Sounds like one to me.
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Sure looks like one. Never seen a Slenderseries that’s just Twitter though… could be interesting. -T
I’ve written an introduction to the Slenderman phenomenon from the Fortean/occult perspective, for Volume 6 of the highly regarded Darklore journal. This edition just went on sale - the book itself is gorgeous, and features a wide range of High Strangeness from some of the best writers in the field.
But, if you just want to read the Slendy bit… the article is available as a free sample. A .pdf download can be found here;
A follow-up piece is planned for the subsequent edition of Darklore next year - I’m going to concentrate on the various ways proposed to take out/deal with Slendy, from Core Theory onwards - and I’ll also be looking deeper into the occult manifestations of Slendy into the ‘real’, comparing the mythos to the work of such occult fictioneers as Alan Moore and Grant Morrison.
I’m a magician and occultist first, a Slenderfan second… but nonetheless, I am very concerned with getting all this right. So, if anyone has any feedback, criticisms or suggestions, I’ll be happy to hear from you. You can email me at catvincentactualATgmailDOTcom or on Twitter as @catvincent.
My huge thanks to everyone involved in Slenderfandom, and I hope you enjoy the piece.
http://soundcloud.com/thehalfishexperience/hello-slender-man
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Personally I had a problem playing this on the SoundCloud site and had to download it, it may just be me, but still, heads up. -T
I’ve thought of more, so I’ve added more. It’s worth the re-read to see the new words.
Now, I have to admit, I’m not the one who came up with this. It’s been bounced around among some friends of mine, and I’ve fleshed it out on my own time. Credit for the inspiration of this theory goes to eelirrem.
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Let’s think for a moment about when we actually see Slenderman in any of the Big Three vlogs: Marble Hornets, EverymanHYBRID and Tribe Twelve. Almost every time we see Slenderman, he’s standing in light. A flashlight beam, a streetlamp, interior lighting. Perhaps most often, we see him in broad daylight. Slenderman is rarely seen at night, and when he is he’s usually far away or standing directly under or beside a light source. When we see him in relative darkness, he’s usually just standing there, not really doing anything. To be fair, we pretty much only see him standing there not really doing anything, but every time he does do something, he’s well lit.
Our very understanding of the world is based on the existence of opposites. Without war, we cannot have peace. Without rich, no poor. No up without down. We can have no fear without safety or comfort.
What if we don’t see Slenderman in the dark because he’s weak in the dark? What if Slenderman never attacks at night because he can’t? What if by closing the door and turning on all the lights, we’re making him stronger? We exist in a world of opposites, and dark cannot exist without light. Shadows don’t happen without a light source, and the brighter the light source is, the darker the shadows will be by comparison.
In the dark, Slenderman just stands there. In the light the distortion is worse, Slenderman tends to appear taller, his suit even seems darker. In broad daylight, he’s floored Alex down with a coughing fit and caused Evan to bleed internally, both times without lifting a “finger.” In darkness, he fucked with Noah a bit and made him curse at bushes. Slenderman is a being of darkness, but not in darkness.
What do we do when we are afraid? We shut the door and turn on all the lights. We run and hide to somewhere small and close and safe and bright. Being afraid of Slenderman puts you in more danger. Not because he feeds on fear, but because when you’re afraid you avoid the dark.
What else do we do when we’re afraid? We try to learn about the object of our terror. We try to find out as many things as we can about it, in order to better understand and therefore better avoid it; maybe we can even learn enough to defeat it. We try to shed as much light as we can on the subject. You learn, and when you learn about him, he learns about you.
When you’re afraid, you make yourself an easier target.
But before you sleep with the lights off tonight, in perfect blackness, remember this: the proxies aren’t limited by darkness, and the Rake seems to be more at home, if not more powerful, in it.
(via fuckyeahslenderman)
