35 Slender Man Facts: Learn About This Mysterious Fictional Character

Every era has its own creation of a Bogeyman.

The early 21st century was focused on creating a fictional supernatural character named 'The Slenderman.' The Slender Man was an internet character created by a guy in Florida.

Every different generation likes to create a monster of their own. This has been going on for years, and this is where the myths, folk tales, stories of witches, and more comes from.

The Slender Man is a creation of a similar form of this generation. The Slender Man was created as a forum being, but over a period of time, it ended up turning into a make-believe reality for audiences.

This man is known for his unusual height, abnormally featureless face, and attire similar to that of a businessman. He wears a black colored suit and has arms and fingers like tree branches or tentacles that can be extended as per his requirements.

Read on to know more about the Slender Man's origin, the mystery that revolves around his existence, his characteristics, and the media references that include him as the main or supporting character in films, documentaries, TV series, and video games too.

Origin Of Slender Man

Rumors suggest that the origin or inspiration for Slender Man's character was from the short story by the ace writer, Stephen King.

The birth of Slender Man was an event that occurred on the web, which can be dated back to June 8, 2009.

Slender Man's character was first created by a guy from Florida named Eric Knudsen on the internet.

Eric then went by the name Victor Surge for the online world.

He was always curious about anything and everything that showed even the slightest hints of paranormal or supernatural instances.

Eric Knudsen was inspired by the short story named 'H.P.Lovecraft' written by Stephen King. This story gave Eric the idea of creating a Slender Man who has been creeping around in public.

He created this fictional and supernatural character of Slender Man to be posted on the 'SomethingAwful' forums for 'Create Paranormal Images'.

Slender Man-based horror stories are pretty popular in the media world, giving birth to a feature film for this character followed by a video game inspired by The Slender Man.

A documentary named 'Beware The Slenderman' was released in 2017. This documentary was directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky, talking about the suicide spirit.

Characteristics Of The Slender Man

There is more to the 8 ft (244 cm) tall folklore character. Read on to know a few major and minor characteristics that make the Slender Man.

Slender Man has a basic appearance across all platforms. This character is said to be abnormally tall, with a height range of around 8 ft (244 cm).

This supernatural character of the Slender Man is known to wear or carry an appearance that is enveloped by a dark suit with a tie.

If not a suit, the Slender Man is also known to wear a dark-colored suit-like skin all over his body.

This skin shift also means that the Slender Man can adjust his appearance to blend in with the surroundings.

One of the prime characteristics that the Slender Man has is that he has the ability to shift not just his appearance but also turn invisible at his will. He could alter his height and shape.

Based on the descriptions, it is said that the Slender Man has tentacles or, in simple words, tentacle-like long arms.

These tentacle arms have long fingers that can extend themselves to attack or capture his victims. He also has the ability to outgrow these tentacles from his back, creating an extra set of arms to capture or scare his victims.

Slender Man has a featureless face, also known as a faceless man wearing a black suit.

Slender Man is also said to be wandering in the forests and areas covered with pretty secluded trees.

When young people try to focus on him, they report that he walks out of or around the tall trees in the forest.

The character is usually said to be passive-aggressive, unlike other supernatural characters.

Slender Man does not throw or bang his victims; instead haunts them with his thoughts and grows onto them psychologically.

He is known to stalk his victims, watching them or mainly making them believe that he is after them until they are obsessed and paranoid with his existence.

It is when they ultimately believe in him that he ends up taking substantial control over them.

Slender Man attacks his victims in unexpected places like schools, libraries, offices, or mainly public areas along with secluded ones.

He commits his terrible act of taking over his victims' bodies and minds when they least expect it.

Mysteries Behind Slender Man

Every fictional and folklore character has a backstory that unveils the mysteries behind them. Read on to know a few such secrets about the mysterious nature of Slender Man.

A famous fictional yet factually-aligned book featured on Slender Man and his mysteries.

The book is named 'The Slenderman Mysteries' and was written by Nick Redfern in the year 2018, that is the year when the 'Slender Man' movie had released.

The book mainly focuses on the Slender Man's occurrence online and how it has taken over not just the internet but strengthened its position in the minds of people who believe in him; spreading the scare across countries and continents.

A few theories state that kids find this supernatural man horrifying because they tend to lose themselves in stories, resulting in them confusing the distinction between reality and the sense of make-believe.

The difficulty of distinguishing the above ideas leads to the children facing an attack, leading to inevitable fatalities.

The inability to distinguish reality from fiction is one of the significant reasons why it isn't still clear whether the Slender Man is an actual or a mythological character that hunts children and teenagers.

Over the years, there have been a few instances of girls or children missing in or near forests in the Wisconsin region, making the folklore seem like a reality.

There have been no significant leads regarding the missing cases, although an actual photograph or more than one video of this Slender Man were alleged to be found online.

There are no substantial proofs that these media footages are actual or just an outcome of photoshopped content.

In modern and contemporary settings, it is also observed that the Slender Man can even interfere with electromagnetic waves.

While doing so, he may cause disturbances of very high-pitched audio changes in radio, telephone, or any audio channels.

It was considered that a person could understand the Slender Man's character by just focusing on changes that occur in electromagnetic waves.

The Slender Man is also capable of causing distractions or using visual mediums to scare his victims.

He may use mobile phones and video cameras and he likes to cause a scary experience for his victims.

Movie Facts And References Of Slender Man

Slender Man facts are more intriguing when mixed and analyzed with its story and movie reference. Read on to know a few 'Slender Man' facts from the 2018 movie.

The film 'Slender Man' was directed by Sylvain White and released in August 2018.

The film has four main characters: Katie Jensen, Hallie Knudsen, Wren, and Chloe.

Due to curiosity about the Slender Man, the four characters end up watching a video which leads to one of them being captured by him.

Once Katie, one of the characters, goes missing, all the other three end up being victims of Slender Man's hunt.

According to the movie, the Slender Man would take away something that you love as a sacrifice in order to return something or someone that he has possessed or hunted.

The film reflects the character's deformities properly, making the characters believable.

Stories of the hundreds of witnesses followed by the Slender Man, make the entire folklore seem like reality even for the audience.

Audience Reflections

Even though the film was a horror hit for children and adults, critics had quite a blend of reviews regarding the 'Slender Man' movie. Read on to know more about what the top critics of the industry had to say about the film.

Jorge Loser, of Espinof, commented that 'Slender Man' has the qualities to become a respectable film of the horror genre.

Bill Goodykoontz, from the Arizona Republic, said that 'Slender Man' diverts away from the established norms that force every horror film to be particularly scary.

Matt Donato, while writing for Dread Central, remarked that the 'Slender Man' movie has some excellent sound effects.

Javier Ocaña, representing El Pais, added that the movie shows a universe that is a very dangerous place to live in but gets the audience at the edge of their seats.

Slender Man is still an interesting mythical character and people are trying to understand its reality. Read on to know a few of the frequently asked questions about this mysteriously horrifying supernatural character.

FAQs

Where did Slender Man originate?

This supernatural character of fiction is considered a creation of Eric Knudsen, also known as Victor Surge, on the internet. He created this character in 2009, possibly recorded to be done while he was in Japan.

Where is Slender Man located?

This urban legend of a paranormal character was ideally staged on the internet. Although it started as an online character, the more people read about him, the more they believed he lived in the forest land. A few say that his fictional location is somewhere within the area of Wisconsin's Nicolet National Forest with its mythical appearances.

What does Slender Man do?

Slender Man, according to myths and other assumptions or sightings, is known to hunt children and adults in entirely different manners. He wears a black suit and when hunting for children, he first gains their trust until it's easier to get hold of them.

In the case of an adult victim, the Slender Man stalks anyone who shows obsessive interest in him and tends to hunt people close to his victims.

What movie is Slender Man in?

There is a movie entirely focusing on this character called 'Slender Man.' This film was released in 2018, taking the inspiration of the tall man created by Victor in 2009. The character also appears in many other media references, namely 'The Conjuring', 'Supernatural' as the 'thin man', and in an episode of the series 'Big Mouth'.