Meet Slender Man, the Terrifying Internet Monster Who's Getting a New Horror Movie

By Ryan Roschke
Getty
Getty


If you're a diehard horror fan, we can probably bet on two things. One, you're probably burning through all of 2016's new horror movies. And two, chances are you've heard about a mysterious figure known as Slender Man. The terrifying monster was actually first created more than 10 years ago, and he's popped up in many different interations since. This, of course, begs the question: who is Slender Man, and where the hell did he come from? As it turns out, the creature came forth from the darkest depths of the Internet, quickly becoming a viral sensation. Keep reading to see everything we could uncover about the monster, including his potential inclusion in the new season of American Horror Story and his involvement in an upcoming scary movie adaptation.

  1. He was created for a Photoshop contest on an Internet forum. Slender Man first appeared in a Photoshop contest on the Something Awful forum. A user named Victor Surge digitally altered and uploaded two black-and-white images featuring disturbing captions that alluded to the existence and power of the creature.
  2. He's since inspired tons of Internet horror fiction. Numerous Slender Man stories have popped up in the time since his first appearance. A popular horror fiction community called CreepyPasta has so many, in fact, that they've created a tag page for him.
  3. He's been linked to mythological creatures in other foreign cultures. People have connected Slender Man to mythological creatures in a handful of other cultures. There's "Der Großman" (The Tall Man) in Germany, another "Tall Man" in Romanian mythology, and a "Tree Man" in English mythology. While no concrete connections have been made, all of the creatures share strikingly similar characteristics.
  4. He was at the center of a grisly attack in 2014. In Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls stabbed their friend — also a 12 year old — nearly to death. The girls allegedly claimed that they were trying to please Slender Man, hoping that the attack would make them his "proxies."
  5. There are various video games centered around him. One of the first video games to tackle the legend is called Slender, and it looks positively terrifying. Plenty of other games for computers, smartphones, and more have popped up since.
  6. An episode of Supernatural is inspired by him. In an episode called #thinman, Sam and Dean Winchester go to investigate a murder, only to come face to face with amateur paranormal investigators, "The Ghostfacers." In the Supernatural universe, the "Thin Man" isn't actually real — two of the town's inhabitants are posing as the figure to cover up their crimes.
  7. He might appear in the sixth season of American Horror Story. While Us Weekly reported that season six of American Horror Story would feature the ghastly creature, another source close to the project claimed that the rumors are "not true." Looks like we'll have to wait and see to really know for sure.
  8. He's the subject of a new horror movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a new movie adaptation featuring Slender Man is in the works. It's set to begin production in Fall 2016.