![]() Slender Man more resembles an example of contemporary legends, which “circulate now and are set in the relatively recent past. They imply belief or the possibility of belief, making up stories about the world and are available for debate,” he said. “For folklorists, legend is a narrative that is set in real historical time and in a real place. In his presentation, Belief in the Digital Age, Tolbert addressed how belief works in digital environments, focusing much of his attention on Slender Man.ĭuring his presentation, he explained how this topic aligns with what scholars in his field refer to as legend. Tolbert offered a glimpse into the phenomenon of the Slender Man and the digital world of supernatural belief during a presentation as part of the Penn State Harrisburg Capital Connections series. Over time, the fictional traits of the story became blurred with reality for some people, connecting the phenomenon to real-world events and tragedies. Despite coming from an online forum with clear origins as a fictional story, Slender Man has things in common with pre-existing belief traditions, according to Tolbert. Slender Man, arguably the most famous internet-originated monster, resembles a faceless, skinny, and overly tall man in a suit. ![]() ![]() ![]() Tolbert looks at spirituality and supernatural belief as other ways of “knowing,” specifying that “supernatural doesn’t mean ‘bad’ or ‘untrue ’ it just refers to these kinds of experiences that aren’t able to be quantified in a way that satisfies Western science.”īecause of his interest in the supernatural, Tolbert gravitated towards the Slender Man phenomenon. “When we look at science in the West as the only true form of knowledge, we tend to be dismissive of other kinds of knowledge that science can’t address,” Tolbert said. He is interested in how folklore interacts with media, such as video games and the horror genre of entertainment. Jeffrey Tolbert, assistant professor of American studies and folklore in Penn State Harrisburg’s School of Humanities, is a folklorist examining vernacular belief and the manifestations of folklore within popular culture. ![]()
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