Why do we obsess over Slender Man so much?

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

There as a time when Freddy was scary. Then we got more of his personality. He turned from a sick phantom in your dreams that killed you for no good reason... other than he found it amusing, to basically us being his physiologist because we know now everything about him.

The Slender Man exists. He does things when you see him at a later date. We don't know what he does because no one ever reported. There is unknown. Almost complete unknown. And from that, There is self fear.

And by that, I mean your self and the things you find horrifying in life will be colored in that emptiness of defined fear. Some people might fear hell. Some people might fear enclosed spaces. Some people might even fear clowns. And when you don't know what will happen, your mind automatically paints in what you already can not deal with properly.

 

[PrototypeC]

"Aha! Now the ball's in Farnsworth's court!"

OK, some people here have already mentioned His almost-human-ness, which is disturbing to our human minds. It looks human, until you notice it has no face and seems to have extra appendages. It's uncanny-valleying all over the place. As well, there is the biggest and easiest-to-tap-into human fear, the fear of the unknown. If (x) doesn't want to kill you, what does it want? Why do people "disappear"? What does it do with them? Why can't anyone make contact with it, physical or otherwise? Moreover, why does it seem to induce forgetfulness and interfere with mechanical devices? What the hell is it? An alien creature? The corporeal ghost of a serial killer? An extra-dimensional being? Why is it after me?!

Why, why, why? As these questions have no answers, (x) becomes more terrifying than a simple murderous creature. Hell, tripping and banging your head on the sidewalk can kill you... only something you don't understand at the basic level could be this fear-inducing. If it killed you and left your gore splattered all over the forest, then it would still be horrifying but not mind-numbingly scary. We understand gore and death at a basic level... it's why the colour red makes us feel aggressive and on-edge. Bloodless death, to our primal mind, just doesn't seem possible.

It could also be argued that, besides the more psychological factors, the (x) has a natural camoflage in places like forests. It could be there and you wouldn't know it. Maybe you've been near it and you weren't even aware at the time!

 

[bioshockedcriticjrr]

wow, we really are pretentious bunch of folks aren't we? perhaps it's because he's the our (meaning the internet's) creation. he's our own worst fears, and all we have is a picture of him, and we just make up whatever we think he's like as we go along

 

[PrototypeC]

Oh, and I get that a bunch of you are trying to act all internet-tough, but if you came here to post that "oh yeah man I'm not scared of that lol lame" then you just look like a tool. I know you saw the title and read, "Are You Scared of That Tall Guy?" and wanted to respond based on that, but read it again. It says, "Why Do We Obsess Over Slender Man So Much?". As in, if you don't obsess over it, then you're not being asked because you wouldn't have an answer. It's baffling to you.

It's like men posting in a thread about vaginas, or vice-versa, or the thread was asking people who have broken bones and some guy goes on there to say, "well I've never broken a bone, but I know you all value my opinion so bloodeloo de loo". It's utterly pointless.

 

[Icetailgreg]

Quite frankly, I don't find slenderman that scary. Sure, his human-like features are so far down in the uncanny valley that it has its own postal code, but He just doesn't scare me like he should. I watch Marblehornets to see Slenderman, and how they'll portray him in this entry. But, if there is one thing that scares me shitless, it's Jeff the fucking Killer.

 

[Gitty101]

I wonder how many people actually ignored the poll...

OT: I suppose in theory he really isn't that scary. It's all down to how he's presented. If you present it well enough, anything can be scary. The opposite is also true.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

He's got an uncanny valley feel to him. There's also the fact that you can't fight him and you can't run away from him forever. Honestly, he's no scarier than anything else that may lurk in the dark. The game's pretty interesting, though. It gives you a sense of futility and inevitability, and when Slendy shows up, it's really startling. It's also really freaky how he just stands there when you look at him, and you never see him move.

Funny thing: I had a dream a few nights ago. It was pretty much End of Evangelion, complete with giant Rei Ayanami, but instead of everyone exploding into orange Tang, a few dozen Slender Men used their shadowy tendrils to steal people away. Funnily enough, after being taken I awoke in a research facility with what looked like a bunch of scientists studying me. They didn't seem to understand that having a heavy object dropped onto me would hurt like hell, and possibly kill me, and were confused when I panicked at the idea. It made it seem like the Slender Man isn't actually malevolent; he and his whole Slender species are just curious about people. Also, I could fly Wing Cap Mario-style which was pretty cool.

It's hard for me to take Slender Man seriously after that, though I'm not sure how accurate that dream is, considering I know very little about him and his associated mythos.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

For me, it's because of the unknown surrounding him. I've started to notice that the less you see, the more psychological it is. The videos on Youtube are for the most part normal. Nothing really special is happening, except for the fact that this ominous figure is there, watching. Not knowing does fucking wonders on your psych. Also, because of the way he never really pops out at you, throughout the videos you're the one trying to find him, waiting for him to show up. The shots of driving through the trees makes you super paranoid, and throughout 5 minute long videos you're scanning the treeline, wondering if he's gonna get closer. Because the only thing you really know is that the closer he gets, the more trouble you're in.

Oh, and I got a bitchy ex to be afraid of taking the trash out because of him last year. So I kinda dig Slenderman right now.

 

[Terminate421]

Because he is in Falling Skies.

Great show, totally great cameo.

OT: In all seriousness, anything with deformed humans is creepy.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

I don't obsess. In fact, I'm sick of hearing about it period. The community has literally turned me off of ANYTHING slender man related because they just won't stop talking about.

The community? As in here on the Escapist, or just in general?

Because this is really only the second thread I've seen on the topic.

 

[PeaceRider]

Children randomly vanishing without a trace is scary.
We already fear the "Mysterious Men In Black" idea.
His long branching arms will grab you from anywhere.
He has ZERO facial features.
He will appear from out of nowhere, and you might only catch a split second glance out of the corner of your eyes.

Also, he is compared to the Pokemon, Hypno. Hypno has been stated in the past to have hypnotized children and lead them away, never for the kids to be seen again.

some slenderman things

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/slender-man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMgbfFpXZu0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8HxrmUn_9I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=FT_ZpHgiIKo&NR=1

 

[JoesshittyOs]

snip

Sorry I'll spoiler that. Just click the below spoiler, you know you want to Muhahaha-cough theres nothing evil there related to the gentlemen nooo not at all >_>

Spoiler

I think I got away with that.
captcha eat out: YOUR HEART!!!!! O_O

What the hell is this and why haven't I heard of it?

 

[thejackyl]

Play the game "Slender" and than tell me he isn't scary. Though I think you could put anything in the place of Slender Man and it would still be pretty scary.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Eh, he was novel for a while, but after that I never really cared much for him. I never found him particularly scary, but I guess I can see how some could.
He sort of lost his appeal for me when EVERYONE on the internet started freaking out about how "terrifying" he was.
Oh, and while there are a lot of good creepypastas featuring Slenderman, read a couple of poorly written ones (they're abundant) and you won't be able to take him seriously anymore.

Anyways, this guy will ALWAYS be my favorite freakishly tall man in a sharp suit:

Spoiler

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

Uncanny Valley, that is all.

 

[Risingblade]

I guess because people are easy to scare little sheep?

 

[Astoria]

In short, it's the best kind of horror, the tension building kind. He's not scary in himself, we make him scary by thinking about him.

Yeah this, there's a lot about him that's not explained so we fill in the gaps ourselves with the scariest explanations we can think of, our imaginations run wild. He's also not the in your face scary but the stalkery scary so you don't know when or where he's going to come for you, just that he will and when he does you're screwed.

 

[That_Sneaky_Camper]

It's based off the type of horror seen in H.P Lovecraft, an Eldritch Abomination who defies reality and is so incomprehensible to mortals that his mere presence fills people with a existential dread for their survival. By just standing there in the shadows Slender Man is allowing our mind to do most of the work, we are afraid of what will happen if we see him and then when our fear is at its greatest he strikes. He's a monstrosity that uses subtly to scare his victims.

Plus he wants his 20 dollars, giving up money to a monster is dreadful. D:

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

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...

Spoiler: Is this ************

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.

Classic fear of the unknown, perhaps mixed with a little bit of uncanny valley. Slender Man can look like us, but is not us. Nobody knows who he is, what he is, where he came from, what he wants, or what he does to the people he 'disappears'. All you know for sure is you did just see him out of the corner of your eye, but you can't look, because then he'll take you.

It's the best kind of horror because it lets the unspeakable depths of your own imagination do all the work for it. Everything is blank. The clothes, the face, the history, so we're compelled to fill in the gaps ourselves, and our own minds neatly hand-pick whatever answer to each question would frighten us most, because deep down a part of all of us wants to be scared and repulsed sometimes, otherwise horror wouldn't even exist.

 

[Penguinis Weirdus]

snip

Its from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 4 Episode is called Hush
What the hell is this and why haven't I heard of it?[/quote]