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So, I'm starting this journal entry with a little story. The other night my best friend (whom I'll refer to as HexAngel or Hex, as she goes by online) and I decided to hang out at her house and marathon Slendervlogs. We'd previously done so successfully with Marble Hornets, and had a ton of fun getting creeped out, spooking each other, riffing on Jay's genre-blind behavior, and getting involved in the story. It was a fun, fun night, and we agreed that we'd have to do it again sometime with another series. Returning to last night, we were playing some Guitar Hero and discussing Slenderman series and ARGs when the topic turned to once more Marathoning a Slenderseries. I in all my infinite wisdom said we should marathon TribeTwelve, since I knew from experience that it was a shorter series than Marble Hornets and could easily be caught up on in one night (I was only about a quarter of the way through watching it at the time). Hex agreed, so we high-tailed it over to her house to hang out and watch some TribeTwelve, all in one sitting. I was a bit apprehensive at first, since I only knew a little bit about the series, but since Marble Hornets hadn't really scared me so much as creeped me out, I figured this series wouldn't be so bad, either. Besides, I was a hardened Slenderfan, I could deal with a few Proxy scares and Tall and Faceless showing up out of nowhere - there's no way this series could scare me that badly, right?
Dear God I was so, so wrong.
Because that series is fucking terrifying. Legitimately terrifying. It pushes all of your fear buttons, every one imaginable - paranoia, jumpscares, fridge logic, everything gets hit. And it jangles your nerves SO. BAD. It doesn't matter if you've seen it once or a thousand times, it still gets you, and it still scares you shitless. In fact, it was about halfway through one of the Observer's updates that I remembered precisely why I hadn't continued to catch up on the series. Because I needed a damn break from that surreal horror shit.
The experience of watching this series, being scared again, and remembering why that made me enjoy the series so much has made me reflect on other aspects of the Mythos. I'm here in the vast forest that is the Mythos because I enjoy being scared, and I love surreal and Lovecraftian horror concepts. But what exactly about it scares me? I'm used to the Tall Guy by now, so what about it is still keeping me going instead of causing me to burn out? What keeps me so interested outside of the theorizing? What am I afraid of?
So, I compiled this list of eight (possibly more if I add on later) vlog moments, stories, and general concepts that scare or at least freak me out in the Slenderverse. It takes quite a bit to spook me and even more to keep me scared for a long time, but once you get me there my mind takes care of the rest. For the sake of keeping it simple, I'm restricting this list only to vlogs and stories that actually take place in the Slenderverse - no Fear Mythos content allowed, and for the most part the Surgist stuff isn't used as much in the Slenderverse so it probably won't be on here. Now, let's start this list of horror...
8. ICANSEETHEGIANT, Teacher, his teddy bear, and the chair.
God damn, I love this series. It's like taking ten doses of acid and then watching ToTheArk videos for an hour. It's like if the Observer got high on ecstacy. It operates on cartoon logic and a sense of childhood fantasy... and fear. It's quite eerie and does a good job with very little, using surreal horror and a few simple effects to get its story across. In short, it's a great series and you really should check it out.
Now, you might wonder what I'm talking about with Teachers and teddys on chairs and stuff above. Very simple. Teacher is the name of a Proxy-like (?) character in the series, who has been helpful, cryptic, and really damn creepy, as such characters are wont to do. We don't even know if he's a Proxy, a rebel pretending to be one, or a Proxy that is trying to rebel against Slendy. The chair is a MacGuffin used for plot-important events during the end of the first act of the series. The teddy bear, we don't know what's up with it yet, but the consensus is that it makes everyone following this series very, very nervous. Without spoiling anything, the two linked videos above show some very... nerve-wracking interaction between Teacher and those aforementioned items. And both jumpscared me, despite the fact I KNEW jumpscares were coming.
I put it up here on the list only because I thought it was creepy, but it didn't inspire a severe sense of paranoia. However, it came pretty damn close with how good it was with the tension. This whole series is just full of surprises and suspense, and I find it really cool that this series is doing so much in terms of emotional tension and paranoia-building with so, so little. The guy behind this series doesn't even have the incredibly minimal budget Marble Hornets had, and ICSTG is probably the most refreshingly different and interesting Slenderseries on Youtube right now. If it can do THAT to me with nothing more than a morphsuit, Movie Maker, and some creepy-ass music and character behavior, then it's well on its way to becoming something seriously big in the Slenderverse. Teacher, you creepy motherfucker, you keep on Wobbledance-Headbanging. You keep on Wobbledance-Headbanging all damn night long, bro. Shine on, you crazy, crazy Slender-diamond.
7. TheOriginFiles, Lost in the woods and being unable to find the path back out.
Okay, this wasn't a scary update to start out with, even though we pretty much know it's a Slenderseries at this point (it's fairly obvious to anyone who knows a thing or two about the Mythos). The problem here is fridge logic. What happens basically is, group of best buddies go hiking deep into the woods... then when it comes time to come back home, they start walking... and can't find the way back out. They keep walking in circles, and even when they take the most direct route in an opposite direction, they end up at the same exact pathway again. And again. And again. So what's creepy about this? Well, think about it - this is a Slenderman series. Now remember where Slenderman lives. Now remember that he can, in some series, warp reality to mess with people. Now think about it - what if they couldn't find the path because Slenderman kept messing with their perception or teleporting them without their knowledge? Why didn't he just take them all if that was the case? Why screw around with them unless he was doing it for fun...? That realization alone made me shiver. This series' Slenderman? Is the kind of Slenderman that likes to fuck with people, and that to me is one of the more terrifying ways he can be portrayed.
6. Marble Hornets, Entry #18.
Oh sheesh. Okay. Now I know I said Marble Hornets didn't really scare me so much as leave me paranoid. That's still true, and Marble Hornets still doesn't so much scare me as make me paranoid. Except for this one little entry. This one creepy little entry where Jay returns to that creepy fucking house I assume is Tim's, the one which in the previous entry was BEGGING for something to be hiding around a corner in it. Entry #16, there's nothing there, nothing at all. Entry #18, however, Jay enters the house through the back, finds everything ashambles, starts searching. Nobody's in the house, and it's shown several times that nobody's there. He wanders down the hall, and at some point turns back... and finds Masky sitting on the damn couch. Just staring at him. Like WTF? How would you like that shit, you go upstairs in the dark and you know you're the only one there, and then you find some random creep wearing a mask just staring at you. And staring. And staring. And then running at you in blind attack mode. I just. No, I don't want any of that, Masky, I don't, please never do it again, I don't like it. Please. I love you Tim bby plz don't do this to me. ;-;
5. Just the entire idea of Slenderman's tentacles/tendrils.
I entirely blame a fellow (remaining nameless) Slenderfan for this one. Entirely. We were discussing Slenderman's tentacles (please don't ask why, and yes, it WAS a worksafe discussion), and I brought up a personal theory of mine - he uses them to feed. Then my lovely friend decided to post that maybe, they can creep under your skin like roots, and grow into your brain, and manipulate your thoughts... just... urgh. That same thread came up with the idea of them being slimy, like slick mildew or something. And of course my stupid, overactive imagination then decided it had to visualize what it would be like getting caught in those things and having them all over your face and in your hair and touching your neck and... *shudders* Having something behind me touch my spine, neck, shoulders, or hair is seriously one of my prime bits of paranoia fuel. The idea of tentacles, especially Slenderman's tentacles doing that... I can't. I just can't. They creep me the fuck out, man.
4. Marble Hornets, Entry #72.
This one's pretty recent, and normally, Marble Hornets doesn't scare me too badly. It has jump scared me a few times (I'm looking at you Entry #68, how the fuck did you manage to make Alex jump scare me I don't even), but otherwise I am usually okay with it. But like I pointed out above, it's the paranoia that gets me, every. Single. Time. About three hours to a few days later, when my mind goes, "Okay, wait, WTF I just realized something HORRIFIC about that last entry," and then I curl up in the corner and make scared kitten noises. This entry though, this one managed to make me do that in the span of about 15 minutes, or about as long as the video took to play, and then made me continue to do so for about 10 more minutes after it ended just from the implications of what could have happened alone. Let's count the number of bad, bad things that happen in this entry. 1, Jay and Tim find Alex's old house completely open for entry, never a good sign. 2, there is an attic, and a basement, and as we all remember from previous entries, small spaces and underground places are BAD. 3, Jay keeps hallucinating Slenderman - sorry, I mean the Operator - out in the tall grass... and then he actually shows up there. My heart literally sunk a little watching that part. 4, drawings, lots of drawings, with names of previous people Alex knew crossed off - that is, a freaking hitlist. Alex Krailie had a motherfucking hitlist, with Jay's name on it. 5, they actually go in the basement, and then suddenly night time because the Operator is a motherfucking troll. 6, Jay collapses while Tim keeps running, then Tim appears to almost have another damn seizure. 7, Tim (being a total badass) goes back for Jay, actually walks right up to the Operator and yells at him, and then nearly collapses himself while gratuitous static plays over everyfuckingthing and we get the closest freaking look at the Operator in full so far in the series. Okay so that last scene was actually pretty fucking awesome, but still, not good. At all. Because notice how the Operator has clearer and clearer shots of him as the series progresses, almost as if he's stalking the audience as well, right through the fourth wall... okay cue scared kitten noises again plz no not interested i already bought slenderscout cookies ktnxbai. ;-;
3. WhisperedFaith, the Rake under a bed and in a GODDAMN CLOSET:
I've discussed WhisperedFaith on this blog before, and explained why I liked it so much - because it does different things with different characters. Why am I including it here? Because the Rake is canon for the Mythos (via EverymanHYBRID) and because word of creator says that WhisperedFaith takes place in the Slenderverse. So anyway, in WhisperedFaith, the aforementioned Rake hides in the aforementioned places.
... Great. Now not only am I afraid of tunnels and swivel chairs, I'm afraid the Rake is living in my closet. And the best part about all this shit? My bed faces my fucking closet. Thank you for rekindling my fear of the boogeyman, WhisperedFaith, I was worried that I might be forgetting what primal childhood bedwetting fear felt like. [/sarcasm]
2. TribeTwelve, that creepy phonecall to the broken phone Noah finds.
So you find this weird broken old phone in a box full of random computer parts and shit. It doesn't work, its internal memory is corrupted as all hell, and the number has been deactivated and retired. So, imagine your disturbed surprise when, one night, you wake up to realize it's vibrating as if you're recieving a call. And when you pick up, the link above is what you hear.
... Yeah that's the last time I'm leaving MY phone on overnight, too. I don't blame you, reader. I really, honestly don't. Seriously, what the everloving crudnuggets IS going on there? Why the creepy laughter? Who is the guy saying "Sorry, sorry, so sorry" at the end? What the hell happened to him? Why the fuck did the call have to be at night?
Noah, buddy, I do not envy your damn life. Now come here so I can give you some hugs, you clearly need them more than I do.
1. TribeTwelve (yes, again), just about any update that includes the Observer.
aodfhiFBFVIswF. This. Mother. Fucker. The Motherfucking Observer. This guy is the creepiest fucking character I've ever seen. Every single time I realize I have another update/taunt of his to watch, my heart sinks a little. Every single time I watch said update, I brace myself for jumpscare impact. This creepy bastard jumpscared me four seperate times in four seperate videos in a damn row. This terrifying bespectacled freak continues to make me shudder even thinking about some of the shit he's pulled on poor Noah. Freaking. Spying on him, with electronic devices. Using espionage, hacking his channel and twitter, taunting him constantly, leaving creepy little nearly subliminal messages in his videos... just... urgh. Oh, and dear God, do NOT get me started on his damn update videos. Those things are the most surreal things ever to grace a Slenderseries, and they are incredibly paranoia-inducing. Just look at that fucking shit up there. Watch that shit to the end. I fucking dare you to watch that shit to the end. Because I seriously cannot even, once was enough. Never again. Nope. You can't make me. Fuck this. And now, here's a cat demonstrating my exact response when I first saw those videos for the first time.
One good friend from Slender Haven put it this way: "The Observer doesn't follow commands, he gives them. And his command is BE AFRAID."
Mission fucking accomplished, you creepy bastard, you and your creepy little Collective friends. Mission. Fucking. Accomplished.