– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

- We didn't want to go.

We didn't want to kill them.

But its persistent silence and outstretched arms

horrified and comforted us at the same time.

Welcome back to the show, ladies and gentlemen.

As always, thank you for tuning in.

That's Matt behind the cameras, say "welcome back," Matt.

- [Matt] Hello!

- I'm Ben, we have various things floating in the abyss

behind us, but most importantly, you're here.

We're all, I presume, alive and that makes this

"Stuff They Don't Want you to Know."

This is our first episode in a while, and if you're watching

this the day it comes out, then you're watching it

right around Halloween of 2015.

And so Matt and I decided to take a look at something

listeners have asked us about on YouTube,

on Facebook, on Twitter, where conspiracy stuff,

listeners have asked us about this for years, right, years.

And we're finally going to cover it.

Today we're going to talk about the rise of Slender Man.

Now what is Slender Man?

It's one of the most famous legends in the age

of the internet.

And Slender Man is typically depicted as a

very, very, very, very tall, very skinny humanoid figure

dressed in a suit, maybe with some tendrils and darkness

coming out behind it.

And most importantly, nothing on the face.

A no face.

It stalks people, and you see it in the background

of photographs from across times and across the world.

This is literally a legend, and it 's a synthesis

of a couple of different kinds of legends.

There are the very, very old myths, you know

about let's say a ghost encountered at a cross roads,

or following someone in the woods.

And then on the other side, there's a more recent urband

legend, the scary guy with the hook hand who is

trolling people in their Impalas at Makeout Point.

And they find the hook in the car, in the car handle.

You know what I'm talking about.

What's interesting is that Slender Man is a combination

of these things, it's one of the first legends of its type

to exist in a world with the internet.

One other thing that's very different about Slender Man

is that we can trace the evolution of this legend

all the way back to its source.

In 2009 on the "Something Awful" forums

with someone identifying themselves as "Victor Surge,"

in response to a "Photoshop something creepy" challenge,

put out these different images with a Photoshop difference

where there was a person, very tall person,

suit, no face, just in the pictures.

So Slender Man was created by this guy caling himself

Victor Surge, and we can put Victor Surge's real name

on the screen, I think enough time has gone by.

An from that origin point, specifically June 8th, 2009,

the story of Slender Man grew and grew and grew.

It was an open source legend.

Which means that people would throw other things in

and some of the claims might contradict themselves,

but one thing is for sure, there were more and more claims,

they aggregated as time went on.

For a lot of people, this would make Slender Man seem

less important, more like just an interesting part of

folk lore or another viral concept on the internet,

but there are some precedents that are a little bit strange

when we look at this.

Because Slender Man is of course, not the first faceless

humanoid monster in the human experience.

Not by a long shot, we're talking about stuff that dates

back to ancient civilizations, if we're talking about people

who were allegedly abducting children, then through the

past few thousand years of human civilization, we're full

of stories to explain those kinds of occurrences.

You might remember the Goethe poem

wherein something called the Erl-King,

E-R-L K-I-N-G

is after a little boy, the little boy is the only one

who can see it, and no spoilers if you haven't read it

but it's a very similar monster.

And stories of similar creatures exist in the Caribbean

for instance, the pre-Columbian people known as

the Taino had a monster called the Op'a.

And in Hawaii on the other side of the continent,

Well, if we're being honest, way out in the Pacific Ocean,

there's a story with a thing called a "Mujina"

and you can actually go and read eyewitness anecdotal

sightings of these faceless creatures from as recently

as the late 50's, early 60's.

Last, finally, and most importantly, it doesn't matter

that Slender Man is a fictional creation when we look

at the real world consequences of this idea.

On May 31st, 2014 two 12 year old girls,

Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier stabbed a mutual friend

19 times in an attempt to murder her,

a sacrifice of sorts, to Slender Man, in the hopes that they

would become its proxies on Earth.

Also in 2014, an unidentified woman in Hamilton

County, Ohio accused her daughter of attempted murder.

The daughter was wearing a white mask, a hood,

and attempted to stab her mother in an attack

that the mother believes is tied into belief in the

Slender Man mythos.

So depsite the fact that Slender Man has a known

origin point, a known creation point, unlike many other

legends, what we see is that it does have

real world consequences.

And thanks so much to everyone who's written to us

and asked about this, because what we are seeing is the

genesis of a legend.

One of the most successful, one of the most well-known

legends in the digital age.

How far will it go?

What else will happen?

Those are the questions that are gonna be up to future

historians, and maybe if we live long enough, you and I.

But in the meantime, thank you so much for watching.

We're getting out of here, we're working on a very special

episode for you this Halloween.

And as you know, Matt and Noel and I always try to do

something a little bit different.

So check out our audio podcast, we hope that you will

find it interesting.

In the meantime, we'd like to hear your feedback.

What do you think about Slender Man?

Are there any other internet urband legends

that we should look into?

Let us know in the comments below, and if you'd like

to recommend a upcoming topic for us,

or feedback on something we've already done,

or see the stories we look at that don't always

make it to the air, for one reason or another,

follow us on Facebook and Twitter where we are

"Conspiracy Stuff."

If you want to write to us directly, we'd love

to hear from you.

Our email address is "[email protected]."

Good?

- [Matt] Yeah, it's great.

Do you mind if we get some coffee?

Then you can come back in?

- Yeah, I need some.

- [Matt] I'm just gonna leave this like it is for now.

(static)

(crashing)

(static)

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
Slender ˈslɛndər B1	adjective - thin and graceful; not thick
legend ˈlɛdʒənd A2	noun - a traditional story, often about a hero or a supernatural being
internet ˈɪntərˌnɛt A2	noun - a worldwide system of computer networks
humanoid ˈhjuːmənɔɪd C1	noun - a being with an appearance resembling that of a human
tendrils ˈtɛndrəlz B2	noun - thin, thread‑like extensions of a plant or an object
faceless ˈfeɪsləs B2	adjective - having no face; anonymous or devoid of individuality
myth mɪθ A2	noun - a traditional story, especially one concerning early history or explaining a natural phenomenon
conspiracy kənˈspɪrəsi B2	noun - a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful
ghost ɡoʊst A2	noun - the spirit or soul of a dead person perceived as appearing to the living
urban ˈɜːrbən B1	adjective - relating to a city or town
proxy ˈprɒksi C1	noun - a person authorized to act on behalf of another; a substitute
genesis ˈdʒɛnəsɪs C1	noun - the origin or mode of formation of something
digital ˈdɪdʒɪtəl B2	adjective - relating to or using computer technology
abduct æbˈdʌkt C1	verb - to take someone away illegally by force or deception
civilization ˌsɪvəl aɪˈzeɪʃən C1	noun - the stage of human social development and organization that is considered most advanced
persistent pərˈsɪstənt B2	adjective - continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action despite difficulty
outstretched aʊtˈstrɛtʃt B2	adjective - extended or spread out; stretched outward
horrify ˈhɒrɪfaɪ B2	verb - to cause someone to feel horror or fear
comfort ˈkʌmfət B1	verb - to give relief, consolation, or solace