"𝔉𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥" creepypasta research, Slenderman & paranormal

"What Happens When the Pictures Are No Longer Photoshops?"

These experiences become even more complicated when a shared belief narrative takes place online, perhaps more so for digital immigrants than digital natives.6 [...] I would argue that this distinction between "real life" and what happens online is fading and is, likely, no longer true at all for digital natives. [...] As a legend complex, Slender Man has two main issues complicating belief: both that it is supernatural and found on the Internet. In memorates, there can be a sense of anonymity; the line between what has happened online versus IRL is further blurred.

[...] Tolbert asserts that Slender Man is just as real as any other entity found IRL or on the Internet because it is a "conscious expression of a culture shared among a particular group of people, which bears special significances that depend in part on an understanding of the group context in which the expressive culture arises". It seems that Slender Man narratives suffer from a double stigma as they are both supernatural and found on the Internet. This stigma is based on the traditions of disbelief.

[...] Hufford (1995) states that beliefs are supported by "core spiritual experiences," which are perceptual: these experiences lay the foundation for a belief. Since these experiences may involve emotion or latent cultural values rather than what we consider to be "knowledge," they are often disbelieved. In actuality, these core beliefs do not conflict with knowledge and do use deductive reasoning and scientific methodology (Goldstein 2007:60-78). However, some may feel that not only are they contrary with knowledge, they are also irrational and have no empirical foundations. By focusing on the subjective experience, Hufford is trying to show that the experience is real and valid. [...] Those who read and participate in these narratives also have experiences with Slender Man. For many, a person's experience reading a Slender Man narrative or watching a video can feel just as real as having an actual experience with Slender Man.

As one of my participants mentioned: I know it was probably because I had just been reading Slender Man stories on the Internet, but I was walking home and it was late and I had that feeling that I was being 'watched. Being followed. And I thought to myself, "It could be Slender Man," and I knew that was stupid. I was only thinking about Slender Man because I had just read about it. But I just kept thinking, "You don't know. Maybe those stories are real. Maybe it is Slender Man."8 This narrative certainly shows a logical progression, the knowledge that Slender Man is "not real," but also the consideration that the stories written about Slender Man could be based on real experiences. While these potential real experiences do not carry the weight of the individual's own experience, they are a part of the logic used by the individual. I am not arguing that Slender Man is "real" or that those who have contributed to the Slender Man narrative think that he is real or have had an experience with him. Rather, I think there is a core spiritual experience here that connects with others-the feeling of being watched-that has been turned into a narrative about a specific entity since it was a convenient way to discuss an untellable experience. While this was not the original intention of early participators of the Slender Man mythos, the narratives about Slender Man have grown larger than what is merely placed online.9 Perhaps Slender Man contains a core experience which many have felt, but which does not currently have a name. Slender Man narratives online tap into that core experience, giving those who have had a similar experience a way to discuss these events. Similar to David Hufford's (1989) research with the Old Hag and sleep paralysis, there is an experience of some kind which "has provided the central empirical foundation from which the supernatural tradition arose" (Goldstein, Grider, and Thomas 2007:14). Slender Man becomes a "flexible rhetorical tool" (Tolbert 2013:2) or, more simply, the experience of feeling watched now has a name and that name is Slender Man. [...]

Although Slender Man looks and acts like other liminal creatures, there is no direct connection to those creatures. Slender Man seems to fit in and be a part of a long-standing tradition, without any real connection to that tradition. [...]

While the telling of ghost stories is socially acceptable in certain situations, such as around campfires or near Halloween, ghost stories still belong to traditions of disbelief. The situations where we engage in a typical experience with them are still rare, so we do not experience the interaction between the experience and the feelings related to it with others, except in certain circumstances. [...]

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