Why do we obsess over Slender Man so much?

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I've stopped reading King books since he finished the Dark Tower series, feeling that was the real culmination of his works (yes I'm aware there's a new Dark Tower book but I feel its not right, it ended as it should have depending on where you stopped reading).

 

[8a88leph1sh]

I tried to tell one of my facebook friends that the slender man was made up on the internets and he insisted that it was part of old German folklore (that part was also made up by the internets). that was probably the scariest part of the Slender Man: people have already begun to accept something that still has traceable roots to fiction as reality.

 

[Rednog]

TL;DR
Why is Slender Man so popular and scary to us all.

Also, if your not scared of the guy, tell us why.

He's not and I look down on people who post pictures saying "HURR DURR YOU WILL SHIT BRIX WHEN YOU SEE IT" or that fucking lame and moronic Candlejack shit where "Oh no I mentioned him now I need to cut off my post before th-"... And I'm supposed to care because..?

It's not scary, it's fucking lame. You what is scary? Context. A story that's believable enough, with people I care about in grave danger, Copypasta need not apply.

Candlejack isn't supposed to be scary, it's from a sat/sunday morning kid's show called Freakazoid that a lot of people liked.

 

[dalek sec]

I've never found him scary, or even slightly creepy. I'm actually really surprised that many people do because I just don't get it.
Oh well.

I think you and I are in the same park. I just don't see what's so scary about him. I mean, short of running into this guy a night in a dark alley or the woods I don't see the whole "horror" point of him.

 

[viranimus]

I like it. I just played Slender last night at 4 AM, half asleep, in an empty house during a rain storm with high winds. Perfect time, perfect situation, perfect ambiance

 

[shogunblade]

He's scary because there is to some degree, the Uncanny Valley effect to him, among other theories that can be applied to him.

He resembles a human until you see the tentacles, by that point, it becomes disturbing because Humans don't have tentacles, and your mind knows that.

It's all based on comfort zones. We are supposed to be mindful of Police Officers, but if you were a young kid and you saw Robert Patrick with Knife-Hands dressed as a cop, that would aim to be uncomfortable to you to some degree, because police are good people, and the T-1000 is not.

I think the same thing can be applied to Slender Man, in that the suit is comforting to some extent (I don't see Giraffes or Chickens Wearing Suits/Tuxedos) because it is appropriately human. However, there is also no face, so he can't be considered a Villain (I have heard that bad guys are more dislikable if they have eyes you can see two of/Have faces), but as a sort of Lovecraftian Horror character, there are no eyes, so its a force you fear, not fight.

Does any of this make any sense?

As for Obsession, It's because it hasn't been sold to death Via Hot Topic products or anything else. The moment a movie ends up being made, Slender Man will have been too much.

 

[Ruedyn]

Because his fans are good storytellers. Given his new popularity, I doubt he'll be scary for much longer.

 

[Twilight_guy]

People are scared of the idea of intruders, of something invading there personal space to do them harm, of shadow figures and strangers. The slenderman is manifestation of the ultimate intruder. He's the boogeyman. He also wears a suit, making him seem human and average but has no face, alien, and also unidentifiable, the ultimate stranger. People fear what seems familiar but is twisted or warped slightly. The appearance of the character does that. His omnipresence, in that he can seemingly be anywhere takes away a sense of security. The fact that most images of him hide him in shadow create a layer of mystery where you can't quiet see him, and people of course fear what they can't see and don't understand. Honestly, people fear him because he's unsettling... A distorted image in the shadows with ill will... A modern boogeyman.

 

[lacktheknack]

The reason that he's scary is threefold:

1. According to the myth, he exists BECAUSE WE THINK ABOUT HIM. This is probably the most distilled "Don't Think About It" we can get, and it's scary.

2. He's silent and unkillable. Compare to a Weeping Angel, which is silent but can be defeated by making it look another angel in the face. Or compare to classic demonic presence, all of which is nigh-unkillable but can be heard/avoided.

3. We don't "get" Slender Man.

The complete unpredictability of Slender Man is what really gets us. We know that: A. he targets people who "dig too deep", and B. he will stalk them for a short amount of time before killing them violently. The rest, such as "why", "when", "who", and "how", are unanswered.

 

[MPerce]

I chalk up the popularity of him as "one of those Internet things." Sometimes, certain subjects on the Internet strike just the right chord with just the right people at just the right time. That's when things go viral.

For me, what makes it such a great story is that he (in most cases) doesn't have any clear goal. He just follows people for no apparant reason, until the stalkee either goes insane or mysteriously vanishes. And that unknown factor can be pretty scary when applied right in whatever story is using him.

 

[Saviordd1]

-snip-

He's not really creepy until you immerse yourself in the lore.

Because his fans are good storytellers. Given his new popularity, I doubt he'll be scary for much longer.

Sad but true, Hollywood will ruin him.

He's scary because there is to some degree, the Uncanny Valley effect to him, among other theories that can be applied to him.

He resembles a human until you see the tentacles, by that point, it becomes disturbing because Humans don't have tentacles, and your mind knows that.

It's all based on comfort zones. We are supposed to be mindful of Police Officers, but if you were a young kid and you saw Robert Patrick with Knife-Hands dressed as a cop, that would aim to be uncomfortable to you to some degree, because police are good people, and the T-1000 is not.

I think the same thing can be applied to Slender Man, in that the suit is comforting to some extent (I don't see Giraffes or Chickens Wearing Suits/Tuxedos) because it is appropriately human. However, there is also no face, so he can't be considered a Villain (I have heard that bad guys are more dislikable if they have eyes you can see two of/Have faces), but as a sort of Lovecraftian Horror character, there are no eyes, so its a force you fear, not fight.

Does any of this make any sense?

As for Obsession, It's because it hasn't been sold to death Via Hot Topic products or anything else. The moment a movie ends up being made, Slender Man will have been too much.

That does make sense, I guess its just more "What you're used to" than anything else.

If they make a movie, it will suck.

 

[lacktheknack]

As for Obsession, It's because it hasn't been sold to death Via Hot Topic products or anything else. The moment a movie ends up being made, Slender Man will have been too much.

Too late.

http://theslenderman.wikia.com/wiki/Windigo

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ajmeadows/the-slender-man-movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1658837/ (????)

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

We're obsessed with him?

News to me.

I think he's just important to the internet generation because he's pretty much the first myth that has been born from this medium.

 

[00slash00]

i never heard of him until i saw an lp of slender. then i researched him a bit. then i was afraid of the dark for a couple weeks

 

[ElPatron]

He doesn't look scary, maybe he just wants a hug?

Actually he wants his twenty dollars.

Nice reference.

It's really just 16 year olds on 4chan (and most of /x) who obsess over him, no one else actually cares.

Nah, I rarely go outside /k/ on 4chan and I find Slender Man fascinating.

Essentially, you're creating Slenderman in your thoughts. That gives him powers such as disappearing and appearing. He can choose to be seen or not. His suit actually serves as camouflage in the dark so you're always looking for the telltale white shirt.

I am still confused as to what is supposed to be scary about this thing. I dont know if I will ever understand how people find stupid things like this scary or even creepy.

It depends on how much you want to believe. If you're looking at things from a purely logical standpoint no supernatural being would ever be scary.

If you let yourself believe that a few video tapes are actually showing up... Marble Hornets can be very tense and not stupid.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

My guess is the whole in-joke mentality surrounding it. Everyone's heard of the scary guys like ghosts, aliens, demons, the whole bunch. When people stumble on Slenderman, they aren't given a bastardized mental image created by other movies or images. They are given stock-like photos with a "when you see it..." purpose, a slight explanation, and that's it. No movies to look up to satisfy your curiosity that you created by looking further than the KnowYourMeme article. The few indie games, Marble Hornets, etc. are enough for you to get a better idea of the Slenderman.

He also has that 'no purpose' villain mentality. He doesn't have a backstory, he wasn't made in a lab, he isn't a reincarnation, he isn't a sweet-talking Lucifer, he's a big black stickthing that doesn't do anything but look scary and cause disappearances.

 

[kortin]

Pffft, slender man is about as scary as candleja

Gotta agree and add to what this guy says here. He's nowhere near as scary as candlej

 

[DarthSka]

A lot of it is psychological. I never really knew about him that much until PewDiePie played Slenderman and Slender. Then I found about Marble Hornets. Then I found about EverymanHYBRID. Then I found about TribeTwelve (You can see a pattern here, right?) Now, he's my favorite horror figure. First off, he doesn't really look that threatening, just weird or wrong if you will. Second of all, what does he do? No one really knows. All he usually does in these series is stand and stare, stand and stare, stand and stare. Then suddenly he's either closer or gone. But children disappear, people lose months worth of memories, your camera footage becomes f'ed beyond recognition, strange figures send you cryptic packages and videos, then you follow your friend Alex into the woods where he tries to shoot you. You never see Slender Man do any of this, but it all happens because of him.

Horror has kind of died off in my opinion. Now, it's all about the shocking violence like those in SAW. I like the kind of thing that doesn't directly hurt you, but makes you hurt yourself. Slender Man is kind of a breath of fresh air to me. I always know that it's a bad idea, but I love watching that stuff at night knowing it's going to mess me up. Hell, last week I had a dream where I fought Darth Maul, then took part in an obstacle course at night in a park. After all that, I just randomly looked down a street. Underneath an orange street light, there he was. When I woke up, my whole body was shaking. No other horror figure, movie, series, etc. has ever caused that sort of reaction in me.

And that's all I have to say about that.

 

[SextusMaximus]

He doesn't look scary, maybe he just wants a hug?

No wifin' in the club.
Give me 20 dollars.
GIVE ME 20 DOLLARS.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

I'm not really obsessed with him, but I think the reason he is such a good urban legend is because of the fact he was pretty much the first big horror story to come out of the internet. Like someone said above, unlike Dracula and other horror characters he isn't a thing that's got any real story at all. The fact that pretty much everyone who gets scared by slenderman are people who look a bit further than just watching a movie or playing a game. But really, as long as you have 20 dollars you'll be fine if he ever starts stalking you.