Welcome to Mysteries over Martinis! This blog is a mix of unexplained phenomena and personal encounters served up with a mystery-themed cocktail. It’s a recipe for intrigue!

 

Dark ‘n’ Slender

 

Ingredients:

2 oz Goslin’s Black Seal rum (If not available, use a dark rum such as Myer’s)

6 oz ginger beer

1 lime wedge

Ice cubes

Place several ice cubes in a tall glass and add the rum. Top with ginger beer, add the lime wedge and stir.

 

The Skinny on Slender Man

 

A bizarre crime in Waukesha, Wisconsin has grabbed the attention of the media as well as the paranormal community. On May 31st of this year, two twelve-year-old girls lured their classmate into a wooded park. One girl held the victim down and demanded her accomplice to “go ballistic, go crazy.” She proceeded to stab their victim 19 times with a kitchen knife. The victim was left to crawl to a nearby road where she was discovered by a passing bicyclist. The girls told investigators that they plotted for months to kill their friend in order to captivate the attention of Slender Man, a creepy internet meme. According to police, one of the assailants said that many people do not believe Slender Man is real and she wanted to prove the skeptics wrong. The girls believed Slender Man resided in a mansion located in a Wisconsin forest and they planned to join him after the slaying.

The victim was treated for her injuries and released six days after the attack. The accused have been charged as adults with first degree attempted homicide. One of the girls will undergo a mental evaluation and the attorney for the second girl said he could raise the issue of competency at a later time.

Out of what seemed to be an isolated incident, emerged another stabbing linked to Slender Man. A teen in Cincinnati, Ohio attacked her mother with a knife. “I came home one night from work, and she was in the kitchen waiting for me, and she was wearing a mask, a white mask. She was someone else during the attack.” The mother, who suffered minor injuries, asked to remain anonymous. She claims her daughter suffers from mental illness. She found disturbing references in her daughter’s writings and drawings including demons, insanity and falling into darkness. There were even mentions of Slender Man. She seemed to be obsessed with the fictitious character, going as far as creating a world for Slender Man in the game Minecraft. The girl is being held in a juvenile detention center and claims to have no memory of the attack.

The eerie coincidence of this notorious meme being tied to two stabbings within a short period of time certainly opened the door for some further exploration.

Slender Man is a modern day version of the boogeyman. He was created in 2009 by Eric Knudsen (alias Victor Surge) for a contest on a web forum called Something Awful. The concept was for participants to create creepy paranormal images by manipulating ordinary photographs. The images were submitted on numerous paranormal forums as authentic photographs. In an effort to make their doctored creations more convincing, Something Awful users began sharing fabricated witness accounts. Knudsen posted two black and white photos of children showing a tall, ominous figure lurking in the background. Knudsen claimed the photos were taken in the 1980s and attached mysterious captions suggesting 14 children and the photographer had gone missing a short time later.

The sinister creature is depicted as an abnormally tall, thin man whose pale white face is devoid of features. He wears a dark suit and some reports mention long, black tentacles protruding from his back. It’s believed he resides in wooded areas and forests. His intentions are not clear, but it’s assumed he gets a thrill from stalking and preying on children. Allegedly, his image appears in the background of photos leering at youngsters so it would seem they are the target of his ill intent.

Slender Man became an internet sensation soon after his inception. Fans of the sinister internet meme began writing stories and creating works of art in an attempt to personify the fictional character. Many of these stories and “sightings” have been posted on Creepypasta.com which is a website for writers whose stories pertain to the horror, fantasy and paranormal genre. The name Creepypasta comes from the word “copypasta”, which is internet slang for text that gets copied and pasted repeatedly from one website to another. Often times, pictures and/or video footage are added for visual effect. The website’s rules bar use by anyone under the age of 13 and clearly states that the stories are fictitious. However, many people, including the 3 adolescent girls who wielded a knife in the name of Slender Man, believe that he is quite real.

Although Slender Man’s origin can be traced back to the contest from 2009, it bares striking similarity to supposed folklore from other countries:

The United Kingdom has the legend of the Fear Dubh (The Black Man). This entity is said to haunt footpaths and forests at night. It is believed that the story was used to scare small children from venturing into the woods without their family.

In English folklore, The Tree Man has been blamed for the disappearance of a number of missing children. He is described as having a slim, elongated body that blends into the elements of the forest.

A Romanian tale also features a character called The Tall Man who drives a mother to kill her husband and child. He later took the life of the mother. He is described as overly tall and has many snake-like arms with sharp tips. He dresses all in black, much like a noble man.

Germany has its own rendition of this malevolent being which is known as Der Grossman (The Tall Man). His presence supposedly dates back to the 16^th century. He prowls the Black Forest at night lying in wait of naughty children who roam the wilderness unattended. He chases the misfits throughout the forest and continues to stalk them until they confess their misbehavior to their parents.

Slender Man even has a few parallels to vampire folklore. He is a pale-faced man dressed in distinguished attire who stalks his prey at night.

It’s difficult to distinguish whether or not the legends listed above are actual folklore or if they were concocted in order to supplement the Slender Man myth. The line between fact and fiction has become quite blurred due to the barrage of fictitious submissions. Regardless, these stories and the legend of Slender Man have spread like wildfire on the internet, bringing the legend to life.

The use of Slender Man as the culprit may be today’s spin on “the devil made me do it.” Times have changed and religion and folklore are not as prevalent in our culture as they once were. With the influx of paranormal television shows, video games and books, the interest and belief in the supernatural has increased significantly. The internet has become the perfect medium for people all over the world to connect and share their thoughts and experiences. Before this groundbreaking technology existed, stories of the devil and boogeyman were passed down by word of mouth without much evidence to support the claim. Now, we are constantly being inundated by shows and websites featuring “evidence” of the paranormal. The content not only elaborates on the tradition of storytelling, but produces photos and eyewitness testimony to lend credence to the subject, regardless of it being fact or fiction. It would be difficult to make that distinction, particularly for someone who suffers from mental illness. The mother of the Ohio teen admitted that her daughter suffered from mental issues and had a fascination with the macabre. The Wisconsin adolescents also had an obsession with Slender Man and were said to exhibit signs of instability when giving their statements.

But could it possible that Slender Man’s viral sensation may literally be causing him to take on a life of his own? Tibetan mysticism describes a concept in which an imagined being can materialize physically just by focusing your energy and attention toward the thought form. These creations are known as tulpas.

As Marie D. Jones stated in the previous post, the First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy does not cease to exist. Energy can be transferred or change forms but it cannot be diminished. Therefore, the theory of tulpas is that thoughts are able to be transformed because thoughts themselves are electrical impulses. It’s very similar to the law of attraction… like attracts like. As we all know, our thoughts are not always sunshine, rainbows and kittens. Tulpas can be manifested out of fear, anger or even the delusions of an unstable mind. What’s even more terrifying is that the entities can be created without intention. Perhaps this is how Slender Man was able to “take on a life of his own.” The meme’s popularity spawned numerous fabricated witness accounts and faked photos, instilling fear in the unsuspecting. Pair that with the fascination of an entire online community who continued to keep the legend alive by producing works of art, video games and even producing a movie. Is it possible that Slender Man has captivated the attention of such a large audience that the combined thoughts and fears could have materialized a dangerous creature? If tulpas are in fact real, then we need to give caution to what we put our time and energy into. It is eerily ironic that the fear of something that did not exist might possibly be the very thing that creates its existence.

As always, I invite you to post your comments, questions or personal encounters. Anything weird is always welcome!