The Slenderverse
—— Always watches. No eyes. ——
What is the slenderverse?
When I talk about the slenderverse I mean the collection of internet content relating to the slenderman, youtube series, blogs, twitter accounts and others. These stories are often considered ARGs or alternate reality games, engaging the audience, letting them actively affect the stories and "playing along". This genre is also sometimes referred to as unfiction or media which exists in fictional world but presents itself as reality. A lot of fancy words to describe people on the internet recording themselves running around the woods.
History
The history of the slenderverse is really complex so I'll give you the basics (and go mostly off my own memory). The slenderman was first created on the somethingawful forums in 2009 by creator Victor Surge. He created the original images as a part of a photoshop competition and his work really quickly became popular. Only a few days later after having seen the original thread, creators Troy Wagner and Joseph DeLage created the channel Marble Hornets - the first slenderseries. Marble Hornets was huge and as a result others decided to put their own spin on the character. Hundreds of new projects started appearing, all sharing the same monster but adding their own content and effectively making a sort of multiverse of interwoven stories. These channels and blogs were passion projects in their purest form and allowed many creators to experiment and start their own storytelling journeys.
If you're interested in a deeper look at this strange and delightful genre of content I can't recommend enough the incredible slenderverse documentary series by Alex Hera! Watch the trailer here or go straight to the first film here.
