Original Mythos (Optic Nerve)

Oct. 23, 2007:

Sender: Maj. Tomas C. Witmoore

To: Col. Steven Bitman

Sub: Ongoing S. Man Investigation.

Colonel, as per your request, I am updating you as to our last investigation into the case. Having received the report from the police, we sent out a team to the last known site where the Slender Man was seen. Timeline of investigation is as follows:

0200: Car with the husband and wife pulls into the parking lot of the police station. Approx. 5 minutes later, police notice the car idling in the parking lot, and go out to investigate. The two civilians are then helped out of the car after pressure bandages are applied to their wounds, and brought into the station.

0230: After half an hour, both subjects are calmed down to the point where they could speak. Police are informed of what they were doing in the area, and why they were at the station covered in what, according to the report, was “blood, bits of human tissue, and unidentifiable pieces of what appeared to be some sort of bone or rock.”

0300: The police sent the report in to the FBI, while sending out several deputies to the area to investigate.

0315: All communication with the deputies is lost. Subjects sent to the hospital.

0330: Report comes in that the husband and wife fled from the ambulance at a red light. Location of them is still, at this time, unknown.

0400: FBI teams arrive to the police station, where they set up a perimeter around the area that the subjects had said they were camping in.

0415: First FBI team is sent in to find police deputies.

0417: Agent finds what appears to be a “clear bag, full of human intestine.”

0420: Agent finds several corpses, including the police deputies, hanging from the trees in a circular pattern. Corpses have been opened on the front, with the ribcage cut in two. Internal organs seem to be in some sort of clear bag, arranged in their proper place in the human anatomy, except for the intestines.

At this point Sir, we are contacted and asked to form a perimeter around the area. Fog continues to thicken. Nothing has been seen, as of yet, but I believe it is simply a matter of time. Requesting further instructions.

("HogX")

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("pixelbaron")

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TO: OPTIC NERVE HQ

FROM: FIELD AGENT █████, N.American branch

SUBJECT: RISING S.MAN REPORTS
DATE: JUNE 16th 2009 1243 hours

When you guys gave me this assignment back in 88 there were about, I would guess, three to maybe four S.MAN reports a year… now it’s 2009 and I’m getting hits of S.MAN sightings damn near 20 to 30 times A WEEK!

I have been on this case for the past 21 years and we are no closer to catching it or even finding out how to kill it! I have been saying for years that there has to be more than one and with these reports that flood my in-box and the things our Europe and Asian sector agents have sent I can only say that this fucker is everywhere. Either this thing is breeding or… I really don’t want to think about it.

Something Agent ████████, from the Japanese field office, told me has been kicking in my head for the past couple days. She said that maybe this thing isn’t breeding… but these others are WAKING UP. That maybe these things have been hibernating for god knows how long and how they are up and feeding. It makes some kind of sense with the stories of this thing dating back to the Dark Ages of Europe and beyond that.

That leaves the six million dollar question… if ████████’s theory is true… how many of them are there?

("BooDoug187")

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Images associated with the “Slender Man” phenomenon. Filed under S.MAN. Extracted from journal of missing person ███ ███████, female, age 23.

Multiple corresponding depictions of humanoid form, multiple mutations or deformations. Several consistent identifying markers, with other traits changing or “transforming” from image to image. Total 32 pages relevant to case.

("cloudy")

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TO: OPTIC NERVE

FROM: AGENT ████████, ASIA BRANCH

SUBJECT: INTERESTING READ

SENT: MAY 8TH, 2009

A friend of mine who works with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department sent me this article while investigating the suicide of famed manga artist Go Waita. At first I just skimmed through it but then something caught my eye. Figured someone in the S.MAN case might want to see.

TRANSLATED FROM JAPANESE HORROR FAN MAGAZINE “DEADLY DOOM DELIGHTS”

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MASTER OF EROTIC HORROR GO WAITA

by Hiro Koga

Feb 19th, 2009

Go Waita has written and drawn close to 230 guro stories in his 40 year career and in that time, he hasn’t given an interview until now! As I sit in his studio I am greeted by pictures of his most well know creation, The Suited Demon.

Koga: I like to thank you once again for inviting me into your studio. It is a real honor to be the first person to interview you!

Waita just slightly nods.

Koga: Well, I guess my first question is about your most famed creation, Suited Demon…

Waita: I didn’t create him.

Koga: Oh… well, who did? A friend?

Waita: He’s real.

Koga: Real? A creature like that is real? Raping school girls…

Waita: The sex and rape in my stories aren’t my idea. That’s something the editors and others wanted… the demon is real.

Koga: How do you know this?

Waita: I’ve seen it… it killed my sister.

Koga: You seen it kill?

Waita just looks at me. He then stands up, walks to his bookcase and pulls out a large, old sketchbook. He opens it and shows me drawings of the Suited demon carrying a young child into the woods. As I flip through the pages, the story that plays out is like one that plays out in many of Waita’s books, except no graphic sex.

Waita: The girl in those pictures is my sister. She was seven years old when the demon took her.

Koga: How did you see this happen?

Waita: I followed her and the demon into the woods. I was eleven at the time. I thought that the demon was a man… a child molester trying to harm my sister. I followed them into the woods… that’s when I watched it happen.

Koga: You didn’t try to help?

Waita: I couldn’t. I was stunned in terror when I saw its true form… when I saw it tear into her… it didn’t see me… or if it did, it didn’t care. I must have sat there for several hours because my father was the one who found me the next morning. I tried to tell the police what I saw but they said that I must have been in shock. That I must have been forced to watch some killer murder my sister.

Koga: I see… I’m sorry to bring it up… but if this haunts you… why base so many of your stories on it? Almost all your books are on this demon.

Waita: You don’t get it… it’s all I can draw…

At this time Waita looked upset. He went to his bookcase, pulling out all his sketchbooks and opening up pages of half-done works, most looking like they were the start of normal pictures, but suddenly they are invaded by the Suited Demon.

Waita: See… see… I tried to draw different things… normal pictures, portraits, even other types of stories…. but it always comes up… FOR FORTY GOD DAMN YEARS!

I could see at this point that Waita was very angry with me. I quickly left his studio. At the time of writing this, I almost scrapped this interview until he called my office, demanding that I print this.

Waita killed himself last week. When I tried to see if there was any way to see those sketchbooks, my friend with the TMPD said that Waita killed himself by setting himself and his studio on fire. I picked up several of his Suited Demon books. All of them have the same thing, S.MAN kidnapping and murdering girls in the woods (with extra panels of sex thrown in; talking with his publishers, they stated that in fact they did ask him to throw in the sex/rape aspect to the stories.)

I’m waiting for the reports to come in from the fire department to see what caused the blaze. I’m wondering if this was a suicide or if the reports will say anything about blue flames… like that house fire in 93!

("BooDoug187")

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File SM852035
Generalized description of the Slenderman

Appearance:
Tall, thin humanoid with indistinct features, with between 2 to 6 boneless arms
Torso is of normal proportion, limbs lengthened to point of mild to severe deformity
Additional arms are frequently hidden.
Appears to be wearing a suit (black tie, black pants, black coat, black shoes, white shirt)
Eyes may or may not glow.

Habits and habitat:
Known to be predatory to humans
Frequently associated with fog (Either prefers foggy areas or capable of summoning it, unknown)
Frequently associated with woodland areas.

Abilities:
No combat encounters, data or projections on record.
Strong enough to lift a fully grown man. (confirmed, incident SM165608)
Intelligence level unknown
Capable of traveling long distances, quickly without appearing to become fatigued (anecdotal)
Possibly amphibious (tenuous, assume true)
Capable of climbing with ease.

("Moto42")

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TO: OPTIC NERVE HQ

FROM: AGENT ███, N.AMERICA BRANCH

SUBJECT: AGENT ██████’S DEATH AND FUTURE OF S.MAN PROJECT

DATE: JUNE 17th, 0300 HOURS

I have to say once again Agent ██████’s suicide came as a major shock to me and everyone who had worked closely with him these past several years. He will be missed…

But I already sent you that email yesterday. This is more about the “white elephant” in the room… the S.MAN Project.

A tiny part of me felt honored to be picked to be the new lead on this, but there is a large part that is saying I should not even open file number 1!

You asked me what I thought of the Project, if there is any chance of any “good” results.

I’m going to be perfectly blunt about this… it is of my personal and professional opinion that this project should be scrapped immediately!

I have read the notes, looked through the files. There is no way on God’s green Earth we will be able to do anything to stop this thing. In all my years with working cases for Optic Nerve I have seen things and proven many times before that supposed “Gods” can be killed.

But this… Slender Man… there is nothing in any records of anything even remotely hurting it. Reports ranging from small arms fire, artillery fire (the report from that Nazi artillery team… that’s what made me think about this)… even full-scale forest fires don’t do anything!

This is a complete and total waste of time and manpower. There is nothing you can say to me, or anyone in this branch, that will make us change our minds. In a sick, sad way, the only thing we can do is keep a record of this thing.

We can’t kill it
No way in hell we can capture it

Unless a miracle happens and someone, somehow, puts a dent in the thing, I consider this case to be changed from SEARCH/CAPTURE/DESTROY to OBSERVE/RECORD/STUDY.

TO: AGENT ███, N.AMERICA BRANCH

FROM: OPTIC NERVE HQ

SUBJECT: RE: AGENT ██████’S DEATH AND FUTURE OF S.MAN PROJECT

DATE: JUNE 17th, 1300 HOURS

AFTER READING YOUR REPORT AND CONSIDERING ALL ROUTES AND ACTIONS, WE CONCLUDED THAT YOUR SUGGESTION OF CLASSIFYING THIS AS AN O/R/S IS REALLY THE ONLY LOGICAL CHOICE.

AS OF TODAY, THE S.MAN PROJECT WILL BE AN O/R/S UNTIL RESULTS SHOW OTHERWISE.

WE HERE IN THE ON HQ FEEL THAT IN SOME WAY WE LET AGENT ██████ DOWN BY DOING THIS… BUT THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.

OPTIC NERVE OUT

{END OF TRANSMISSION}

("BooDoug187")

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Assessment Number: 19-9300-24857a
Status: Eyes Only
Subject: S-MAN

At 0440 on February 22, [REDACTED] gas station in [REDACTED], Pennsylvania activated a silent alarm indicating a robbery in progress to the local police.
Officers D[REDACTED] M[REDACTED] and P[REDACTED] H[REDACTED] arrived on the scene at 0453.
D.M. and P.H. did not see the perpetrator nor the proprietor from the lot.
A procedural search of the premises did not turn up anyone.
There was no evidence of a struggle.
The register was intact.
The safe was not touched.
Surveillance video was mostly static.
Whether this was due to faulty equipment, poor procedures, or “other interference”, they were not able to determine.
Attached are the only two frames that were recovered.
We have obtained the original tapes and are performing our own recovery efforts. See project L-4809334.
Note that the attendant L[REDACTED] C[REDACTED] is still missing, presumed dead.

("Aleph Null")

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TO: OPTIC NERVE HQ

FROM: AGENT ████████████, N.AMERICA BRANCH

SUBJECT: E-MAIL FROM ██████ RETRIEVED FROM AGENT ██████’S COMPUTER

DATE: JUNE 18th, 0930 HOURS

This was just emailed to ██████. It’s the old man’s answer to the mail ██████ sent him two weeks ago. Thought it pertinent.

Re: I just thought of something, need your thoughts

Agent,

I apologize for not being able to respond sooner and hope you are doing well.

I appreciate you contacting me about this concern of yours, but let me be absolutely clear: it is my belief that the scenario you are describing is absolutely impossible. While The Slender Man can take on human appearance, the idea that he could mimic a team member of yours is unthinkable. Let me walk you through my reasoning.

If the figure depicted on “Der Ritter” is indeed The Slender Man, as I insist it is, then we know that it has not always worn a suit, but rather, in the medieval ages, a suit of armor. This, not to mention the title of the woodcut, would make it quite clear that it was trying to mimic a knight. Knights, as I am sure you know, were the elite class of soldiers doing the bidding of barons and kings in the Feudal Age. If The Slender Man wanted to appear not only human, but a part of the human elite, why not go higher? Why not a baron? Because it can’t, quite obviously. It can appear quite human, at least from a distance, but up close it could never fool anyone, and it knows this. Thus it settled for being a knight, who sometimes even wore full helmets, in an attempt to appear inconspicuous yet not undesirable.

So the question follows: who are the most powerful yet faceless people today? Men in suits, of course.

I hope this puts your mind at ease, and again I wish you luck in your efforts. Do not hesitate to contact me again if you have any more questions.

Yours Truly,

█████████ ███ ███████

("Jesus is colorblin")

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Date: Oct. 28th, 2007

Sender: Maj. Tomas C. Witmoore

To: Col. Steven Bitman

Sub: Ongoing S. Man Investigation

Sir, as you requested, I am sending you another update. We’ve received yet another report of the Slender Man appearing. This time, it seems to have shown up near the edge of the Yellowstone National Park. Our analyst seems to think it may prefer to be near/around trees, as the body type of it appears to blend well with the trees. I have taken over as the head of this task force, and I am doing my best to keep things under control. The loss of the first team we sent in on the 23rd of October to attempt to remove the bodies that were discovered, is a shocking event. One that touched the people working on this task force deeply.

As to why so many of them committed suicide, I cannot say at this time. I reviewed their files extensively after the autopsies. All came back as confirmed suicide. None of the five men that committed suicide had any notes in their profiles to suggest suicidal tendencies. The psychological examination that everyone undergoes showed no suggestion of any mental disorder that might have pushed them to end their own lives. Investigation into this is still ongoing; we are interviewing family members and friends at this time.

I have sent in a suggestion to cease any further attempt to remove the bodies from the trees in which they were found.

The sixth man, Sgt. Conner, is currently in the hospital on base. He has been heavily sedated every hour, on the hour, after the incident. I have received the reports of the doctor on call at the time of the incident, and the report indicates that reattachment of his tongue is impossible due to the damage caused by his teeth. The report states that the tongue was beyond repair. We are currently discussing which mental health facility he will be sent to for evaluation after he recovers. Despite what he had done to his brother, the psychologist we had brought in to evaluate him has stated that he has not been in a normal frame of mine for quite some time. I would venture as to say since the failed attempt at the body recovery.

Further information will be sent to you as I receive it.

---

To: Col. Steven Bitman

Sub: Ongoing S. Man Investigation

The latest attempt to study the Slender Man was a disaster. I was adamant in my belief that trying to enclose the Slender Man into a contained area would be a mistake. Timeline of the incident is as follows:

0600: Task force, with Major Thompson in command, arrives in area where Slender Man was last sighted. Perimeter is starting to be established.

0620: Temporary HQ for analysts and equipment is starting to be established. Perimeter is still not complete.

0645: Perimeter is established. Men are sent out to set up weapons and equipment for recording and analyzing.

0700: Three men sent into the area inside the Perimeter to set up motion-sensitive video camera, thermal camera, sound recording devices.

0705: The three men return, having finished their task. Reported seeing ‘wisps of fog near the bases of the trees.’

0705-0750: Nothing of note. Wisps of fog appear at tree line. No other movement or unusual sound noted.

0815: First of the sound recording devices picks up unusual sound. Described as ‘small children laughing.’ Noted that it sounded as if there was more than one child.

0823: The motion-sensitive cameras are activated simultaneously. Nothing of note except fog. Children’s laughter continues off and on, several minutes between it being heard.

0852: First camera on north-eastern edge of the perimeter captures footage of Slender Man. Appears to be looking directly at the camera.

0900: Second and third cameras both capture video of Slender Man. Second camera is in the south-west area. Third in the north-west edge. Both recorded images nearly simultaneously.

0925: All recording equipment is disabled. Repeated attempts at contact fail.

1000: Recovery teams discover the corpses of the first task force. Major Thompson found alive underneath a fallen pile of sandbags.

---

Date: Nov 15th, 2007

Sender: Maj. Tomas C. Witmoore

To: Col. Steven Bitman

Sub: Ongoing S. Man Investigation

I apologize for not sending you a response sooner. I have been informed that my visit to the doctor about my recent insomnia has been sent to you. Sir, dealing with the aftermath of the last attempt to analyze the Slender Man has been very difficult. Though the scientists say the video and sound that was recorded is important, I do not find this to be very comforting over the fact that we lost over a dozen lives.

As to the question of what exactly was gained, I honestly cannot say. After many hours of studies, the exact nature of the Slender Man is still in question. Nothing has shown how it moves, or if it breathes, or what it exactly looks like, nor how it seems to be surrounded by fog when it appears. It has been suggested that it might be able to find fog banks. Some sort of defensive mechanism, perhaps. Personally, Sir, I do not believe it feels any need for a defensive mechanism.

More information will be sent after today’s meeting.

---

Date: Nov. 29th , 2007

Sender: Maj. Tomas C. Witmoore

To: Col. Steven Bitman

Sub: Ongoing S. Man Investigation

Sir, I have recently visited Major Thompson. Our conversation follows. Note that he wrote down his responses.

Witmoore: Steven, thank you for seeing me. I was thinking you’d deny a visit again. I will make a deal with you. I will be completely honest with you if you ask me a question –if you will do the same with me.

Thompson: Yes.

Witmoore: The video on the cameras was recovered, but it cut off before the attack occurred. Can you tell me what happened?

Thompson: It came. It came to us.

Witmoore: It approached and attacked?

Thompson: It appeared. No movement. Never saw it move. It was in one place, then another place. No movement.

Witmoore: Did it have any weapons? The bodies of the soldiers showed no marks that would resemble that of a knife or wounds of a gun.

Thompson: It came and they died as it did. They couldn’t fire at it.

Witmoore: Did it touch them?

Thompson: I don’t know. I heard them fall down. Heard them die. The rattle of their breath.

Witmoore: Did it leave once they all died?

Thompson: No. It drew a line on their bodies, and they opened.

Witmoore: What do you mean opened? It removed their vests?

Thompson: Like a flower. Like a door. It drew a line down, and they opened. It watched as they opened, and began to work.

At this point, he refused to answer anymore questions, and I left shortly after.

("MonkeyMaker")