Beware the Slenderman Page #5

And that's really kind of

how folk belief works.

Because you can't prove

beyond a shadow of a doubt

that Slenderman is fake or real.

Hey, guys, it's Shane.

So, ever since I found out

about Slenderman,

he's been haunting my dreams,

like every single dream.

And I'm really scared,

so I'm going to show you

a picture...

I'm... I'm just going to show you

some pictures that I got of him.

There it is.

Look at this.

Look right there

in the background.

- Right there.

- See, it's Slenderman.

That's my... that's my sister

when she was young.

And then we found that

in the background.

Oh, it's really scary.

Um, Bye.

Cartwheel.

Round off.

Oh my god, my stomach is killing me.

Back walkover.

Crappy back walkover.

Mine... ugh.

Mine, too.

Back walkover.

Oh my god.

Round off. Sam, we need to do...

Sam, we need to do this later.

Can you go a little bit longer?

No, we'll just stop

this one and then we'll...

and then we'll just do

another one later,

'cause my st... oh my god, I feel like

I'm about to throw up right now.

All right, just hurry up

and do one more.

- What the f***?

- Oh my God! Run! Run!

Run! Run!

Oh my god, run! No, run!

The moment you know about him,

he knows about you.

Oh my god,

I'm so scared right now.

Like there's no way

to summon him,

but there's no way to get him to,

like, stop following you around.

I remember when I was like 13,

one of my birthday parties,

we had this big plan

me and three of my friends

were all going to get together,

we were going to bring

our cameras

and sneak out into the woods

and try to find him

with our cameras.

And I was out there

for like two hours.

If I encountered him...

I would explain myself

and be like,

"I don't think you're that bad.

"Personally, I think

you're kind of cool.

I wouldn't mind doing

what you're doing."

Since I had

no social life back then,

basically my whole life

was on the Internet.

And since

it was there, like, 24/7...

I would just gradually get

more and more attached to it.

And the thing that kept coming

up would be Slenderman.

Back then I believed, like every

fiber in my body, he was real.

All right, and the

game has started.

If everybody knows

that is Slenderman,

then I think that's sufficient

to define it as a replicator.

Genetic viruses spread

from body to body.

And so... a meme that

has great spreadability...

deserves to be called

a virus of the mind.

- Ooh! A note.

- No!

No, I don't wanna get it.

No, you have to get it.

You have to get it. You have to.

You get it. Then he's gonna come.

Get it.

Okay.

Just keep walking. Just

keep walking. Why?

Because he's finding you!

A virus of the mind spreads

by being listened to or seen

by the sense organs.

When one brain picks it up,

it will have a tendency

to pass it on to another brain

and another brain and so on,

so it will spread exponentially.

And it's empirical fact

that this happens.

The Slenderman case

is a very powerful example

of peer-to-peer horizontal transmission.

It does happen.

Meow, meow, kitty.

That's right, come here.

Were you sleeping as usual?

Yes, you were.

Stand up straight.

I think you should wear

your badge from Webelos Camp...

because there's only two people in

your whole pack that have that badge.

Okay. All right. All

your pins are secure?

Yes. You don't want to

be losing them. Right?

Yeah.

Life is good.

You're all geared up, all right?

Okay. Get ready to put that thing away.

All right?

Okay. I don't want to

get any grief about,

"Oh I just got to finish this

level," or whatever else.

All right?

Aiden?

Yeah.

Yay?

- Are you okay, Aiden?

- Yeah.

You sound a little sniffley.

This whole event, from start

to finish, has been a tragedy.

But you have to be angry

at the situation.

I'm angry at the situation...

and my daughter

is not the one...

that spent upwards of seven days

in the hospital

recovering from this.

And I'm angry

about the situation.

So, if I'm angry about it...

you know, this other family sure as

hell has a right to be angry about it.

You know, they could...

you know, slam the door

in my face, or, you know,

punch me in the face and knock

me on my ass and you know...

they would probably

be justified in doing so.

I'm sure they have a lot

of the same questions I do.

Did you come to any conclusions about

Anissa, as far as a diagnosis?

The predisposing

characteristics that...

made her susceptible

to the delusional disorder...

is what's referred

to as a schizotypy.

It's a diminished ability

to determine

what's real and what's not real.

A lot of people have

varying degrees of this.

Adults may have, simply, eccentric

religious or spiritual beliefs

or... conspiratorial beliefs

or things like that

and live out their life

with no problems at all.

I've done quite a

bit of research

on the early stages

of psychopathic personality

in adolescents

over the last 20 years.

Based on your experiences

and testing of Anissa,

she does not carry

that particular diagnosis.

No. She doesn't have...

she has, really, no

characteristics of a psychopath

or a sociopath or

anything like that. Okay.

Morgan and Anissa came out

of the bathroom.

Payton said that she didn't

want to play hide and seek,

but Morgan said

that the next game

that they played

could be her choice.

Payton said that...

Anissa pulled her deeper

and deeper into the woods.

And then...

Anissa says, "Now!"

And Anissa turns her back.

Morgan got on top

of Payton's legs.

She sat on her legs, and then she

got her face real close to Payton

and whispered in her ear,

"I'm so sorry."

And then started stabbing her.

What, ultimately,

was Morgan diagnosed with?

The final diagnosis,

both in the psychological report

and in my report

are schizophrenia,

unspecified, 295.90...

oppositional

defiant disorder, 313.81...

and bronchial asthma,

mild, intermittent, J45.2.

What is schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is

one of the most serious

and one of the most studied

mental illnesses

of human beings.

Approximately 1% of the population

succumbs to schizophrenia.

It is a psychotic illness.

It's through a combination

of genetic predisposition

and then stress

placed on the person

to begin manifesting symptoms.

Patients lose track of reality

in a number of ways.

One would be hallucinations.

One could hear voices,

one could see visions,

one could feel

things crawling on them.

Delusions, on the other hand,

don't have to do

with sensing something,

they have to do with a thought.

So, for example, believing that

Slenderman is real is a delusion.

Saying that you saw Slenderman

is a visual hallucination.

Is the pile getting bigger?

Ha!

Jumping in the leaves.

And that's one of my favorites.

I raked up a bunch of leaves

in the back yard and...

she came flying in.

Nice action shot.

Yeah, it's hard

for us to imagine

that she was having problems.

It's hard to process.

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