Charlize Week 7: Chills
If you asked seven-year-old me what her deepest fear was, she’d probably say the darkness. Pitch black nothingness; the formless entity that lives in the corridor halls, engulfing anything and everything.. But it wasn’t so much the darkness itself that I feared; it was more so…
Slenderman.
A humanoid silhouette who is typically six to seven feet tall, yet with eerily elongated limbs and a blank slate of face without any facial features; this creature was anything but human. Perhaps the fear amplified by the uncanny valley effect is how that THING left its terrifying imprint in my young, impressionable mind. What if he spawns in my house one day, accoutered in a pristine tuxedo, and begins rapping at my chamber door??? Gahh…
Stepping away from creepypastas, America’s urban legends have plenty of horrors to satiate anyone’s thrill for fear. Take the Mothman, first sighted in West Virginia with glistening red eyes and unproportionally massive wings. The infamous Sasquatch has been a staple in American folklore, roaming in the mountains of the U.S. What about wendigos that resemble emaciated corpses or shape-shifting skin-walkers that have been gaining popularity as internet cryptids? And let us not forget about Herobrine…
But what many don’t realize is some of these existences aren’t merely just internet legends—there is often real cultural significance that is washed away as these beings become mainstream horror fiction.
Originating from Algonquin (indigenous tribe of the Great Lakes Region) legends, wendigos are not deer-headed bipedal creatures that you see from a quick search, rather ravenous, human-like entities with frozen hearts that actively seek out human flesh. Although there isn’t agreement on whether wendigos from evil spirit possession or as a punishment, the general consensus is wendigos embody the sins of greed (or sins of straight up cannibalism, as the brutal Northeastern winters might cause one to attempt human flesh consumption). The widespread interpretation of wendigos fails to acknowledge the moral lesson behind this legend.
As for skinwalkers, these beings are culturally specific to the Navajo tribe. Unlike popular depiction as werewolves, skinwalkers are witches with the ability to shapeshift into animals. These powers are gained from being a former healer, or after murdering a companion and wearing the “skin” of a predator to gain its abilities, thus why the Navajo people are unable to wear the pelts of wolves or bears. Skinwalkers kill ruthlessly in order to sustain their own life force, so Navajo people refrain from discussion about these witches in fear of being targeted. Such online prevalence of a “taboo” subject for Navajos is quite disrespectful to their culture—to other people, skinwalkers are just another silly cryptid that one might scoff at.
And so, these cultural entities are physically changed to resemble more well-known beasts like werewolves to cater to a larger audience, eventually stripping away all indigenous ties as culture becomes entertainment, with nothing remaining besides intriguing “exoticness.”
Still, online communities are in no shortage of wonderful, grotesque beings, brought to life from creative minds and aren’t necessarily cultural appropriation (such as my personal favorite, TUMOR HEAD)!
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Thankfully, I have come to realize that Slenderman showing up uninvited would be just as likely as Santa personally delivering holiday presents. Safe in the comfort of my illuminated room, I am finally able to enjoy some creepypastas without the looming presence of Schlankwald.
Hi Charlize! I never realized how many of our urban legends today are based on stories in other cultures. I remember being so afraid of Slenderman when I was younger; I would have nightmares about getting chased by him and wake up in a sweat. (Yikes, that’s embarrassing…) It seems that America likes, as a general rule of thumb, to take something from another culture and water it down to make it more palatable. It’s interesting to think about how America is advertised as a melting pot of different cultures, yet attempts to cultivate one that is as homogenous as possible. Mothman, for example, is originally a frightening creature, but has become a Build-A-Bear creation, cute and fluffy. I’m pretty sure that’s not what Mothman is supposed to look like. I also see creatures like skinwalkers in popular culture and media, and yet they include no reference to the source material of the Navajo. On second thought, maybe it’s because America is home to so many diverse cultures that it feels okay to borrow from any one of them. Hmm…
ReplyDeleteHi Charlize! The second I saw the preview of your blog, I knew that I would enjoy it immensely. I have forever been obsessed with the genre of horror, ever since I was little. Back then, I wasn’t technically allowed to read horror stories or watch anything particularly scary, because my parents knew that I would be scared afterwards, but my fear never stopped me from returning to my favorite horror novels.
ReplyDeleteNow, many years later, I am able to appreciate horror as more than just something that kept me awake at night when I was younger. I believe that this genre is so much deeper and more intricate than the typical monsters, spirits, legends, etc. However, what I didn’t realize is that the history behind each legend runs so deep. It is so genuinely cool that not only are skinwalkers derived from the Navajo tribe, but the term skinwalker itself has completely different meanings in Navajo culture than in other cultures, and that wendigos are flesh-seeking creatures that represent greed and/or cannibalism.
Hi Charlize! I totally relate to your fears of Slenderman.. I still remember a couple years ago when there was an online craze about him. The only memory I have of that time was that I was watching a YouTuber play a Roblox game with Slenderman in it and I was traumatized to say the least…
ReplyDeleteI think it’s interesting how we pull monsters from different cultures and folklores but we almost always somehow lose most of its cultural meaning. On a similar note to skinwalkers and werewolves that you mentioned, I find vampires also very interesting because their origin stories are so far reached from how we view vampires today. Back in the early 17th and 18th centuries in New England (other countries have different origin stories, but I personally really like this one), bodies were being found without blood and seemingly did not decompose, and even though the bodies were confirmed to be cases of tuberculosis, the townsfolk had to justify these mysteries by putting the blame on mythological creatures. Today, the image of vampires is vastly different because we see them as blood-sucking monsters with a black cape, pale skin, and fangs that come out when the clock strikes 12, without knowing the true meaning of where it’s derived from.
Even though it’s kind of disappointing, I think it’s inevitable that culture is lost within American tradition because America is such a diverse country, meaning that it is hard to remain a deep meaning of things especially when there’s no fact checker.
Wonderful blog, Charlize! Now this makes me want to look into the lore of the monsters from Hotel Transylvania…
I’ve always found horror to be such a profoundly interesting genre of media. I’ve always been too scared to indulge in more than a light-ARG style type of horror (even to this day), but I definitely understand where the enjoyment comes from in the genre of horror. Ghost stories and urban legends have kept people entertained (and scared) for possibly as long as civilization has existed, and the ones in America are no different.
ReplyDeleteI can see how these urban legend characters get muddled and watered-down over time; it seems to be a general trend especially in the United States to want to appeal to the masses—rainbow washing, politically-lukewarm opinion-free movies, corporate language to the point of redundancy, etc. But it gets to a point where we miss the original intent of what we’re trying to make appealing. Urban legends weren’t created to be appealing, they were created to be scary, and scary for genuine reasons.