Beware the Slenderman is our new binge-worthy true crime TV obsession.

Head of Entertainment

March 15, 2016

Video via WISN 12 News

Have you heard about The Slender Man?

If not, that’s probably a good thing. He is the stuff that nightmares are made off.

If you’re unfamiliar with this childhood aberration, allow me to paint you a creepy word picture.

The Slender Man is a supernatural character that originated as an internet meme created in 2009. He is always depicted as a thin, unnaturally tall man with a blank and featureless face, wearing a black suit.

The kind of figure you never want to find standing over you in the middle of the night.

Since 2009 The Slender Man myth has slowly inched into every corner of the internet. In most stories, he is seen talking, abducting or traumatising people, particularly children.

A photo posted by Slender Man (@_slender_man) on Mar 5, 2013 at 10:45pm PST

Laura Brodnik

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The Slender Man is not confined to a single narrative, but appears in many disparate works of fiction, mostly composed online.

In other words, he’s always watching.

Then in 2014 Slender Man became horrifyingly real. A 12-year-old girl was stabbed 19 times by two of her friends, who insisted they were inspired by the mythical Slender Man. The girls responsible for the attack, Morgan G. and Anissa W. of Waukesha, Wisconsin, lured their 12-year-old victim into the woods for a game of hide-and-seek after a slumber party the previous night.

“Once there, one suspect held down the victim while the other suspect stabbed the victim 19 times in the arms, legs and torso,” police said at the time. “Many of the stab wounds hit major organs, but incredibly and thankfully, the victim survived this brutal assault.”

Judge delays Slender Man stabbing case: http://t.co/8MFCj0wdYy pic.twitter.com/AxdiI59Ut5 — TODAY’S TMJ4 (@tmj4) September 21, 2015

The young victim was left to die and eventually crawled out of the woods where she was found, bleeding, by a cyclist.

Now this tale of internet characters and attempted murder is coming to the small screen.

HBO’s Beware the Slenderman is a new documentary which premiered this week and has been billed as the world’s next Making a Murderer and Jinx-style true crime obsession.

But unlike the other two series, Beware the Slenderman isn’t a who-done-it story. It’s much more.

The unnerving doco explores the horror of what happens when mental illness is coupled with the act of finding things within the darkest parts of the internet.

Its synopsis reads:

“Shot over 18 months with heartbreaking access to the families of the would-be murderers, the film plunges deep down the rabbit hole of their crime, a Boogeyman and our society’s most impressionable consumers of media.

“The entrance to the internet can quickly lead us to its dark basement, within just a matter of clicks. How much do we hold children responsible for what they find there?”

We can’t wait.

US network HBO have already snapped up rights to “Beware The Slenderman”, with an air date yet to be announced.

Until then, sleep with your lights on.

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