Where He Comes From

After Tensor's comments on my last post, I decided to divert my series on belief and focus a bit on what exactly Slendyshit is.
The fact is, we don't know. We don't have the slightest fucking clue. Right now it's looking like there are three primary theories, all of which I'm going to cover. There are also a lot of secondary theories that I may cover at some point, but I'm still working two jobs and preparing to fend of Star if needed. So, to business.

Tulpa theory: As stated by M, Robert, Shaun, and a whole mess of others. Primarily associated with the Core Theory these days. In case anyone isn't aware, the idea is that Slenderman didn't exist before Victor Surge's post two years ago on Something Awful. For whatever reason, he grabbed our attention and our belief made him reality. Considering the way information spread about him across the internet, I tend to like this theory.
As far as I can find, outside of firsthand accounts after the fact from bloggers like Tony and proxies like Tensor and incredibly obscure books, no one had ever heard of him until SA. Then references to him started showing up everywhere. Der Ritter, all of the mess at Herakleoplois Magna, all of the references Jean and Thage have found in books.
Even more interestingly, there are no accounts of him from contemporary sources that went up before that SA thread. People like Tensor and Tony only came out and talked about it after. Which could be a simple desire to keep others from being infected, or it could be because they hadn't experienced these things until this thread happened, in a complete mind fuck of timeline insanity. If the concept confuses you, check out Buffy and how Dawn was added to the cast.

Pros: Simple, elegant, believable. The pattern of information makes this seem likely to me, as I mentioned, and it doesn't require belief in other dimensions or supernatural forces.

Cons: Tensor actually raised a good point on that last post. If this is possible, then how, and why did Slendy get Tulpa'd and not some other things that people have believed in just as hard for a lot longer. Or maybe it has? Maybe I should ask Nick about that one.

Conclusion: Overall, this theory is my favorite, because it makes sense. That's how he gets us-he waits till we believe, then strikes. It doesn't feel like a stretch for me to believe that he came into existence the same way.

Reverse Tulpa Theory: As theorized by Maduin and Jay, as well as others. Basically, the idea is that the SA thread brought him to life, but not so much because we believed in him as he used us to get born. A horror stuck firmly in the realm of nightmares, brought by man to the real world to wreak havoc and kill people.
It appeals to a person's sense of the theatrical, and there are certainly plenty of examples, as Maduin points out, of what could have been Slendy trying to intrude on the real world through fiction.
Jack Skellington
The Tall Man
Alex Mercer
The Reapers
And so many others. Coincidence? Maybe.

Pros: A good meeting ground between the Tulpa Theory and the Ancient Evil theory. The prevalence of scary tall pale types with tentacles and/or no face does tend to support it.

Cons: Still. An eldrich horror born out of humanity's subconscious fears? Seems a bit like a cheesy horror movie.

Conclusion: I'm not quite convinced. Maybe I'm just not enough of a believer to think that supernatural beings exist in some alternate realm, just waiting to be brought over, but it seems weak to me.

Ancient Evil: This one's getting more and more popular these days. Jay weighed in on it, as did Jean, Zeke, and Ava. In addition, this is the theory Tensor would have me believe, though I don't think that does anything to actually recommend it.
This theory states that all of that nonsense about Egypt and Der Ritter and ancient doings is all true. He really is some ancient evil beyond mortal comprehension, and he really has been around since the dawn of time, without timeline fuckery.
A variant on this theory is that he hibernates for hundreds of years between feeding frenzies or whatever you want to call it when he comes out to eat, and that's why he's only recently popped back up. Slightly different still is the theory that he only exists when enough people believe/are afraid of him, and so he goes away when people forget.

Pros-Smooths out the issues with timeline insanity the other two theories pose, as well as is perhaps the simplest of the three theories

Cons: The main theory doesn't explain why he only has a few recorded periods of heavy activity over the course of human history, and the variants are either blatant ripoffs of Lovecraft (Cthulhu sleeping anyone?) or end up going back to his reliance on belief.

Conclusion: Not buying it. Again, I think I might be just too much of an atheist to buy into the idea of divine or demonic entities.


Now, your mileage may vary. You may believe wholeheartedly in a different theory than me, or you may think that none of it is true. I'm not sure that it matters so much. What matters is fighting back, and until an origin story suggests a weakness, I'm unconvinced as to the relevance of where it came from. We need to understand who/what it is now, so that we can destroy it once and for all.

Cam's Corner the First

Hi there. It's me again. Not to worry, Elaine's fine. Working, actually, trying to make up for losing almost a week's worth of work between Lucas and Joel's visit and the hospital stay. Normally I would've told her not to worry about it, I do theoretically have more than enough to handle things, but considering we have no idea when or if we're going to need to run, it seems like a good idea to save every penny we can. Outside of spoiling you lot who come to visit, anyway.

But, you really didn't come here to hear about our money situation. Elaine's really diving into the research. If she's not working it's all she does. Pouring through blogs and textbooks and god knows what else. I know she has a lot more than she's put up so far, but when I asked her about it, she said she didn't want to deal in half-finished thoughts.
Fair enough. Though I do wonder what exactly those thoughts are, especially considering some of the blogs I've seen her perusing.

Anyway. The point. I talked to Jacob today. He called, woke me up, considering how wonky my sleep schedule's gotten with the sleeping in shifts thing, but he called and we had an amazing long talk and oh it was so good to hear from him after everything. He tries not to call too often-ever since his unit found out that it was me he was dating, instead of Elaine, they've been kind of titchy about it. Nice titchy, as far as I know, but he still doesn't like to rub their faces in it. And besides, he's been busy of late. Due to scheduling issues and whatever he's up to over there, it's been two weeks since we could do any talking beyond a short 'hello I love you'.
I shouldn't even be in touch anymore, it puts him in danger, but god I needed this. We talked for an hour, and I'd told him that Elaine was in the hospital before. He wanted to know what happened. I had to lie.
I felt like shit, lying to him, so I lied about as little as possible. I told him that a couple of Elaine's friends had come to visit, and that someone bad was after them and had caught up with them at our place.
I didn't tell him that Wolf escaped the police, or anything to suggest that Wolf wasn't just a psychopath. I still felt like scum for lying to him.
I just don't know what to do. I mentioned before, my presence puts him in danger. Marrying me puts his life at risk. Elaine is convinced I should cancel the wedding and break it off with Jake for his own good. I know Jake himself would want me to share, even if it put him at risk, because he's a soldier, he's used to risking his life, and he wouldn't want anything to come between us.
I don't... I want him safe. But I don't think I can stand to hurt him by letting him go now. I don't have very long to make up my mind. Once he gets into town next week, if I haven't decided I know I'll break down and tell him.
I just want to marry the man I love without being responsible for his murder. When and why did that become too much to ask?
What do you even DO in a situation like this?
I don't... I don't know what to do. And I'm not sure that anything I do at this point will really save him, because I'm bad at lying and Jake's clever. What if he starts looking after I leave and gets infected anyway?
There's a fifty/fifty shot leaving him would save him. Not sure I like those odds.
One week left...

Inkheart and the Narrative Theory

Ryuu made a comment on my entry yesterday that got me really thinking.
Looking back on her comment and my response, it was a bit of a tangent, but still a good point I wanted to raise.


When I talk about the narrative theory, the power of belief, I'd like to make it a little clearer what I mean about those two things. In my mind they're pretty closely linked, and there's a reason for that. If we did bring Slendy to life, or if we even merely gave him more power or woke him up or whatever you believe about what happened on SA two years ago(I tend to believe that because WE thought he'd always been there, then he was, but that's not horribly important for the purposes of this discussion), then we started the story going. We set what he does, who he is, how he operates. Some people argue that he changes, a popular example of this is the growing trend towards proxies, but from the very first write ups on the forum there is talk of people following him.


"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..."


Marble Hornets had Masky from Entry 18 as well. No, I tend to think that his fundamental nature doesn't change, now that we've made him. The trick is finding the loopholes in what he already is. The things that aren't known, that aren't solidified, and using them against him.


The analogy I used before, that got me on this train of thought, is Inkheart. Don't know how many of your read it, it wasn't a half bad book. But I find it relevant for several reasons. The biggest and most helpful reason is this. The basic premise is that there are characters from a book who have been made real in our world. Fictional entites, who have been made real and alive and who terrorize everyone who knows about them. Sound familiar?


That aside, there are grander implications. The main characters meet up with the author at one point, and he expresses surprise that one of them is still alive, because he wrote their death. But that's the thing. The characters are already people, they are who he made them to be. But he doesn't control the story. No one does. When fighting Capricorn, who is the big villain type, they can't change who he is and expect it to work.
They use what already exists to destroy him. To me, that seems the key.


So, sorry to everyone who thinks that if we believe really hard we can make Slendy into a fluffy bunny or some shit, but I'm not buying it. We set the story in motion. We have the ability to write what happens next-but not to rewrite what's already been done.


Just something to think about.


~Elaine

New Mission Statement

Alright, so I'm reasonably sure I'm no longer off kilter. I feel fine, I can think straight, I'm not wobbly or out of control. Now it's back to what I'm really here for. Research, information, experimentation.

The first order of business today is something rather strange. Specifically, this comment on Lucas and Joel's blog. Why someone was directing a comment at me via their blog, I have no idea. But I am perhaps more confused and put on edge by the message. Tell me, Twinkletwat, why is someone making death threats on you but directing them at me via someone else's blog? I know we play well together, but I really have no interest in having anything to do with you outside of the dreams. So, keep your shit to yourself, please. I have some reading to do...

So, after reading a great deal more blogs (though I still have a great many more to go, my work is never done), I have come to a few conclusions. My goals have changed, and so my Mission Statement needs to change to reflect that.

Firstly, my work on 'the cure.' The first thing you need to know, from everything I've read, is that there isn't one. There is no convenient pill or shot that will make all of the slender influence go away forever. This shit isn't a disease, treating it like one won't solve anything. If this were really that simple, then Slendershit wouldn't be the eldrich horror we all know and love.
I've done my reading. I've read all the proxy blogs I can get a hold of, all the nice ones, the douchey ones and the ones in between. I've read the blogs of people who've been made into proxies against their wills, and the blogs of the ones who cured themselves.
From what I've seen, proxies come in three flavors-crazy fucked up villainous, like Tensor and Twinkletwat, mind controlled like Fizzbomb and Cynthia, and decent people who somehow ended up working for the most psychotic killer ever, like Messenger, Poe, Atalanta, and Maurice. The villainous ones either were already crazy or broken and trained to be that way, like Tensor. The mind controlled ones are too tightly controlled to get to without serious work, and the nice ones... well, they have their own reasons and honestly they don't need a cure, they need hope and an escape plan.
The cure that worked was the one people gave themselves. The ones who found their own redemption, who thought and fought their way to regaining control of their own mind. Jeff, Cheska, and Reach weren't cured because of acid injected into their brains or some drug made out of Revenant blood. They fought their way with their minds.
The other options are fakes and false hope. Jay's acid was good in the short term because it made people forget, and if you're not thinking about Slendy, you're not attracting his attention. But the experiment lasted a month, and honestly these days forgetting isn't enough. If you have the personality that leads you to Slendy once, you'll go back again. We've seen it before, with Nessa and Robert. Jeff's cure was never really properly tracked with people that weren't him or Cheska, who'd been proxified, as far as I've read. I'm not quite sure what to think about the residue that gets coughed up, but I'm guessing it's probably something to do with the fact that some folks get diseases from exposure to Slenderp.
There isn't a miracle cure, but there is something we can do to protect ourselves. To help our friends and loved ones, or just random stalked or proxies that want our help. Due to Lucas' situation, this has been my primary objective. There has to be a way to reclaim our minds, to remove his influence and keep it out. Our minds are ours, dammit, and if my own experience so far is any indication (as well as the experiences of those smarter than me), our minds are the key to everything.
It's not easy, because nothing in life is. But I'm living proof that this shit isn't complete crap. Joel and Lucas tell me that what I taught them seems to be working. It's a bit early to declare it a victory, but it certainly looks promising. I certainly did my fucking research for this shit.
I believe that this process could even help a proxy reform, if they wished to do so, though it's a huge risk for them as it takes time and they could easily be killed.  I've contacted a couple of proxy types about testing this out, but there's been no interest. If you are under his influence and want to test my findings, my email is in my profile.

My secondary concern, that is no less important but harder to test, is that of safety. People have been throwing around the idea of safety for so long, but as far as I know, the only person who's managed to establish any sort of safe zone is Kay, and even she's had problems within it. My theory, which may or may not have anything to do with Kay's house and honestly has a great deal more to do with Maduin and Stumblr, is that keeping positive and laughing away the fear keeps you safe. I talked about this before, and nothing's really changed on this front, except for more positive results on my end. Cam and I have been working rather hard at this one, and we've had little to no direct slendy influence since we got it going. True, there was that problem with Wolf, but the power of positivity has never been known to keep real people away. Need to do more research.

Third, the Notebook. I just know there's a lot more to be learned from it, but I can't for the life of me think of what. I'm thinking of trying to track down who the notebook belonged to. If I can, maybe I can track down a clue to all of this. Whoever this was... she wrote like she knew something. Either she was crazier than most hollowed, or she really did, and I could really stand to gain something from all of this.

Fourth, The more research I do, the more it comes back to belief. Core Theory. Tulpa theory. The ideas on where he came from, what started all of this. It's all related to belief, and I'm convinced that belief shapes so much of the interactions with him. If we can discern what effect belief really has on him, we can use that to fight back, to invent ways to keep ourselves safe. What if Zero was right about the solstice thing all along? We never did properly follow through with it, and maybe that was our downfall.
This also falls into the Narrative, like the notebook talks about. I'm not going to get into that much here, expect a series of posts on my theories about belief, what slendy really is, and how to use that against him.

Back and Ready to Go

Hi there. This is Elaine. Cam is asleep, I doubt he'd approve of me doing this when I'm supposed to be resting and not overusing my abused brain, but fuck if I won't go crazy from sitting on my ass doing nothing soon unless I take matters into my own hands.
I've been catching up on what everyone's been doing, and what Cam has been saying on everyone's blogs, and holy crap didn't the world just go to shit while I was gone. Judith from DejavuDreamer's been posessed or something, Hylo's doing something insanely suicidal and I really hope she has a plan, the Return to Slender folks are in the labyrinth or something,  , and Shaun... Oh, fuck, Shaun. I'm getting really worried. No email, no blog post... When you get out of this, I'm going to smack you for worrying me so much, you hear me?
FUCK.

Okay, still a little wibbly.The whole head injury thing has not been kind to my mental or emotional control. Apologies.
This is why I'm not going through with what I was planning on doing before I got injured and posting my updated Mission Statement, prioritized and annotated. But I haven't written it yet, and I don't think I should write that intil I'm a hundred percent again.

I've been trying to work on the Notebook as well, I may have had some insights, or I may look back at my past day's work in a day or two when I'm back to normal and  wonder what the fuck was wrong with me.

Also, anyone else still having the crazy shared dreams? Considering what I've woken up remembering the past two nights, it would be useful to know whether I have a very awesome imagination or whether the shared dreams are still in effect. Hylo, Nick?

Pretty sure I'm rambling now. Starting to see why the Docs didn't want me overworking my brain.
I'll finish this up and post it.
Stay safe everyone, and Shaun, if you can read this, PLEASE get a hold of me.
~Elaine

He got away/ A bit About Me

Once again, Joel and Lucas have the heart of the matter. Wolf escaped police custody and is now on the run. Luckily, Elaine is not being implicated in anything, due to her injuries. When the police came back by to talk to us, I could tell she was concerned.
But maybe she's just nervous around cops? I don't... Knowing what I know now, I don't know what to make of it.

Right. Anyway. Elaine can't see the blog yet, she's not allowed to touch the computer. Except for this morning where I nearly got myself kicked out causing a disturbance so that she could send an email to Shaun. Which, if you're reading this, she's worried sick. Which is of course pissing the doctors off, because she's supposed to be resting, but hey. It's Elaine. If she's not worried about something or someone, the world's about to end.
Get back to us when you can, Shaun. She's worried sick.

Right. So, I was going to share a little bit about me, since it seems I'll be on here a fair bit. And also posting gives me something to do when I'm not allowed in Elaine's room. Lucas and Joel have been keeping to themselves a bit, probably planning their next move. Can't say I blame them.

Right. Me. My name's Cam Hudson. I started a PhD program in Urban Folklore last fall. I'm 25, and engaged to the man of my dreams, Jacob. He's in the Army, currently deployed in Afghanistan. He's due to be home in two weeks, and we have a wedding planned and prepared for two days after he gets home, in Vermont. This has been entirely planned and put together by me, as when Jake was deployed we didn't think we'd be able to do anything like that until he left the Army.
Happily, we were wrong, and I'm getting married in two weeks. Probably. I hate to put Jake in the kind of danger he'll be in, living with and being married to me. What if he gets Infected? I don't think I can hide this from him forever, he'll notice, especially with Elaine's work.

Well, I'll deal with that when it happens. In happier news, Elaine's due to be released in the morning, which I think is as much a relief for the hospital as it is for us. She's still supposed to avoid any exertion for the rest of the week, but she'll be home. And when she's better, I found someone who will teach us both to fight. Now that we have this lovely care package full of things to fight WITH...

She's/I'm Awake

The doctors aren't allowing her on the computer or anything that would require concentration, so she's asked me to type up a message from her. Which she says I'm not supposed to editorialize on, but as she can't actually see the screen for at least another few days, what's she going to do?

Ooooh. Okay. That's a pretty nasty threat. I'll stick to dictation, then, shall I?

"I'm fine. I wish these doctors would LISTEN to how fine I am and let me go home and get back on with my work, but they won't listen. They don't understand why anything a freshman would have to do would be important enough to risk serious complications.
We all know, getting stalked by Slendyfuck IS a serious complication, and the sooner I get back to my work, the (hopefully) safer I'll be-and if I'm not a completely egotistical idiot, so will the rest of you. If nothing else, doing something is infinitely better than lying here in bed.
Reminds me too much of... things. Stuck in a tiny room, watched over day and night, given three square but unappetizing meals a day. My visitors are limited, my activities monitored. Yeah. It's like being back in jail.
Yes. I said Back, so Cam, stop gawping at me, I know you got that call from my Parole Officer.
There. I said it. I was in jail, now I'm on Parole, which is why I can't run. In case you lot were wondering.
No, I'm not going to tell the internet what I went to jail for. Cam, yes, I'll tell you later, and two of the people reading this already know. Well, one of them might have forgotten.
The point is, thanks for all the wellwishing. I'm kind of stunned at how many people showed up to wish me well. I don't... I'm not always the nicest woman around. So thanks.
Shaun, relax. Really, I'll be just fine. You know me, I'm a tough bitch. Nothing's changing. We're getting a new door, with a deadlock and a peephole, and we'll be fine. So, if you're still comfortable with what we discussed, I'd still love for it to happen.
Nick, sorry to call you out and embarrass you dear, but you're so cute when you blush. Or at least I think you are? That dream business is kind of nuts.
Hylo, thanks for the concern, I'll look forward to getting to know you better. You seem cool.
Kay, thanks.  Cam really did insist on delivering your hug the moment I was coherent enough to understand where it was coming from.
Shady, yeah. It sucks. My head is STILL throbbing. Depending on when you get done with what you're doing, you're welcome to come by. Though again, timing dependent I'm not sure where we'd put you. Glad to see you're doing alright as well.
Lucas and Joel. Stop fucking blaming yourselves. Ill tell you this in person when I see you, but I want to say it as many times as possible. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. It's his. Wolf's. And Slendy's. Not yours.

Cam says he's been mucking with my page and commenting on things. I told him to go ahead, just to not be stupid about it. Be nice, don't break him. He's sweet, and his boy would kill me if we broke him."

That's the point where the Doctors caught on to what we were doing, and made us stop.
But she's alright, and I've been handed the keys. In perhaps the most embarrassing way possible. I'll be around, keeping an eye on things for her and catching up with everything for myself. Before this, even with Joel and Lucas about it hadn't occurred to me how much of a difference you all make for each other. Thank you. All of you.