Slender Man in the context of Enderman

A creepypasta is a horror-related legend which has been shared around the Internet. The term creepypasta has since become a catch-all term for any horror content posted onto the Internet. These entries are often brief, user-generated, paranormal stories that are intended to frighten readers. The subjects of creepypasta vary widely and can include topics such as ghosts, cryptids, murder, suicide, zombies, aliens, rituals to summon supernatural entities, haunted television shows, and video games. Creepypastas range in length from a single paragraph to extended multi-part series that can span multiple media types, some lasting for years.

In the mainstream media, creepypastas relating to the fictitious Slender Man character came to public attention after the 2014 "Slender Man stabbing", in which a 12-year-old girl was stabbed by two of her friends; the perpetrators claimed they "wanted to prove the Slender Man skeptics wrong". After the murder attempt, some creepypasta website administrators made statements reminding readers of the "line between fiction and reality". This case is part of a pattern of people, especially children, developing misconceptions around the reality of creepypastas.

On May 31, 2014, two twelve-year-olds lured their friend, who was also twelve, into a wooded area of Davids Park in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where they attempted to kill and sacrifice her to the Slender Man, a fictional supernatural being originating in creepypasta. Their target, Payton Isabella Leutner, suffered 19 stab wounds, but survived after being rescued by a cyclist.

The perpetrators, Anissa E. Weier (born November 10, 2001) and Morgan E. Geyser (born May 16, 2002), were motivated by their belief in the Slender Man, and believed killing Leutner would appease him and prove his existence. Weier and Geyser were tried as adults in 2017. Both were found not guilty by reason of insanity, and committed indefinitely to mental institutions. Weier was sentenced to 25 years to life, and later released in 2021 to live with her father. Geyser was sentenced to 40 years to life and was later released in 2025 to live in a group home, to be kept under supervision until 2058.

Something Awful (SA) is an American comedy website hosting content including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely personal website, but as it grew, so did its contributors and content. The website has helped to perpetuate various Internet phenomena, and it has been cited as a significant influence on Internet culture. In 2018, Gizmodo named it in their list of the 100 websites that "shaped the internet".

The website has been involved in a number of events. These include a conflict with the Spam Prevention Early Warning System, a Hurricane Katrina relief fund being caught in PayPal's red tape, an exhibition boxing match between Kyanka and the filmmaker Uwe Boll, and the creation of the Slender Man.

Marble Hornets is an American found footage web series created by Troy Wagner, Joseph DeLage, and Tim Sutton. It is a pseudo-documentary based on the Slender Man online mythos. The first video posted to YouTube was on June 20, 2009, 10 days after Eric Knudsen made the original images of Slender Man on the Something Awful forums. The series follows film student Jay Merrick (Wagner) as he investigates what happened to the student film Marble Hornets, abandoned by its director Alex Kralie (DeLage) after encountering the Slender Man (called "the Operator").

There are 92 episodes on the Marble Hornets channel, with accompanying videos from a diegetic side-channel, totheark. As of late 2025, the series had over 700,000 subscribers and received 125 million views. The series also established the Slender Man symbol, which has since appeared in many other stories featuring the character. The reception for the web series has been mostly positive.

Slender Man is a 2018 American supernatural horror film directed by Sylvain White and written by David Birke, based on the character of the same name. The film stars Joey King, Julia Goldani Telles, Taylor Richardson, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso, and Alex Fitzalan with Javier Botet as the title character.

Development of the film began in May 2016, with Birke being hired to write the script and much of the cast signing on a year later. Filming took place in the state of Massachusetts in June and July 2017.

Javier Botet López (born 30 July 1977) is a Spanish actor. Often cast in creature roles, he portrayed Tristana Medeiros in the REC franchise (2007–2009), the title character in Mama (2013), Set in The Mummy (2017), Slender Man in the 2018 film of the same name, and Dracula in The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023). His appearances in horror films also include Crimson Peak (2015), The Conjuring 2 (2016), It (2017) and its 2019 sequel, Insidious: The Last Key (2018), and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019).