Horror

So I've received some new insight into horror stories, especially those which purport to be true. Perhaps part of the terror behind urban legends and ghost stories is that maybe, maybe, they're real, it's not just people making up things and double-exposing photographs.

But what if you know the story is entirely made up?

This page gives a nice introduction to the Slender Man, a mythical being invented entirely on the Something Awful forums in June 2009. We know he was entirely made up for a thread on fake paranormal images . All the stories about him are made up, all the photographic evidence edited in Photoshop with various degrees of skill. He does not exist at all.

And he terrifies the heck out of me.

Why, really? Like I said, this mythical creature does not exist. Everyone involved with making up the "evidence" freely admits it. We actually can pinpoint the exact person who created the myth. We can read the inaugural post ourselves. There is no ambiguity with respect to the source at all.

So why the fear? Why do I expect something to creep up upon me at any moment? Why do I keep glancing behind me?

The only explanation  I have is that there is a part of the brain reacting to this sort of horror, while simultaneously ignoring the consciously-controlled, shall we say, logical portion of the mind. We do know, after all, that we aren't in full control of our bodies. We can't order white blood cells to move to a certain spot, or kill the nerve input from a particular location, or will our stomach to stop grumbling. While the brain (well, the central nervous system, more accurately) is the seat of thinking, most of it is not involved in conscious thought.

I would posit that there is a portion of the brain, developed for survival, which automatically gathers information and initiates the instinct to flee or become more alert, sometimes strongly enough to manifest as horror. I would also propose that this portion of the brain is incapable of descerning between actual images detected by the eye directly, and images on a television or in a picture. In other words, when you watch a horror movie, this portion of the brain thinks it is all true and happening in front of you, no matter how much your logical mind protests that you're sitting in a movie theater with popcorn in your lap, dammit.

This does a good job of explaining why my conscious mind is calmly analysing this while the rest of me wants me to run away, you're in danger!

Seriously, I'm hyperaware right now. I can feel the pressure when my blood passes through my veins through the part of my arm where my sleeve constricts it slightly. I can see everything in high detail, my typing, these words, sounds, everything. All for a fake, fake tentacled person who allegedly kidnaps children and kills people and stuff.

Read the thread. Read the posts if you dare. And permit your imagination to take over your mind. Prepare to be looking over shoulder for the rest of the week. Tell yourself he's fake. It won't help.

I think this Something Awful member put it best:

So many people struggle to understand the Slender Man. They wish to categorize it, compartmentalize it. If it exists, it can be understood. If it can be understood, it can be controlled. If it can be controlled, then it is not scary. You are but fools to do this. The Slender Man is not what you want him to be, not how you want him to be. Do you truly think that it is man? You think because you give it a name that all of a sudden you are somehow anywhere near what it really is?

This can not be named, can not be controlled. Just because you want it to be something does not mean it is. He is uncontrollable. He is unstoppable. He is what scares you. He is hate. He is pain beyond death. He is in your nightmares. He is in the corners of your vision.

He is right behind you.