A spooky figure 'bleeding over into our reality'
But how did a mythological demon, born as a hoax and grown as a crowd-sourced literary character, end up apparently involved in a real-life murder attempt?
The nature of this genre complicates that question. Cat Vincent, a journalist for the British paranormal magazine Fortean Times who has written extensively about Slender Man, said that "very early on, it was said that people are going to look at this and think it's real."
Integral to the Slender Man mythos, Vincent told the Guardian, is the Buddhist concept of "Tulpa" – a figure which is conjured into being through belief or thought alone. The Creepypasta community had tried so hard to build this character, bring him to life by the power of imagination. Had they, in a twisted way, succeeded?
Newsom, too, mentioned the concept of Tulpa. "The idea is," he said, "it's bleeding over into our reality." It is an interesting idea – that like Shelley's Frankenstein, the creepypasta community had summoned forth a demon they could not control, that it had bled into reality so much that he was now attacking people for real.
But Anthony Tobia, an associate professor of psychiatry at Rutgers University, was unequivocal in saying that you could not scapegoat Slender Man in this way. "Absolutely not."
He thought it likely, if the allegations against them prove true, that the girls were suffering from a "shared psychotic disorder," but cautioned that there were many questions as yet unanswered. "Were these two girls the victim of bullying," he wanted to know. "At some point they lost touch with reality – what was their self esteem like? Was it weak enough that they might have been influenced by an outside source? Was one of the girls the leader, and one the follower?"
In a statement to the media, Slender Man creator Knudsen said: "I am deeply saddened by the tragedy in Wisconsin and my heart goes out to the families of those affected by this terrible act."
The Waukesha school district has now banned CreepyPasta and other websites involving Slender Man. This worries members of the community, who fear a backlash. "Slender Man has provided a rich creative outlet for thousands, bringing people together as communities inspired to tell stories in unique ways," said Newsom. "It would be a shame to lose that."
Tristan agrees. "I don't want [other writers] to stop because of what happened. I think the strongest thing we can do as a community is to keep going on," she said.
She paused for a long time. "I don't want this to come off the wrong way. I feel really, really bad for this poor girl. But I want to keep writing - I really enjoy writing about the Slender Man universe," she said.
"It's something that I love." -Article in "The Gardian", 04/06/2014
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