23 - faceless ghosts, slenderman, and the striding place

“The palest man, the blackest suitBigger than the tallest bruteFear the man, the slender manFor he can do what no one can”

⁃ Slenderman by Rostin Amirani

- Audio: Beware the Slenderman (HBO Documentary Films)

Hello and welcome to your weekend haunt

with Spook Lit, an audiobook club by dreary dendrophile

I’m your host Lyns, and I’ll be reading aloud our spooky stories. Thank you so much for being here. I really hope you enjoy.

Previously on Spook Lit…

We finished up The Bell in the Fog Part I and II, and then we took a week off for an AMA episode. Thank you so much to those of you who contributed. There were a few questions I didn't get to, so I'll plan to do another one in the next few months.

This week’s story:

This week, we’re reading The Striding Place, and I couldn’t be more obsessed with the ending. I don’t want to spoil you, so we’ll jump right into the story and then come back at the end to discuss.

And as always, if you want to skip the reading and go straight to the commentary, I’ve added timestamps here in the show notes:

* 00:00 cold open / intro

* 1:27 reading

* 15:36 my thoughts and feelings

Thank you so much for listening.

The Striding Place

If you’d like to read along, the full text is included at the bottom of this post.

My thoughts and feelings:

Today we’re talking about faceless entities, and all the theories that surround them. Let me start by saying they creep me the fuck out. I’ve never seen one in real life. Normally I’ll take any ghost you give me, but with these I just don’t know if I can handle it.

There are lots of reasons a ghost might be faceless. It could be a physical characteristic of the person who died, or cause of death. I have heard of a child spirit in Pike Place Market who is missing eyes, because they were thought to be blind when they were alive. I talk more about this story in episode 8.

The podcast Ghost Story from Wondery is all about the case of Naomi Dancy, a woman who became a faceless spirit after being shot twice in the face.

In the Fort Mifflin episode of Haunted Road, Amy Bruni and guest Greg O’Brien discuss the faceless ghost of Union soldier Private William H. Howe. He was convicted of desertion and murder and was sentenced to death by hanging. He was put to death in a very public execution, wearing a bag over his face.

“Given that he fought so hard to escape and that his death was such a scene, it’s not all that surprising that Howe’s Ghost is one of the most frequently reported in the Fort. Visitors claim to see a man in Civil War garb roaming the ground, sometimes sitting quietly and sewing in one of the case mates. They believe it’s Howe because before he was hanged he had a bag placed over his face and when the apparition looks up from his sewing, he doesn’t have a face. Witnesses refer to Howe’s Ghost as the Faceless Man.” — Amy Bruni, Haunted Road with Amy Bruni: Faceless Entities Lurk in Darkened Corners

Several cultures have cryptid and spiritual folklore about a faceless entity that can mimic the features of others and most often appears without a face - such as the Caribbean Hupia from Taino folklore, or the Japanese story Mujina about an encounter with a faceless woman. More common in Japanese and Hawaiian folklore is the Noppera-bō, a figure that also makes a cameo in the Netflix series Wednesday.

In these stories, people encounter someone who may or may not be a stranger. They may or may not have a conversation. Then when the spirit turns around, their face is completely blank and wiped clean of all features - no eyes, nose, or mouth.

“Though their intentions are generally harmless, their expertise lies in instilling dread. These entities possess the uncanny ability to adopt the guise of ordinary individuals, and at times, even assume the identity of someone known to their unsuspecting victim. Yet their true power lies in their capacity to erase their facial features entirely, leaving nothing but an unsettling smooth expanse in the place where a face should be.” — The Whispering Woods: Real Life Ghost & Paranormal Stories: Noppera-Bo the Faceless People

Perhaps the most popular modern-day faceless entity is Slenderman, a fictional character created by Eric Knudsen for an internet Photoshop contest in 2009. It grew into arguably the most famous creepypasta on the internet, making international headlines when two teenage girls stabbed their friend as a means of gaining favor with Slenderman.

“Slenderman is the modern day boogeyman. Because it’s faceless, because it’s quiet, because it doesn’t speak words, it’s open to a lot of interpretation. And open to a lot of possibilities, a lot of projection. It varies from person to person as to what Slenderman actually is. He’s the creature that lives in my closet. He’s the guy in the windowless white van, the faceless stranger who kidnaps kids.” — Beware the Slenderman (HBO Documentary Films)

There are countless stories out there about mimics and doppelgängers. Spirits who take the form of a loved one and have full-on conversations with us until we realize later the person wasn’t actually there. There is something particularly terrifying (and fascinating) about this type of encounter.

And what do these entities look like when they’re not taking the form of someone else? Perhaps a blank face is their default state. The fear stems from the unknown and from being tricked. How they mold themselves into whatever you’re expecting. How maybe they are no one underneath it all. A shell of what could be.

I feel a sense of panic when I look at these creatures. Claustrophobia. Where did their face go? Are they in pain? How do they catch their breath?

When I look at them, I also feel a deep sense of familiarity and empathy. A kinship. The loneliness of seeing but feeling unseen. Is this what happens when we lose all connection with others? With ourselves?

What happened to them? Who erased their identity, and could it happen to me? Has it happened already?

*Note: I listened to several podcast episodes with stories about these faceless ghosts, and I will link them all in the show notes in case you want to dive in deeper or hear more spooky stories.

Shout-outs:

* First of all, the last few weeks have been huge for my family in terms of milestones. I had two nephews graduate high school, and I am so freaking proud of them! And this week is my sister’s birthday. Happy birthday, and thank you to all of my family for all of your support.

* Thank you so much to 6-Point Paranormal Society for your paid subscription! I cannot wait to investigate with you again. Also, congratulations on your recent anniversary!

* Signe from GhostORia is now offering Ghost Tours at Gulley’s Butcher Shop in Astoria, OR on Saturday nights. If you’re in the area, go check it out. Signe is the best!

What’s Lurking on Spook Lit:

Big changes are coming over the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted.

I apologize in advance that some of these episodes are taking longer to publish. I recently started a new trauma therapy and am also smack dab in the middle of my seasonal depression (yes, summer seasonal depression is a thing). Thank you all for your patience with me. It is such a relief to get to talk to you about ghosts.

Speaking of summer, I hope you all have amazing plans and are staying safe and staying cool. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to Spook Lit. I hope you liked this episode, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

*If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate, review, subscribe/follow, all the things.

Additional Resources:

* Beware the Slenderman (HBO Documentary Films)

* Haunted Road with Amy Bruni: Faceless Entities Lurk in Darkened Corners

* Real Life Ghost Stories #225, Faceless Entities

* Legends from the Pacific: Japan’s Faceless Ghost

* Freaky Folklore: HUPIA - Faceless Ghost of Taino Folklore

* The Whispering Woods: Real Life Ghost & Paranormal Stories: Noppera-Bo the Faceless People

* Morbid: The Slenderman Stabbing

* Slender Man Is Watching - Longreads

* True Crime Obsessed: Beware the Slenderman

* Two Girls One Ghost: Encounters x319 - Doppelgänger Stories

* Reddit - r/WednesdayTVSeries: Faceless students at Nevermore. What do people think their deal is?

* YouTube - Wednesday Series Faceless Student Explained

* The House Next Door | 1 — Ghost Story Transcript

Credits:

* Audiobook: The Bell in the Fog and Other Stories by Gertrude Atherton

* Chapter: “The Striding Place”

* Music: “Horror Spooky Piano” by Nikita Kondrashev on Pixabay

* Artwork: Jeff Bent on sporecloud.com

* Photography: Lyns McCracken

* Linktree: https://linktr.ee/drearydendrophile

All Spook Lit Audiobooks are public domain.

Thank you and hauntingly yours, dreary dendrophile

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