Slender Man

Dressed in a black suit and with no visible face, the Slender Man is an apparition with arms that stretch wide to entrap his chosen prey.

Behavior

Towering high, the Slender Man hunts children with a voracious appetite, stalking them through parks and playgrounds, and has even been known to attack children within their dreams.

Origin

Due to his attire the Slender Man has been linked to the notorious 'Men in Black', who are thought to be government agents who harass and threaten UFO witnesses, and who some believe to be aliens themselves. The only problem is that the Slender Man is actually a fictional character.

The Slender Man was born within the 'Something Awful' forums in 2009, when a thread was created to challenge members to create fake photo-shopped paranormal photographs. The idea, however, was not just to create these images, but to also filter them through the internet, in a bid to convince those who sought out such things, that the images created were 'real' ghost/alien photographs.

Despite the Slender Man being a complete fabrication his legend has spread like wild-fire throughout the Internet as a successful 'Internet MEME', a phrase used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the internet, much like an esoteric inside joke, that evolves with time.

A YouTube sensation of sorts, the 'Marble Hornets Project', is a series of video clips that were supposedly recorded by a teenager named 'Alex'. The segments of video taken from Alex's camcorder tapes follow him as he becomes increasingly concerned by the fact that 'something' sinister is apparently stalking him.

Whilst Alex himself has mysteriously vanished, the video clips he left behind him become increasingly disturbing, as the Slender Man peers from distant corners. The 'Marble Hornets Project' has greatly increased the range of the Slender Man myth's reach, with some unfamiliar with the legend's origin taking it at face-value, and they in turn spread the legend's grip further still.