Slender Man

A fictional monster created for an internet forum contest in 2009 became so culturally powerful that two real 12-year-old girls attempted to murder their friend in 2014, telling police they did it to please him.

Slender Man is a fictional supernatural entity created in 2009 for an online photo editing forum contest, quickly evolving into an extensive internet horror mythology. In May 2014, two 12-year-old girls in Wisconsin lured a classmate into a wooded area and stabbed her multiple times, later telling police they committed the attack to prove their loyalty to Slender Man and prevent him from harming their families.

✓documented

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Quick facts

→Slender Man was created by forum user Eric Knudsen in June 2009 as an entry in a Something Awful forum photoshop contest to create fictional paranormal images.
→The character rapidly spread across internet horror and creepypasta communities, developing an extensive collaborative mythology across numerous websites, video series, and fan fiction.
→In May 2014, two 12-year-old girls in Waukesha, Wisconsin lured a classmate into a wooded area and stabbed her 19 times, later telling police they believed the attack was necessary to become Slender Man's servants and protect their families from him.
→The victim survived after crawling to a nearby road for help; both attackers were later found not guilty by reason of mental illness and committed to psychiatric institutions.

Entities on file

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Slender Man (document)

Fictional internet horror character created in 2009; connected to a real 2014 attempted murder committed by two children who believed in his existence.

No outgoing connections on file.

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Eric Knudsen (person)

Created the fictional Slender Man character in 2009 for an online forum contest.

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