Slender Man is one of the better known examples of Creepy Pasta, monsters and urban legends created on the internet with the aid of videos, blogs, and Photoshopped pictures. First debuting on the internet back in 2009, he caught the interest of people all around the world. Numerous blogs and vlogs popped up on various sites, namely YouTube, all claiming to detail unfortunate encounters with the well-tailored creature. Know Your Meme and TV Tropes both have excellent articles on the mythos to get you started on your journey into sleepless nights and being afraid of the woods.
Some of the better known vlogs include:
Marble Hornets:
This was the first of the vlogs and what brought wide attention to the mythos, with some of the early videos surpassing 1 million views. In it, a group of film students catch the unwelcome attention of Slender Man, with the encounters caught on tape. Years later, the series' protagonist is pulled in as well as he tries to discover what happened to his friends. Though the acting and character development can be sketchy, it has some of the best cinematography in any of the vlogs and is one of the creepiest.
EverymanHYBRID:
This series was directly inspired by Marble Hornets, though it has decidedly gone off on its own unique storyline as the series progressed. It is easily the most complicated of the major vlogs as it is very much an ARG. You will most likely need the timeline to follow this one. The story begins with a group of high school friends filming a fitness webshow, which quickly falls apart as Slender Man becomes a groupie and brings some of his other eldritch abomination-y friends along. Far warning, despite this being my favorite of the vlogs, the first few videos are a bit dull though they do set up the characters' personalities well.
Tribe Twelve:
This series has had a rocky road as it struggled to find itself. Of the vlogs I've watched, this is the only one that I would describe as being outright terrible in the beginning. Once the flashback videos end and the real storyline begins, it starts to really settle into a nicely done show. Of the Big Three, Tribe Twelve has the best special effects and is the only one of the three to successfully pull off Slender Man's trademark tentacles. It also has a relatively small amount of ARG elements and the fewest videos of the Big Three vlogs, making it somewhat easier to follow.
For anyone interested in getting into the Mythos, the Unfiction forums are a good way to keep up with updates, speculation, and new series, whether you lurk (like I do) or actively post there. I would like to point out that while there's not really much objectionable content in the vlogs aside from general creepiness, there can be some strong cursing. You might want to avoid them if that's a problem for you.
Topic starter
Posted : August 17, 2011 8:16 pm
I'm not terribly familiar with Slenderman, but i did read a series of blog posts (fictional, of course) about some guy who got a diary from a friend killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, who proceeded to disappear, replete with scary repeating imagery and death ...
It was a while ago, and i don't remember a whole lot, other than it being completely obvious that
Spoiler
the guy updating the blog at the end was not going to come back.
I might look into the vlogs and such someday, if i can ever get myself to set aside the time. Watching videos requires staying in one place for a long time, and i prefer tab-hopping when i'm on-line.
Out of curiosity, Bookwyrm, have you heard of the SCP Foundation?
P.S. Oh, just as a heads-up, apparently Slendy shows up if you think about him. So you probably want to stop thinking about him.
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Tarfon
Posted : August 18, 2011 11:15 am
I was wondering if anyone would actually post in this but me. 
I have been browsing the SCP website off and on for awhile now. Apparently it may or may not be canon within the SM mythos; there was a chat with the EMH guys a few months back that was crashed by a bunch of characters from other SM stories as well as a guy from the SCP.
Topic starter
Posted : August 18, 2011 5:19 pm
Well, that's about all i know, and therefore all i have to post, about Slenderman at the moment.
I think the SCPF/SM/all that stuff has varying levels of "canonicity" with each other - i.e. however much you want them to have to do with each other.
Someone tried to write up a SM article for the SCPF recently, but didn't do too well with it.
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Tarfon
Posted : August 18, 2011 6:28 pm
Sorry, mate, I'm not familiar with the Slender Man myths but it sounds intriguing. I'll check it all out and get back to you.
Currently watching:
Doctor Who - Season 11
Posted : August 18, 2011 10:19 pm
I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this thread. Is this a discussion of urban myths and legends, like Chupacabra and Bigfoot? The exploding whale on the beach? 
That was nuts!
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Posted : August 19, 2011 1:25 am
Sure, you could talk about those too, Shadow. Creepypasta is pretty much the internet version of all of that and there's definitely overlap.
And this is probably going to be the least active SF ever, so we might as well introduce some more discussion topics.
Topic starter
Posted : August 19, 2011 6:09 pm
Hmm... I've watched a few videos but I'm still confused. Is this like a paranormal or Cryptology-like vlog?
Currently watching:
Doctor Who - Season 11
Posted : August 19, 2011 6:39 pm
As far as I can determine, W4J, this is a bit more modern...it's like Blair Witch except cheaper, and yet that very facet has the potential to make it a bit scarier. I can't imagine that the setup would be that hard to do. Write a simple horror story, create the backstory and mythos, and then just film stuff.
I always found the Springheel Jack stories to be a bit unsettling.
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Posted : August 20, 2011 3:36 am
Shadow hast hit it. It's very much in the spirit of Blair Witch. Basically, they're all really low-budget amateur horror video series with varying degrees of audience interactivity, all related to various internet urban legends, Slender Man in particular. I gave myself a lot of good scares over the summer watching them late at night in my room with all the lights off. Especially the early videos in Marble Hornets, when Slender Man is still mainly in the background. One minute something innocuous is going on and the next, there's this ... thing peeking in the window or sneaking in a house while everyone is asleep. I had to sleep with the lights on a few nights. 
Springheel Jack always reminded me a little bit of Mothman. Well, minus the giant bug wings.
Topic starter
Posted : August 20, 2011 4:19 pm
Especially the early videos in Marble Hornets, when Slender Man is still mainly in the background.
Does it show him in the background? I've watched multiple videos and I haven't seen a thing.
~Riella 
Posted : August 20, 2011 4:55 pm
The first few videos, he's kind of hard to spot. It's actually part of the fun, scouring the videos for little glimpses of him in odd places. Here is a pretty good wiki for Marble Hornets that has descriptions of the videos and what to looks for.
Topic starter
Posted : August 20, 2011 5:02 pm
Not actually Slender Man related, but I picked up another creepypasta series called Ben Drowned. I suspect I would be even more creeped out by it if I were a Zelda player, but it's still fairly creepy. A college student gets an old Nintendo console and visits garage sales for games. An old man gives him a free bootleg copy of Majora's Mask. Once he starts playing it, he starts to realize there's something really wrong with it.
The story has multiple divisions, with the first arc ending in one of the most genuinely creepy twists I've come across lately. Up until then, it was just some disturbing video game videos, but the twist is pure nightmare fuel. Here's the first story arc and here's the wiki for the series. Again, language warnings.
Topic starter
Posted : August 25, 2011 5:33 am
Attention! This Special Feature will be closing on Tuesday, 9/13/11.
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Posted : September 8, 2011 8:37 am
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