Dear old Selndy

Hello there blog, sorry about the radio silence. College was kicking my ass and all that. But I am here to post more about myths and lore! Yaaaaaay.

Since last post I talked about tulpas and mentioned dear old Slendy, let's talk about his origin today.

Slendy was concieved on June 10th, 2009 on the Something Awful forums. The "Goons" of the forum were trying to make fake paranormal photos in order to freak out paranormal forums. The SA goon who "planted" Slendy was Victor Surge, who posted two fabricated photos in black and white, showing an impossibly tall creature with no face near children. He included two short descriptions:

"We didn't want to go, we didn't want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time..." -1983, photographer unknown presumed dead

"One of two recovered photographs from the Stirling City Library blaze. Notable for being taken the day which fourteen children vanished and for what is referred to as “The Slender Man”. Deformities cited as film defects by officials. Fire at library occurred one week later. Actual photograph confiscated as evidence. – 1986, photographer: Mary Thomas, missing since June 13th, 1986.

From there, Victor Surge and the rest of the SA forums updated and fleshed out the mythos of Slendy, more or less taking over the forum.

Obviously enough, Slendy is no longer confined to the SA forums, Within the same month of his conception, Slendy was used in a webseries known as Marble Hornets made by SA users KicksYouInHalf and Ce gars. Many people believe these videos to be the driving force for Slendy's fame. Ce gars and friends popularized many common themes related to Slendy, and inspired webseries like EverymanHybrid and TribeTwelve to name a few.

Common Names for Slendy include; Slender Man, The Tall Man, The Thin Man, Der Schlanker Mann, Fear Dudh, Schlankwalkd, Slenderman, The Pale One, The White King, Master, Black King, The Operator, and The Birch Prince

Not only has he become an internet phenomenon,  he is perhaps one of the first samples of Internet Urban legend that gained mass traction. He's become a meme, something referenced anywhere. The Endermen in Minecraft, the Silence in Doctor Who. He has his own video game (several in fact), a movie, several web series and blogs, and easter eggs dedicated to his fame.

And all of that. All of that history and fame and acknowledgement gives it power. Every time someone walks home after talking about him, and double takes when they see a shadow under the lamp post, they give it power. Every time that someone believes in it, has the brief moment of "what if he is real? What if he's more than mortal?" he becomes a stronger and stronger tulpa. That is why I fear Slendy. That is why I nickname it, why I refuse to give it a proper name. Because my belief in it, gives it more potential to exist.

"You've seen him, now you can't unsee him." -Victor Surge