Slender man

Supplementary material

Slender man is a modern version of the bogeyman; a fantastic creature straight out of nightmare meant to send chills down our collective spine. He was first seen in 2009 on the internet forum Something awful in two edited photos showing children at play being observed by a preternaturally thin and out of focus figure; an apparition guaranteed to scare the beejebus out of me. The photos were accompanied by a note saying the children had disappeared soon after the photos were taken, and that the photographer was also missing. An excellent spooky creation, if you ask me.

Slender man joins the ranks of a long series of scary pop culture figures that are all the more frightening for never being actually seen: the bogeyman, the sack man, Baba Yaga and the like.

The character became quite popular and inspired many stories, games and attempted film productions. Unfortunately, he was apparently also the inspiration for a failed murder attempt committed by two 12-year old kids. Thankfully, for once, reality did not catch up with fiction.