In February 2006, the story of the Slender Man is born in The Something Awful Forums— specifically the forum to “create paranormal images“– but the admitted myth has become something of an urban legend, which has frequently been confused with the supernatural.
The Slender Man is a tall-ish humanoid being with long, skeletal limbs. It is also faceless and is typically seen wearing a suit. If you see “him” you allegedly have a short period of time before you disappear, though Slender Man typically stalks and is mostly seen among children. It has been known to target adults who interfere with its abduction of children.
Since its inception, the story has garnered excellent press and publicity. It has grown into what I’d classify as an “urban legend”, though there are still some people who SWEAR Slender Man is REAL even if the creator, Victor Surge, admits he made it allllll up:
The Slender Man as an idea was made-up off the top of my head, although the concept is based on a number of things that scare me. The name I thought up on the fly when I wrote that first bit. The asset I used for a couple of the pictures was the creepy tall guy from Phantasm, which sadly I have not seen, and the others various guys in suits. All of the things that aren’t the torso and legs, like the tentacles and Slender Man’s face, were painted from scratch however.
If you have time to read through the forum posts I’ve linked to above, it’s interesting to see how the Slender Man was “created”. There are even some fairly convincing YouTube videos out there (which rely heavily on faked images generated by “Victor Surge”)– there is even a YouTube “series” on the phenomenon if you want to scare yourself silly.
Just remember, anyone can make up a convincing Urban Legend…
The Witching Hour 