Why do we obsess over Slender Man so much?

[Saviordd1]

IGNORE THE POLL, I accidentally pressed enter when writing it and now I can't fix it, sorry.


I don't get it, I've seen countless horror movies, read lovecraft, read Stephen King, and yet the one thing that leaves me up at night...

Spoiler: Is this ************

I don't get it, overall he doesn't seem that scary, he isn't visually disturbing, he isn't super fast or strong.

But he's fucking scary, and I'm not the only one to think so, the internet seems to be obsessed with him, and I have to ask.

Why?
What makes him so scary to all of us? What make's him so special?
So I guess that's what I'm asking, why do you think Slender Man manages to scare so many people compared to all the other horror things in the world?

TL;DR
Why is Slender Man so popular and scary to us all.

Also, if your not scared of the guy, tell us why.

 

[bobmus]

Googled him.

So, it's just some Creepypasta character some bloke thought up?

Meh, anything can be made into a horrifying figure if the story's told well.

 

[Total LOLige]

Pfft! Slender Man isn't that scary. 'Salem's Lot is creepier than Slender Man.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Well I've no idea who he is, so am judging solely on that picture. I guess the terror would come from his completely emotionless state. Those killers seem to be the most-business. You know, the Michael Myers kind.

 

[Corax_1990]

Pffft, slender man is about as scary as candleja

 

[SonicWaffle]

Also, if your not scared of the guy, tell us why.

Because I've never even heard of him. Does that make me lucky?

Ha! CAPTCHA - 'charmed life'. Apparently!

 

[Saviordd1]

Googled him.

So, it's just some Creepypasta character some bloke thought up?

Meh, anything can be made into a horrifying figure if the story's told well.

Basically, though he is more famous for the series "Marble Hornets" which is a blair witch style mockumentary on youtube.

Well I've no idea who he is, so am judging solely on that picture. I guess the terror would come from his completely emotionless state. Those killers seem to be the most-business. You know, the Michael Myers kind.

Weird thing is he rarely kills people

Pfft! Slender Man isn't that scary. 'Salem's Lot is creepier than Slender Man.

Never heard of it

 

[Total LOLige]

Pfft! Slender Man isn't that scary. 'Salem's Lot is creepier than Slender Man.

Never heard of it

It's a Stephen King novel.

 

[Saviordd1]

Pfft! Slender Man isn't that scary. 'Salem's Lot is creepier than Slender Man.

Never heard of it

It's a Stephen King novel.

Never got around to that one...

 

[Girl With One Eye]

He doesn't look scary, maybe he just wants a hug?

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

For me, it's the way he gets inside your head. Sure, at the time of viewing you may laugh and scoff at his weird appearance. But if you continue watching Marble Hornets like I do you might start seeing him everywhere. I once watched one of the scarier MH clips when at home, alone, and at night. Needless to say I did NOT sleep well that night. And over a period of a few weeks it gets relentless.

In short, it's the best kind of horror, the tension building kind. He's not scary in himself, we make him scary by thinking about him.

 

[DktrAgonizer]

I've never found him scary, or even slightly creepy. I'm actually really surprised that many people do because I just don't get it.
Oh well.

 

[Saviordd1]

He doesn't look scary, maybe he just wants a hug?

Actually he wants his twenty dollars.

For me, it's the way he gets inside your head. Sure, at the time of viewing you may laugh and scoff at his weird appearance. But if you continue watching Marble Hornets like I do you might start seeing him everywhere. I once watched one of the scarier MH clips when at home, alone, and at night. Needless to say I did NOT sleep well that night. And over a period of a few weeks it gets relentless.

In short, it's the best kind of horror, the tension building kind. He's not scary in himself, we make him scary by thinking about him.

Best answer this whole thread, I remember first discovering him and thinking "whatever" then a few months later I looked into him more...and oh dear god.

 

[Weaver]

It's really just 16 year olds on 4chan (and most of /x) who obsess over him, no one else actually cares.

I do think it's an interesting bit of "world-wide folklore" which could only be made possible by a global communications system like the internet. It would be an interesting case study.

 

[Slaanesh]

Meh, anything can be made into a horrifying figure if the story's told well.

Pretty much this. Slenderman itself doesn't look the least bit creepy or scary. Those Marble Hornet clips build up some tension though.

Pffft, slender man is about as scary as candleja

You're doing it wrong.

 

[David_G]

Slender Man is just a knock-off of the Tall Man!

Also, I only started to find Slendie creepy after I started watching Marble Hornets and played the game.

 

[II2]

Not an exciting answer, but
- He's a "fresh" character, for the moment.
- The public lisence IP makes it an attractive vehicle for horror makers (of whatever medium).
- The game just came out and is making top viewed youtube rounds.
- It's kinda novel that he's one of the the first well known "Cyburban legends".

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Slender man, or at least was an unknown.

Something, we weren't sure what, in the forest.

The direction it was taken by just about every major vlog and blog about Slenderman took the tilt of Lovecraftian horror. Photos of it was blury or he was just standing there in the background, staring, standing, unmoving.

As a being we had no knowledge about, no history in myth, and no clear images of it, it was an unknown. When it comes own to it, nothing is scarier than the unknown. You can scare yourself better than anyone can scare you. You just have to be put in the right mindset.

 

[Hoplon]

What's all this we stuff meatbag? /bender