Twisted Tales with Heidi Wong

Episode: The Internet Myth That Refused to Stay Fiction

Date: March 2, 2026
Host: Heidi Wong
Theme: Reality is the real horror—how modern monsters born from imagination and belief can have devastating real-life effects.

Episode Overview

Heidi Wong explores the blurred lines between fiction and reality, focusing on the cult horror film The Empty Man and the chilling real-life crime inspired by the internet legend Slender Man. The episode delves into the concept of “tulpas” — beings conjured by belief — and examines how collective imagination has crossed the boundary into actual violence, notably the 2014 Waukesha stabbing. Wong connects ancient Tibetan and occult ideas about thought-forms to current internet culture, asking: What happens when belief becomes powerful enough to create monsters?

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Empty Man: Cult Film & Modern Myth (04:36–11:39)

• 23-Minute Prologue:
  The film opens with a long, atmospheric sequence set in the Himalayas, referencing classic horror film motifs of isolation and trespassing into forbidden realms. The visuals draw inspiration from The Exorcist (04:36).
• Third Man Syndrome:
  Third Man Syndrome is introduced — the sensation, in extreme situations, of a presence guiding and encouraging survival. Real-life accounts from explorers like Ernest Shackleton and 9/11 survivor Ron DeFrancesco are cited (06:10).
  • Quote:
    "Third Man Syndrome is very real. And the Empty man takes this phenomenon and turns it on its head, transforming it from a source of inspiration into something terrifying.” — Heidi Wong (07:49)
• Psychological Horror:
  Paul, one of the hikers, becomes catatonic after encountering an ancient entity in a cavern. His possession spreads like a psychological infection, leading to paranoia, hallucinations, and ultimately, everyone but Paul’s deaths. Paul becomes a vessel transmitting the ancient evil’s message (09:30).
• The Movie’s Central Idea:
  The story sets up the premise that belief can literally create monsters: “The story of how a thought can become flesh and how belief itself can create a monster.” — Heidi Wong (11:25)

2. The History & Lore of Tulpas (13:39–20:55)

• Alexandra David-Néel’s Journey:
  The notion of “tulpas” enters Western consciousness through the explorer Alexandra David-Néel, whose accounts of creating a tulpa in Tibet may conflate Tibetan tradition with Western occult ideas (13:39).
• Traditional & Occult Interpretations:
  In Tibetan Buddhism, tulpas are temporary, non-sentient constructs used to overcome personal fears. Western occultists reimagined tulpas as sentient, potentially independent beings brought into reality through mental focus.
  • Quote:
    “They were tools, teaching aids, not permanent beings. But in 1929, Alexandra published a book... where she described something much more dramatic...” — Heidi Wong (14:30)
• Stories from the Occult:
  Theosophy and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn tied the power of thought to manifesting entities in the astral or physical planes. Dion Fortune’s “psychic cat attack” serves as a cautionary tale: believing is experiencing.
  • Quote:
    “If you experience them as real, then in a practical sense, they are real. And this concept wasn’t left behind in the early 1900s. It continues today—and it is more terrifying than ever.” — Heidi Wong (17:45)

3. The Birth of Slender Man: When the Internet Created a Monster (20:55–26:08)

• Origin on Something Awful Forums (2009):
  Victor Surge’s entry in a comedy forum’s “Create Paranormal Images” contest appears—two vintage-style photos, each hiding a faceless, impossibly tall figure in a suit among children (20:55).
  • Quote:
    “What made Slender Man so effective is how real it seemed. The vintage look of the photos, the specific details... It felt like documented history.” — Heidi Wong (21:15)
• Slender Man Mythology Grows:
  A collaborative mythos emerges: he’s faceless, thin, suited, potentially tentacled, and stalks children. Fans spread the story, fabricate “historical” references, and debate whether collective belief could make him real, even as “evidence” is itself invented (22:15).
• Tulpa Theory Applied:
  “According to Tulpa theory, that should be more than enough to manifest him into reality. And then something happened that seemed to prove it.” — Heidi Wong (23:49)

4. The Waukesha Stabbing: Horror Becomes Reality (26:08–31:20)

• The Crime:
  In 2014, two twelve-year-old girls, obsessed with the Slender Man legend, attempt to stab a friend 19 times, believing the act would make them Slender Man’s “proxies.” Against the odds, their victim survives (26:08).
  • Quote:
    “They believed that to earn that right, they needed to kill someone. So they chose their friend Peyton.” — Heidi Wong (26:29)
• Aftermath & Motive:
  The girls believed Slender Man would kill their families if they didn’t act. The line between fiction and reality fully disappeared for them; their conviction was deadly.
  • Anissa’s Apology:
    “I hate my actions from May 31, 2014. But through countless hours of therapy, I no longer hate myself for them. I vowed after my crime that I would never become a weapon again. And I intend to keep that vow.” — Anissa Weier (Read by Heidi Wong, 29:45)
• The Lingering Question:
  Would the crime have occurred if Slender Man didn’t exist? Heidi suggests their mental illness would have fixated on something else, but Slender Man provided a vessel for their delusions (30:20).

5. Returning to The Empty Man: Fiction, Fact, and the Void (31:20–35:10)

• The Plot’s Second Part:
  The story jumps to Missouri and follows James Lasombra, a grieving ex-cop, investigating his neighbor’s missing daughter. Teen suicides, an occult institute (the “Pontifex”), and a bizarre cult ritual involving Paul, the possessed hiker, are all connected by the theme of belief creating a new Empty Man (31:45).
  • Quote:
    “Their cult has been keeping Paul... alive in a hospital bed for over 20 years. He’s still catatonic, still possessed by the entity from the cavern, which they called the Other. But Paul has become... a transmitter.” — Heidi Wong (32:19)
• Twist Ending:
  James is revealed to be a tulpa — a thought-form manufactured by the cult just days earlier. All of his memories, pain, and identity are illusions created for a specific purpose: to become the new transmitter for the “Other.”
  • Quote:
    “‘I think therefore I am,’ goes the famous saying. But The Empty Man flips it around: They think, therefore he is.” — Heidi Wong (33:45)
• Themes & Reflections:
  The film asks what happens in an era where social media and internet culture can fixate millions on a single idea: “What happens when collective belief becomes powerful enough to manifest reality? We’ve already seen it with Slender Man.” — Heidi Wong (34:32)
• Final Reflection:
  “In a world where everyone is isolated and desperately searching for connection, we’re vulnerable. We’re looking for something, anything to fill the void. And maybe that void is looking back.” — Heidi Wong (35:05)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Third Man Syndrome is very real. And the Empty man takes this phenomenon and turns it on its head...” — Heidi Wong (07:49)
• “They were tools, teaching aids, not permanent beings. But in 1929, Alexandra published a book... where she described something much more dramatic...” — Heidi Wong (14:30)
• “If you experience them as real, then in a practical sense, they are real.” — Heidi Wong (17:45)
• “What made Slender Man so effective is how real it seemed...” — Heidi Wong (21:15)
• “According to Tulpa theory, that should be more than enough to manifest him into reality. And then something happened that seemed to prove it.” — Heidi Wong (23:49)
• “I hate my actions from May 31, 2014. But through countless hours of therapy, I no longer hate myself for them...” — Anissa Weier, read by Heidi Wong (29:45)
• “I think therefore I am, goes the famous saying. But The Empty Man flips it around: They think, therefore he is.” — Heidi Wong (33:45)
• “Maybe that void is looking back.” — Heidi Wong (35:05)

Important Timestamps

• [04:36] – Deep dive into The Empty Man, its unusual prologue, themes of isolation, and introduction of Third Man Syndrome.
• [13:39] – The origins and Westernization of the Tulpa concept.
• [20:55] – Birth of the Slender Man myth on internet forums.
• [26:08] – The 2014 Slender Man stabbing case in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
• [31:20] – How The Empty Man connects these themes to a modern story of belief, void, and reality.

Episode Tone & Style

Heidi’s narration is atmospheric, thoughtful, and steeped in both literary and pop culture references. She mixes chilling horror summaries with empathetic true crime storytelling, frequently inviting listeners to reflect on the implications of our collective need for connection and meaning—even when it breeds monsters.

Summary Takeaway

This episode of Twisted Tales powerfully illustrates that monsters don’t always lurk in the shadows—they can be born in our minds and become horrifyingly real through shared belief. The Slender Man atrocity and The Empty Man film both serve as warning and allegory: reality and fiction are not so easily separated when enough people believe. In our rapidly connecting world, the real horror is what happens when the stories we tell begin to manifest in flesh and blood.