# Marble Hornets - did anybody here catch on to this meme?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 29, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898 "2010-06-29T04:57:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/1 "2010-06-29T04:57:24Z")
Inspired by, and found through, **Cuckoorex** ’s “Scariest Web Site” [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=568292). Browsing around the Encyclopedia Dramatica’s creepypasta entry, I stumbled across the [Marble Hornets](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmhfn3mgWUI), ostensibly the story of a guy’s investigation into why a friend of his stopped shooting his student film (“Marble Hornets”) and moved away from home.
Horrific hijinks ensue, during which a character/creature is revealed which I think has a LOT of horror-genre staying power. The Slender Man, without revealing too much, hits a lot of psychological buttons. He’s vague and mysterious. He may be deformed. Or maybe not. He’s definitely Uncanny Valley material. He’s obviously paranormal, but subtly so. He preys on children (sometimes).
He’s just a big ol’ load of creepy bastard, and we never have a clue as to why he’s doing it all.
---
### Author:  [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/2 "2010-06-29T05:14:15Z")
I learned of MH thru the ontd\_creepy Live Journal. That has been one of the few things I’ve shown my hubby that has scared him to small bits. Correct me if I’m mis-remembering this, but didn’t he [it] start out as a “let’s start a hoax!” over on [rotten.com](http://rotten.com)?
Slendy has taken on a life of his [its] own [so to speak] and I’ve seen some really amazing artwork and photography based around him [it]. Watch the whole series all the way thru even though it gets a bit slow in parts. And yes, during the daylight.
---
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/3 "2010-06-29T05:16:32Z")
I just finished up “Entry ####”, and it’s very dark out, and I have to walk outside to get back in my house. Brrrrr…
I believe it started as a thread on Something Awful.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/4 "2010-06-29T05:28:31Z")
That video’s not a screamer, is it? I hate those.
---
### Author:  [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/5 "2010-06-29T05:28:31Z")
Yeah, you’re right, it did start on SA!
---
### Author:  [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/6 "2010-06-29T05:29:35Z")
> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> That video’s not a screamer, is it? I hate those.
Nope, but it’ll might make you scream in spots :eek:
---
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/7 "2010-06-29T05:41:12Z")
> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> That video’s not a screamer, is it? I hate those.
Nope. None of that crap. It’s a story.
---
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/8 "2010-06-29T13:40:34Z")
Oh, and I much prefer the “Slender Man” construction, rather than “Slenderman”. The latter makes him sound like a lawyer.
The law offices of Slenderman, Crawley, and Phipps. Call the Hurtline.
---
### Author:  [@Ursine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursine)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/9 "2010-06-29T16:01:22Z")
It’s not only great, it’s an epochal moment in web/viral/memetic horror. The level of legitimate quality is so high, it’s _so_ scary, and it’s _such_ a product of its medium and couldn’t exist in another form.
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/10 "2010-06-29T16:19:59Z")
I watched it up to around episode 9 and gave up out of boredom. Is there some point where the “scary” is supposed to start coming in, because up to that point it seems to be sort of meandering. It seems very Blair Witch-like in the setup.
---
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/11 "2010-06-29T17:01:54Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> I watched it up to around episode 9 and gave up out of boredom. Is there some point where the “scary” is supposed to start coming in, because up to that point it seems to be sort of meandering. It seems very Blair Witch-like in the setup.
It is. It’s not a slasher. It’s not gore. It’s a Lovecraftian “my friend disappeared and now I have to find out what happened” investigative horror. I’m afraid if you don’t have the patience to make it through the collecting of the clues, you wouldn’t enjoy it anyway.
---
### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/12 "2010-06-29T17:11:50Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> I watched it up to around episode 9 and gave up out of boredom. Is there some point where the “scary” is supposed to start coming in, because up to that point it seems to be sort of meandering.
The “scary” seems to begin in Entry 14, which is as far as I’ve gotten. I can’t say it exactly has me breathless with anticipation for the rest of the sequence.
---
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/13 "2010-06-29T17:34:27Z")
Such cynicism! I’m as jaded as you guys. Just turn down the lights and let your imagination run off with you.
Another hot button the Slender Man hits is the whole “dark heart of the woods” thing. He’s almost like an avatar of Shub Niggurath or something. Or maybe Nyarlathotep. I dunno. And there’s a macabre sense of malevolent humor to him, too. I mean, he’s so _dapper_. Why?!
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/14 "2010-06-29T18:31:53Z")
> [@Ogre](#):
>
> It is. It’s not a slasher. It’s not gore. It’s a Lovecraftian “my friend disappeared and now I have to find out what happened” investigative horror. I’m afraid if you don’t have the patience to make it through the collecting of the clues, you wouldn’t enjoy it anyway.
Maybe I missed something in the setup, but this is basically the narrator going through the video tapes of a friend that got freaked out, dropped him film project, moved on with his life and gave them to the narrator. No one is dead or abducted or missing in the current context. Other than bad acting in the “Marble Hornets” production there’s not much of sense of menace (so far).
---
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/15 "2010-06-29T18:34:48Z")
> [@astro](#):
>
> Maybe I missed something in the setup, but this is basically the narrator going through the video tapes of a friend that got freaked out, dropped him film project, moved on with his life and gave them to the narrator. No one is dead or abducted or missing in the current context. Other than bad acting in the “Marble Hornets” production there’s not much of sense of menace (so far).
This is all true (except for the “menace” part). If you can’t find an unnaturally tall guy with no face who watches you in your own home menacing, well, um, I don’t suppose I can help you.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/16 "2010-06-29T21:47:54Z")
Every two minute video (at least up to #14) seems to be filled with boring filler right up until a big reveal two seconds before the end, where OMG THE SLENDER MAN IS . . . uh . . . in the far distance standing in the background/sitting in a tree/walking by the bed.
---
### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/17 "2010-06-29T22:07:46Z")
Yep, and that’s what makes it good. Would you prefer gore-filled slashers?
---
### Author:  [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/18 "2010-06-29T22:57:55Z")
I know about _him_, and it, from the TVtropes page and nothing else. And yet, he haunts my dreams nightly. God, they’re good.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/19 "2010-06-29T23:50:57Z")
> [@Ogre](#):
>
> Yep, and that’s what makes it good. Would you prefer gore-filled slashers?
I like suspense. But how can there be suspense when I already know what’s going to happen? The little Youtube slider has fifteen seconds to go and three . . . two . . . one . . . yep, there’s Max Headroom standing outside the window there.
---
### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898/20 "2010-06-30T00:51:59Z")
Of seen up to 11 and so far it has been …Subtle. Maybe Too subtle. But I did like the ending of #11. A great “reveal.”
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marble-hornets-did-anybody-here-catch-on-to-this-meme/544898.md?page=2)