Haden GriggsFollow

Date Collected

Fall 11-15-2017

Place item was collected

West Jordan, UT

Informant

Abbey Tauati

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

Abbey is sixteen years old and a sophomore at a public high school. She is a friend of Sophie Foskett’s, and grew up near me, though I only knew of her growing up, as she is quite a bit younger than me, and I wasn’t close to her family. She is part Samoan, and previously attended a school that focused on the arts. She is outgoing and talkative, and likes video games a lot. She’s also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Context

I had spoken with, Karen, Sophie’s Mom, about coming to West Jordan to collect some Slenderman Folklore from her kids and their friends, so she had informed them all and arranged me to meet with them after school. I agreed to pick Sophie and her friend Abbey from school with my wife, and had been chatting with them comfortably on the drive home. I had just collected a basic description of Slenderman from Sophie, and then asked Abbey for her version, as I had heard she was more into Slenderman than Sophie. Naturally, she expanded and confirmed parts of what I had already collected from Sophie.

Text

[she holds up her hand to show me a little drawing of slenderman].Yeah that’s, little visual [Sophie, she and I all laugh], on my hand. So, I heard about Slenderman when I was about fifth or sixth grade one of my friends was, actually playing the game, where you’re running around the woods with a camera, trying to find him, trying to get a visual, trying to get about eight notes. Um. From what I remember he lives in this mansion in the woods with, several other, uh, people, who you can look up on creepypasta wikipedia [she laughs]. Um, I believe he has about eight tentacles that he either strangles you, with them, tears you apart, or. They go down your throat and tear you apart from the inside. [I ask if she knows why he does that or where he came from]. No, my sister, my sister might know though.

Texture

Abbey told me this very matter of factly and calmly, making sure to build off of what Sophie had already said. Sophie actually mouth “Oh yeah” when she mentioned that Slenderman lived in the woods with other creepypasta folks. She clearly enjoyed the chance to share, although she slowed down a bit around the tentacle part of this collection piece, possibly because she wasn’t sure how visceral her description should be with Sophie’s Mom or other adults listening.

Course

Introduction to Folklore: English 2210

Instructor

Dr. McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2017

Theme

G7: Revenants

EAD Number

2.1.5.85

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