Review of The Slenderman Mysteries: An Internet Urban Legend Comes to Life, by Nick Redfern

(Newburyport, MA: New Page Books, 2017). ISBN: 9781632651129

In June 2009, two photo-shopped images of a “made up” entity dubbed “ the Slenderman” were uploaded to the Internet as part of a contest. The creator used as inspiration such well-known horror/paranormal tropes as the Men in Black (MIBs), the tentacled creatures of H.P. Lovecraft’s tales, and the Mothman—all of which have been a part of my life as a paranormal researcher, content creator, and experiencer for the past 10 years.

Within weeks, the Slenderman was jumping its frame as a made up monster and appearing in the woods, bedrooms, and computers of people all over the world, culminating in several high-profile murders and attacks in which Slenderman was professed to be the inspiration. By the time of these events, Slenderman was the subject of hundreds if not thousands of short stories and graphic images on the Internet, at horror websites such as 4chan and Creepypasta Wiki.

This phenomenon is complex, with many strands and theories to follow and parse  to make sense of what is happening. Although other authors and journalists have tackled the subject the past nine years, Nick Redfern—author of over 40 books and a frequent guest on television and radio—does a masterful job of pulling together the data, situating it in centuries-old lore and paranormal case files, and interviewing a broad array of researchers and experiencers.

Having experienced both a Mothman-like interdimensional (also in 2009) near Point Pleasant, WV and spectral MIBs that match the description in many ways of Slenderman at a library in North Carolina where my wife and I spent 150+ hours the past two years doing investigations (our book on the subject will be published by Visionary Living this summer), I was in familiar territory as the chapters unfolded. There is no question that this tall, thin, faceless (or distorted-faced) entity dressed all in black exists, passing back and forth between dimensional planes—and over the centuries I believe that it has gone by dozens of names.

Redfern sets out early on to find possible explanations for why the Slenderman phenomenon spread on the Internet and crossed the plane into our reality so quickly (whatever “reality” might mean anymore in the face of increased evidence that we exist in some form of other-controlled Matrix). One explanation is that Slenderman is a tulpa, a term that has been distorted from its original Buddhist origins the same way that the Greek daimon become a demon and satan (an adversary) became the Satan, king of all demons. Another is that it has existed from time immemorial and Slenderman is the latest incarnation.

There are recorded instances of magical practitioners the likes of Dion Fortune and Aleister Crowley summoning or creating entities through rituals and their imaginations, as Redfern catalogs, pointing out that these tulpas grow more powerful, independent, and mischievous over time. This is not something you want to mess with.

Two points resonate for me here. First, as a content creator who often works in the horror genre, I know that H.P. Lovecraft experienced nightmares of entities called the “Night Gaunts” that fit the Slenderman archetype and Stephen King has written thousands of pages of stories where monsters move across the veil because of people’s fears and intentions—conscious and otherwise. It has long been whispered that Lovecraft did not so much create his monsters as describe those already existing beyond the threshold. In the kind of synchronicity that often arises when exploring the darkness beyond, I began reading a collection of Thomas Hardy’s supernatural stories while preparing this review and in the first (1881’s “What the Shepherd Saw”) was the following description of a spectre: “his dress being a dark suit … his figure of slender build.” Redfern also shares an anecdote of graphic novelist and ceremonial magician Alan Moore, who saw one of his creations—John Constantine—in our reality once.

The second point stems from my work as a paranormal investigator. It is clear—whether it be the Ouija “mama” personality or spirits (human and non-) that haunt buildings and landscapes—that there are opportunistic tricksters who will wear the visage and take the name of archetypal monsters to suit their own ends. There was a human spirit in the library we investigated that would appear as a sinister clown to my wife, because he knew they frightened her. We have also experienced Shadow People (another model for the Slenderman, especially when it comes to “night terrors”) and other dark entities that have taken the form of familiar archetypes in order to lure or frighten our investigative team in various places.

Another archetype that Redfern explores in detail is the Pied-Piper of Hamelin. This lurer of children is both inspired by and has inspired dozens of other monsters. I believe he is in part the inspiration for the evil Andre Linoge in King’s Storm of the Century. He certainly is for the clown in King’s It.

What is most problematic about Slenderman is that we are not talking about mere lore and legend here, nor is he/it merely a “craze” that comes and goes without real consequence. As mentioned earlier, he/it has been the inspiration for murderers and would-be murderers, some as young as 12 or 14 years old.

Space does not permit details—Redfern lays it all out better than I could here—but of the several cases involving Slenderman the most disturbing and well known is that of two 12-year-old girls who plotted, lured, and attacked one of their “best friends.” Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser are currently incarcerated in mental institutions for 25 and 40 years, respectively, after being tried for attempted murder in adult court in Wisconsin and being found not guilty by reason of insanity. Morgan stabbed their victim 19 times with a 5-inch kitchen knife. According to Beware the Slenderman, a heartbreaking 2017 HBO documentary I watched while reading this book, Morgan has schizophrenia like her father and had become increasingly divorced from reality following the attack.

I was honestly appalled at a sequence in the documentary where there was what could only be termed “fan art” of the two girls with knives, posing with the Slenderman. Dozens of images exist. These images feed the perhaps numerous entities manifesting as this insidious thing.

The stakes are high when it comes to Slenderman, and the consequences of mucking about in his auric field, as it were, are real. Abundant energy—oftentimes the sharp, angry energy of lonely teenagers whose only socialization comes through the Internet—is offered daily to this untrustworthy archetype of sinister origins.  As researchers and experiencers, it is our duty to keep improving our understanding of what is going on. The Internet will only get more powerful and ubiquitous as Virtual Reality takes further hold. How long before someone is literally “scared to death” by some version of this tall, thin, dark-suited entity?

Equally contributive to the deification of those who have done Slenderman’s bidding is the horror film about Slenderman due to be released in August 2018. Where do we draw the line as content creators? Where is our duty to not feed the beast with attention and the potent energy of fear, despite the lure of sure box office profits?

Redfern lays out the facts and dangers for us through thorough research, engaging prose, and a rich array of interviews. As he says in closing, “The trick to beating the Slenderman, and keeping him at bay, is not to think about him. The problem is, that’s not the easiest thing to do. Good luck, though…” (p. 267, emphasis in the original).

If you have a teenager (as I do) who spends a lot of time on websites such as Creepypasta Wiki and has a fascination with other dark and macabre Internet and YouTube channels, this book should be a priority read. I was brought to tears by the genuine surprise and sense of guilt and helplessness of Anissa and Morgan’s parents in the HBO documentary. A little insight goes a long, long way, because those things that lurk at the edge of the woods sometimes steal our children in ways that we know not.