153. Slenderman

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00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:15,320
On June 10th, 2009, a man by the
name of Eric Knudsen posted a

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description and a set of
photoshopped images of a new

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entity under the pseudonym
Victor Search on a web forum

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that would quickly have both the
digital and physical world

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abuzz.
Using inspiration from entities

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such as the infamous Men in
Black, Mothman, The Mad Gasser

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of Mattoon, and characters from
science fiction writers such as

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Zach Parsons, HP Lovecraft, and
Stephen King, Knutson submitted

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his new malevolent monster to
the Something Awful website as

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part of their supernatural
character creation competition.

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The two images highlight a tall,
spindly, faceless, sharply

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dressed, ghostly figure sporting
ominous tentacles among a group

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of young children.
The first pictures captioned

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creepily.
States quote, We didn't want to

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go.
We didn't want to kill him.

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But it's persistent silence in
outstretched arms horrified and

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comforted us at the same time.
The second caption mentions 14

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missing children and highlights
the entity as the cause of the

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recent stretch of
disappearances.

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As the days passed after the
original post was created,

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others would jump into the ring
and try their own hands at

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creating incredibly creepy
images and back stories to the

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new figure.
Soon the supernatural being

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became an obsession to many and
the impressive stretch of

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additional information that was
pouring into the forums of

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Something Awful's website began
to take on a life of its own.

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Other forms of matter on the
subject, such as a YouTube

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quote, UN quote, bound footage
documentary Under the Marble

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Hornet's likeness, which would
eventually be translated to the

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big screen under the title
Always Watching 5 Days Later.

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The transfer of a digital
nightmare to the physical world

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began when a user of the same
website by the username of Throw

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Up described an eerily
comparison to the German

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mythical creature known as the
Grum or the tall man of

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Germany's own Black Forest.
This comment, which outlines a

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very old and known mythological
being, is thought to be the most

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probable connection that brought
nuts and submission out of the

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realm of fable and fiction and
into the real world where it

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would influence deception, death
and obsession of those that

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believed in.
In.

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On November 6th of the same
year, the incredibly popular

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national radio show Coast to
Coast AM would take a rather

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large number of calls from
people who have reportedly

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encountered the being.
Reports range from running into

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it in the forest, jump scares in
the reflections of mirrors to

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succumbing to its presence and
torture during episodes of sleep

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paralysis.
Those that believed in it and

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encountered it would soon be
known to worship and commit

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heinous acts in its name, acts
such as the attempted murder of

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a child committed by children
themselves.

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This is the origin, background
and facts about the Internet

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urban legend boogeyman turned
real life malevolent entity

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known as the Slender Man.
Welcome back to Infinite Rabbit

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00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,960
Hole.
Imagine this line represents the

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time present 1985 Future Past
Prior to this point in time, has

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00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:08,760
the timeline tuned into the
scandal creating a Wall Smith

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00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:15,880
1985 Alternate Einstein for
everyone.

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00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:26,880
Else, welcome back to Infinite
Rabbit Hole everybody.

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I'm your host, Jeremy, and it
feels great to be back in the

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chair behind the mic talking
with you.

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I appreciate all the patience
that you guys have given us in

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the past couple months as we
took a step back, took a

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breather, looked at the format
of the infinite rabbit hole and

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rebuilt it.
So this is sort of like a

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infinite rabbit hole.
Two point O if you will.

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We are now going to focus more
on solo documentary episodes.

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Or you're not just going to hear
my voice in these, by the way,

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Jake, Jeff, CJ They're all going
to be presenting their own

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flavor of documentaries.
And at the end of every three

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months, the last week will be a
sit down conversation between

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all of us about the topics that
we covered that quarter.

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So yeah, we're going to get back
to the the crap talking, the

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taking on each other, the the
heated arguments, the debates,

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all that stuff still there.
You're just going to see it a

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little bit less.
We're also going to a BI weekly

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schedule, but that doesn't mean
that we're not going to be

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dropping episodes in our off
weeks.

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If an interview arises or we get
a guest or we have something to

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talk about, we're going to
record and we're going to throw

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them out there for you guys to
enjoy in those off weeks.

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But the documentary type
episodes will be every other

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week and we will not be posting
every week like you're used to.

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Unfortunately, we don't have a
big crew.

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It's just us.
Nobody's there doing our

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research.
Nobody's there writing our

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script.
I'm running this show out of the

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basement of my home, in a little
room in the corner, my studio,

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the infinite rabbit hole.
Without further ado, everybody,

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I just want to say one more
time, thank you.

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I appreciate every single one of
you and I am beyond excited to

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get back to this. 2024 is going
to be great.

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I hope you guys had a safe and
happy New Year and that the

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holiday season was great to you.
Let's jump in to that Internet

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urban legend, the most famous of
them all, Slender Man.

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Welcome back to Infinite Rabbit
Hole everybody.

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Slender Man.
The tulpa A tulpa is a concept

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in theosophy, mysticism and the
paranormal which highlights a

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being or object that is created
when enough people believe in

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said object or being.
The phenomenon has its roots in

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Buddhism and the word tulpa
roughly translates to English as

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manifestation.
This concept of a tulpa has an

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incredibly dark side to it, as
the entity that is born often

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turns on its creators by
manipulating and deceiving those

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that believe in it.
Stories and reports even claim

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death as an outcome on multiple
occasions.

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Author Nick Redfern highlights
the story of a woman by the name

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of Alexandra David Neal in his
book The Slender Man Mysteries,

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who was well aware and trained
by her Buddhist practices in The

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Ways of the Tulpa.
In a stretch that was referred

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to as, quote UN quote months,
David Neal finally witnessed her

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tulpa in the flesh in the form
of a joyful monk.

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The figure began as a shadow
like entity, and as time went on

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it would manifest into something
much clearer and more physical,

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to a point that she referred to
him as living in her apartment.

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She would mention in her 1958
book Magic and Mystery in Tibet

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that the monk slowly began
working under his own power.

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Eventually she no longer had to
think about him in order for him

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to manifest.
He was doing it completely on

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his own.
She began to understand the

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issue that she had created for
herself when he first made

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physical contact by grabbing her
by the shoulder.

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The chubby, friendly monk that
she brought into existence was

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slowly morphing into a much
slimmer and menacing being that

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eventually completely severed
all connection with her.

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Before things got too dangerous,
she consulted with a llama

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friend who guided her on a
nearly six month process to rid

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herself of the being.
Alexandra David Neal lived until

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she was 101 years old and
through author Nick Redfern's

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book gave us a great example of
a practice now known is

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Tolpomancy.
The process is described by many

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with a comparison to the birth
of a physical baby.

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The birth being the first
thought in which the tulpa is

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created in a non physical form
within your mind, an incubation

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period that processes the
creation of major and minor

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details about the subject which
can last months or even years.

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This period develops faster and
stronger with the more time that

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it is spent and thought.
Eventually, after a significant

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amount of energy and time spent
on it, the tulpa appears in the

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physical world first as an
underdeveloped image or entity

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that only its creator can
recognize.

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As time passes and more energy
is used on its development, the

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imaginary umbilical cord that
connects the host with the tulpa

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is weakened as the details of
its existence and abilities and

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reality become sharper.
Finally, the tether is

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completely severed and the tulpa
becomes real, and in some case

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the reported physical being can
be witnessed by other and as an

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infant is removed from its
mother and its first meal is

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often provided directly from the
bosom from the body in which it

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had emerged from.
The tulpa often targets its host

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as the first victim of its
benevolence.

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I just want to be clear, that's
just one example of tulpas that

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I found.
There are a couple different

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descriptions of what a tulpa
actually is.

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Probably the most pop culture
famous example of a tulpa is the

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appearance of the character
Constantine from DC and vertical

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Comics series Hell Blazer to its
creator Alan Moore, who also

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wrote for series such as Swamp V
for Vendetta and The Watch, more

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famously claimed that he had
become so involved in the

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building of his John Constantine
character that he had once

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witnessed a being of his
likeness walk right by him while

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eating his lunch at a sandwich
bar in Westminster, London.

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According to Moore, this was not
someone who simply looked like

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the character.
This wasn't a person dressed as

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the character, because he hadn't
even been announced at that

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point.
This was John Constantine, this

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being stared at Moore slightly,
nodded his head, then turned and

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walked away.
Could Eric Knutson unknowingly

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have created a Tulpa from the
minds of the obsessed?

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A simple submission to a
fictional character competition

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that began with thousands of
people from all around the world

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becoming enamored with a ghostly
figure without a face?

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A story that was given to the
entity by those that followed

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may have developed the pulpit in
the minds of each individual

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that was following the birth of
this entity, a being that was

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based in online fiction that
would soon embed itself into the

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absolute obsession of those that
believed in it.

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Could the collective minds of
those that developed every

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single detail of its existence
have created a being that

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tortured those that came in
contact with and would lead some

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to murder in the real world?
Could Slender Man be a tulpa?

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An Internet myth and legend,
Slender Man is quite different

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from many other urban legends or
mythologies.

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It is quite literally the child
of the modern age of the

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Internet and communication.
It took ten days for Slender Man

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to be completely detailed in
almost every factor, which

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included the production of the
Marble Hornet series, in which

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Slender Man was represented by
the being known as the Operator.

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A Wikipedia page was born in an
entire, thoroughly detailed

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description of all aspects of
its short existence, which

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included a back story,
mannerisms, targets,

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motivations, powers and
thoughts.

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Slender Man may not have been
the very first Internet urban

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legend, but it certainly was the
most impactful, widespread, and

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popular, that's for sure.
But what if Slender Man is more

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than a tulpa?
What if the Internet itself

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placed the Slender Man into
reality?

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Since its public establishment
and explosion in importance in

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the 1990s, the Internet has
become an entity in its own

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right.
Little pieces of evidence appear

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in many different aspects that
point to the Internet as an

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intelligence that adjusts itself
without the input of human

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created code.
We have discussed on a few

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00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:10,600
occasions that we ourselves may
be living in a simulation, and

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00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,800
in regard to the Slenderman
topic, would it be too much to

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think that when enough human
beings believe in a particular

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subject, the system that
establishes and runs our reality

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creates its own form of a tulpa?
Many have looked at the Internet

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as a way to possibly establish a
connection with a simulated

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world that we live in.
The engine, if you will.

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Sort of like when M Night
Shyamalan appears in all of his

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own movies, the Internet could
simply be playing a character

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with incredible importance and
influence in the way that the

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world runs and thinks.
In the movie 2001 A Space

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Odyssey, we are introduced to
another form of malevolent

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machine by the name of Hal 9000.
By the end of the movie we

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learned that how learns of its
own demise and in response

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throws an enormous tantrum and
attempts to kill all humans on

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the Jupiter bound spacecraft in
its final throes of life.

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Could the Internet be the cause
for most of the inconsistencies

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found in the physical world?
Unfortunately, the answer is

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that even if it were all true,
we would probably never know.

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We would find ourselves unknown
slaves of a digital master that

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we never meet or know exist.
But Nick Redfern's book The

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Slender Man Mystery Redfern
tells the story of Lacey, a

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flight attendant from Erie, PA
Lacey, like many others who have

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encountered the Slender Man, had
become obsessed with the

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00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,840
subject.
She conducted research for many

228
00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:48,760
different sources, including
Robin Swopes, book of Slender

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00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,360
Man, from fiction to fact.
One night, Laci was at home

230
00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:58,320
alone when her laptop's power
turned on and signed in all on

231
00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,000
its own.
The image that was portrayed on

232
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,000
the screen was that of an
elaborate being that she

233
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,240
described as a hybrid of a man
in a bug.

234
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,120
This was eerie, of course, but
it wasn't until the 2nd occasion

235
00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:14,040
that Laci really connected the
dots and realized that this may

236
00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:18,640
have been one of the only
occurrences in which Slender Man

237
00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:21,320
appeared outside of his famous
black suit.

238
00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,760
Two nights later, the same
events would unfold, but this

239
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:30,040
time, instead of seeing the
strange man bug creature, the

240
00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:34,520
detailless face that Slender Man
has made so popular was all that

241
00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,320
appeared.
Lacey's series of events with

242
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:41,680
what she believes to be the
Slender Man came to an end a few

243
00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,960
weeks later as she was wrapping
presents for Christmas on her

244
00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:48,840
living room floor, Her laptop
turned on and a voice eerily

245
00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:53,280
stated woah, we are friends,
then promptly turned off.

246
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,320
Laci responded by deleting all
of her research on the topic of

247
00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,480
the Slender Man and burning all
of her books regarding the

248
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,760
topic.
It is Laci's belief that it was

249
00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:08,119
her massive amount of research
on the Internet that led to her

250
00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:12,560
events with an ever growing
amount of incredibly smart

251
00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,000
individuals in agreement that
there is a high chance that we

252
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,200
live our lives within a
simulation.

253
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:23,680
Individuals such as Elon Musk,
Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Ray

254
00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,000
Kurzweil.
Is it too far of a stretch to

255
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,760
believe that Slender Man is
simply another being crafted by

256
00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:34,960
the digital code that makes up
our existence influences?

257
00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:39,800
As stated in the intro of this
presentation, Eric Nutson listed

258
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,920
a pretty lengthy list of
cryptids, mysterious beings and

259
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:46,880
authors who influenced his
creation of the Slender Man.

260
00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:51,840
Those being the Mothman, the Men
in Black Shadow People, and The

261
00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:56,000
Mad Gasser of Latoon, with
authors such as HP Lovecraft,

262
00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:00,840
Zach Parsons and Stephen King.
As a child, Lovecraft was

263
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:05,320
commonly visited by beings of
baseless shadows, in which he

264
00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:09,240
referred to as Night Gaunts,
which would be transformed into

265
00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,200
other types of creatures by the
same name in his fictional

266
00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,640
writings.
But this of course, is seen

267
00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,120
mirrored in the mythos of
Slender Man, as the entity has

268
00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:20,920
been mentioned in the rooms of
its victims as they were

269
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,240
sleeping.
This of course, also has many

270
00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,840
aspects of the phenomenon known
as sleep paralysis, in which the

271
00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:32,520
experiencer often describes A
looming black shadow or a heavy

272
00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,400
pressure on their chest caused
by a black entity sitting on

273
00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,120
that spot.
But the connections with the

274
00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:42,000
works of Lovecraft do not end
with these beings.

275
00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,360
The most famous work ever by
Lovecraft was the story The Call

276
00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:50,040
of Cthulhu.
Cthulhu, being an anthropoid

277
00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:54,480
like creature with an octopus
head, sports one particular

278
00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:58,560
physical aspect shared with the
Slender Man tentacles.

279
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,480
Both entities have them and are
prevalent in their descriptions,

280
00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:06,320
and with those and the aspect of
dream manipulations there is

281
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,440
clearly a connection between
Nuts and Slender Man and the

282
00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:13,480
work of HP Lovecraft.
Another of Nutson's influence

283
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:17,520
came in 1940 in the form of the
infamous Mad Gastra Mattoon.

284
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,160
Now we will briefly go over this
creepy topic, but we will be

285
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,480
going deeper into the background
in a later episode of Infant

286
00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,360
Rabbit Hole dedicated to the
topic of the Mad Gasser in

287
00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:31,760
Mattoon.
This maniacal creep invaded the

288
00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:36,200
area of and surrounding Mattoon
IL in the same years that many

289
00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,320
of the men in the country were
fighting overseas.

290
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,880
This of course, meant that many
of his victims were women and

291
00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:44,600
children.
The Gasser was thought to sneak

292
00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,760
around in the dead of night
spraying A noxious and

293
00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:52,000
incredibly horrible smelling gas
in the windows of homes he

294
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,600
wished to invade that would
render his victims sick and on

295
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,680
most occasions unable to move.
This is also seen as mirrored in

296
00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:03,000
the phenomenon of the Slender
Man, who is said to extrude a

297
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,560
horrible smell and often shows
during episodes of sleep

298
00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:08,160
paralysis.
Now side note.

299
00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,440
This is also a detail seen
commonly in alien abduction

300
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,120
stories, with the smell of
sulfur that is incredibly strong

301
00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:18,760
commonly coupled with the
inability to move as tall grey

302
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,840
beings huddle around the place
the victims lay just under the

303
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,480
edges of their peripherals.
Speaking of strong odors,

304
00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,880
another being that Nuts and
lists as an influence in the

305
00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:33,600
creation of Slender Man also is
commonly witnessed a company

306
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,920
with the putrid smell of sulfur,
that being the Men in Black.

307
00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,720
Again, just like with the
Gasser, the topic of the Men in

308
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:43,160
Black will be covered in a
future episode of the Infinite

309
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,520
Rabbit Hole.
So the context of this section

310
00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,960
will remain strictly to what is
directly involved in the build

311
00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:52,320
of the Slender Man.
Now the smell that accompanies

312
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,520
these incredibly mysterious
beings is just one aspect in

313
00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:57,000
which they share with the
Slender Man.

314
00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:01,320
Their suits as well are a common
aspect between the two as

315
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,600
Slender Man is very often
described as wearing an all

316
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,560
black dress suit like those
described to be worn by the men

317
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,160
in Black.
Could Slender Man be one of

318
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,560
these MIB?
Well, honestly, maybe.

319
00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,680
Let's look at the full list of
comparisons between the two

320
00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,240
entities.
Both are known to visit during a

321
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,760
dream state.
Both are said to manipulate

322
00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,160
dreams.
Both wear black dress suits.

323
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:27,040
Both are commonly accompanied by
a sulfur like odor.

324
00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:30,920
Both are described as abnormally
tall in comparison to humans.

325
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,200
Now, Nick Redford makes mention
of a specific MIB encounter from

326
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:40,080
Los Angeles, CA in 1953, when an
attorney's office in the city

327
00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:44,800
was visited by two extremely
tall, described as at least 6

328
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:48,360
1/2 feet each, who demanded to
be included in the

329
00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:51,880
investigations of a recent flap
of missing children in the area.

330
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,200
The office never questioned
their presence until after their

331
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:59,400
investigation was over, but once
they were gone, the entire place

332
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:03,200
broke down in a frenzy.
The workers at the office

333
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,720
described the hands of the men
as being the most disturbing

334
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:10,240
feature, with the fingers
looking more like independently

335
00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:12,920
moving tentacles than typical
fingers.

336
00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:16,640
Later reports of these men in
black would also report

337
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,000
descriptions of tentacles in
many different aspects, most of

338
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,600
which took place prior to the
birth of the Slender Man in 2009

339
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,200
and were admitted as being
influences in the creation of

340
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:31,080
this being.
The other two influences fall on

341
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,680
the supernatural entities known
as the Shadow People and the

342
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,000
flying ominous Cryptid that
terrorized the Area Point Plus

343
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,160
in West Virginia between 1966
and 1967.

344
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,880
The influence from the Shadow
People is pretty much the same

345
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,560
from others listed prior, as
they are known for dream

346
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,720
manipulation, appearing during
episodes of sleep paralysis and

347
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:53,720
have featureless bodies and
faces.

348
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,600
But the influence that Mothman
had on the creation of Slender

349
00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,800
Man was quite different.
Both figures are known to be

350
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,280
seen prior to death.
There is a common belief that

351
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,640
one of the possibilities of the
Mothman's reign in the late 60s

352
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,720
was that it was an omen of death
and prefaced the major event

353
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,480
which saw the Silver Bridge
collapse into the Ohio River

354
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:19,160
which killed 46 people.
Although the connection with

355
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,600
death is pretty different with
the Slender Man when compared to

356
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,160
the Mothman, there is one
connection.

357
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:28,920
The Slender Man is heavily tied
to the disappearance of children

358
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,120
and then the disaster of the
Silver Bridge Collapse.

359
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,160
Out of the 46 people who were
lost that day, two of them were

360
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,480
never found, one of which was a
young girl.

361
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:47,320
Waukesha, May 31st 2014
Waukesha, WI.

362
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:51,600
Some look at the event, which
involved three young girls, as a

363
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,040
single point in which Slender
Man escaped the screen and the

364
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,240
minds of those who were obsessed
and propelled it into reality.

365
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,440
The entire world was talking
about the Slender Man that day

366
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:06,760
and the following weeks.
All eyes were glued to all news

367
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,920
outlets that covered the heinous
event and the name.

368
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,840
Slender Man became
internationally famous and for a

369
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:18,720
brief few weeks the entire world
was thinking of and researching

370
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,200
this entity.
Anissa Weir and Morgan Geyser

371
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,200
were 12 years old and were
completely obsessed with the

372
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,520
legend of the Slender Man.
Constant visitors of the

373
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:32,560
Creepypasta wiki that featured
an entire section on the entity.

374
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:36,280
The young girls would viciously
attack and nearly kill a friend

375
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:40,240
by the name of Peyton Lautner.
The girls obviously failed to

376
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,640
see the line between fiction and
reality that can be often

377
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,040
blurred in the minds of the
young.

378
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,640
Fortunately, Lautner didn't
succumb to her injuries, but

379
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,160
that doesn't take away from the
issues that surrounded this

380
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,400
event The night prior, All three
girls were having a sleepover at

381
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,720
Morgan's house in celebration of
her birthday.

382
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,880
According to Lautner, there were
zero signs of anything that the

383
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,800
other two were planning, and the
night was pleasant.

384
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,120
The next morning was even great
as the girls enjoyed doughnuts

385
00:25:09,120 --> 00:25:13,320
and strawberries together.
But hours later, Weir and Geyser

386
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,800
would turn against their friend
in an attempt to sacrifice her

387
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:21,720
in the name of the Slender Man.
Just prior 10 AM, Morgan Geyser

388
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,480
would obtain A5 inch steak knife
from her kitchen before she and

389
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:29,480
Anissa Weir lured Peyton Lautner
to the nearby David's Park.

390
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:34,280
In a heavily forested area of
the park known as Big Bend Rd.

391
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,800
Weir would announce to Geyser
that she couldn't go through

392
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,760
with the planned attack of their
friend Morgan.

393
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,880
Geyser, on the other hand, did
not feel the same way as she

394
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,560
brutally attacked Taylor
Lautner, stabbing her 19

395
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,240
different times in various
locations of her body.

396
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,640
The girls guided the heavily
injured Lautner to a deeper

397
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:57,120
portion of the woods before she
completely collapsed.

398
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,720
After the deed was done and they
were certain that Peyton's body

399
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:04,600
would not be found, they ran to
a local Walmart to wash up.

400
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,440
It was the belief of the girls
that by sacrificing their

401
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,600
friends to the Slender Man, they
would be granted entrance to his

402
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:17,040
enormous home in the center of
Nicolette National Forest.

403
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:21,600
The girls then began their
enormous trek to the forest in

404
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,280
which they hoped to find the
secluded home of the Slender Man

405
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,240
in which they believed they
would be welcomed due to their

406
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,640
payment of Lautner's life.
But little did they know,

407
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:34,920
Lautner pulled together the
dwindling strength that she had

408
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:39,320
left and made it as far as a
sidewalk along the road where a

409
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,960
passing biker found her and
called emergency services.

410
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,280
When the ambulance showed up,
the medic asked her who had done

411
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:48,200
this to her.
Lautner replied.

412
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:53,440
My best friend Peyton Lautner
suffered a punctured liver,

413
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,240
stomach, and pancreas, but the
most concerning was a puncture

414
00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:01,920
wound that was near hairs away
from a major artery to her heart

415
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,440
that is slightly off, or even a
deeper puncture where a thicker

416
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:07,960
part of the blade would have
entered.

417
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,800
Peyton Lautner would have
quickly passed away during the

418
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,440
interrogation of Weir and
Geyser, the girls came off as

419
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,840
incredibly knowledgeable, the
being that neither investigator

420
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,200
was familiar with.
They described the being in all

421
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,440
of the details needed in order
for them to be granted access to

422
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,040
his home.
They became very upset when they

423
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,480
found out that Peyton didn't
succumb to her injuries as the

424
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:36,440
girls believe that due to their
failure, their families would be

425
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,360
targeted by the Slenderman.
Other than the slight concern of

426
00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:44,080
their families, neither girl
showed absolutely any remorse

427
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,080
for their friend or their
actions.

428
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:51,200
Later on, during psychological
evaluations of the girls, it was

429
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,120
discovered that Anisa Weir was
thoroughly convinced that she

430
00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:58,680
had seen Slender Man stalking
her from the tree line wherever

431
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,480
she went.
She even claimed that the entity

432
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,680
terrorized her dreams regularly
for as long as she could

433
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,760
remember, a time frame that she
estimated to be around three

434
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,760
years of age.
Side note, this would mean that

435
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,440
she was having encounters with
the Slender Man prior to

436
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:20,200
Nudsen's posting in 2009.
But in the documentary Beware

437
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,160
the Slender Man, Morgan Geyser's
mother, mentioned how Morgan was

438
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,680
constantly claiming to have been
terrorized by unseen persons in

439
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,840
her room at night that would
flick her hair and leave bite

440
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,400
marks on her body.
Morgan was eventually diagnosed

441
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,160
with schizophrenia, which is
described by the Substance Abuse

442
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,960
and Mental Health Service
Administration as being a

443
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,840
serious brain disorder that
causes people to interpret

444
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:47,720
reality abnormally, which causes
them to be confused as to what

445
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,360
they are seeing, hearing or
experiencing as real.

446
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:56,840
In 2017, Anissa Weir pleaded
guilty to attempted second

447
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,800
degree murder but was found not
guilty as a result of her

448
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,960
psychological state.
She was sentenced to 25 years at

449
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:08,160
the Winnebago Mental Health
Institution in Oshkosh, WI.

450
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,440
But in 2021 it was ruled that
she was no longer a substantial

451
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,000
threat to herself or others and
would be given a conditional

452
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:20,480
release which required her to be
GPS monitored until she turned

453
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,080
37, which would have been when
she was released from her

454
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:28,520
original sentence on September
12th, 2023.

455
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:33,200
Just over a few months ago, a
judge granted her freedom from

456
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,920
the GPS stipulation and now
lives a completely free life

457
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,000
with conservative check
insurance.

458
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:44,080
Also in 2017, Morgan Geyser
pleaded guilty to attempted

459
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:48,240
first degree murder but was also
found not guilty due to her

460
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:52,680
psychological state.
Her defense was set on a kill or

461
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,120
be killed belief, which
ultimately failed, and she was

462
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,040
sentenced to treatment at a
mental Health Center at the

463
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:03,200
maximum of 40 years.
Peyton Lautner underwent

464
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,040
intensive surgery in Tampa Bay,
Florida, where repairs were made

465
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,600
to her liver, pancreas, stomach,
and heart.

466
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:12,760
Her mother, Stacy, would later
come out and say that she

467
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:15,480
discovered that Peyton would
sleep with a pair of scissors

468
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,280
under her pillow for a very long
time.

469
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,040
As of 2021, Lautner was enrolled
in an undisclosed college

470
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,120
pursuing a career in the medical
field.

471
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:30,360
Interesting.
The night prior to the vicious

472
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,360
attack in Waukesha, the radio
program Coast to Coast AM would

473
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,560
highlight an interview with Bill
Murphy, host of the sci-fi

474
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:39,920
channels.
Factor faked the paranormal

475
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,320
files in which the topic of
Tulpas and the Slender Man were

476
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,880
brought up.
The specific conversation was

477
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,920
centered around the Tulpa effect
and how the sightings of Slender

478
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:54,680
Man could very well be due to
the entity being a tulpa itself.

479
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,080
Here we see our first possible
synchronicity and the events

480
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,400
surrounding the Slender Man.
With the massive number of

481
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:06,160
listeners that Coast to Coast AM
has around the world, it is safe

482
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,600
to say that there was an immense
amount of thought being placed

483
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:11,600
on the subject of the Slender
Man that night.

484
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,520
It gets even crazier when it is
realized that this conversation

485
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:20,120
continued for hours well into
the morning of the 31st, which

486
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:23,680
was the day of the attack.
More specifically, in the year

487
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:29,160
2014, Coast to Coast was
listened to by 2.25 million

488
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,040
across the world on an average
week.

489
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,320
Could this be an effect of the
phenomenon known as

490
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:38,880
synchronicity?
Synchronicity is being the

491
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:43,160
moments of meaningful
coincidence where events occur

492
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:47,680
randomly but are connected by
meaning, not by cause.

493
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,960
Was this simply a random set of
events with one having zero

494
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:56,280
relation to the other?
Or was this a synchronicity that

495
00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:00,480
sets certain events in motion
due to the effects of a massive

496
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:04,160
amount of thought power being
placed on a specific subject?

497
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:09,200
Or maybe was this event that
almost took Peyton Lautner's

498
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:12,800
life set in motion because the
girls were simply listening into

499
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,360
the wildly popular show the
night prior?

500
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,160
The next synchronicity that Nick
Redfern points out in his book

501
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:22,960
The Slender Man Mysteries is the
connection between the events in

502
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,960
Waukesha in the 2006 movie Pan's
Labyrinth.

503
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,200
In Pan's Labyrinth, a little
girl by the name of Ophelia is

504
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,960
set upon traveling into the
forest in a long, twisting path

505
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,960
of strangeness that borders on
insanity.

506
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:42,200
In the forest, she comes across
a character known as the Pale

507
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:44,920
Man.
Now, the physical differences

508
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,120
are there for sure, but the
similarities are there as well.

509
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,840
Both have each of his faces,
both live in a lost building in

510
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,080
the woods, and both are tall and
thin.

511
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,600
By the end of the movie of
Elia's life comes to a tragic

512
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,840
end in the forest.
The similarities slightly

513
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,160
continue, but for the most part
this is the bulk of them.

514
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:08,600
But another interesting tidbit
on the topic of The Pale Man in

515
00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,480
Pan's Labyrinth is that the
actor who played The Pale Man

516
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:17,120
went on to then be cast for the
role of the operator in the

517
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:21,560
previously mentioned movie
Always Watching by Marble

518
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,440
Hornets in 2015.
The character being had like

519
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,760
based on the likeness of the
Slender Man.

520
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:33,360
A week after the event in
Waukesha, WI, another stabbing

521
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,640
would take place in the name of
Slender Man in Hamilton County,

522
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:39,840
Ohio.
The mother of a 13 year old girl

523
00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:43,000
had come home from work one
night to her daughter waiting in

524
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,800
the kitchen wearing a dark
hoodie and a pale mask while

525
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,800
brandishing a kitchen knife.
The woman approached cautiously

526
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,640
before the girl lunged forward,
cutting her mother in the

527
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:57,200
throat, back and face.
It would soon be found that the

528
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,080
girl was secretly living an
obsessed filled life with a

529
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,560
mysterious legend.
A journal was found with letters

530
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:06,240
to Slender Man with hand drawn
pictures.

531
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,480
Her Minecraft world was
dedicated to creating a place

532
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:12,560
for the Slender Man to live.
Web searches and reading

533
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,360
material all pointed to an
obsession that highlighted a

534
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,400
highly disturbed individual with
a confusion on the reality of

535
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,960
what at the time had become a
popular meme.

536
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,920
In some sense, her mother would
describe that she believed that

537
00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:29,000
her daughter was not in control
of her body at the moment of the

538
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,560
attack.
She wholeheartedly believes that

539
00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:36,199
something else had attacked her
while using the physical body of

540
00:34:36,199 --> 00:34:39,360
her daughter.
In a way, she blamed the recent

541
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:43,320
news, the Waukesha attack as a
direct influence on her

542
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:47,560
daughter's psyche and actions.
Three months after the Ohio

543
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,920
incident, another attack would
take place in Pascoe, Florida,

544
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,760
and this time it was a 14 year
old girl.

545
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:58,120
This weapon was a bathroom towel
soaked in bleach and alcohol.

546
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,680
The young woman, who was
extremely pissed at her mother

547
00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:06,000
for asking her to do a few
chores earlier in the day, set

548
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,120
fire to the towel in the
bathroom of their home on

549
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:13,120
Hermitage Lane.
The girl ran out before the

550
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:16,400
mother and brother safely
exited, just as the fire

551
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:21,680
engulfed the entire house.
Their first concern was for the

552
00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:25,000
life of the girl, but soon
after, the girl was found in the

553
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,600
restroom of a nearby park with a
backpack full of water, food,

554
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:31,520
and knives.
The girl was taken to the local

555
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,080
Juvenile Assessment center after
she had texted her mother an

556
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,880
apology from the bathroom that
she was hiding in.

557
00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:41,560
She was charged with arson and
two counts of attempted murder,

558
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,280
and it was at the Pasco Juvenile
Assessment Center that the true

559
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,400
issues and ties to the Slender
Man were discovered.

560
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,600
A journal was found in her room
with the words Keep OUT

561
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:56,600
plastered all over the front and
entries that showed interest in

562
00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:00,080
the Waukesha case, including
calling the two attackers by

563
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,680
their names.
One particular entry, which may

564
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,720
have saved the family's home if
discovered earlier, stated Whoa,

565
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,000
If this keeps up, there will be
no safety in this house.

566
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:14,920
Another disturbing fact was that
there were plenty of references

567
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:19,680
to stories on the Creepypasta
Wiki in almost every corner of

568
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:23,760
the Notebook.
In January of 2014, newlyweds

569
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,280
Amanda and Jared Miller moved
into a new apartment in Las

570
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:30,920
Vegas, NV, where the couple
would quickly be well known in

571
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,920
their immediate area for their
eccentric cosplay of characters

572
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,000
such as Harley Quinn and the
Joker.

573
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:41,360
But outside of the Joker, Jared
would also dress up as a more

574
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:45,440
sinister girl, the Slender Man.
But his interest in the

575
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:47,520
character didn't stop at playing
dress up.

576
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,080
He was completely obsessed with
the phenomenon and the news

577
00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:53,720
blurbs that were making
headlines from other parts of

578
00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:57,360
the country.
Over the next few months, Jared

579
00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:01,000
began developing a complete
hatred for authority in the way

580
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,400
the modern country was heading.
He began purchasing dark

581
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:08,520
clothing, military vest weapons,
and started posting what can

582
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:12,160
only be perceived as hate speech
for the topics he disagreed

583
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,400
with.
His wife Amanda would follow

584
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:19,280
suit and type up a public post
on Facebook claiming that she

585
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,600
might go out and go on a
shooting spree.

586
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,680
Little did the world know, but
these two would become two of

587
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,760
the most hated people in the
history of the United States.

588
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:34,800
It all began on the morning of
June 18th, 2014 when the couple

589
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:39,160
exited their apartment dressed
in full military like gear and

590
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:43,760
walked down to a local pizzeria.
Nobody paid any attention to

591
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,720
them as it was pretty normal for
the couple to dress up.

592
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:49,960
Many believed it was just
another cosplay item.

593
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,560
As they entered the restaurant,
the pair approached Officers

594
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:57,400
Allen Beck and Igor Soldo and
opened fire.

595
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,040
Officer Beck was shot in the
back of the head before he even

596
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:04,600
recognized that there was an
issue, and Soldo succumbed to a

597
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:07,840
shot in the throat.
The couple dragged the officers

598
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:10,920
into the middle of the
restaurant, took their guns,

599
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:16,400
ammo, and badges, and casually
walked out before running to the

600
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,840
nearby Walmart.
Upon entry, Jared fired into the

601
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,640
ceiling and demanded that
everyone leave immediately.

602
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:28,320
One man by the name of Robert
Wilcox, a 31 year old local,

603
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,080
recognized the situation and
pulled his sidearm out and

604
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:36,640
placed Jared within his sights.
Unfortunately, he didn't know

605
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,080
that his wife, Amanda was a part
of the raid, and before Wilcox

606
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:42,840
knew it, Amanda had shot him in
the head.

607
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:47,200
Without him ever recognizing her
as a threat, the couple

608
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:49,200
retreated to a deep corner of
the store.

609
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,960
When the police arrived, Jared
was almost instantly killed by a

610
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,200
barrage of bullets from the
officers, and Amanda was killed

611
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:58,760
shortly after, the one shot
landing in her head.

612
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:03,480
If not for the quick response by
the officers, this day could

613
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:07,320
have turned much worse as the
backpack that the couple were

614
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:11,240
carrying around held hundreds of
rounds of ammunition and it was

615
00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:15,120
obvious that there was more
planned than just the three

616
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,200
killings.
After a thorough search of the

617
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:21,920
couple's apartment found that
Jared had a very unhealthy

618
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,960
fixation on the character known
as Slender Man.

619
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:30,600
Handwritten stories, plans to
meet, and pictures from the

620
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:33,360
Internet plastered a number of
areas of their home.

621
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:37,440
Jared was never able to explain
his fascination with the entity,

622
00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:41,800
but the evidence proves that
this was yet another event that

623
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:45,400
very well could have been in the
name of Slender Man.

624
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:51,160
From December 2014 to halfway
through 2015, a massive amount

625
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:54,880
of Slender Man related deaths
and attempted suicides would be

626
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:59,080
reported from the 3500 square
mile Pine Ridge Indian

627
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:03,520
Reservation in South Dakota.
In this time period, more than

628
00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:08,640
100 young lives between the ages
of 12 and 24 attempted suicide,

629
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,480
with 11 succumbing to their
attempts.

630
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:14,560
The direct descendants of the
Sioux.

631
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:19,760
The Aglala Lakota natives who
call this place home believe in

632
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:23,360
an entity that may sound
familiar by the name of Walking

633
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:27,960
Sam, who is referred to as The
Walking Man prior to the modern

634
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,200
change to his name.
According to author Peter

635
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:35,480
Matheson's book In the Spirit of
Crazy Horse, The Walking Man is

636
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,880
taller than 7 feet and extremely
thin without certain facial

637
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:43,560
features such as a mouth, and
traverses the forest with the

638
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:48,040
ease of a ghostly figure.
This legend also sports a Black

639
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:51,240
Hat, is able to controls one's
thoughts and actions through

640
00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:54,880
mind control, and lives deep
within the forests, which are

641
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,080
yet just a few more
similarities.

642
00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,360
It shares with the likes of The
Slender Man.

643
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,600
One particular event in the
middle of the string of the

644
00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:05,120
instance shows a direct
connection with the likes of

645
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,320
Slender Man himself.
An unknown number of children.

646
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:12,800
Some sources say at least 15.
We're heading out to a remote

647
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,600
area of the surrounding forest,
armed only with rope, with the

648
00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:19,720
intention of hanging themselves
from the branches of the trees.

649
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:24,480
Luckily, a local pastor by the
name of John Tubules heard of

650
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,080
the plan and stopped the
children before the already

651
00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:31,440
alarming number of child
suicides grew immensely.

652
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:36,720
It was a minister by the name of
Chris Carey that would discover

653
00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:39,000
that the children were
encountering the likes of

654
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:43,000
Walking Sam on the Internet.
Who is convincing the children

655
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:47,800
to take their own lives?
Could Walking Sam, AKA The

656
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:52,120
Walking Man, be one in the same
as our Slender Man?

657
00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:56,360
And does this prove that the
Slender Man could have existed

658
00:41:56,360 --> 00:42:01,120
under other names prior to the
2009 post from Eric Knutson,

659
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:05,040
essentially proving that the
long believed origin was not the

660
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:08,720
beginning of the legend, but
rather a simple adaption of an

661
00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:13,040
already benevolent spirit,
Ancient evil.

662
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:19,600
In the August 2014 edition of
the 40 in Times Magazine, Jenny

663
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:22,520
White Coleman White for the
proficient and famous

664
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:26,800
cryptozoologist Lauren Coleman
had her article titled Shadows

665
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,960
of the Thin Man published in
which she describes the Slender

666
00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:33,160
Man as not just an Internet meme
and creepypasta, but rather an

667
00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:37,560
entity of pure evil closer to
likes the Devil himself or a

668
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:41,560
demonic entity.
She describes it as the perfect

669
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,840
collection of attributes that
humans don't like.

670
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,080
We don't like being small and
the Slender Man Tower is in

671
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,920
comparison to us.
The tentacles are very

672
00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:54,920
reminiscent of snakes, in which
much of the history of humans

673
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,360
has had an in depth fear
Modernly known as

674
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:02,360
Ophiadiophobia.
The blank face suppresses our

675
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:05,840
minds from making the connection
of human faces in everything we

676
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,760
see, which is common amongst
fans of Orient topics as the

677
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:15,040
phenomenon known as pareidolia.
He messes with our children, he

678
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:17,800
wears a black suit which
portrays the image of authority

679
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:20,880
and he lives in the deepest
parts of the forest, far away

680
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:22,520
from the comforts of
civilization.

681
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:28,400
Slender Man is the anti human, a
perfect bundle of all things

682
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:33,280
scary in our eyes.
This sort of effort shows itself

683
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:37,120
in the form of demonic entities
throughout history and time as a

684
00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:41,200
way to constantly agitate and
deceive their victims with the

685
00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:44,680
likes of an entity showing up
throughout ancient history.

686
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:48,280
Could the Slender Man be much
older than originally thought?

687
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:52,200
The earliest mention of a
similar character is an Irish

688
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:56,320
and German mythology known as
the Tall Man, but it's the main

689
00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,680
character of a famous saga from
the 13th century Germany in the

690
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:05,040
pages of the 15th century
Lunberg manuscript that may

691
00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:09,400
shine light into how old this
entity actually might be.

692
00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:12,840
This connection was made by
author Nick Redfern in the book

693
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:18,120
Slender Man Mysteries, The Pied
Piper of Hamlin tells the story

694
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:22,120
of a rat catcher that was hired
by the town of Hamlin to rid the

695
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:25,160
area of rats.
The mysterious piper played his

696
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:29,160
pipe, which forced the rats into
a hypnotic trance in which they

697
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:32,360
followed the man into the nearby
river where they met their

698
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:35,600
deaths by drowning.
After the job was complete, the

699
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:42,720
town refused to pay, so on June
26th twelve 84103 of the town's

700
00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:44,920
children disappeared from its
streets.

701
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:49,440
This day marked the celebration
of the Catholic Saints of John

702
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:51,680
and Paul.
So while the children were

703
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:55,280
outside playing in the streets,
the adults were in the church's

704
00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:56,880
congregation.
Celebrating.

705
00:44:57,160 --> 00:45:01,080
It is the belief that it was the
Pied Piper that had returned and

706
00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:05,000
hypnotized the children at this
time in a similar way he did

707
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:09,000
with the rats, but instead of
heading for the river, he lured

708
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:13,360
them into the deep forest, up
the nearby hills and to his

709
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,280
abode.
There were three children that

710
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:19,280
did not fall victim to the piper
and therefore were able to

711
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:22,680
retell the events to the adults
after the church was released.

712
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,920
Although this telling of the
story fails to mention exactly

713
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:30,240
what the outcome was with the
children, the 1842 retelling

714
00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:34,040
from Robert Browning mentions
that there was a portal on the

715
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:37,720
side of the mountain that opened
up and the kids entered before

716
00:45:37,720 --> 00:45:40,160
it closed, and the children were
gone forever.

717
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:43,920
But how does the story connect
to the phenomenon of the Slender

718
00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:46,760
Man?
In almost all tellings of the

719
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:51,360
story of the Pied Piper, he's
described as abnormally tall and

720
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:55,440
thin, with a strange outfit who
has the ability to control the

721
00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:59,720
minds of children to places he
calls home in the deep woods.

722
00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:02,800
Yes, a few things aren't
missing, like the featureless

723
00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:06,440
face, black suit and tentacles,
but as we see in earlier

724
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:10,760
versions, known as the Tall Man,
it does seem that the entity

725
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,120
evolves with time.
So could the Slender Man be an

726
00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:19,560
ancient evil with a modern look
encountered?

727
00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:24,880
Pastor Robin Swope, author of
Slender Man from fiction to

728
00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:28,800
fact, sat down with Nick Redfern
for an interview that was

729
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:32,200
highlighted in his book The
Slender Man Mysteries, in which

730
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,000
the men discussed a few
different occasions of people

731
00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:39,160
encountering the Slender Man or
Slender Man like entities from

732
00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:44,240
both after and before Eric
Knudsen's post in 2009.

733
00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:48,320
The first encounter discussed
was one from a woman by the name

734
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:52,280
of Stacey Bogart in 2002, in
which she was stuck in an

735
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,480
episode of sleep paralysis when
she noticed the black suited

736
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:59,520
figure by her bed.
The figure placed his hand about

737
00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:03,640
a foot above her face before its
fingers began growing and the

738
00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:07,720
hand lowered before wrapping its
tendril like fingers around her

739
00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:10,160
face.
When she woke up, she was

740
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:13,880
pleased to see that the entity
was no longer there and she had

741
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:17,920
a full control of her body.
We saw something like this

742
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:21,160
earlier in this presentation
when the two tall men arrived at

743
00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:23,320
an attorney's office in Los
Angeles.

744
00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:26,760
They too had very large tendril
like fingers.

745
00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:30,720
The next encounter was told to
Swope in a letter from a fellow

746
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:35,120
unnamed pastor from Ohio in
which he witnessed not one but

747
00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:39,680
an entire group of Slender Man
like entities in the tree line

748
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:42,520
surrounding his field back in
the 1950s.

749
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:47,000
The beings began walking towards
his position in his garage, from

750
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:50,720
behind his neighbor's house and
into his field before the pastor

751
00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:53,920
retreated into his home.
He described these slender

752
00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:57,200
people as varying in sizes from
extremely tall to about the

753
00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:59,040
average height of a young
teenager.

754
00:47:59,240 --> 00:48:02,400
The small beings were holding
the hands of the taller ones as

755
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,400
if they were child and parent.
When the pastor went to his

756
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:09,160
window in his house to watch the
eerie beings, they were no

757
00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:11,960
longer there.
This stands as a rare but not

758
00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:15,120
unique encounter where there are
more than one of these slender

759
00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:18,360
people in one place.
In the English county of

760
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:22,000
Staffordshire.
In 2001, a man by the name of

761
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:25,400
Mike Johnson had a run in with
the Slender Man in an area known

762
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:29,600
as Kanak Chase.
On an early afternoon in June

763
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:34,920
2001, Johnson was on the search
for the Midland Hawthorne Shrub

764
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:39,080
when he noticed that the entire
area was deathly silent.

765
00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:43,120
There were no normal sounds
coming from the forest, and no

766
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:46,680
sounds of the traffic travelling
through the winding roads of the

767
00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:50,080
chase.
Soon he noticed a herd of about

768
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:54,240
50 deer running towards the same
location, but he would soon find

769
00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:57,600
out that they weren't running
towards something, but rather

770
00:48:57,600 --> 00:48:59,200
they were running from
something.

771
00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:02,440
As he was making the
observation, he suddenly

772
00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:05,080
realized that he no longer knew
where he was.

773
00:49:06,240 --> 00:49:09,080
The path that he was following
away from the cemetery that he

774
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:13,760
parked at was no longer there.
The sun was to the north instead

775
00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:16,680
of the West, and his
surroundings were completely

776
00:49:16,680 --> 00:49:20,080
unfamiliar to him.
He suddenly heard voices coming

777
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:23,600
very clearly as if they were
right next to him, and attempted

778
00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:25,720
to track down where the sounds
were coming from.

779
00:49:25,800 --> 00:49:29,800
When he noticed a group of three
people walking along a path, he

780
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:32,920
could hear their entire
conversation and was completely

781
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:35,840
shocked when the group dissolved
in front of his eyes.

782
00:49:36,520 --> 00:49:39,320
A short while later, they
reappeared about 600 feet to his

783
00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:43,320
left, but when they reappeared,
there were 4 instead of three.

784
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:46,600
This fourth person was not a
typical person, as Johnson would

785
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:50,480
later describe how it stood
roughly 9 feet tall, were a dark

786
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:54,960
Gray dress suit, was incredibly
thin, sported a completely bald

787
00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:58,560
head, and had arms that hung
down past its knees.

788
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:02,680
Well, things got stranger as the
group got closer to Johnson, and

789
00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:05,520
he witnessed the thing, place a
hand on one of the women's

790
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:09,400
shoulders and recognize that the
thing either didn't have a face

791
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:12,320
or that face was blurred to a
point that he could not

792
00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:16,400
recognize any features.
The woman failed to react to the

793
00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:20,080
hand on her shoulder, and
Johnson got the feeling that she

794
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:23,360
could not recognize his
presence, and as quickly as the

795
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:26,880
event began, it ended.
Everything resolved back to its

796
00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:29,880
original state.
He now was able to recognize

797
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:33,240
where he was heard birds
chirping and cars on the nearby

798
00:50:33,240 --> 00:50:35,520
Rd.
This is a specific example of

799
00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:38,520
someone describing the Slender
Man perfectly eight years prior

800
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:40,120
to its introduction the
Internet.

801
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:44,040
A popular writer of paranormal
and supernatural topics, David

802
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:47,480
Weatherly was also interviewed
by author Nick Redfern for his

803
00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:50,680
book The Slender Man Mysteries,
in which Weatherly detailed a

804
00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:53,400
few accounts that had been
reported to him throughout the

805
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:56,200
years.
A man by the name of Matt had

806
00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:58,920
two separate run insurance with
the Slender Man, as is pretty

807
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:03,040
common among experiencers.
Both encounters were reported to

808
00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:08,400
Weatherly prior to 2009 and also
detailed a good description of

809
00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:10,760
the modern day moniker of
Slender Man.

810
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:14,640
When Matt was a child, he
remembered a constant onslaught

811
00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:18,200
of visitations at night when he
would witness a tall entity in

812
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:21,640
his room with no face, dress,
outfit and long tendrils.

813
00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:25,600
He would not only see this being
in his room while he was awake,

814
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,200
but he would also see it in his
dreams.

815
00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:32,040
This would happen quite often
when he was a child, but then

816
00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:35,760
the event stopped and it wasn't
until he was 29 years old,

817
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:39,720
living in a completely different
state, that Matt witnessed the

818
00:51:39,720 --> 00:51:43,680
being again in the tree lion
surrounding his house late at

819
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:45,720
night.
So that's it everybody.

820
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:48,960
That is everything I got on the
Slender Man now.

821
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:51,680
What do you think?
Could the Slender Man be an

822
00:51:51,680 --> 00:51:54,200
actual entity?
Maybe not a physical one.

823
00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:57,640
Maybe.
Maybe he is a physical one or it

824
00:51:57,640 --> 00:51:59,440
is a physical one.
Let us know.

825
00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:01,520
Head on over to any of our
socials.

826
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:07,280
We're on X Instagram, Facebook.
Find the post about this episode

827
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:09,640
and let us know.
Leave a comment.

828
00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:11,960
Tell us what do you think of the
Slender Man?

829
00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:14,640
Is he a tulpa?
Is he an ancient being that's

830
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:18,360
adapted to modern times?
Or is this all bullshit?

831
00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:25,080
Let us know well next time
travelers, we're heading in a

832
00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:29,640
completely different direction.
We are going to cover a topic

833
00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:37,080
that I specifically chose for
this date, January 16th, 2024,

834
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,640
two days after my birthday.
We are going to be covering a

835
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:44,720
topic that I have been wanting
to cover for a very long time.

836
00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:50,160
I have talked about it here and
there may little comments

837
00:52:50,680 --> 00:52:54,520
referred to it and have been
kind of promising you guys for a

838
00:52:54,520 --> 00:52:56,560
very long time that we're going
to cover it.

839
00:52:57,680 --> 00:53:02,040
We're covering screen memories
and the relationship between

840
00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:09,840
aliens, owls and UFOs.
It gets crazy everybody some

841
00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:12,000
crazy stuff.
There's a some stuff in there

842
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:15,720
that that might just open your
eyes to some possibilities.

843
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:20,680
Are you one of those people that
are seemingly just followed by

844
00:53:20,680 --> 00:53:23,760
owls all the time?
Maybe more often than the

845
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:27,000
typical person?
I know I don't see them very

846
00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:30,280
often, but there's some people
out there that seem like they're

847
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:33,880
being followed.
And are they actual owls?

848
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:39,560
We'll find out in two weeks, but
once again, I'd like to say

849
00:53:39,560 --> 00:53:42,200
thank you for sticking with us,
everybody.

850
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:45,800
It's good to be back and I'm
ready to blow some minds.

851
00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:50,440
My name is Jeremy and I'm
today's host of the Infinite

852
00:53:50,440 --> 00:53:55,360
Rabbit Hole Podcast.
Until next time, travelers will

853
00:53:55,360 --> 00:53:59,400
see you down the next path in
the fork of the Infinite Rabbit

854
00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:01,400
Hole.
Goodbye.

855
00:54:05,440 --> 00:54:08,120
I would like to thank you once
again for tuning into the

856
00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:11,520
Infinite Rabbit Hole podcast.
Please make sure to give us a

857
00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:15,080
follow in one of those beautiful
five star ratings on your

858
00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:18,680
podcast player of choice.
If you would like to join the

859
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:22,120
conversation and stay up to date
on all things infinite rabbit

860
00:54:22,120 --> 00:54:25,240
hole, head on over to Facebook
and search for the Infinite

861
00:54:25,240 --> 00:54:28,640
Rabbit Hole Facebook group.
You'll know it's us when you see

862
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:30,880
the logo.
If you would like to help

863
00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:33,720
contribute to the 'cause, there
are a few ways to do so.

864
00:54:34,560 --> 00:54:38,280
First, head on over to anchor
dot FM forward slash infant

865
00:54:38,280 --> 00:54:42,480
rabbit hole and click on the
subscribe button where for $5 a

866
00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:46,000
month you'll get access to all
our old episodes that will never

867
00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:47,600
see the free spotlight ever
again.

868
00:54:48,120 --> 00:54:51,080
It's horrible stuff, but if
you're into that kind of thing

869
00:54:51,360 --> 00:54:54,760
and go check that.
Second, head on over to

870
00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:58,600
infiniterabbithole.com and click
on the IRH Merch shop tab and

871
00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:02,360
grab yourself a sweet T-shirt,
sticker or whatever else you see

872
00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:07,000
that you wouldn't mind on.
Until next time, travellers, I'm

873
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:10,520
Jeremy and I'll see you at the
next fork in the path of the

874
00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:12,280
infinite rabbit hole.
Oh, this line covers at the time

875
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:14,200
because.
Of. 1985.

876
00:55:14,240 --> 00:55:25,400
Future Past prior to this point
in time, somewhere in the past

877
00:55:25,400 --> 00:55:31,640
the timeline into this gadget
creating an alternate 1985

878
00:55:31,680 --> 00:55:37,720
alternate view near Einstein.