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1%% Leave image on the right, please
2
3%% In order to avoid spoiling the endings to all the various blogs, please try to link to the first post of each so that people can actually start from there.
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5%% Also, for the blog list itself, please try to put them all in chronological order from when they were first started.
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7[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SlenderMan_2926.png]]
8[[caption-width-right:300: [-''"One of two recovered photographs from the Stirling City Library blaze, taken one week earlier. Notable for being taken the day which fourteen children vanished and for what is referred to as ''[[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent The]] [[HumanoidAbomination Slender Man]].'' Deformities cited as film defects by officials. Actual photograph confiscated as evidence."''-]]]
9
10->''"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..."''
11
12There is a figure that does not hide or lurk in the shadows, but stands tall and unseen in the light of day -- visible only to its prey as it stalks them. It appears as an extremely tall, thin humanoid in a formal suit with impossibly long limbs and [[TheBlank no face to speak of.]] Its origins are as much a mystery as what -- if anything -- it wants. Its presence is associated with paranoia, delusions, and even physical illness. Those who see it are often driven to scrawling strange messages and scribbling sketches of a dark, faceless figure -- prior to their going utterly insane, or disappearing entirely. The less you know the better, for knowing too much may make you the subject of its interest. You have been warned.
13
14The Slender Man is an internet born character-entity based on the {{Bogeyman}} and originating in his present form on Website/SomethingAwful, created by user Victor Surge in the "Let's Create Paranormal Images" thread. ([[http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3150591&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post361861415 Slender Man posts start here,]] though most of the images are now gone). It soon reached memetic status, spreading through several blogs and videos, and quickly became the horror we know and fear today.
15
16
17The three most famous entries in the mythos, also known as "The Big Three", are:
18
19* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets''
20* ''WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID''
21* ''WebVideo/TribeTwelve''
22
23[[folder:Other associated videos]]
24* ''WebVideo/AppleOfOurEye''
25* ''WebVideo/ClearLakes44''
26* ''WebVideo/DarkHarvest''
27* ''WebVideo/TheDeadAreWatching''
28* ''WebVideo/{{ECKVA}}''
29* ''WebVideo/FiveZer02''
30* ''WebVideo/FourTapes''
31* ''WebVideo/FutureRefused''
32* ''WebVideo/KeratinGarden''
33* ''WebVideo/MLAndersen0''
34* ''WebVideo/MorleyGrove''
35* ''WebVideo/ProjectNewWorld''
36* ''WebVideo/PunishingPrometheus''
37* ''WebVideo/StanFrederick''
38* ''WebVideo/StrangeAeons''
39* ''WebVideo/The4Steps''
40* ''WebVideo/TJAProjects''
41* ''WebVideo/XMandelbrot''
42[[/folder]]
43
44In addition, there is many a strange story from people who appear to have seen him, as well as photographs by people who have not been heard from since. A more-or-less full list can be found at [[http://slenderversemedia.tumblr.com/ here;]] the TV Tropes articles for the works can be found in Recap/TheSlenderManMythos.
45
46The AlternateRealityGame site Unfiction has a whole [[http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/index.php?f=264 forum]] dedicated to the mythos, as well as a dedicated stand alone forum at [[http://slendernation.forumotion.com/forum Slender Nation.]] Reviews of stories can be found at [[http://slendereview.blogspot.com/ The Slendy Review]] blog. Non-story information can be found at [[http://slenderia.blogspot.com/ Encyclopedia Slenderia.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/user/compileTRUTH compileTRUTH]] also summarizes some series. An [[http://www.slendermanmythos.com/ extensive fan site]] is in the works, created by one of our tropers.
47
48And now he even has his own video game titled ''VideoGame/{{Slender}},'' available for free. Another video game, which is an expansion of the original with a story and more levels, was released in collaboration with Blue Isle Studios. It is called ''VideoGame/SlenderTheArrival'', and is available to buy on Blue Isle Studio's site.
49
50Unfortunately, in 2014, two mentally ill twelve-year-old girls, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, stabbed their twelve-year-old friend, Peyton Leutner, nineteen times in an effort to please the fictional character. Leutner, thankfully, survived, and the girls were committed to mental institutions. [[https://www.facebook.com/Entitymovie This incident led to the cancellation of the film ''Entity''.]]
51
52Another film, titled ''Film/SlenderMan'', was released on August 10th, 2018 to overwhelmingly negative reviews.
53
54Not to be confused with ''Film/TheThinMan'' or either "Tall Man" from the ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' and ''Film/{{Phantasm}}''.
55----
56
57!! These stories provide examples of:
58
59* AbandonedArea: A common setting for stories in the Mythos.
60* TheAdjectivalMan: Guess.
61* AffectionateParody: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MXYC_jX2Wc&feature=player_embedded Splendor Man! Yaaaay!]]
62** Creator/LittleKuriboh offers ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj6F_piB_HE Concrete Giraffes.]]''
63*** [[http://blip.tv/yugioh-the-abridged-series/marik-plays-slender-6359133 As a follow-up]], Marik does a LetsPlay of ''VideoGame/{{Slender}}''.
64*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pra0LzuprhQ As does]] LetsPlay/{{Supergreatfriend}}, in a fashion.
65*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6DP-PXNzvE Slendy makes an appearance again]] in another of Marik's playthroughs, this time of ''VideoGame/{{SlenderTheArrival}}''
66** From the creator of ''WebVideo/TribeTwelve'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0rzusUAUtk There's a Monster in My Closet.]]''
67** [[https://www.youtube.com/user/SlenderManSings Slender Man sings his favorite songs]].
68** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnCea2Wm5jo Slender Madness]]
69** Woman cosplaying as [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie Pie]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFDOoHdMSiM sings "Giggle at the Ghostie" to Slender Man.]] HilarityEnsues.
70** He may be an Eldrich abomination, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1DycH1titU&feature=related at least he pays his rent on time]].
71** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLtWvLPGrbY Slender Man talks about his life.]] And now there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_awpHrvG40 part 2.]]
72** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1SKDkWFdkM The Slender Man Song!]]
73** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MjoknnWX1g Slender Man vs Gangnam Style]]
74** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxDUto-NnY4 Marble Yellowjackets]] series (warning: slightly NSFW)
75** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hYi350ap_M Slendy is just misunderstood.]]
76* AlternateRealityGame: Most (if not all) of the projects within the mythos.
77* ApocalypticLog: A good number of reports on this creature are found in this format.
78* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: This disclaimer on [[http://slenderia.blogspot.com/2010/09/intro.html the first Encyclopedia Slenderia post.]]
79-->DISCLAIMER: Reading about Slender Man has been known to result in {{paranoia|Fuel}}, loss of sleep, and the death of you and [[AndYourLittleDogToo everyone you hold dear]]. Anyone who continues to read on is fully accepting the risk that a man in a suit may rip out their favorite organs as a result. I don't want to wind up with any lawsuits from people claiming that it's my fault they were killed. Because then we'd need to figure out how a dead person hires a lawyer, and how to transmit funds to the afterlife, and it would just get really messy legally.
80* BaitAndSwitch: Some series hide the fact that they even include the Slender Man, most famous of which being WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID, but WebVideo/TheDeadAreWatching wins out for not even hinting at Slendy for ''five months'' of the series run.
81* BadassInANiceSuit: Although there's been some question as to whether he's [[HumanoidAbomination even wearing a suit]].
82* BatmanGambit: Zero and several others put themselves in harms way intentionally in combat against Slendy, in the hope of evoking enough emotion from the remaining slenderbloggers that they could agree upon a 'canon' story in which he is injured. [[spoiler: It didn't work]]
83* BattleThemeMusic: Hosozukuri from ''[[http://breezeinmonochromenight.blogspot.com/ Breeze in Monochrome NIGHT ]]'' has made several songs based on other bloggers, including her song ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hlDz0GROYY Resolve]]'' which is meant to be a battle theme for people fighting against Slendy.
84* BeingWatched: He's watching you, always watching! He doesn't have a face, but he's always watching!
85-->ALWAYS WATCHES...NO EYES.
86* BerserkButton: Shelby calling out the mainstream and a few less but still fairly popular blogs. The shit storm was magnificent and if you really want to see it, well one Blogger took screen caps. Ask him for them anytime [[http://nostalgicallydreaming.blogspot.com/ ANYTIME]]
87* TheBlank: The most common depiction of the Slender Man involves no actual facial features on its face- just blank whiteness. Among his original attributes was that his face would appear different to every viewer, however; considering this, it's likely that his facelessness on the original photoshops was meant to be some sort of GlamourFailure, but everyone decided to run with him ''actually'' being faceless. Variations include [[FacialHorror a wrinkled, alien-ish head that couldn't]] ''[[FacialHorror possibly]]'' [[FacialHorror have facial features]] and [[NauseaFuel a writhing, twisted ball of flesh.]]
88* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Across the different facets of the mythos, it's difficult to say whether the Slender Man can be consistently considered totally evil, to be working toward a discernible goal, or to even be intelligent by our standards. For example, ''Blog/TheTutorial'' asserts that staying on the third story or up of a building is probably a safe bet, since based on the author's experience Slendy can't comprehend the concept of a human taller than him [[WeirdnessCensor and will simply ignore said human]].
89* BotanicalAbomination: Given his strange appearance and his habit of [[DontGoInTheWoods appearing in forests]], the Slender Man is sometimes implied to be some kind of plant creature - either a forest that evolved sentience and created an avatar to hunt humans, or something born from the ghosts of criminals who were executed by hanging them from trees.
90* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Slender Man's proxies are mind controlled people that he forces to do his bidding.
91* BreakoutCharacter: This is how Slendy started off in the original thread. Another character, the Masked Man (AKA "Masky") has branched off of the Slender Man mythos, primarily from the Marble Hornet videos.
92* BreadEggsMilkSquick: After people in the original thread started giving themselves nightmares with their own stories, this comment was left:
93-->The cure to the phobia you guys have given yourselves should be a sequel series of images showing the Slender Man going through everyday activities, such as mowing his lawn, walking the dog, sitting down to breakfast with the family and eating fried human flesh.
94* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind: Slendy is often portrayed as invisible to the naked eye unless you are his target, although he can usually be picked up on video.
95* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: He likes doing this to people, as [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets Jay]], [[WebVideo/TribeTwelve Noah]] and the [[WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID HYBRID]] guys can attest.
96* ChildEater: At least, he seems to prefer them in his initial incarnation. Most blog and vlog iterations of the mythos, however, seem to imply that he's indifferent as to who he hunts/eats.
97** That said, even though most b/vlog iterations seem to limit him to victims in their mid-twenties, it's not uncommon for one or more members of the group to have a childhood connection to Slendy, returning his focus to children somewhat (albeit, now grown-up). For example:
98*** ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' has [[spoiler:Tim, who was not only seemingly committed for paranoia, suicidal tendencies, and seizures, but was trapped in a hospital fire, yet miraculously survived. All of these are Slender Man calling cards.]]
99*** ''WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID'', at the very least, has [[spoiler:Steph, whose immediate family were murdered by him, leading her to feel stalked by him ever since. It's also been hinted at, however, that all of the main characters have a childhood connection.]]
100*** ''WebVideo/TribeTwelve'' has [[spoiler: practically every major character. Both Mary Asher and Milo had regular, or semi-regular, contact with Slender Man during childhood. Additionally, Noah was revealed not only to have been observed by the collective as a child, but to have survived a house fire when he was younger. Whilst the house fire is suspicious enough on it's own, Noah's parents mention seeing someone suspiciously Slender-like walking through the rubble. Noah's grandfather, Karl, also grew up in a German community near the Black Forest that used folktales of the "Great Man", who supposedly lived in the woods, to [[ScareEmStraight frighten their children into obedience]]. It should be noted, however, that Karl did not have a direct encounter with Mr. Tall, Dark and Faceless until adulthood.]]
101* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve (a.k.a "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpa Tulpa]]") (actually, more of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpa#Thoughtform Thought Form]]):
102** Some of the [=ARGs=], such as ''Blog/TheTutorial'', claim this is the cause the Slender Man existing in the first place.
103** Meta-example too. Some forumgoers began wondering if their collective imagination could manifest Slender Man to reality.
104** Some characters believe this is the way to kill him.
105** This is actually how The Slender Man appeared in the setting of Glimpse The Beyond RPG. Magi theorize that all appearances of The Slender Man are actually Tulpas, paranormal creatures that are invisible and incorporeal in their basic form, but can become visible and corporeal by taking the form of legendary creatures, The Slender Man being one of them. If a player does some metagaming, he or she can see that game mechanics definitely make this possible, since A) a legendary creature must have between 150 and 200 General Points for a Tulpa to take its form, and B) The Slender Man has 170 General Points.
106* CombatTentacles: Slendy is sometimes depicted with tentacles supplementing or replacing his arms.
107* DecoyProtagonist: Frequently the narrator of the ARG will disappear or meet a bad end, leaving another to figure out the first blogger's password to pick up the torch. Sometimes it's a family member or a close friend, or someone that had been leaving a lot of posts in the comments section. Occasionally the new protagonist is a former antagonist.
108* DependingOnTheArtist: The tentacles. Slender Man is always tall and thin, with pale skin, no face, no hair, a black suit, and ''usually'' freakishly long arms. But DependingOnTheArtist he may have tentacles for arms, ''groups'' of tentacles for arms, or tentacles ''attached'' to his arms.
109* DependingOnTheWriter: The details concerning the Slender Man's powers, personality, and modus operandi change from story to story. [[http://thattallstalkerdude.blogspot.com/2011/05/final-postby-me.html This posting]] and [[http://oldcelluloid.blogspot.com/2011/07/ive-found-it.html this one]] gives us a theory on the matter.
110** Potentially lampshaded with the second one - within its series, that theory is reiterated [[http://theincompletenesstheorems.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/2-4.html here]] and another character in the same series provides [[http://notesfromaformerself.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/notes-26072012.html a very different]] theory shortly after. Even within the writer's canon, the explanations vary wildly, leaving us ultimately with no real answers at all and showing this trope at work ''even as the characters are discussing the Slender Man in-universe'' (the prominence of the theme of the Slender Man as a nihilistic metaphor within this particular mini-canon suggests that this is a deliberate attempt to show explanation of the Slender Man as futile).
111* DerivativeDifferentiation: Early works were known for aping ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' and ''Blog/JustAnotherFool'', but the Mythos gradually grew to include a wide variety of stories (as well as the Core Theory).
112* DevilButNoGod: As of 2013, Slender Man has had no "good" counterpart (this is, unless you count Splendor Man). This is likely due to the Creator/HPLovecraft influence.
113** [[WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID He may]] have a (still-evil) [[RedOniBlueOni opposite]] in [[http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rake The Rake]], however. It's not yet clear whether or not they are enemies though.
114** See the aforementioned "[[http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Masked_Thingy_in_My_Closet Masky]]" under Breakout Character...he could be a good or at least less evil counterpart to Slendy, as he seemingly hasn't caused anyone real harm yet, and has in fact removed them from dangerous situations.
115** Then there's the other theory that Slender Man isn't evil at all, but working off BlueAndOrangeMorality.
116** Certain blogs have mentioned that, when you look at it from a certain angle, Santa Claus of all things seems a lot like a good Slender Man.
117* DisguisedHorrorStory: A popular method for developing Slender series is starting out the series in question a a normal (and generally boring) blog or vlog. After a few entries (sometimes foreshadowed by the presence of mythos elements or not), slendy will make his grand entrance and things will go downhill from there.
118* DisneyOwnsThisTrope: Eric Knudsen -- the original creator of Slenderman -- has claimed ownership of the character and blocked others from using it. While he has given permission to various fan projects, the issue was complicated by an undisclosed third party owning the rights to media adaptations of ''Slender Man'' up until 2016, when they were sold to Mythology Entertainment.
119* DoNotAdjustYourSet / HostileShowTakeOver: Frequently both blogs and vlogs get hijacked for an episode or two by an antagonist or a TricksterMentor, although rarely by Slender Man himself.
120* DontGoInTheWoods: Honestly, half the time he doesn't even bother with the woods. [[ParanoiaFuel So good luck avoiding everywhere you ever go.]]
121** Early backstory suggests his first known sighting was in the Black Forest in Germany.
122** Other images show him depicted in Lower Egyptian hieroglyphics, so this may not be the case.
123* TheDragon: Slender Man typically has one per work, sometimes more.
124* DrivenToMadness: Quite a few protagonists descend into insanity over time.
125* DrivenToSuicide: Occasionally happens to people in the mythos, usually as a way of escaping from Slender Man's grasp.
126* EldritchAbomination: A fairly small-scale one, as abominations go, but that doesn't really help. It varies from blog to blog.
127* EvilDetectingDog: For some reason, [[WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID animals]] [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets aren't]] [[Blog/SeekingTruth crazy]] about this guy.
128* EvilLaugh: In some stories he occasionally let out a low giggle. It was pretty much decided it was more disturbing for him [[NothingIsScarier to be silent]], [[spoiler: but he did chuckle briefly in entry 23 of Marble Hornets...]]
129* ExpandedUniverse: Every single "side-story" counts as this: they all draw off different bits of mythology and references, and his powers ([[NothingIsScarier when actually shown]]) are not totally consistent. [[ParanoiaFuel But that might make it scarier...]]
130* {{Expy}}: Nearly every blog/vlog nowadays seems to have some character equivalent to [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets totheark or the Masked Man]]. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This is one of the way key concepts in the Mythos developed.]]
131* TheFairFolk: One of the earliest stories of what Slendy may be; that he's a malevolent fairy that lives in the forest and preys on naughty children. Several theories presented during [[https://www.youtube.com/user/deaddoll00?feature=mhee FearPlay]] also speculate on the subject, including the possibility that The Slender Man may, in fact, be an entire forest.
132* FauxAffablyEvil: One could argue that his penchant for dressing in suits qualifies him. Of course, he can be genuinely AffablyEvil DependingOnTheWriter.
133* {{Filler}}: Frequent in all the video series and blogs, but also [[JustifiedTrope justified]]: the bloggers are putting up all the mundane stuff from their lives or of their projects, except Slender Man just so happened to get involved. This is becoming less common now that more blogs are starting with the protagonist already aware that they're being stalked by The Slender Man.
134* {{Foil}}:
135** The Slender Man is often considered to be the foil to the standard HauntedHouse. While the Haunted House is usually in a more rural setting as something stationary and traps its victims, The Slender Man is often found in an urban environment and stalks his victims. Further analysis [[http://johnfossil.blogspot.com/2012/06/postmodern-horror-slender-man-mythos.html here]].
136** He's also one to Literature/TheRake; Slender Man is a HumanoidAbomination that prefers to let teleporting and tentacle summoning do the killing for him, wears a suit, stands tall and silent at all times and has no clear motive to speak of. The Rake is an AnimalisticAbomination that uses fearsome claws as weapons, is nude, has a mangled, hunched over appearance mixed with a savage persona and has the ''very'' clear motive of killing whatever it comes into contact with.
137* {{Foreshadowing}}: If any character gives a brief blurb about childhood fears or skeletons in the closet, expect Slendy to be directly connected to all of them.
138* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou
139* FreeRangeChildren: In WebVideo/MarbleHornets and WebVideo/DarkHarvest, the protagonists are in their teens to early 20s. Parents are only mentioned, and are seldom seen. [[spoiler: Note: Both Chris and Alex's (from WebVideo/DarkHarvest) parents are deceased as of Log Entry #30.]]
140* FridgeHorror:
141** This is an invoked given, what with Slender Man's behind-the-scenes style making it where both the characters and readers don't realize that he's involved in certain situations until much later.
142** There's also the frightening implications that come up in blogs with an UnreliableNarrator, namely, that the protagonist that we've gotten so attached to has been manipulating us into viewing things from his or her warped perspective.
143** The sheer number of monsters in unrelated works that are reminiscent of Slendy is just a bit unsettling. This includes [[Literature/TheKingInYellow the Stranger in the Pallid Mask]], The "Thin Man" in ''{{Film/Metropolis}}'' (some translations have him as "The Slender Man"), [[Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth the Terrible Trivium]], [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer the Gentlemen]], [[VideoGame/ChzoMythos the Tall Man]], the other [[Film/{{Phantasm}} Tall Man]], [[Literature/{{Nightside}} the Harrowing]], [[Series/DoctorWho the Silence]], [[Series/SapphireAndSteel The Shape]] -- hell, go far enough back and you get the ''noppera-bo'' of Japanese myth.
144** Go back ''really'' far, and you get the ''gurumuka'' of the UsefulNotes/AustralianAborigines on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groote_Eylandt Groote Eylandt,]] sort of a cross between Slendy and a vampire... which is unnerving when you consider the number of Slenderblogs set in Australia, as well as the purported Australian origins of the first two photos.
145** There's been several Slender Man inspired crimes recently. One of them would, in an ordinary blog or vlog, imply the attacker is turning into a [[MoreThanMindControl Proxy]]. Slender Man is theorized to have been created through the Tulpa Effect, AKA the 'Make Lots of Stories and Think About It A Lot' Effect.
146* GenreBusting: While the majority of stories in the Mythos follow the standard CosmicHorrorStory style, a growing number have begun to mash together genres which one wouldn't normally associate with Slender Man; for example:
147** Blog/ObserveAndTerminate and [[http://noplansnoprototypenobackup.blogspot.com/ Upload Commencing]] have near future sci-fi elements.
148** [[http://recordsofanimpossibility.blogspot.com/ Records of an Impossibility]] is Urban Fantasy with Slender Man.
149** [[http://mephirevolution.blogspot.com/ Mephi]] is a time travel story.
150** [[http://astoryofdaystocome.blogspot.com/ Faded Giants]] is cyberpunk.
151* GratuitousLatin: As many a horror movie or story would suggest, Latin can be creepy!
152* HazardousWater: The Slender Man often has some form of connection to water. Blog/CanYouSeeTheWords plays it the hardest by far--every reference to water is struck out (when asked about this by a reader, the protagonist simply replies with something vague about correcting mistakes) and the blog links to worldwide news reports on floods.
153** WebVideo/TribeTwelve references this in the video where Noah flies to meet the Hybrids. On the plane, he shows that it is raining outside, and says it makes him nervous... [[spoiler: then Slendy teleports into the plane. However, Noah does not recall this (which isn't shocking considering the nature of Slendy's doings) but what IS notable is that nobody else seems to remember, either. That part isn't as normal. We heard them all screaming and panicking, so they obviously saw him... assuming he was really there.]]
154*** Could be ViewersAreGeniuses / ShoutOut. In the expanded Cthulhu Mythos, The Great Old One's element is water, so maybe one EldritchAbomination tipping its hat to another?
155*** There is a belief among many that the Slender Man actually has a negative connection with water. Usually, one couldn't hurt the Slender Man, but there have been cases in which people could attack him successfully. This has always been near a body of water.
156* HeroicBSOD: Main characters often suffer breakdowns due to particularly devastating encounters with the Slender Man.
157* HiddenInPlainSight: Used in WebVideo/TribeTwelve and WebVideo/XMandelbrot. Both series protagonists are quite disturbed at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od-z7tJENho&feature=channel_video_title what]] they [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reUk9q2MI7s&feature=relmfu missed.]]
158* HistoricalInJoke: Being in the ARG scene, many blogs/vlogs invoke real-life places or urban legends (like [[WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID The Rake]]; see ShoutOut). Often, this makes things much more effective.
159** WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID visits [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania Centralia]] at one point. Centralia was the inspiration for the film version of Film/SilentHill, and the series has made an occasional reference to Franchise/SilentHill itself. The video itself contains a reference to ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'', as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO8DToYQS-I#t=1m31s here.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD-iD2qYVkk (For reference.)]]
160** Blog/MakeItCount mentioned Rocks State Park in Maryland as a location, and also talks about the lack of cell service. A reader who lives in the area vouched for the accuracy of this.
161* HollywoodAtlas: Averted, as the authors of the mythos set their stories where they live and write it specifically to be as normal and real as possible. None of the Australian stories feature stereotypes of any kind, and the one [[https://www.youtube.com/user/photofugitive set in England]] barely even acknowledges their location.
162* HorrorStruck: Unsurprisingly, this happens quite a lot.
163* HumanoidAbomination: Provides the trope page image, for good reason.
164* IHaveManyNames: The Slender Man is often given additional or new names, such as "The Operator" in WebVideo/MarbleHornets.
165** [[http://nihilartikelling.blogspot.com/2011/01/his-names.html "so many names slim suited man rail thin man skin-and-bones man rawboned man angular faceless long limbed man operator mister gaunt."]]
166* InvisibleToNormals: More than one ARG has implied that only Slendy's targets can actually see him in real time; however, he will always appear on digital video [[spoiler:unless he, say, breaks the camera like in Blog/SeekingTruth]]. This leads to protagonists reviewing video and wondering why they didn't notice the surprisingly obvious ten foot-tall faceless man when they actually shot said video.
167** A variation shows up in one of the earlier Marble Hornets (Entry #12): The crew filming near the Tower see Slendy standing in the open but none of them seem to notice how he's eight feet tall, the fact that he has no face, or the way his arms dangle in the most chilling fashion.
168** This could be a reference to earlier versions of the legend stating that his face is different to each person seeing him, but recordings only show a blank spot where his face should be, and occasionally that his height doesn't seem to register immediately. They didn't notice because ''he looked normal to them at the time''.
169* JigsawPuzzlePlot: Frequent.
170* KarmaHoudini: Most stories that have actually finished either go for this or [[UnreliableNarrator cast doubt on the Slender Man being present at all]]. Of course, one could consider it unfair to actually defeat a communal character with finality.
171* KnightOfCerebus: Slender Man's favorite shtick. Your life is going normal, then you come across, say, a NightmareFuelColoringBook or a few ominous photographs and then all your loved ones are either killed or BrainwashedAndCrazy and ''[[CassandraTruth no one will believe you.]]''
172* LandDownUnder: The page picture was "taken" from the City of Stirling Library Collection. [[http://www.stirling.wa.gov.au/ Stirling]] is in Perth, Western Australia.
173* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Slender Man is capable of doing this to people.
174* LastNoteNightmare: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrkzqjTqfG8&feature=channel_video_title Several]] videos [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORlc41BxXJA&feature=feedu end]] with these.
175* LateArrivalSpoiler: Newer works have an unfortunate tendency to detail major plot points from older works (especially WebVideo/MarbleHornets and Blog/JustAnotherFool).
176* LeanAndMean: Very, very lean. Very, very mean.
177* {{Leitmotif}}: Audio distortion, although like [[DependingOnTheWriter anything else]], usage in the stories varies.
178* LighterAndSofter: Even in the Slenderverse, it happens. Two sweet blogs about those stalked by a Tall Man in a reflection of the standard setting. http://lakereflections.wordpress.com and http://ishudderfromhope.blogspot.com
179** WordOfGod on both actually says the antagonists are anti-Slendies. This is more apparent in Lake Reflections, where the Tall Man is ultimately a benevolent influence on the protagonist's life.
180* LogicBomb: According to WildMassGuessing, he only exists if you're thinking about him. Now try not to think about him. However, he can only be seen by those who already know him. So how did people get to know him in the first place? Before its apparent demise, ''A'' (of ''A Lack of Lexicon''/''Defining?'') suggests that the creator of Slender Man made something similar to the Slender Man, which [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve it decided to use as the source of its power]], or that it was a coincidence.
181** If interprented with Carl Jung's theory of the collective subconcious, The Slender Man has always existed in our minds and the person who created the Slender Man drew from that subconcious unknowingly and unwittingly unleashed him!
182* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: Characters that have been driven insane by Slender Man have started to post comments on other Slender-blogs, taunting both the protagonists and their attempts to [[YouCantFightFate stay alive in their struggles against Slendy]]. Also, M of ''Blog/TheTutorial'' has been giving the protagonists encouragement and words of advice.
183** Many Slenderblogs are so intertwined that readers have to follow at least nine or ten to have any idea what's going on.
184*** This has almost single handedly caused [[invoked]]ContinuityLockout
185** This reached its logical conclusion with an actual crossover event between many blogs in late November, wherein Slender Man and his minions launched a series of attacks against the bloggers.
186** The Everyman HYBRID team seems to have stumbled upon [[http://www.creepypasta.com/the-rake/ the Rake]] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I-SGImHImE "Cops Checked, no Body"]]
187** [[Blog/SeekingTruth Zeke]] and [[WebVideo/TribeTwelve Noah]] guest-starred in the WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID chatroom on Sunday, March 20, along with EMH boys Jeff and Evan.
188** Ron from ''Drew's Box 'o' Stuff'', Pete from ''Search and Reveal'', Clarice from ''Unchained'', Slice from ''Live in the Light'', YggdrasilCore/Hellfire from ''Copper and Crome'', Black Leaf and Al(x)nw from ''The Land of Black Leaves'' and ''Casting Aside My Sins'', and Liam and Johnny from ''Bordorline'' all teamed up for one hell of a crossover in Febuary and March.
189** Here's [[http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z379/BanishedZaber/SlenderDegreesofSeperation.png this diagram]] courtesy of an Unfiction forum member. Best part about that diagram? For all it's glory and complexity, it's still a SIMPLIFIED version of the crossover web. You'd need several pages to keep track of every single minor crossover that has occurred within the Mythos.
190* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: He IS one.
191* MindRape: One of the many tools the Slender Man has in his arsenal.
192* MostWritersAreMale / ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet: Played straight in the early days of the mythos, but now mostly averted. There are many blogs and vlogs written by women or starring female characters. [[http://www.vqronline.org/essays-articles/2017/10/out-came-girls This article goes into considerable detail about the place of girls]] and young women in the occult world in general, and how they connect with the Slenderman belief system.
193* {{Motif}}: The tensor product symbol (generally called the "Operator symbol" in mythos-related contexts) is a calling card for the Mythos and is typically written as (X) in text. Some in-universe characters (such as [[http://getuphigh.blogspot.com/ M]]) theorize that it's a Slendy-repellent, while others think it calls him towards them.
194* TheMovie: Several different attempts.
195** The first one released, Film/{{Windigo}}. It's called that because everyone in the movie mistakes Slendy for the {{wendigo}}. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5apy27bksGo It's legally available to watch for free.]]
196** [[http://www.hylomovie.com Hylo]], an upcoming movie. The website has a trailer and a bit of information, but not much else is known.
197** ''Film/SlenderMan'', released in 2018 to lackluster reviews and viewership. Despite this, its relatively low budget of $10 million for production ''and'' promotion means the $48 million it earned worldwide actually made it a decent success financially.
198** ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1658837/ The Tall Man]]'' has been rumored to be at least inspired by the mythos, due to the vague similarity in the synopsis, but there is too little information as of yet to jump to that conclusion.
199*** As it turned out [[spoiler: the film very effectively uses the mythos as a RedHerring; the first half leads you to believe a Slender Man-type figure is responsible for the missing children, but the real explanation is completely non-supernatural and much more rooted in realistic adult worries.]]
200** There's also ''Entity'', which, as stated above, was cancelled due to the 2014 stabbing.
201** ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' itself had a movie in 2015, titled "Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story." With Creator/DougJones playing Tall, Dark, and Faceless itself.
202** ''Beware The Slenderman'' is a TrueCrime documentary about a 2014 stabbing incident committed by children who were convinced Slenderman was real. It's notable for devoting a significant amount of time to explain the various ways in which the myths spread and changed over time on the Internet, and how mythology in general is formed.
203* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Some of the stories state that Slendy only goes multi-armed when he's about to go in for the kill. So basically, if you see him with more than two arms, you're screwed.
204** Although, he has been known to use his multiple appendages to scare his victims.
205* MultipleChoicePast: There's no 'definitive' version of the creature or its back story, which the creators encourage.
206* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The users of the Website/SomethingAwful forums, where Slender Man originates from, have expressed horror over some of the real-life repercussions of Slender Man becoming so popular, in particular the case where two young girls attempted to murder a friend to gain the fictional character's favour.
207* NightmareFetishist: Even though Slender Man was made to be ''terrifying'', he still has quite a fan base. In-universe, this can be how Slendy ensnares his victims. "Ooh, this is a pretty creepy meme, I'm going to read more..."
208* NoEnding: Some of the blogs/video-blogs end quite abruptly, occasionally with the [[FridgeHorror implication]] that Slendy nabbed the blogger.
209* NoodleImplements: The vast majority of the time, we only see the aftermath of Slender Man's visitations. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation It's probably for the better, anyway.]]
210* NoodlePeople: But you already knew that.
211* NothingIsScarier: In many of the stories, we see the result of the Slender Man's presence instead of witnessing the events firsthand.
212* NumerologicalMotif: Strings of identical digits seem to hold some significance with Slender Man. For example, [[spoiler:in Entry #26 of Marble Hornets, he appears on camera in Alex's house on [[FourIsDeath April 4 (4/4), 44 seconds after the clock strikes 4:44]], and in Entry #29, he appears at the 55 second mark in the 66 second long video. In Just Another Fool, its implied that he attacks Logan at 11:11 on November 11. In Tribe Twelve, in the 'Night Recording' entry, Noah wakes up coughing at 3:33 on the dot, and in the 'dot dash' video from Everyman HYBRID, the old woman that Jeff visits to obtain information lives in room 222, and in that same audio file Jeff discusses a fire that occurred on some day at 5:55.]]
213* ObscuredSpecialEffects: Common in the video series and the various still images of Slender Man, by means of {{Ominous Visual Glitch}}es and distant shots of him. Besides contributing to the NothingIsScarier effect, it also masks the low budget of the various stories.
214* OhCrap: The feeling any character gets when they realize that Slender is watching or nearby (usually both).
215* OnlineAlias: Some of the characters use their "real names", but many of them stick to aliases. J, M and Zero come to mind the most.
216* OminousFog: In one of the early stories, Slender Man's touch could melt victims into a mist... and, in fact, was the source of the mist clinging to his home forest. Several of the initial pictures of SM have him partially hidden by fog.
217* OrganTheft: Well, actually, it's more like Organ Borrowing And Haphazardly Replacing.
218* PerceptionFilter: See ByTheEyesOfTheBlind and InvisibleToNormals. It's likely not that he's actually invisible, just those who aren't his targets have their minds tricked into ignoring him.
219* PetTheDog: [[http://iamslenderman.blogspot.com/2010/02/give-me-20-dollars.html He supports the Haiti relief effort, apparently.]]
220* {{Plaguemaster}}: First seen in WebVideo/TribeTwelve and then later in other blogs, people associated with Slendy tend to come under an odd Sickness, the symptoms of which include coughing, bleeding from the mouth, nose, or eyes, vomiting, disorientation, potential black outs, and potentially fevers.
221** The final few entries of WebVideo/MarbleHornets implies a very interesting inversion of this; that the Sickness comes first and that Slender Man is a symptom thereof.
222* PlayingWithFire: Places that have to do with Slendy tend to inexplicably go up in flames.
223** Slendy [[invoked]][[ParanoiaFuel supposedly]] [[UnreliableNarrator attacked a US Army convoy]]. One of the humvees targeted had half its chassis completely incinerated, as if someone had bathed it in a star.
224* PsychoSidekick[=/=]LesCollaborateurs[=/=]LoonyFan[=/=]TheQuisling: Occasionally in the stories the protagonist (or the antagonist) will gain the attention of a crazy person. The motives and goals of said crazy person vary, and will sometimes change as the story progresses.
225* QuizzicalTilt: A long standing trait of the Slender Man, usually occurs right before MissingTime or CombatTentacles
226* RealAfterAll: Or Is It? - There are quite a lot of similarities between the Slender Man and the "[[http://www.creepypasta.com/the-smiling-man-in-black/ Smiling]]" or "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indrid_Cold Grinning]]" Man mythologies. Although the Grinning Man/Indrid Cold has his own mythology, it is possible that the post on Website/SomethingAwful was inspired a bit by it.
227** There is quite a large variety of ghost stories you can find with varying levels of similarity to the Slender Man. It can get pretty unsettling the more you find.
228* RecountedByTheMainCharacters: Most versions of the Slender Man mythos are reported as if they were real.
229* RightBehindMe: Frequent in the video-blogs.
230* RoomFullOfCrazy: This is apparently what exposure to Slender Man will do to you, judging by some of the articles.
231* RuleOfScary: Beyond being a suit-wearing, too-tall, too-thin humanoid with enormously long arms, there's little consistency to what Slender Man is. For instance, the earliest incarnations had his face vary from viewer to viewer and depicted him forcibly amassing a cult. Neither are common now. Nobody really cares--if it's scary as hell, go with it!
232* SanitySlippage: Happens to [[Blog/JustAnotherFool a couple]] [[Blog/DreamsInDarkness bloggers]]. Kind of a given by now.
233* {{Seekers}}: If the characters don't start out as one of the variations on the list, they frequently will become one as the story progresses.
234%%* SharpDressedMan
235* ShootTheShaggyDog: Pretty much every blog that has ended so far has ended like this.
236* ShoutOut:
237** Although Slendy and ''Film/{{Phantasm}}''[='s=] Tall Man aren't too similar beyond the names and suits, the original Website/SomethingAwful poster ''did'' use the latter as a template when Photoshopping his images. Despite noted similarities, said poster had never heard of the VideoGame/ChzoMythos's Tall Man.
238** Yggdrasil allusions also pulled up a ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' reference in Just Another Fool, namely Logan living on Ash Tree Lane. Several other short stories also involve a lot of ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' references (such as [[http://quiaegosicdico.blogspot.com/ A Lack of Lexicon,]] which has a ton of references) as well, likely due to the appeal that the work has to lovers of the mythos.
239** In one post, [[http://wwwrunningwonthelp-lya.blogspot.com/2010/12/shes-better.html Sandra]] wakes up from a period of psychosis screaming "OH GOD THE BUNDLE DATA REDACTED THROW D-CLASS AT IT", an obvious reference to Website/SCPFoundation. Crosses over into FridgeBrilliance when you look it up and learn that [[spoiler: many Slenderfans believe SCP-582, "Bundle", is no other than Slendy Himself.]] [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-582 Reading the page, it's not surprising they would come to this conclusion.]]
240** [[http://doyouliketrees.blogspot.com/ I Like Trees]] started out with a few references to Stephen King's ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series. Eventually, [[spoiler: they became a critical plot element with the main antagonist ostensibly being Black Thirteen.]]
241** In a cross-mythos example, the infamous [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets twenny dollaz]] have been referenced by several characters on various blogs. Maduin has even [[http://worstjestever.blogspot.com/2010/11/pranks-done.html/ tested whether giving the Slender Man 20 dollars works.]]
242* SliceOfLife: Due to the nature of journals and blogs, a good portion of the [=ARGs=] and stories lean toward this. Granted, the slice of life includes the occasional bit of weirdness or horror, but most of them still need to work, shop, and interact with people. It could be argued that part of the draw is watching how a regular person goes about his life with addition of the paranormal.
243* SpeakOfTheDevil: It's a common [[WildMassGuessing theory]] that you can only see the Slender Man if you know of him, or if he is captured with technology. So, before reading this page, he could have been [[ParanoiaFuel standing right behind you]]. But don't turn around. He only exists if you're thinking about him. [[SchmuckBait Now try not to think about him]].
244* SpinOff:
245** Franchise/TheFearMythos, which maintains that the Slender Man is only one of many different monsters that terrorize humanity.
246** ''Franchise/TheWillowMythos'' which maintains that he actively creates beings such as himself.
247* [[invoked]]SpiritualSuccessor: Some fans consider it to be one of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
248* StylisticSuck: The soap opera film project Alex comes up with in WebVideo/MarbleHornets, the mediocre health/workout routine from WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID, and [[http://tonightitallburns.blogspot.com/ Damien's crappy Slender-blog attempt]] from Blog/DreamsInDarkness, up until they get [[HijackedByGanon Hijacked By Slender Man]].
249* SuddenlySpeaking: Sort of. He's never audibly spoken, although he has written (or seemed to write) several blog entries. However, in the 'Deluge' entry of ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'', if the audio is reversed and the right channel removed, a low pitched voice can be heard to call 'Alex', the name of one of the main protagonists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRahdmGYQmo
250** Starting with Milo's Tape, ''WebVideo/TribeTwelve'' has Slender Man making audible growling sounds, which culminates in a pretty terrifying EvilLaugh in Crawlspace. Exaggerated as later episodes have him transforming into a GiantSpider and making animalistic screeches.
251* SurrealHorror: The fact that the central figure of the Mythos is a tall faceless guy in a business suit is surreal as is, but the numerous works tend to get ''very'' weird once Slendy starts driving people insane.
252* ThemeNaming: Both [[Blog/WhiteElephants Robert Sagel]] and [[http://outsidepeeringin.blogspot.com/ Thage]] do this to the other bloggers; the former with the archetypal roles he believes they possess, and the latter with a ChessMotif.
253* TheMenInBlack: Acording to the original posts by Victor Surge, an organisation known as "Optic Nerve" actively monitors The Slender Man.
254* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: Though technically, he doesn't make any bumping noises. Or any other noises for that matter. [[NothingIsScarier All he does is stand outside your window, in your living room, or by your bed, not making any sound. And not doing anything]].
255* {{Tulpa}}: This is a fairly common theory about Slender Man's origin.
256* UnreliableNarrator: Very common. But did the Slender Man drive the narrator crazy, or was he already crazy and using Slendy as an excuse? And then come the cases where the narrator isn't so much crazy as just lying.
257* UrbanLegend: Not deliberately manufactured so much as a {{creepypasta}} which took off so wildly (surprising even the original author) that many later listeners/readers would not know its origins despite full explanation being only a few Google searches away.
258* VillainBasedFranchise
259* VillainProtagonist: Several Slenderblogs are written from the point of view of Slendy's minions, such as Morningstar in [[http://themorninghunter.blogspot.com/ The Morning Hunter.]]
260** Then there's [[http://ihavenothingbuthateinmyheart.blogspot.com/ I'll See You in Hell,]] which is written by a serial killer.
261** Compile Truth became the first video series to star one.
262* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma: a distressingly common Feature Of qUite a few of the sleNDer blogs is to have whoever is tYping Only capitalize the letters that can be Used to spell out whatever message they want readers to decipher.
263** ''A Rainbow Life'' actually has the blogger [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] this, stating something along the lines of "oh, sorry for the random capitalizations, my fingers keep slipping."
264* WhenTreesAttack: His tallness and multiple arms are reminiscent of a tree. In some interpretations, he actually ''is'' a tree impersonating a man, though the inverse is just as likely true since most of the photoshops have him in a forest surrounded by long spindly trees. In ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'', one of the characters tells a story about criminals being tied to trees and kept alive for years as the growing branches stretch their limbs out of their sockets, implied to have some connection to Slendy.
265* WordSaladHorror: While the Slender Man himself is mute, totheark and many protagonists that get driven insane frequently speak with surreal, ominous gobbledygook.
266* YourMindMakesItReal: The Slender Man. The more you think about him, the more likely he'll appear. To you. And no one will know. Have fun!
267----
268->you finished Reading the page? good for yoU. everythiNg is fiNe. just don't lOok out your windoW.
269->fou\
270nd\

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