Creepypastas are famous anonymously written horror stories that pop up on the internet. The term itself originates from the online term “copypasta”, where people would copy-paste large chunks of text in online forums. This was how these stories circulated during the earlier days of the internet.
These stories have been around for so long that they’ve been incorporated into many parts of internet culture. A famous example is Slenderman, which was widely popular around the 2010s. The original story still exists on the Creepypasta website, along with many other creepypasta stories.
The story describes Slenderman to be a humanoid creature with long limbs and wearing a suit. While modern depictions of Slenderman show him having shadow-like tendrils coming from behind him, that isn’t the case in the original. Here, Slenderman has bulking limbs branching out from the joints of his arms, similar to a tree. While the idea of Slenderman is disturbing, it isn’t exactly horror-inducing.
In the creepypasta story, Slenderman attacks the main character. She is said to be suffering from second-degree and third-degree burns and has bandages covering her eyes and ears. While in the hospital, the main character’s sister notices Slenderman watching from the window, yet when she goes to check again, there is nobody there. She brushes it off as a figment of her imagination, as they were on the third floor.
Overall, the story wasn’t as scary as I expected; it was more like a fun read. However, this certainly wasn’t the case at the time it circulated. The story was widespread and provoked fear among children at the time, being a new version of the “boogeyman.” He was the literal embodiment of fear.
This story had a huge impact on internet culture. Many video games and media started using the character of Slenderman in their works. There was a movie titled “Slender Man” released in 2018, and a video game called “Slender: The Arrival”. While the character might be fictional, its impact on the world was very real.