Modern Monsters
Slenderman
Originated from the Something Awful Forums, specifically a photoshop challenge. Gained popularity through the game Slenderman and several ARGs such as Marble Hornets and Everyman Hybrid.
As there are many stories about Slenderman there is no fixed cannon, it changes depending on the story, though there are common tropes that have changed over time. He is depicted as a thin, unnaturally tall humanoid with a featureless head and face, wearing a black suit. Proximity to Slenderman causes Slender Sickness, which is characterised by rapid onset of paranoia, nightmares, delusions and nosebleeds.
On May 31, 2014, two 12-year-old girls held down and stabbed a 12-year-old classmate 19 times. When questioned later by authorities, they reportedly claimed that they wished to commit a murder as a first step to becoming proxies for the Slender Man, having read about it online. They also stated that they were afraid that Slender Man would kill their families if they did not commit the murder.
SPCs
The SCP Foundation is a website that contains fictional reports of monsters. SCP stands for Secure Contain and Protect, the goal of the foundation. The Foundation is an Area 64 type organization that aims to capture and neutralise monsters. The monsters themselves are referred to by their Item Number such as SCP-1155.
The website works on a voting system, where anyone can submit an entry and can vote on which entries they like. This helps establish an agreed-upon canon, where disliked entries are voted down and removed.
Example: http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-1155
Entries follow a typical layout. Item number, class, Special Containment Procedures, Description, and Addenda.
Item Number: is assigned based on the available number.
Classes: Safe, Euclid, Keter, Thaumiel, and Apollyon.
Special Containment Procedures: how the SCP is contained within the facilities at the Foundation.
Description: a description of the SCP
Addenda: any additional information, such as transcripts or incident reports.
Monsters and Societal Fears
Frankenstein's Monster is a reflection of fears around science and electricity at the time. There had been experiments done where electricity was able to make animals muscles react even after they were dead. This led to people at the time wondering if it would be able to reanimate corpses.
Zombies rose in popularity. Maybe reflects people's fear of diseases like Ebola. Especially relevant with Covid. You have to wait for a vaccine. The apocalyptic side of a world without technology maybe is a longing for things to be simpler.
Godzilla is a representation of Japanese post-war fear.
"Godzilla was also inspired by a tragic fishing-boat accident that shook the nation of Japan." "To the Japanese people, who were heavily censored by the US after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Godzilla was a way to express their fear of radiation and the long-term effects of the nuclear weapon testing."
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