Welcome to Unexplained Extra, with me, Richard McLean-Smith.

Where for the weeks and between episodes we look at stories and ideas that for one reason

or other didn't make it into the previous show.

In our last episode, The New Sphere, we took a bit of a dive into the digital world to

look at some of the ways in which the internet might be impacting our way of life and in particular

the way in which we receive and share information.

As explored in the episode, the myth of the Slenderman has been considered by some academics

to constitute a new form of folklore which, due to the rapidity and mechanics of how

we communicate online, can quickly embed itself in collective cultures.

One of the frequent criticisms of where we are now in terms of our relationship to the

net is its propensity to fuel and spread fake news and provide a veneer of truth to completely

fictitious events.

As the internet becomes our public forum for sharing and discussing ideas, more often

than not it is through this portal that we develop much of our sense of the world.

As such, as demonstrated by the attempted murder of Peyton Lautner in 2012, what achieves

validity online can quickly achieve solidity in the real world.

It isn't only since the invention of the internet of course that people have behaved

and acted based on fallacious information, however such as the global reach and speed

with which information can spread online, not to mention the self-reflective manner in

which many of our social media platforms collate the information that we see, never before

have we been so susceptible to misinformation.

The so-called Slenderman stabbing was not the first incident of its kind and it certainly

...