Slender Man: More Effective than Bees

I had NO idea there was a “Slender Man” legend out there until very recently.  It’s excellent and I wish it was around to terrify me when I was a child!  Why wouldn’t I?  I think being afraid of alien abductions, robots, bees, midgets and genetic mishaps has helped form a healthy appreciation for things around me.

Slender man is a super thin, tall man with no facial features who wears a black suit; you can see him in the background of photos with children – because he’s a stalker who enjoys traumatizing and occasionally abducting children.  Genius!  I think the idea came from a computer game, but I’m less interested in that and more interested in the level of creepiness compared to my own childhood terrors.

When I was a kid my dad told me to “beware the Manahoonies!”  According to my dad- the Manahoonies were midgets who lived in Hawaii, and if you opened your eyes while you were in bed and saw one, they would steal you in the middle of the night and you’d never see your family again.  This might have been told to me around the same time I watched the Wizard of Oz because the idea of little people taking me to a magical land was actually kind of enticing and I secretly wanted to see a Manahoonie. 

 

“Killer Bees from Africa” was a fairly successful tactic to get me in the house when it got dark.  I’m not sure why I was told they only came out at night, but I’d listen for their buzzing and come running.  Fortunately I never ran into any killer bees – but I did try catching a bumble bee once.  Why are they so fuzzy and cute if they don’t want you to pet them?!
 
Then came the “Wampus Cat”.  A genetic nightmare -  part bear, part cat, only partially scary.  The Wampus Cat lives outside and when it gets dark it’s drawn to the lights in houses and lurks under trees waiting for unsuspecting children to come outside.  Actually less effective than the bees, mostly because I figured out my dad was the one hiding, growling – and then coming in to laugh at me.  At least bees don’t growl. Or laugh.

Back to Slender Man...  Even as an adult, I’m marginally afraid I’ll see Slender Man in my photo’s but no longer afraid of bees from Africa.  I’d say Slender Man is slightly more effective than bees, and extremely more effective than magical Manahoonies from Hawaii…