Slenderman: the creepy, child-snatching boogieman who was born out of Internet imagination, is once again in the headlines. Β But only because he might soon be knocking on your door, or coming to your party.
Slenderman has made the synaptic jump from obscurity to mainstream, thanks to Halloween costumes. Β And that’s a problem.
It’s a good bet that many of you had never heard of Slenderman until you heard about the two young girls in Wisconsin who stabbed a 12-year-old friend 19 times, saying they wanted to “please” the fictional character. Β The girl did survive, but some say that’s not enough to dismiss this: Slenderman costumes selling at those temporary Spirit Halloween stores. Β They say it’s in bad taste, especially since the trial is still going on.
The store’s corporate owners had this to say to HLN: “We carried the costume before the incident, and we don’t think the costume in any way condones the actions of violence.”
Keep in mind, the costume isn’t glorifying the girls. Β It’s a fictional Internet monster. Β And there are plenty of other monstrous characters out there: everything from Jason to Freddy Krueger, vampires to zombies… and keeping it 100? Β You might throw NFL players into that mix these days.
Every year somebody somewhere makes the news for having a wildly inappropriate costume. Β So what’s it going to be this year? Β Since the outfits are already on sale, Rance hit the streets to find out: what’s the worst costume you could wear this year?
