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Slenderman Meme

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Title: Slenderman Meme

General information about item:

  • Slenderman 
  • Meme
  • Informant: memeshappen.com
  • Date collected: 5/25/20

Informant Data: memeshappen.com is a social platform for easily generating and sharing memes. It is a very easy way for memes to go viral throughout social media. These memes are posted anonymously so there is no way to discover the exact informant.

Social context: I discovered this meme on May 25, 2020. Memes of Slenderman have become a very common occurrence. Although the majority of the memes tend to reference Slenderman a lack of facial features.

Cultural context: Slenderman is known to get inside the head of his victims causing them to do things that they are not truly in control of. That’s why when this meme suggests that Slenderman told me to eat the last cookie from the cookie jar, it is deferring the blame to Slenderman cause they claim to not have been in control of their actions.

Item: (Pictured Above)

Collector’s Name: David Gallagher

Tags/keywords:

  • Slenderman 
  • Cookie jar
  • Meme 
  • Funny

Slenderman Movie

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Title: Slenderman Movie  

General information about item:

  • Slenderman
  • Movie Trailer
  • Youtube
  • Informant’s Name: Michael Gallagher 
  • Date Collected: 5/25/2020

Informant Data: Michael Gallagher was born on October 29, 1964 and is originally from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pittsburgh where he studied mechanical engineering. He is married with two kids.

Social Context: I interviewed Michael on May 25, 2020 after he watched the Slenderman movie trailer on youtube. Michael did not know too much about the folklore of Slenderman prior to watching this trailer.

Cultural Context: The trailer emphasizes the “spooky” woods and the plot seems to be based around finding a missing little girl. The line “people do not just go missing” at the beginning of the trailer is particularly striking

Item: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySy8mcceTno 

Informant’s Response: “It seems that this would make for a good movie. I did not know much about Slenderman prior to watching this trailer. While the trailer did not seem to show very much of slenderman himself, it showed how he got into the minds of his victims, like a virus. It would certainly scare me to watch this movie and I am interested to read through your final collection project to learn more about the folklore behind Slenderman.” 

Collector’s Name: David Gallagher 

Tags/Keywords:

  • Slenderman 
  • Movie Trailer
  • Youtube 
  • Interview

Slenderman Tales

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Title: Slenderman Tales 

General Information about item: 

  • Slenderman 
  • Language: English
  • Personal Folklore 
  • Informant: (Myself) David Gallagher 
  • Date Collected: 5/24/2020

Informant Data: David was born on October 25, 1997 in a Philadelpha suburb known as Downingtown. He is currently a senior at Dartmouth College where he is studying Government. 

Social Context: David first heard about the Mythical Creature slenderman when he was 12 years old. He has a sister who is eight years older than him and always tried to scare him. 

Cultural Context: Slenderman is often depicted as a tall man with no face who stalks his prey in the woods. He generally targets children and is thought to use a knive as a weapon. He has extremely long arms. David’s house in Downingtown is located near the forest and he and his sister often hang out in the backyard near the woods. 

Item: Kayla saying to David “David you better not get too close to the woods, or Slenderman will come out and get you”

Informant’s response: David avoided going near the forest for several months. Any time a ball was kicked into the woods David would refuse to go and get it for fear that Slenderman would attack him.

Collector’s Name: David Gallagher 

Tags/Keywords: 

  • Slenderman
  • Personal Folklore
  • Older Sister
  • Scared

8 Pages Video Game

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Title: 8 Pages Video Game

General Information about item:

  • Slenderman 
  • Language: English
  • Slender: The Eight Pages 
  • Video Game 
  • Informant: T.B.
  •  Collected: 5/23/2020

Informant Data: T.B is 20 years old and currently a student at Dartmouth College.

Social Context: Once the craze of Slenderman became viral, graphic artists and video game engineers created 1st person horror games based on Slenderman. One of the most successful games was “8 Pages”.  

Cultural Context: The video game was released in 2012 to depict the quasi-folklore meme character known as Slenderman. It is a survival game that plays off of Slenderman’s reputation of abducting children in dark mysterious settings. The extreme popularity of it lead to a multitude of Youtube videos and recognition further spreading the folklore of Slenderman.

Item: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender:_The_Eight_Pages 

Informant Comments: “This was a game my cousin and I would play at midnight in front of the computer screen together. I can remember how scared we got when Slenderman would pop  up on the computer monitor after static noise would play to show he was getting closer, but the real fear came after we turned the game off. We never even thought about going into the woods after the sun went down ever again and would fall asleep under the blankets scared of Slenderman.” 

Collector’s Name: David Gallagher 

Tags/ Keywords: 

  • Slenderman
  • Slenderman: The Eight Pages 
  • Video Game

The Slenderman Crime

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Title: The Slenderman Crime  

General Information about item

  • Slenderman 
  • Language: English
  • Washington Post Article 
  • Informant: Marwa Eltagouri
  • Date Collected: 5/23/2020

Informant Data: Marwa Eltagouri is a general assignment reporter out of Washington, DC. She attended Syracuse University where she got her BA in Magazine Journalism and Political Science. Eltagouri worked with the Washington Post until 2018, where she covered several stories on crime. 

Social Context: I found this article on May 23, 2020, through the Washington Post’s website. Eltagouri has written several crime stories so the attempted murder was by Morgan Geyser was of particular interest to her. 

Cultural Context: The Washington post article titled “A teen stabbed her friend to impress ‘Slender Man’ — and will spend 40 years in a mental hospital” depicts a murder attempt from 2014. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier stabbed their classmate Payton Leutner 17 times in an attempt to impress the mythical creature “Slender Man”. The two girls read about Slenderman online and felt compelled to commit the crime in order to protect themselves and their families. 

Item: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/02/01/a-teen-stabbed-her-friend-to-impress-slender-man-and-will-spend-40-years-in-a-mental-hospital/ 

Collector’s Name: David Gallagher 

Tags/ Keywords:

  • Slenderman 
  • Washington Post 
  • News Article
  • Attempted Murder

Slenderman Still Image

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Title: Slenderman Still Image

General Information about item:

  • Slenderman
  • Image
  • Informant: G.B.
  • Date Collected 05/21/2020

Informant Data: G.B. is a 25 year old male with a college degree. He currently lives in New Jersey.

Social context: I interviewed G.B. on May 22, 2020 over FaceTime. I showed him an image of Slenderman with a young girl and asked for his comments and interpretations. 

Cultural Context: In many of the versions of Slenderman he often targets young children and the setting often takes place in the woods. Many of the images of Slenderman have him situated in a frame with children or he is a lone figure standing among trees. 

Item: (Image Pictured Above)

Informant Comments: 

“The image of Slenderman is different than how I imagined because he doesn’t have the blades coming from his back”

Collectors Comments:

The numerous depictions of Slenderman make for varying interpretations because each story puts a slight twist on the modern horror character. For instance, I think of Slenderman as the one in this picture. 

Collectors Name: Thomas Bryan

Tags/Keywords

  • Slenderman
  • Image
  • Something Awful Forum 

 

Marble Hornets

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Title: Marble Hornets

General Information about item:

  • Slenderman
  • Language: English
  • Youtube Video
  • Informant: J.T.
  • Date Collected 05/10/2020

Informant Data:

J.T. is a student at the University of Buffalo. He is 19 years old and lives in New York. 

Social context: I interviewed J.T. on May 10, 2020 over FaceTime. He shared his feelings of Slenderman and past memories he has of coming across Youtube videos of Slenderman.

Cultural context: The Youtube video titled “Entry #1” has amassed over seven million views and was posted on June 20, 2009. It was made as a part of a series by a channel called “Marble Hornets” which created more Slenderman content. The grainy video quality and missing audio adds to the realness of Slenderman, and the quick camera shots of the figure are a trademark feature to the popular creature. 

Item: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn59FJ4HrmU

Informant Comment: “It was videos like these that would keep me up at night as a kid, but at the same time I kept clicking the next video” 

Collectors Name: Thomas Bryan

Tags/Keywords

  • Slenderman
  • Youtube
  • Video
  • Marble Hornets

 

Slenderman Creepypasta #2

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Title: Slenderman Creepypasta #2

General Information about this item:

  • Slenderman
  • Language: English
  • Informant: K.B.
  • Date Collected 05/18/2020

Informant Data:

Reddit user MLPTTM chose to remain anonymous in the chatroom but wanted to share their thoughts on the stories of Slenderman on Creepy Pasta.

Social context: I interviewed MLPTTM on May 19, 2020 through a chatroom. They shared their feelings of Slenderman and what peaked their interest when reading Slenderman stories. 

Cultural context: Slenderman is an urban legend that originated through multiple stories shared across the internet. He is often depicted as a tall faceless man and is associated with disappearances and sinister powers. 

Item: “I like him because most creepypastas try to scare you with blood, gore, and if you’re lucky hyper-realistic blood. Slenderman scared me with psychological horror; making me scared of fields, trees, and sometimes nothing. He has made me as paranoid as I’ve been in my life and I love the thrill. His design is simple and terrifying because it can make him visible in a field or invisible in a forest. His humanoid figure makes him seem real like him stalking you can happen. I think the biggest thing that makes him interesting is that nobody has any full idea what happens when he gets you.”

Informants Comments:

The item is a direct quote from the interviewee

Collectors Name: Thomas Bryan

Tags/Keywords

  • Slenderman
  • Creepy Pasta
  • Forums

Slenderman Creepypasta #1

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Title: Slenderman Creepypasta #1

General Information about item:

  • Slenderman
  • Language: English
  • Informant: K.B.
  • Date Collected 05/18/2020

Informant Data: 

K.B. was born in the suburbs of New York and is currently a freshman in highschool

Social context: I interviewed K.B. on May 18, 2020 over FaceTime. He shared his interpretations of Slenderman and what came to his mind when he heard that name.

Cultural context: Slenderman is an urban legend that originated through multiple stories shared across the internet. He is often depicted as a tall faceless man who primarily targets children. The website creepypasta is a public forum where anybody can post scary stories they have written anonymously. This site is home to numerous folklore of Slenderman. 

Item: https://www.creepypasta.com/slenderman/

Informants comments:

“The setting of the story was off putting because when I imagine Slenderman I think of him in the woods.The story ended in a typical erie way and the self inflicted injuries the girl inflicted is in line with some of the powers i think Slenderman has”

Collectors Name: Thomas Bryan

Tags/Keywords

  • Slenderman
  • CreepyPasta
  • Forums

Slenderman Creepypasta #1

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Title: Slenderman Creepypasta #1

General Information about item:

  • Slenderman
  • Language: English
  • Informant: K.B.
  • Date Collected 05/18/2020

Informant Data:

K.B. was born in the suburbs of New York and is currently a freshman in highschool

Social context: I interviewed K.B. on May 18, 2020 over FaceTime. He shared his interpretations of Slenderman and what came to his mind when he heard that name.

Cultural context: Slenderman is an urban legend that originated through multiple stories shared across the internet. He is often depicted as a tall faceless man who primarily targets children. The website creepypasta is a public forum where anybody can post scary stories they have written anonymously. This site is home to numerous folklore of Slenderman. 

Item: https://www.creepypasta.com/slenderman/

Informants comments:

“The setting of the story was off putting because when I imagine Slenderman I think of him in the woods.The story ended in a typical erie way and the self inflicted injuries the girl inflicted is in line with some of the powers i think Slenderman has”

Collector: Thomas Bryan

Tags/Keywords

  • Slenderman
  • Creepy Pasta
  • Forums