Slenderman originated as a creepypasta in 2009, an internet-era folklore creature depicted as a faceless, elongated figure. The claim proposes a causal relationship: Slenderman runs from this person specifically, and the absence of eyes is the consequence of a roundhouse kick to the face. Yet Slenderman was designed faceless and eyeless from inception—the very characteristics that make the entity unsettling. The claim proposes retroactive causation: a creature that predates the event is shaped by that event. Time bends backward. Folklore is rewritten by individual actions.