2012, November (ca.): A Disquieting Encounter

It was around 4:00PM one November day when Monique Jones took her dog for a walk. Jones (and her dog) lived in Shenstone, Staffordshire, England, a semi-rural town, and there were lots of fields nearby full of paths perfect for dog walks.

        As they walked, the sun was setting and a mist had rolled in. Jones' small dog "became agitated" for some reason and pulled Jones along the path; and, as they continued, Jones felt herself becoming more and more uncomfortable. She was feeling very alone and noticed that, despite the usual presence of lots of other people walking their dogs on the path, she couldn't see or hear anyone at that time... she was becoming uneasy with the outing, and was about to turn back.

        Then there was a 'man' standing off the path, facing her. This figure was very tall. He had no hair, and no features on his face. He appeared to be "dressed in a wet suit," as the rest of his body was just black. His arms dangled limply at his sides, and seemed to be "far too long for a person."

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        For a time, Jones and this strange man just stood looking at each other... then the man started to spin, his arms raising up as he spun faster of their own accord.

        Jones ran, pulling her dog behind her; the animal was barking loudly, and didn't want to follow her. She stopped for a moment to look back; the man had vanished. There was no where in the field to hide quickly, and he would have been visible if he was trying to run somewhere: instead, he was just gone. She ran to the field's gate and looked back again; there was still nothing anywhere in the field. Her home was only a minute away, and nothing strange further occurred.

        That same evening, Jones was speaking to her daughter, who was living in Japan at the time and, as it was on her mind, she described her strange encounter to her daughter... who then told her to look up the internet legend of the "Slender Man." The 'Slender Man' was a fictional monster created by an internet group who decided to promote the character as if real; in description the character could be summed up as a tall man dressed in black with a featureless white head... which near directly matched what Jones had actually seen.

Particularly Paranormal

        Jones wrote of her strange encounter to the British magazine Fortean Times, which is devoted to odd and paranormal phenomena, and her account was published in May 2016. This timing raises a few questions... past the fact that she apparently encountered a fictional character that she didn't know anything about, which is strange enough!

        The internet legend of the Slender Man was first created in June 2009, and within just a few days the group started to promote the character as if real, an effort that was supported in a number of ways until June 2014, when two girls in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, tried to murder a third girl in an attempt to summon the Slender Man... after which the main creators of the legend had to make full statements regarding the fictional nature of the character. Realistically, there was plenty of evidence and statements about the character not being real all along; but some people just wanted to believe.

        As reported, Jones' strange encounter would have occurred in the period between the character's creation and the eventual public expose... and because she didn't report the matter until well after June 2014, the creators of the legend during the active period of its promotion would not have know of her strange encounter with their fictional character. Had Jones heard of the character, then we could blame her imagination; and while a person could have dressed up as the Slender Man to frighten her, this doesn't explain how such a person could appear or vanish so completely with no cover in a field. Of course, it's also possible that Jones' story is just another late attempt to convince people that the Slender Man has become real; but then why not report it as a more recent encounter if so?

        Simply put, if Jones is telling the truth, then -- however it happened -- her experience was quite unique. But the emphasis is on the word 'if.'