in most of the creepy pastas, young children. humans protect our young, so again having a creature deliberately hunting human children will be more appalling than just a predator. our young are one of the few things we are programed to protect more then ourselves.
so there you have it, /x/ once again devised a way to keep us up at night.
humans have several universal fears that seem to stem from early hunter-gather stages of pre-civilaization humans, one of them is a dark forest. it is believed that early humans lived in trees for safety, but largely inhabited plains, so a think forest where line of sight is abnormally restricted would make sense to be unsettling, while most dangerous things emerge at night, and our eyes are built to see in the light, not darkness so we inherently fear the dark. as such Slender Man is mostly seen at night where his glowing head can be seen and is typically attributed to the forest. as for his face, its rather simple. humans look at the face for recognition, and fellow humanity. if we recognize something that seems human but isn't, we are immediately appalled by it, this is normally called the un-canny vally. Slender Man is purposefully directly in the center of this vally with his blank face and dis-proportioned limbs, but we still recognize his overall shape and even his clothing as human. finally we have his targets, which are, in most of the creepy pastas, young children. humans protect our young, so again having a creature deliberately hunting human children will be more appalling than just a predator. our young are one of the few things we are programed to protect more then ourselves.
so there you have it, /x/ once again devised a way to keep us up at night.
Personally, I don't find him scary but the way the MarbleHornets guys have been working with his character, it gets tense when you wait for him to appear, just a faceless giant that inches ever closer to killing you the more insane you become
but when given an image, I take these quotes from APhilips on Twitter who just made these for fun and they paint a more frightening image than slenderman
".. sleep face-down for when the long-fingered pointy lady comes to steal your eyes" from 'Bedtime Stories for Naughty Children'
"so each creak in the house is a footstep of the long-toed lady coming to get you." from 'Bedtime Stories for Naughty Children'
but when given an image, I take these quotes from APhilips on Twitter who just made these for fun and they paint a more frightening image than slenderman
".. sleep face-down for when the long-fingered pointy lady comes to steal your eyes" from 'Bedtime Stories for Naughty Children'
"so each creak in the house is a footstep of the long-toed lady coming to get you." from 'Bedtime Stories for Naughty Children'