Beware stimulus

It is nearly midnight and I can not sleep. This is due to two things, anxiety that has plagued me the last few days and Slenderman. Yes, you read that right. Slenderman is not a new thing, but it was something that had only been on my peripheral vision. I knew that it was an urban myth created solely for a competition and that it had taken a life of its own. That was as far as it went, until I watched the HBO’s documentary “Beware the Slenderman”.

Firstly, I would highly recommend this to anyone that has more than a passing interest in the psychology behind these sort of myths. This particular documentary looks at the case of Morgan and Anissa, who attempted to kill their best friend to please the Slenderman. This part has a heartwretching feel to it but it does not feel it is going for the “money shots”. As well as look at why the girls felt they had to do this, it looked at the history of Slenderman itself.

Now, do not misjudge me. I am not up at this time of the night due to the fact that I am scared. Something about it has got inside my head. That does not sound much better. As soon as the document finished I wanted to draw Slenderman. Now that is unusual for me, randomly desireto write, yes but to draw no.

So I ignored the urge and went to bed. I found myself lying there, thinking about different images of this Slenderman, knowing that what was in my head would not be transferred onto the page. That is what had captured my imagination in the documentary. The art that surrounded the Slenderman. unsurprisingly, there were picture of this thin, insect-like man, filling up the whole page, towering over a tiny child. However, there was several pictures that while maintaining the creepiness had him in a less threatening pose. He would be holding the hand, or hugging the child. As a cross between Jack skeleton and The Silence from Dr Who, the pale face with no features, leaves his intentions open for interpretation. Is he a truly scary entity, there solely to terrify the child, or could he be a more benevolent being? He maybe death, but he is looking after the child as their pass over, for example. But as I was lying there in bed, I had visions of him with a huge black dog and then it hit me. That is why he was resonating with me, he represented, for me at least, depression.

A faceless entity, that seems to be everywhere. Once you have first glimpsed him, he will follow you for the rest of your life. Something that has been seen an indication of death and destruction. Why could that not be a representation of depression? Maybe that is why he is seen as robbing child of their lives. For someone who is struggling with their emotions, especially “negative” ones, it could be seen as robbing a child of their lives. It might explain the range of pictures of the Slenderman. Those that feel depression has control over them, painting Slenderman as the huge insect-like thing towering over the tiny child. Those that are more creative, may have learnt how to turn these emotions into something more positive, and that is why some pictures seem to show the Slenderman guiding or hugging the child.

The desire to paint Slenderman changed to a desire to write this down because I know I would not sleep until I did. Sad, is it? I have not done any more research and this has little to do with the documentary. It is just a thought by a brain that is addled by too much anxiety but maybe someone would see what I see.