Persephone's (Gothic) Insights

I like grad school because it points me in interesting directions. One such direction is the Slender Man. He's literally my homework. Up to this point, the legend of the Slender Man has preceded him; I've certainly heard of him, but never had the chance to see some of the original material that made him so famous, to begin with. Now, I've had the opportunity to sit down and watch some of it for the first time: Marble Hornets , a web series initiated on YouTube, in 2009. From what I understand of the character, this series was a response to Eric Knudsen's original character, on Something Awful , from the same year. In the case of Hornets , it isn't the "start" of such an iconic fiend (then again, perhaps neither was Knudsen. After all, the fears addressed by each are hardly new). When I look at the Slender Man, I see Legion. He is yet another manifestation of the same, basic fears— of stalking, of amnesia, of possession. All the same, the series is ra...