The Internet is The New Woods (Monsters, Ostension, & Moral Panics)
Digital Folklore
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The Tulpa Theory of the Slender Man
Some of the more absurd evolutions of the Slender Man do make him less scary. But it's that very nature of having those holes in the plot, those spaces in which anyone can freely invent new facets of the lore that has kind of given Slender Man immortality. The Tulpa theory is essentially giving this metaphorical body not to the Slender man himself but to all of the attention and creative energy surrounding him. It's like a metaphor for folkloric process at large. If the Slenderman is really a Tulpa that subsists and grows off of the attention that it is given then the mere act of discussion is a contribution to the monster.
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