The Truth Behind Slenderman
The story of Slenderman is one that’s been around for centuries, but it’s only been in the more recent years that we’ve actually seen him pop up in news headlines. It’s stated that he’s a mythological character that’s been made up to scare children from venturing out into the woods alone, but could there be more? In 2014, two middle school aged girls lured a classmate out into the woods and stabbed her more than twenty times as a sacrifice to Slenderman. The classmate thankfully survived, but what drove those other two little girls to commit such a horrendous act? Does a fictional legend truly have that much power? Or is there some type of truth to the story of Slenderman?
The Legend of Slenderman
It seems that Slenderman is quite the traveler. He’s noted in most folklore in just about every region of this planet. Of course, in other places, he goes by other names, but his stark and scary description remains the same.
It’s said that Slenderman stands at about ten feet tall. He’s eerily slender in appearance (hence the name), and has tentacles where his hands should be that extend all the way to the ground. He can even extend these tentacle arms to supernatural lengths when he needs to. Slenderman wears a black and white suit that fits his elongated body, and what would be his face is wrapped in what appears to be a gauze type cloth.
He’s a sort of gentlemanly monster, if you will. In modern retellings of his stories, he stalks forested areas with his arms folded behind his back in a patient wait for his next victim. He can stalk in the daylight and preys on only children who are fearful of him, extending that fear even more.
Even though he’s a monster that’s even been depicted in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, no one has yet found out what his main objective is besides instilling the utmost fear in children. It is said that if he is seen around a child, they typically end up going missing not soon after. But where do they go? Some variations of his story No one knows.
Furthering the mystery of Slenderman, no one has ever heard him speak, and it’s still unknown as to whether or not he can understand human dialect or communicates in any way at all besides silently outstretching his tentacles. In any regard, however, this is truly a horrific notion for any child or parent.
Slenderman in the News
As we briefly touched in the beginning of this article, in 2014, two twelve year old girls in Wisconsin had heard the story of Slenderman and became oddly obsessed with him. They began to venture out into the nearby forests in an attempt to see him. They wanted to become one of his servants and prove their utmost devotion to him. They believed that in doing so, they could then go with him to his supernatural realm and live with him forever. They brainstormed as to how they could do this, and eventually, they decided that the only way to prove their undying admiration and loyalty to Slenderman would be to offer up a human sacrifice that suited his tastes—young, female, and pure.
The two teenage girls hosted a slumber party the night before with one of their classmates to make her feel as comfortable and unsuspecting as possible. Their plan was to duct tape the girl’s mouth closed, stab her in the neck, and then run away.
The pair ended up initially chickening out on this. The next day, however, they decided to press onwards, and opted up for a morning game of hide and seek with their guest in the forest that the two had so often visited. One of them kept the victim pinned down as the other one stabbed her over nineteen times with a humungous kitchen knife. The two girls had stabbed through her stomach and into her liver and intestines. They immediately left the scene, and the victim miraculously crawled to the street where a passer-by called for help.
The two who attacked their fellow classmate have faced trial and testified that they truly believed that this would bring them closer to Slenderman. The court felt that they should be charged with second degree murder, but the two were found incompetent to stand trial until further notice.
After their conditions stabilized under the supervision of accredited psychiatrists, they went to trial once more and entered pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity. They still await sentencing in October of 2017.
It’s definitely hard to swallow the notion of two little girls committing such a horrendous act. While mental health is definitely a huge determining factor here, the vicious attack coupled with Slenderman’s historical notoriety definitely makes the brain wonder if he is, perhaps, real.