What is Slender Man?
Slender Man is a monster in the form of a tall man in a black suit and tie, with no face and unnaturally long arms and legs. He is sometimes depicted with tentacle-like limbs growing from his back. The typical image is that he appears in woods and parks, abducts children, and lurks quietly in the background of photos.
Born from a forum contest
Slender Man was born in 2009 in a photo-editing contest on the American forum site “Something Awful” to “create paranormal images.” The poster added a tall, eerie figure behind playing children in black-and-white photos, with captions hinting at children going missing. This drew a huge response, and many people went on to add new photos and stories.
Worldwide fame through games and videos
Later, a video series about Slender Man and a horror game in which players collect notes in a dark forest while fleeing from him became huge hits, making him known around the world. Scary stories born online and built up collectively are called “creepypasta,” and Slender Man is their leading example.
A real incident
In 2014, in the United States, girls who believed Slender Man was real stabbed a classmate, causing great shock. The victim survived. Because a fictional monster led to a real crime, there was debate about how children should deal with scary stories online.
Japan’s kunekune and Hasshaku-sama are also known as ghost stories about “tall, unidentified beings” that spread from internet forums.
