What Are Your Experiences With Internet-Based Urban Legends? (2024)

I have heard of Slenderman before reading this article. The Slenderman game was popular among my peers a couple months ago. I do not think that Internet-based horror and other memes pose danger in real life because anything read on the Internet should be taken with a grain a salt. The Internet and social media has drastically changed the way stories are passed down. Technology allows stories to be quickly spread and while this is great for passing along information, it is difficult to maintain the details of a story. The more a story is told, the more likely for its plot to be tweaked. By being able to post or read a scary story or rumor online, people are more likely to believe it because some people believe that anything posted on the Internet is true. When hearing it told to you or in a small group of people, you are able to see the expression on the storyteller’s face and it is easier to distinguish the lies from a story.

The popularity of online storytelling is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the rise in internet legend has made the oral tradition, or at least a permutation of it, vastly popular with a newer generation. Stories like La Llorona The Crying Woman, are coming to the fore front of young minds. The back side of the issue, though, is how these stories are changed, at times negligently, from their original form. Stories that were preserved for hundreds of years with only minor changes are now changed at a whim with each new post. In addition, new myths or folktales are created with equal disregard for the historical weight of oral tradition. Growing up with stories like La Llorona was an important part of learning life lessons and history. Seeing stories that I loved as a child distorted by the perils of online immediacy and human disregard makes me worry about the future of traditional storytelling.

The Internet has always been a faster way to post and spread information. Scary stories or myths are one of the many examples of shared information on the Internet and social media. They have drastically due to rapid and widespread posting. Apart from those examples, stories have also been changed due to the alterations and falsehoods people insert into the stories. Stories on the Internet have become just like rumors, every time they are passed on they change in one way or another. The original story will always be completely different from how it was originally told.

Slenderman is not a meme I’ve heard of honestly, as I don’t go around aimlessly looking for things that scare me. But I do find these horror stories to be dangerous in real life, whether or not their origins were found online or from an elderly down the street. Why you ask? Well because once you know a legend, a rumor, or a joke, it’s hard to forget it. I know that every time I walk into a restroom and the lights are off, I will think “Bloody Mary”, when I go into the woods I will laugh and say, “Hey, where’s Bigfoot?” As the internet advances, stories are no longer sacred. These legends don’t have to be heard on a stormy night, around a glistening fire, eating s’mores because we have it at our fingertips. When it’s online and you’re alone, it’s scary. But with the comfort of friends, we all can laugh and get over it. Perhaps that is what we lose, sanity.

Internet-based horror stories pose a danger in real life. Acting like a character can go wrong in many ways. A lot of accidents happen when people try to do pranks and scare one another. Internet characters give people ideas. For example, when kids play violent video games, they tend to be a violent person. So, if all you’re reading and feeding your brain with crimes, it can lead to kidnappings and stabbings. Of course this doesn’t happen to all people, but there is still a small chance it can. Horror stories also make people paranoid. It can scare people, and the littlest thing will make them want to attack. Simple things can trigger fears and make them either harm themselves or other people around. Many people interpret stories differently, and it can lead to danger in certain circumstances.

Before reading this article, I’ve long known about Slenderman due to the endless long wasted hours of searching for Creepypastas throughout my 8th grade and high school years. Realistically, anyone could’ve made up stories posing no threat whatsoever. But to ignore humanity’s ability to conjure tragic events is a grave mistake. Internet based horrors, I believe, can be more than just modern paranormal ghost stories such as Ben Drowned and Herobrine. It can also be chilling realistic scenarios that can happen to anyone such as Dear Abby or mental disorders that affect how one perceives the world such as Hallucination and Schizophrenia. Other times, it reveals some strong historical references such as the Russian Sleep Experiment and the Nazi human experiments in Kagome Kagome. I can sit here all day and tell you all about the supposedly mass suicides committed by children because of the Lavender Town Syndrome, the five ways to the Gateway of the Mind, and how Pinky Pie dismembered Rainbow Dash in Cupcakes, but they are all over the internet and it would benefit the both of us if you looked it up yourself. Anyone can copy and paste a block of text and the stories would spread like a wildfire. It isn’t as if fairy tales weren’t altered drastically. Take the original Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella for example. Instead of orally, however, stories are passed through texts that float through the internet forever. While original fairy tales are lost forever, original Creepypastas can be found if someone wanted to find it.

Unlimited access to the Internet and social media has allowed stories to be twisted and oral traditions to fade. There’s no way to know if the stories that are being passed down were told to our parents or posted by some stranger twenty minutes ago. The Internet isn’t a completely reliable source for true folklore.

Slenderman is a worldwide internet folklore phenomenon. I never really understood why the story was such a big deal, but I frequently came across the story of Slenderman. Internet-made myths and horror stories do pose a threat, but not from the actual story. The internet highly influences people, and it can influence them in the wrong way. These internet-made myths and horror stories are dangerous because of the people reading them. There have been many occurrences where people have gotten hurt because they think it is their job to make these stories real. There are many unexplainable stories because of social media. I am a frequent Twitter user, and there are many accounts that are based off of horror stories and legends. Due to social media, it is easy to change up a story by modifying it from the original. There is more that is lost than what is gained. The art of traditional storytelling is dwindling down to nothing due to Internet-made stories.

I have heard of Slenderman before. However, I did hear about this folk story from a very superstitious friend of mine. I usually don’t believe anything that he says, considering the fact that the majority of the stories that he tells are lies. I think that these internet-based horror stories do pose a threat to real society because these types of stories lead people to false beliefs. These false beliefs, could eventually lead to harsh behavior or social issues. Real or not, the stories would either give us a fear of something not there or a heads up on something that could be there.

Yes, I have heard of the legend “Slenderman”. In this case I believe that internet based horror stories cannot do much harm in real life, unless people think too much about them and just take what they read too far. I think that we all believe in different things, that may include family legends such as the “boogey man” for little kids, and it may go up to “la llorona” for others. Some other things that people might think of as strange would be all the UFO sightings around the world. Another creepy figure in the internet based horror would probably be “Eyeless Jack”. The internet has changed the stories passed down generation to generation by making movies for all to see, and by posting the stories on the internet so that in the future we may have reference to them and in fact show what our parents had shown to us. With the internet we just have to say “go look it up on Google”. The sad fact of it is that when reading a story online there is no suspense in it if a person wanted they could just skip to the end and see who dies and how. When being told a story one must wait to hear what happens next to a person and how it happens. I say the best way to get the story would probably be to hear it from someone who has heard it themselves and can remember it well.

Internet-based urban legends are quite a trend on the internet as users constantly surf the web, looking for thing such as cup-stacking otters to the artificial Slenderman. These stories that spread online are viewable to everyone that has access to the internet, and things often get out of hand. There is a majority of schizophrenic psychos that roam this Earth and take these stories seriously, indulging themselves as if they’re role-playing a Scooby Doo episode. These people that choose to believe that these myths are real most likely haven’t done any research that could prove the legitimacy of these stories such as the Loch Ness monster or the Boogeyman, and potentially go on a life-time adventure that leads to no end. Of course, there could be exceptions and loop-holes that could possibly work its way around to proving that it is real such as conspiracy theories, but who in the world would believe in an internet urban legend that was already proven fictional by the creator? The inventors of these myths should be given a standing ovation for fooling society with their creative creepypasta, or scary stories that are copied and pasted all over the internet. With more innovative technology that can release information with a press of a button, these stories can be published and passed down through the billions of web pages and users that stream through bytes of information every second. Social media outlets such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., cause these folktales to spread like wildfire, flaming the internet world with trolls and whatnot. The ways of storytelling has changed, from the traditional stories told by tribes of the Native Americans and Aborigines hundreds of years ago, to the horror-thrilling short stories that spreads like a pandemic on the internet’s public domain. The enigmatic future that lies ahead for us gullible human beings could cause more chaos than we already deal with now.

I first heard of Slenderman on internet memes and YouTube videos much before this article. The internet doesn’t bring out the same hype of myths like in the real life. It doesn’t give you the chills like when your mother would tell stories of La Llorona or of El Chupacabras. All these folktales are brought up by a group of people and are passed down as myths whether they are real or not. The internet is the same, you make up a story and if people believe you it spreads. Much of the time folktales are made up to scare people or to mess with their brain. There have been times when people claim that they have seen the loch ness monster or big foot, but they can’t prove that they’re real.

I heard of Slenderman in middle school when my friends told me to look him up on YouTube videos. I didn’t know it was an actual myth. It was just a game that made you fear for your life. No way to beat it.
When scary stories are told in a group setting it is usually because there’s a special occasion: campfire, stormy night or at a sleepover. Once the words start flowing out of the speakers’ mouth the atmosphere changes, the lights darken and all the emotions are controlled by the puppeteer and his story.
On the other hand, thanks to the internet everything personal about traditional oral story telling is gone. People read scary stories every day for any reason. You can exit halfway and watch funny cat videos to ease the tension. It is no longer something sacred and ritualized in our generation.
I don’t believe that online myths cause any danger. It is the people that read them and believe the stories that cause danger. People have gone to dangerous places like the woods trying to confirm or disprove the old legends. Ho w is it the legends fault that person got eaten? It didn’t make them do anything. Scary stories do not cause people to stab others. The only ones to blame are the ones that take these myths to a new level of horror.

When people share their horror stories on the internet it’s as if they are sharing them with the whole world. So in a way the spookiness of each story is lost compared to telling the same story around a campfire. At the same time, though, because of so many opinions coming in from all over the place, we find out if each story is real or fake. We also start coming up with more credulous versions of the story. So, with the help of the internet people have communicated and shared ideas, facts and opinions with each other.

The internet has changed the way stories are passed on by way of speed and atmosphere. In the past stories would’ve taken a lot longer to circulate. Stories that would’ve taken a week or two to get around can be heard by a much larger group within hours. The way stories are told is different as well. Before the internet, horror stories or legends would be passed on to each generation. They were told in the dark, on stormy nights, when a bunch of friends were having a sleepover. Now, there is no place for these stories. There is no feeling in the air to start it off. Instead these stories are told at random by a Facebook post.

Internet-based horror and other memes pose danger in real life, because some people take things in a way that will bother them later in the day. People put the power of their mind to make the horror story true. Since fear only exists in the mind of the person who is calling for it, people tend to bring danger to themselves.
The internet also changes the way that stories are passed down, now people don’t sit down with their peers, to exchange horror stories, instead they just look the legends up on the internet. These stories have been passed down from generation to generation; the internet has changed the tradition in which they used to be shared. This has created a new conflict where people change the stories by making them more dramatic or realistic.

I learned about Slenderman because my older cousin tried to scare me by showing me this urban legend, he succeeded. My first encounter with the urban legend was in a story called “creepy pasta”. In the story it tells you about Slenderman and his abilities.In the stories it says he is of unknown origin, and he can use his many tentacle-like limbs protruding from his back to ensnare his victims. He is said to only go after children who disobey their parents and any person who knows about him; its said that he thrives on the thoughts of others who believe in his existence.other sources states that anywhere that there is a sighting, Slenderman leaves a trace of unidentifiable element and people have come to call element X, But this is all made-up by a person having a Monster induced night of insomnia, and should not be taken seriously.

Internet and social media have changed the way stories are passed down. Man people may like to change the story to how they want it to be and it would be easy for them to do since anyone can post anything on the internet and social media. If you go and search something up you can get many different answers that’s why internet and social media aren’t always the best source to trust and get stories from. Internet –based horror and/or other memes pose danger in real life. If a person is reading a story they’re traumatized by the story and then exposed to mental and physical issues. Once they see all this horror movies or stories some people want to go and try it out in real life. This causes danger for the rest of us because if they learn crime from the stories and go out to do it, we could be the victim in their crimes.

Internet based horror, telling horror stories, and even internet memes are all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Of course it can be funny to scare your friend, parents or siblings, seeing them jump out of fear, or seeing someone pee themselves can be very funny to post on the social media. Although some people are very gullible and will believe the things you tell them, there have been stories that people have had heart attacks or get traumatized. For example there is a game on the internet called, “The scary maze game.” A guy posted on YouTube where he plays the game, once he beats the last level a scary face pops up with loud screaming which startles him, he then punches the computer screen, and his fists go through it. Therefore, scary stories and rumors can lead to someone getting hurt.

I actually had heard about slenderman before this and I do think that many people of my age have. I think one of the main themes of internet based folklore is the fact that one story could be known by many very quickly. In fact I knew about it days after it exploded on the internet. What is lost however by reading about stories on the internet is how it is told. Human emotion and reactions to the story are sadly lost in this way, and to such a good story. A story focusing on the human fear of the unknown.

I first read about Slenderman via a friend’s Facebook post. She was referring to the game “Slenderman”, and commenting on how horrified she was of it. Out of curiosity, i decided to download it, and my knowledge of the internet legend grew from there. Over time, Slenderman has made its way into our normal lives. As our society becomes more developed, forms of entertainment such as urban legends will be passed down differently. This is not necessarily a bad change because it still meets the primary purpose of entertainment. Stories will be changed regardless of whether they are told in person, or online. What changed was how rapidly these stories are passed down.

Anyone who has browsed the internet has at least seen him or heard of Slenderman. My first encounter was from watching a YouTuber by the name of Pewdiepie, playing the Slender game. Memes serve no danger to anyone in real life; they are just little jokes to mess with people though some people do take it seriously. Other stories well to list a few; Jeff the killer, The Rake, Ben Drowned, etc. The Internet hasn’t change the stories in it self, but people have changed the way they are read. They are still scary, but it depends on the atmosphere you are in.

I learned about Slenderman when playing what I thought was a simple game on the internet. I didn’t understand what the big deal was. When I asked my brother who he was, he explained he was a man who many feared. A shadowy figure that only came out late at night and terrified many people.
After hearing many different responses, I decided to research information about who he really was. There were so many different stories that I didn’t know which one to believe. However, if someone were to hear that one story, they may have believed it. Social media not only as changed the story, but has also changed the way people think of him. Many people still spread their beliefs, even though theses stories are not all true.