10 Amazing Slenderman Stories Read online

  Title Page

  10 AMAZING SLENDERMAN STORIES

  by

  Jack Goldstein and Jimmy Russell

  Publisher Information

  Published in 2013 by

  Andrews UK Limited

  www.andrewsuk.com

  The rights of Jack Goldstein and Jimmy Russell to be identified as the Authors of this Work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

  Copyright © 2013 Jimmy Russell and Jack Goldstein

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  Introduction

  Just before Jack Goldstein and Jimmy Russell published their last book about Slenderman, 101 Amazing Slenderman Facts, they were both found dead in suspicious circumstances. The book was published in their memories. What was not known at the time however was that two packages were making their way through the Royal Mail service. One was from Jimmy and addressed to Jack, the other from Jack addressed to Jimmy. Both packages contained worrying documents detailing the history of Slenderman, and including some terrifying stories.

  This grisly collection of documents is offered to the reader in the hope they can make some sense of the killings, as well as finding out further information regarding the slim being.

  Proceed with caution.

  Dedication

  To Jack & Jimmy, always in our hearts.

  In Which Jimmy Russell Meets His Demise

  Jimmy locked the heavy front door behind him and hurried upstairs, the screams still fresh in his memory. How can this be real? He thought as he bounded up the staircase two steps at a time. Just thirty minutes earlier he’d been giving an evening lecture at the Royal Academy of Literature - a lecture about Mythological Evolution and Memetic Darwinism. As Jimmy hurried into the master bedroom of his rural cottage he firmly thumped the heavy wooden door shut. Luckily for him, the ancient house the Academy has lodged him in hadn’t been updated in centuries - each door felt like it weighed close to a ton and fixed itself closed with heavy iron bolts - even the wallpaper looked firm and ancient and was probably chosen by Oliver Cromwell himself. The door ground across the floor as it slid into place, an obvious sign that its weight was winning the battle of gravity against the large iron hinges. Below the door a distinct arc had been worked in the wooden floor of the bedroom, a sign indicating decades of this door’s passage between open and shut.

  As the iron bolt slid home, its high-pitched squeak reminded Jimmy of the horrors he’d witnessed that evening. Far off into the wooded distance that separated his cottage from the main Academy campus, Jimmy heard a chilling guttural wail - a sound like no other, almost like that of a crying baby, but overflowing with fury and madness. The sound caused Jimmy to start - as he instinctively backed away from the door he allowed the evening’s events to wash over him.

  ***

  At 6:00pm sharp Jimmy was just starting his university talk on Mythological Evolution. Jimmy had been travelling the country giving talks on this subject and had enjoyed a great deal of success; Jimmy was a successful writer and his papers are printed in many academic journals.

  “One of the great mysteries of mythology is the seemingly spontaneous and simultaneous appearance of characters in many places across the globe.” he began, and it was true too. Dragons, the phoenix and werewolves all appear simultaneously throughout mythology, in the legends of countries which never had any contact with another.

  “One theory is that through Memetic Darwinism, somehow these characters are part of the human genetic psyche - they are psychically linked to our evolution as human beings. Quite literally, we all imagine them at the same time.” The crowd looked uninterested but he knew the reason they were here.

  “Take this Slenderman for instance” Jimmy began and he saw the audience physically stiffen at the mentioning of the name. “The Slenderman is as real as dragons or werewolves. He is a figment of our collective imagination but the circumstances of his conception are fascinating. Over the last two years, Slenderman has been spotted in as far and varied places as it is possible to imagine and his memetic imagery is so strong we have begun to notice him in ancient mythology as well, seemingly hidden in plain sight. This is not proof that Slenderman does or has ever existed however; have you ever noticed that once you learn a new word, you will often hear that very word said on the same day you learn it? That’s not some spooky psychic experience; it’s just the way the brain works. Now that the human consciousness is looking for Slenderman we are starting to see him everywhere.”

  As Jimmy was talking, his slide show was cycling grainy photographs of Slender sightings and ancient artworks depicting the thin murderers from ancient mythology. The university crowd - mostly young hipsters and student types - were watching the slideshow whilst Jimmy’s words weaved over them.

  “People often ask me if I believe in the Slenderman. My answer is usually whether or not they believe in unicorns. These creatures appear throughout history not as historical fact, but as allegorical manifestations of the zeitgeist. Our collective human psyche has constructed this Slenderman to describe the conditions we are living in, to better describe how us as a race feel deep down. The Slenderman isn’t real at...”

  “I’ve seen Slenderman!” called out a young man in the audience “I saw the Slenderman three weeks ago whilst I was camping in the woods.” The young man jumped out of his seat and turned away from Jimmy to better face the crowd.

  “Don’t believe this guy’s clever words! We know Slender is real!”

  Jimmy tried to calm the situation by explaining “Many people claim to have sighted Slenderman. Also, many people claim to have seen Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. If we go looking for things, no matter how unlikely, we are likely to see them. However these supposed monsters invariably turn out to be wellington boots or washing-up liquid bottles cleverly lit or photographed at speed.”

  “LIAR!” called out the now-agitated student “If Slenderman isn’t real, then he couldn’t have killed my brother Jed! We were camping in the woods three weeks ago, telling ghost stories. Jed gave me this to read -” and the young man held up a tired piece of paper, yellowed and frayed at the edges as if taken from some centuries-old tome.

  “This is an incantation for summoning Slenderman, taken from the personal memoirs of Archduke Aleister Symcote, the man who claimed to have summoned and subsequently trapped Slenderman many centuries ago. If Slenderman isn’t real then you’ll have no trouble reading this!”

  At that Jimmy grew angry. Not only had this student rudely interrupted his lecture but now he was suggesting Jimmy was a coward.

  “Your story is a fabrication. You are nothing more than a troublemaker, trying to gatecrash my lecture and sully my reputation as a scholar. You can get out and anyone who thinks this lunatic is telling the truth can leave too.”

  The student wasn’t paying attention to Jimmy any more - he was fixated by the image projected onto the screen behind Jimmy. A photograph of Slenderman projected onto the white wall, depicting Slender tucked into the background of an otherwise happy scene; a happy family on a day out, a family day trip maybe. The image was sullied by the grotesque shadow behind them, coalescing
into the twisted form of the Slenderman. As the young man stood fixated with this image, he began to recount the poem he held in his hand:

  “Silently creeping, leaping in the dark

  Slenderman can hear the fear in your heart.

  Breathlessly wheezing, freezing to the bone,

  Stone cold surrender, call the Slenderman home.

  Sliendé, Sliendé, Sliendé…...

  As the final words rang out from the man, the hallway became deathly cold and the auditorium lights began to flicker. Members of the crowd became unsettled as several of them could swear they just witnessed the still photograph of Slenderman move. Did he just shift?

  The lights went out entirely. The audience yelped as one as the room was plunged into darkness, only to be bathed in light once more as the lights flickered back into life. A guilty laugh rose from the crowd for falling so quickly into panic. As the eyes of the audience turned once more toward Jimmy and his slide show, nearly every member of the crowd felt their hearts skip a beat when they realised the photo projected onto the wall no longer had Slenderman in it. The family were still there; only the half-formed image of Slenderman was gone entirely.

  Only the gurgling noise drew their attention toward the young man who’d recently interrupted the university lecture. The young student who had previously disrupted proceedings was hunched over and making the most awful sucking sound. The young man spun around in surprise and revealed his gory fate; blood oozed from three wicked gouges in his body. One across his throat, cutting his jugular vein, windpipe and scoring deep into his shoulder; one coursing from his left armpit, across his sternum and slicing into his ribs on his right hand side and the third scoring into his abdomen, slicing his belly and revealing the innards within.

  The crowd screamed maniacally and as a single unit of panic they all rushed for the auditorium doors. But it was too late - too late did they realise that Slenderman was amidst their ranks; Jimmy could see perfectly well from behind his lectern. He watched, frozen to the spot in horror as this slim monstrosity tore through members of the audience as if they were nothing but sheets of paper. As Jimmy watched in shock, the slender menace preyed upon these poor folk, flaying them limb from limb and revelling in the bloodshed. The crowd’s shrieks of terror, their muffled cries of agony and the eager shrill of their predator proved too much and before long, Jimmy rustled himself free from the fear and made for the exit.

  ***

  Fresh panic coursed through Jimmy’s veins as he sprinted from the building. As he flew terrified across the University grounds, he could see all manner of atrocities being played out in a macabre shadow play in the green moonlight; as the denizens of the University spilled from the auditorium with the willowy menace at the heart of the crowd, visceral scenes of slaughter were cast in shadow across the many buildings of the university. Jimmy bolted for the only safety he could imagine - his University boarding house.

  Jimmy locked the heavy front door behind him and hurried upstairs, the screams still fresh in his memory. How can this be real? he thought as he bounded up the staircase two steps at a time. Sliding home the heavy bolt on his bedroom door Jimmy happened to glance out of how window - the grisly shadow play was continuing across the lawns of the University and the hapless screams echoed deep into the wilds of the night. As his gaze drew across the wet evening grass, Jimmy caught sight of a terrible shape in the trees around his home. A calm, still figure of about seven or eight feet stood motionless, staring right up at him. An eyeless face peered coolly through the trees. Jimmy blinked and the figure was gone. Was it real? Am I seeing things? thought Jimmy as he firmly drew his curtains. At that motion all sound seemed to disappear. No more screaming, only the memory of those fearful noises remained. Not only that, but there were none of the sounds Jimmy expected to hear from this rural part of the country; no hooting of an evening owl, no barking of foxes in the darkness and not even the howling of wind in the trees. The silence was almost deafening until the calm was broken by the slow creaking of Jimmy’s wooden stairs.

  As the inexorable approach of a figure on the staircase continued Jimmy’s heart began to seethe in panic. His heart was beating so fast it felt as though it were burning a hole in his chest. The creaking grew nearer and Jimmy’s poor heart beat all the faster - Jimmy was certain he would pass out, his blood was now racing so fast he could hear the swishing of his vital fluid in his ears. As the creaking gave way to dragging footsteps outside his door Jimmy knew that the Slenderman was on his landing. A heavy thump thundered on his bedroom door followed by a sawing drag as violent talons were drawn against the wood. Jimmy watched in horror as his door began to rattle; gently at first but building to a ferocious crescendo the door was fiendishly banging in the frame, the sturdy iron hinges clattering under the strain. As the door’s unearthly banging continued, the noise was incredible and Jimmy could see the door’s screws unwinding themselves by some unseen, unearthly force. As the they finally unwound all the way and fell to the floor, the banging ceased. Dust settled gently and for a second there was silence. The heavy oak door fell inward into Jimmy’s room as blinding, unnatural light spilled into the room behind it. A spindly figure stood bathed in this sickly light, bent slightly at the hip like a distorted willow tree. The figure lunged into the room with the finesse of a ballet dancer. The last thing Jimmy saw was a mouthless countenance smiling with glee as two spear-like hands were effortlessly slipped between his ribs.

  ***

  Jimmy Russell’s body was never found, but a heart and a volume of blood, found by detectives in his bedroom where he was presumed to have died, were confirmed by DNA testing to belong to him. To this day, nobody can answer how or why the heart and the blood were inside a hundred-year old glass bottle, or how Jimmy’s fingerprints were on both the bottle and the cork with which it was sealed.

  Slenderman in the Bible

  Dear Jimmy,

  I think I’m getting somewhere with my Slenderman research. What I have found is worrying, however it is fascinating nonetheless. Do you remember that for our book 101 Amazing Slenderman Facts we discovered sightings of Slenderman throughout history? Well, old friend, I have found what I believe to be the very origin of the Slenderman in a text read by millions of people since it was written thousands of years ago. Yes, I believe that the Bible itself describes how Slenderman came to be the scourge of the world, the terrible being, the consumer of souls. Everything I explain now is true, and you can refer to the bible - even see the exact wording of the text I quote - to see if you reach the same conclusion as I do. I have referenced the ‘Good News Translation’ as it is the clearest to understand, having been parsed into modern English. If you don’t have a copy on your shelf, you can reference it here:

  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+17&version=GNT

  The Book of Job is one of the most famous texts in the Old Testament. It tells of how a prosperous man is put in front of God, with Satan suggesting he is only pious and religious because he is rich. Satan suggests that if God took away the trappings of the wealthy, Job would not worship Him any more. So, God begins to take away his goods... and Job still worships Him. God kills his family... and Job still worships Him. God allows Satan to smite him with boils and scratch his skin with broken pottery... but still he worships Him. Eventually, God restores him to full health, gives him a new family and makes him twice as rich as he was before.

  However, if one reads the verses carefully, I believe that it tells of how Job’s soul - the bitter, angry part which wanted to curse God - was wrenched from him and became a being of its own. God had pushed him too far, and what God restored was just a husk, an empty shell.

  One only has to look at the words used in the book of Job to see this; we shall start with Job’s physical transformation into Slenderman. He says to God:

  My grief has almost made me blind; my arms and legs are as thin as shadows.


  Job 17:7

  This quite obviously speaks for itself. I need not explain how closely this is a description of the faceless, slim terror we all fear.

  But it does not stop there:

  I know I remain in darkness

  Job 17:12

  This is clearly describing Job’s realisation that he understands his fate; that because of his hateful resentment of God, his soul will be sentenced to eternity in the world of the dead, the world of the vile, the world of the putrid.

  In fact Job further stresses this point by proclaiming:

  My only hope is the world of the dead, where I will lie down to sleep in the dark.

  Job 17:13

  The next quote - again referencing ‘hope’ - has two meanings in my opinion. The first is that Job himself has no chance of sanctuary when he is condemned to this ‘world of the dead’, but also I think it may also refer to his future victims! What do you think?

  Hope will not go with me when I go down to the world of the dead.

  Job 17:16

  The Bible then starts a narrative not from Job, but from a ‘friend’ named Bildad. My understanding is that Bildad is seeing this origin of Slenderman happen before his very eyes, and is a clever man. He knows of the terror that awaits the world, and is telling us of what is to come.

  He warns:

  All around them terror is waiting

  Job 18:11

  He also suggests what may happen to the victims of this awful new entity:

  A deadly disease spreads over their bodies and causes their arms and legs to rot.

  Job 18:13

  I think that the picture should now be clear to you. The truth is that God lost to Satan. God thought that Job would worship him no matter what, but after all the punishment, Job gave in and hated God. His soul became twisted, his anger overcame his faith, and his mind was tainted by Satan’s pure evil. God, not wanting to admit defeat, separated Job’s soul from his body and banished it to the world of the dead. He restored the body of Job, to save face amongst his other worshippers.