Dark Sentiments 2014 – Day 7: Slenderman
Posted By Randy on October 7, 2014
Back in October of 2010, I wrote about the Wendigo –
” … a malevolent forest spirit that comes in winter. It needs human flesh to feed but can only slake its hunger by possessing a human that it then uses to hunt, kill, and devour its prey. The Wendigo comes to us through the spiritual teachings of the Algonquian people, and it’s said that when stalking its victims it has the ability to remain forever behind and out of sight. As the prey finally senses its presence, even the quickest turn of the head will never catch sight of it until too late.
“Most powerful in times of hunger and famine, the Wendigo waits and hunts in the bleakest and most remote parts of the North American wilderness, ready for the solitary traveler with the right combination of fatigue, hunger, hopelessness, greed, weakness, and desperation. Most of all it loves weakness and greed, and such is its ravenous hunger that when it strikes, all known to its host, and any it meets along the way are at risk until none are left to tell the tale.” ~ Dark Sentiments 2010 – Day 17
I told the tale of a Cree trapper named Swift Runner who took his family on a hunting trip in the Winter of 1879, and along the way, killed, butchered, and ate the lot of them. When he was subsequently arrested by the North West Mounted Police, he admitted to what he had done, but explained that he had been visited by spirits who told him to become a Wendigo.
“Swift Runner was arrested and stood trial for murder in August of 1879. He confessed, explaining that he had been visited by spirits while out on a moose hunt, and the spirits had told him to become a Wendigo. …
“… Swift Runner was found guilty of murder, and sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead; a result he completely endorsed. He gave a speech from the gallows shortly before the trap door opened, confirming that he was, in fact, guilty as charged, and thanking his jailers for taking care of him during his stay. Swift Runner, to his last breath, believed he had become a Wendigo and was relieved that he was being removed from the world.” ~ Dark Sentiments – Day 21
The Wendigo is a thing of folklore and mythology that is associated with a known cultural group, and belief in it goes back into the mists of time. Swift Runner understood and took ownership of what he had done within the context of a long standing belief system that explained it. Explained it so completely to Swift Runner that he knew, without doubt, that he needed to die for what he had done, but at the same time he didn’t offer it as an excuse for his actions because it all made sense within his cultural mind geography. He had sought to appease the spirits who whispered to him in the woods, and at their behest his family had paid the ultimate price, and then some, at Swift Runner’s own hands.
The original Slenderman photo. Source: http://i.somethingawful.com/u/elpintogrande/14_june/originalslender.jpg (Click to enlarge.)
By comparison now, let’s turn our attention to appeasement of another “evil spirit” that has only existed in the public consciousness, or anywhere else for that matter, since 2009 when it first saw the light of a computer monitor on a Photoshop thread of an internet forum associated with the dark humour website Something Awful. Slenderman, a fictional character, owes its birth to forum member Victor Surge, but it can give thanks for its ongoing existence and, as of May 2014 its very real effects on three little girls, to the credulous world of the internet.
Motivated by the Slenderman article published to the Creepypasta Wiki, this happened:
This is a tale of a young friendship gone horribly wrong. In late May, in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls allegedly lured a friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times. The victim, also 12, managed to crawl to a road, where she lay on the sidewalk with stab wounds in her arms, legs and torso, blood soaking her black fleece jacket, until a bicyclist found her and called 911. According to police, the assailants had been plotting the crime for months. Their motivation? They said they wanted to prove themselves worthy of Slender Man, an evil character who lives only on the Internet. ~ The Girls Who Tried to Kill for Slender Man
Only on the internet? I would suggest that all three participants in the drama, and most particularly the girl who was stabbed, might take a contrary position.
Returning to Swift Runner, his beliefs were based on a mythology passed mouth to ear going back many centuries, if not millennia. By comparison, a fictional malevolent spirit dealing in death to children that has only existed since 2009 was nearly as effective in its first (known) foray into the corporeal realm. I find that more than a little interesting, don’t you?
I’m not done with this topic, and will revisit it soon, but in closing today’s Dark Sentiment, I invite you to read Something Awful’s 4 June 2014 response to the incident titled Please Do Not Kill Anybody Because of Slenderman. In their typical fashion, I think they hit several nails on the head.
Cultural mind geography.
Something Awful doesn't exist
Slenderman, indeed.Malevolent Sasquatch.
I remember as a child when sitting around a campfire at sleepaway camp, the counselors would tell us horrible stories about Cropsey the flesh eater who had escaped from a notorious mental hygiene establishment, formerly known as part of a geographical locality; they were in as nuthouses. Cropsey was uncatchable unless he was in the midst of eating a small child and when his defenses would be down. He would stalk little boys who had not eaten their supper. Can you believe the absurdity of that? Why would he limit his nourishment to only those who had not eaten their supper? Obviously, something wrong with Cropsey. The ony way you could escape from Cropsey was if you begged for your life and swore that you would do anything he proposed. Need I go further? I am still here, anyway. Having not been drawn into the maelstrom of another person's insanity and have survived in spite of myself to endure my very own.
Cultural mind geography.
Something Awful doesn’t exist
Slenderman, indeed.Malevolent Sasquatch.
I remember as a child when sitting around a campfire at sleepaway camp, the counselors would tell us horrible stories about Cropsey the flesh eater who had escaped from a notorious mental hygiene establishment, formerly known as part of a geographical locality; they were in as nuthouses. Cropsey was uncatchable unless he was in the midst of eating a small child and when his defenses would be down. He would stalk little boys who had not eaten their supper. Can you believe the absurdity of that? Why would he limit his nourishment to only those who had not eaten their supper? Obviously, something wrong with Cropsey. The ony way you could escape from Cropsey was if you begged for your life and swore that you would do anything he proposed. Need I go further? I am still here, anyway. Having not been drawn into the maelstrom of another person’s insanity and have survived in spite of myself to endure my very own.
Hi – Interesting article all round. Yes, there re people who will do horrible things when their minds have been programmed to blur the lines between reality and illusion. But what I find interesting about the wendigo and manitou stories is a very very weird and blurry line between people who may perhaps be diagnosed as schizophrenic, and who hear voices of demons, angels, God, or their ancestors, tormenting them. I have dealt with a number of such people. But also, for years I was involved with a Native American rights group called SENAA. My own very small part of NA heritage was Lenni Lenape but my brothers and sisters in the group came from Tsa-la-gi (Cherokee), Dineh ( Navajo ) and other tribal ancestries or affiliations. Among the Dineh, there have been legends for generations of beings called ‘skinwalkers’. I won’t go into depth for fear of seeming to hijack the blog, but much of what is on the innerwebz about skinwalkers is misguided or just plain BS.
But – my dear friend and brother Al, his wife, and five others went to the Dineh rez near Big Mountain to assist some elders who were being badly harassed by the American ‘Bureau of Indian Affairs”, a corrupt, oppressive group. On two occasions, while my friends – who are strong, sober minded, not given to flights of fancy – were staying in trailers on the land, during the wee hours, something much larger than a person, began ripping the siding loose, then landed on the roof and began trying to dig through. Events like this happened on more than one occasion, and again, the story is long and detailed, but suffice to say, these were not things done by pranksters or local wildlife. There were no tracks around the trailers except for their own. One of the ladies began having experiences which were not natural, and some of the people performed a prayer and cleansing ritual, which helped at the moment but after she left the rez, things continued to happen in her life which were horrifying and reduced her to a very bad state. Finally, after more prayers and rituals, the ‘hold’ was broken and other than having nightmares for a few months after, she recovered. Now – what was happening? I do not know. I know that I myself have dealt with things that are not easily explained, and so to paraphrase young Hamlet, I would say – without trying to sound at all spooky – that there are indeed things in Heaven and earth which we have not dreamed of. Take it for what it is worth, but this is the story as reported by people I know and would trust with my life. Just wanted to share.