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The slenderman myth


Tarnibritan

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Are you speaking of Der Grobmann? The tall man, a fariy of the Black Forest? Well, it wouldn't be the first time a wee folk legend got reinvented into a new category.

Can anyone verify the existence of Der Großmann as German folk legend?

All stuff I could find on it was linked to Slenderman blogs, wikis, articles, etc. There are pictures online claiming to be 16th century woodcuts from some dude called Franz Freckenburg, but 2 I quickly found out were photoshopped genuine German woodcuts by Hans Holbein. On one, extra limbs were added to a skeleton figure and on the other, a skeleton was removed and a taller skeletal figure with multiple limbs was Photoshopped in.

There's also a Photoshopped image of Egyptian hierglyphics with a dark figure put in being claimed as ancient evidence of Slenderman doing the rounds on various sites, blogs, etc. related to Slender Man.

Original:

tumblr_lpe0k5AwHw1qi02kbo1_500.jpg

Photoshop:

tumblr_kvyrgiJrce1qag05ko1_500.jpg

From what I can gather, another of the Slender Man German woodcut pics has its origins in the same Something Awful photoshop thread as the original Slender Man pics, but can't be sure as the thread is old enough that the image no longer works, but a Google reverse image lookup sent me there.

It all sounds like a deliberate attempt to make Slender Man sound like an authentic ancient myth that has appeared since time immemorial in different forms and with different names. And it's obvious that some people have fallen hook, line and sinker for it.

Edited by Archimedes
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It all sounds like a deliberate attempt to make Slender Man sound like an authentic ancient myth that has appeared since time immemorial in different forms and with different names. And it's obvious that some people have fallen hook, line and sinker for it.

Brilliant post. This slenderman dung stinks almost as bad as some of the conspiracy theories making the rounds these days. Pure idiocy.

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Ah finally something makes sense! thank you. Yes that would make sense. So the question is, is this entity the one projecting itself as people's fears, or are they projecting it onto the entity?

I don't think that there's a real entity. I think that the character is a new boogeyman. Its a collection of old and new fears in the guise of a sinister humanoid. It may be akin to an archetype.

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Guest Nathan DiYorio

Brilliant post. This slenderman dung stinks almost as bad as some of the conspiracy theories making the rounds these days. Pure idiocy.

What is it with you and likening things to excrement?

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Can anyone verify the existence of Der Großmann as German folk legend?

All stuff I could find on it was linked to Slenderman blogs, wikis, articles, etc. There are pictures online claiming to be 16th century woodcuts from some dude called Franz Freckenburg, but 2 I quickly found out were photoshopped genuine German woodcuts by Hans Holbein. On one, extra limbs were added to a skeleton figure and on the other, a skeleton was removed and a taller skeletal figure with multiple limbs was Photoshopped in.

There's also a Photoshopped image of Egyptian hierglyphics with a dark figure put in being claimed as ancient evidence of Slenderman doing the rounds on various sites, blogs, etc. related to Slender Man.

Original:

tumblr_lpe0k5AwHw1qi02kbo1_500.jpg

Photoshop:

tumblr_kvyrgiJrce1qag05ko1_500.jpg

From what I can gather, another of the Slender Man German woodcut pics has its origins in the same Something Awful photoshop thread as the original Slender Man pics, but can't be sure as the thread is old enough that the image no longer works, but a Google reverse image lookup sent me there.

It all sounds like a deliberate attempt to make Slender Man sound like an authentic ancient myth that has appeared since time immemorial in different forms and with different names. And it's obvious that some people have fallen hook, line and sinker for it.

That was great work, Archimedes. I thought that Slender Man was nothing more than a modern urban legend, but I also thought that he could have been based on other folklore and mythology. Your investigation cast doubt on those links too. You demonstrated that we should proceed with caution when Jung is nowhere to be found.

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I agree, but I have to ask this: Why would someone want to make people believe in something so badly? Is this another conspiracy?

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I agree, but I have to ask this: Why would someone want to make people believe in something so badly? Is this another conspiracy?

No conspiracy. Just gullible people doing what gullible people do - believe in stupid stuff that isn't supported by anything other than hearsay.

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I agree, but I have to ask this: Why would someone want to make people believe in something so badly? Is this another conspiracy?

Because some people get their kicks doing things like this.

Make up a clever and convincing urban legend, attach a convincing sounding backstory, doctor some current and historical images, etc. Post it to various paranormal websites and sit back and smile while people fall for your prank.

Edited by Archimedes
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Here's another hoax doing the rounds on various Slender Man wikis, blogs, etc.

The following picture shows on the left a genuine 16th century painting by an artist, Hans Baldung. The painting is called "Three Ages of Woman and Death". The right is purported to be an x-ray scan of the painting done in 2003 for in the process of evaluating it for insurance purposes. Supposedly the x-ray reveals that extra limbs you can see in the x-ray were painted over at an early stage and that this was originally a painting of Slender Man with his extra limbs hidden for some reason by a later artist.

slender1.jpg

Unfortunately, it's a Photoshop. It doesn't look like an x-ray at all in the first place, just a black and white negative, which is what it is.

If you create a negative of the image and convert it to grayscale, you get this:

slender3.jpg

If you then overlay a suitable pattern (I couldn't match the original exactly, but I got close enough to make the point) with 50% transparency, you get this:

slender4.jpg

From there it's a matter of using the existing arm in front of the figure as the basis for the extra arms. If you line them up, the arm at the top right neatly overlays the original arm.

And what's the original source for this Slender Man photoshopped image? Yup, the same Something Awful "Create Paranormal Images" thread that the original Slender Man pics came from and from which the previous images I posted came from.

It's a hoax, perpetuated by both credulous people who have copied and pasted the fake images and fake backstories all over the Internet and a lot of Slenderman fans who clearly enjoy it as a fake legend and enjoy writing and creating fan fiction and fan sites even though they know it's harmless nonsense.

Edited by Archimedes
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I agree, but I have to ask this: Why would someone want to make people believe in something so badly? Is this another conspiracy?

Ask P.T. Barnum. Unfortunately, some individuals monetize their "pranks".

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Can it be possible (I know really far out but its worth putting down) Can it be possible someone/some people want the trupila effect to come true on this paticular myth? Are they hoping to accomplish something?

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Can it be possible (I know really far out but its worth putting down) Can it be possible someone/some people want the trupila effect to come true on this paticular myth? Are they hoping to accomplish something?

The huh? *scratching my head*

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The huh? *scratching my head*

I think she means the "Tulpa Effect".

The basic idea is that Slender Man (or whatever other urban myth or legend you care to shoehorn into reality) exists because the collective consciousness "creates" him via the power or thought.

This alludes to a similar idea I mentioned earlier on this thread:

But a lot of people claim it's real with one of the dubious arguments being that because of the popularity of the Slender Man meme, demons or shadow people or whatever appear in that form because it is in the public consciousness.

Lesionia, can I ask you a question? You earlier claimed that "Actually slenderman was around in old Germany and around Europe also. It isnt the same name, but the same creature. Some agrue that he goes back as far as Ancient Egypt, but I will have to find the information later."

Was any of the evidence you had seen of that the same as the pics I have discovered are fakes? I still can't find any genuine evidence of an ancient Germand folk legend of "Der Grossman" that isn't obviously an attempt to put a stamp of approval on the Slender Man urban myth.

Edited by Archimedes
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Well someone had pointed out that paticular portrait out to me, but I discarded right away. (I couldnt see what they were talking about.)

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This probably isn't helpful but... I remember my German grandpa telling me stories about tall dark men of the woods when I was little, and that was 30 years ago. He told tales and wee folk came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. But what he described wasn't at all like the slenderman myth.

I was kind of hopeful when I saw the German connection in this thread and looked up Der Grossman and threw that name out.. Pretty bummed that it's a slenderman thing, and not whatever it was grandpa described in his tales. But I really do appreciate all the research Archimedes :)

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I think it's an internet myth where people post an image of anything and post a man in a dark suit. It's kinda like where's wally? but more darker and more fun. Some people say there is a story behind it but im not sure.

Oh here is a long slender man thread.

http://www.unexplain...howtopic=157598

That man in a black suit with red eyes comes to you in a dream. It's not a pleasant one to have.
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I agree, but I have to ask this: Why would someone want to make people believe in something so badly? Is this another conspiracy?

I think it just goes to show that with enough hype and realism, people will believe in anything. Always do your research and don't jump to hasty conclusions.

Slenderman might have been built upon similar natural fears to the other spindly-limbed humanoids of legends past (like Grobmann mentioned above.) Whether or not its creators were familiar with those legends, I can't say. If they weren't, it might just be a coincidental appearance generated by the same fears in multiple cultures.

I'd say it could easily be a combined fear of spiders, snakes, octopi, squid, or other spindly beasts with the fear of strangers (who in the past would have either killed or raped you had they happened upon you at night) and the stretching nature of shadows.

I agree. A lot of things we find scary are rooted deep into our conscious and people play on that to scare us even more.

For example, notice how Slenderman doesn't have any eyes? Xenomorphs from the Alien movies don't have any either. This is because when something doesn't have eyes, you can't tell if it's looking at you and it makes it more frightening. (H.R. Griger, concept artist for Alien actually pointed this out.)

Another thing is tentacles. Slenderman has them and so does H.P Lovecraft's monsters. I don't know the exact reason, but if I had to guess, it would probably play on the fear of being entangled or captured (as tentacles can wrap around you and such).

There are probably more examples but these are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Edited by MisstreeDove
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Found this...

5217841_700b.jpg

Slenderman always did remind me of Jack....

Edited by DieChecker
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I like jack though... Oh and Der Grossman translates to the grossman, which doesnt make sense.

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I like jack though... Oh and Der Grossman translates to the grossman, which doesnt make sense.

Gross= great, large, imposing, as in Frederic Der Grosse, AKA Frederic The Great.

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I like jack though... Oh and Der Grossman translates to the grossman, which doesnt make sense.

Heh, I had asked my hubby about this the other day before I posted about my grandpas tales. At the time I didn't think it relevant to add this part of the conversation, but maybe now it is :) My hubby is a German immigrant too, born there, came here as a kid.

I had gone down to him and asked "Honey, have you heard of Der GroBmann?" and he looked a little confused and asked "Did that have a big funny looking B in it?" I said "Yep, it's supposed to the German name for the slenderman, tall dark scary UL guy." and he said "Um, that B is an ss sound, Der Grossmann, which yeah, basically means big man." He thought at first when I said GroBmann, that I was talking about a rude man because grob in German means rude or crude, lol.

Hehe, it's been noted before that I'm rather poor with reading to pronunciation of German. He pronounces it all rich an rolling, Grroussmaann. I end up saying it more like Growss-man.

I asked him about the B/ss thing again this morning, and he told me how to make the proper ß- you use the option key and the s key at the same time. ß means the double s sound- Großmann and Grossmann are both correct apparently, but GroBmann is not correct, hehe.

And he had never heard of Der Großmann. Never had heard the phrase before the other day when I first asked him about this.

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I think we can conclude that it was made up. Now, it seems real enough to harm people. So why is it so hard to get rid of?

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I think we can conclude that it was made up. Now, it seems real enough to harm people. So why is it so hard to get rid of?

So how many have required medical treatment from slenderman related injuries?
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