The Paranormal and Me

Last week I posted a review of Slenderman's computer game, which had me sitting as far away from the screen as possible with the volume turned way down as I navigated his forest maze of atmospheric horror. One of the reasons the myth is so addictively frightening to everyone since he emerged online is the idea that the more you know about him, the more interested he is in you, So if you're reading about him he's probably watching you, standing quietly behind you right now as you read this sentence.

And so it's time for my ghost story of the day (which I swear is 100% true). Yesterday I was walking home from the gym in the dark and I noticed the Slenderman symbol (a circle with a cross through it) spray-painted on a fence with the words "FOUND YOU" sprayed beneath in eerily large and spiky letters. I won't say it didn't give me a shock. But I also felt exhilarated for several reasons. Clearly other people are interested enough in obscure stuff to risk getting fined in an attempt to freak out other obscure stuff enthusiasts. Also I thought maybe I was experiencing a genuine encounter with the paranormal. I tried to take a picture of this piece of memetic street-art with my phone and found that it didn't show up on the screen - the way vampires don't show up in mirrors or photos or whatever it is they used to do before they just sparkled and moped. So either I hallucinated what was on that fence, or more likely it wasn't there because my phone camera is just a piece of shit that doesn't work in the dark even with a streetlight shining on what I was trying to capture. Or maybe Slenderman is fucking with me. Who knows?

It just goes to show that sometimes things show up where you least expect them to. I don't generally expect some obscure fact I'm blogging about to appear sprayed on a wall near my house, for much the same reason that I'm surprised when two people I know from very different circumstances turn out to have been best friends since childhood. It's so unlikely that it's almost a religious experience. Or fate. Or aliens...

Cue the X Files theme (dadadadadada woooooooo weeeeeee wooooooo weeeeeeee).