Slender Man

Okay, so apparently, it's all the rage around here with middle school boys to spook each other with stories about Slender Man.  Have any of you heard about this mythical character?  There's a bunch of stuff online (go ahead, I dare you to Google it -- but I don't advise you to download games and such unless you trust the source), but the whole idea of it falls in line with spooky tales I remember from my childhood (i.e. Bloody Mary and the Candyman).

(Source)

So anyway, H went to a youth group event on Friday night and some of the guys had him absolutely convinced that Slender Man is real.  He apparently wears a suit, doesn't have a face, distorts photographs and video by his presence in them and kidnaps/kills little children.  He didn't sleep the whole night!

Oddly, the next day, I talked with another mom of an 11-year-old boy who suddenly brought up, "Slender Man, Slender Man, I'm so, so sick of this Slender Man thing ... now I have an 11-year-old sleeping in my bed!"

I said, "Seriously?!  I'd never heard of it till yesterday and now my 12-year-old is freaking out."

H and I spent like 30 minutes looking up about Slender Man so I could prove it was all a hoax.  Unfortunately, some of the videos and audio recordings of this guy made him believe it even more!

I think we're finally -- two days later -- starting to get through to H that Slender Man is made up and maybe tonight, he'll sleep a bit.  In his own bed.

C and I can't help but joke about Slender Man's name because he sounds like an obnoxious diet and exercise guru, if you ask us.  Anyway...

Any of you have stories to tell about random myth stuff that has spooked you out in the past (or now)?  How did you get over it?