Slender Roanoke

August 9, 1590

Walter Granger takes his axe firmly and begins chopping at the base of the oak tree. Sweat and heat beating down on him, he still works, at a steady pace chopping the tree down. At last, he sets the axe down and lets the tree fall. A loud thud rumbles the earth.

"That should do it. We shall have great warmth for this coming fall," he says with a grin.

He picks up his axe and slowly walks to his home.

The clock ticks and tocks all night and Walter Granger and his wife, plus his two children sleep motionlessly. The fire crackles and burns.


 * Boom*


 * Boom*


 * Boom*

Startled by the noise, Walter Granger wakes up.

"Now, what in bloody hell was that?," he whispered.

Walter lights a candle and walks down the hall. To investigate, he opens his daughters' bedroom and finds them both sound asleep.

Walter starts walking back to bed.

"I must have heard of a hard wave hitting the shore." he thought.

August 10, 1590

The next morning, Walter puts more logs on the fire and waits for his wife and children to wake up.

"Papa!" they exclaimed as they hurried over to hug their father.

"Hello, my sweets." he smiled.

"Papa, I had a nightmare." said one of the daughters.

"Oh no, would you like to tell me about it?"

"Well, okay Papa. So I dreamt that I woke up and I saw a man with no face."

"A man with no face?"

"Yes. He stared at me and then disappeared."

"Sounds like a wild story, my girl."

"Yes, he was so scary."

"Don't worry Mary, there's no such thing."

"Okay Papa."

After breakfast, the girls go outside to play and Walter Granger and his wife sit in the den.

"Huh, what a funny dream. Man with no face," his wife says.

"You know, I don't think this is coincidental at all, but last night I heard 3 booms."

"Booms?"

"Yes, late last night, I heard 3 loud booms. I lit a candle to investigate, but nothing to find."

"Well, it must've been the strong wind."

"I thought it could be hard waves hitting the shore."

"You sure it wasn't thunder?"

"It didn't rain last night."

"Well, there still could be thunder even with no rain."

"You're right, my dear. It must've been the thunder."

Walter Granger heads outside and heads for the market.

"Hello, Mr. Granger. Your standard supplies as usual?"

"Yes, thank you Mr. Kleinman. Did you hear the thunder last night? Loud, wasn't it."

Mr. Kleinman packs the goods filling the bag with eggs, vegetables and meat.

"Thunder? I don't recall any thunder at night."

"Are you sure? I heard 3 loud booms."

"Yes, what you probably heard was your house settling or an animal making natural noises."

"At first, I thought it was hard waves hitting the shore. Then, my wife said about thunder and I thought that was probably it."

"Could be, but there hasn't been any signs for strong storms heading our way."

"Well, at least it didn't do anything major. Take care, Mr. Kleinman."

"Bye, Mr. Granger."

Walter Granger heads for his house and spots his friend Samuel Palon.

"Hello, Samuel. Fine day is it."

"Yes it is."

"Say, did you happen to hear any thunder or hard waves last night?"

"Uh...no, I don't remember hearing any thunder or hard waves. Why do you ask?"

"Well, last night I heard 3 booms around my house. First, I thought it could've been the hard waves hitting the shore, the next morning my wife says it was the thunder, then I talked to Mr. Kleinman and he said it was my house settling or some animal making natural noises."

"That could probably be it."

"Well, I got to get movng to my hard tasks of today. See you around the village."

"Bye Walter."

Walter sets down his groceries and begins chopping the fallen oak tree down into tiny logs to put into the fireplace. After sawing and chopping many more trees, he calls it a day. Along the way, he spots a note that says

"LEAVE ME ALONE."

Walter didn't know what to make of it, so he takes it home to try and figure it out.

That night, the children sleep quietly and Walter with a dim candle light takes a scan at the mysterious paper.

"Hmm...who wants to be left alone? The penmanship is very strange, quite creepy."

He blows out the candle, puts more woof on the fireplace, and goes to bed.

That night...

A scream is heard throughout the house. Walter and his wife run to their two daughters.

"Honey! What's wrong!"

"I saw him again Mama! The man with no face!"

"Sweets, you just had a bad dream. I'll help you to bed again."

Walter Granger smooths out his daughter's hair and walks into the den. He puts more wood on the fire and takes a sip of water from the standard groceries.

He walks back into the den, and sees on the wall, another note.

This time it says

"CAN'T RUN!"

Chills are sent down Mr. Granger's spine.

The next morning, he talks to his friend Samuel about the pages.

"Walt, tell me the whole story."

"Okay, I'm very sorry. I'm still a bit shook up."

"It's okay Walter, I'm here. Now tell me what happened."

"Okay, yesterday, when I finished I saw a note that said "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Walter pulls out the page and Samuel inspects.

"Then, at night, my daughter screams saying she had another bad dream about a man with no face."

"Quite strange indeed."

"Yes. When I walked into the den, there was another page that said "CAN'T RUN!"

Walter pulls out that page too.

"This penmanship is very bad. Whoever did wrote it like this, must've gotten the lowest score out of schools."

"It's quite creepy too. Do you think that the 3 booms, my daughter's nightmare about No Face Man, and the 2 pages have something in common?"

"Considering this happened recently, I would think that all 3 of those things have something in common. If your daughter's nightmares keep progressing, more booming and pages, I suggest you arm yourself."

"Well, I do want to protect my family..."

Walter walks down to the harbor where the weaponry ship is. He buys a musket and a small knife.

That night, he waited...

and waited...

until he heard his wife scream. He ran to the bedroom and held the rifle at the man holding his wife.

"HEY! WHO IN THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU!"

The no face man turns his head toward Walter.

"DROP MY WIFE, YOU NIGHTMARISH DEMON!"

Walter fires the rifle, but the no face man disappears, but leaves behind a note that says

"FOLLOWS!"

He sobs deeply that his wife disappeared.

The next morning, an all out search team looks for Walter's wife.

"We'll find Florece, Walter. I promise."

But they never did, but someone found another note that said

"BEWARE OF SLENDERMAN!"

Walter thought this 'Slenderman' was the no face man since his encounter with a skinny man.

Then, rapid disappearences occur throught the village. Everyone panics.

The last person was Walter Granger.

His children disappeared on August 16, 1590.

He sat by the shore watching the moon and waves.

The Slenderman appears.

"So there you are. Since I can't fight I surrender, but I have one question...why...just why?"

"Because you hurt my forest. You cut down one of the strongest trees of the forest. We, Slendermen, are guardians of forests. With your destructive nature against the Native Americans, I have forced myself to take drastic measures."

"Wait...there's more than one of you?"

"Correct."

"Well then, I have one thing to say...you and your skinny chums can go to hell."

"Stupid human."

The Slenderman grabs Walter Granger by the face and disappears.

When the job is done, Slenderman walks back into the village and carves with his tendrils the word

CROATOAN

and he disappears without a trace.

On August 18th, 1590, to the return of Roanoke Colony, John White and his friends arrive at Roanoke Island to find no trace of the 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children. Only they found the word CROATOAN, but to this day, people couldn't decipher it. There was no sign of a fierce battle or struggle. John White and his friends leave soon after.

Slender meaning of CROATOAN

CAN'T

RUN

O (Slender marking with X in middle)

A (Slenderman's stance drawing in notes)

TAKES YOU

O (Slender marking with X in middle)

A (Slenderman's stance drawing in notes)

NO EYES

Author's Note

I remember learning about Roanoke Island back in the seventh grade and I was quite surprised that there was no clue left besides the word. Since Slenderman never leaves a trace, I thought it might be fun to write a false theory.

I would've wrote this on the creepypasta page, but they don't allow spinoffs, so I had to do it here. I hope you enjoyed the story.