Hiking Fiend

But, by far, the most interesting has to be the story of the Wicked Gentleman. I don’t much about the story, William just gave a bare outline of it, says it’s a forgotten legend. The Wicked Gentleman was supposed to be someone living in the woods, finely dressed, but in an odd styling.

Eric Jameson, an avid hiker, recently moved to a small town in Montana. Expecting quiet, rural life, he instead begins to learn of The Wicked Gentleman, a local legend. On his excursions into the woods and mountainsides, Eric begins finding dead animals which fit the supposed actions of the Gentleman. Curious, he begins to probe deeper into his new home's hidden secrets...

You can find it all here

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Tropes used in Hiking Fiend include:

• Ax Crazy: Eric thinks the Gentleman would look rather fine with an ax embedded in his skull.
• Combat Tentacles: Our favorite Eldritch Abomination enjoys using these to abuse Eric and local wildlife.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The dead deer and the descriptions of them are...vivid, to say the least. Not to mention when The Gentleman pulls a deer apart.
• Canon Discontinuity: The asylum posts.
• Don't Go in The Woods
• Evil Smells Bad: Those freshly killed animals? They have the scent of weeks of decomposition.
• Flat What: "So…the Gentleman. Is an idea. What."
• Film Noir: Eric has a dream where he assumes the role of a hard boiled detective in a rainslicked city as he tracks a serial killer Exactly like the Gentleman
• Go Mad From the Isolation: Quite likely what happened to the Hermit.
• Missing Episode: Originally, there was an arc after the blog ended where Eric was posting from an asylum, having survived an attempted suicide, that implied that everything that happened prior was a mental breakdown, or so it first appeared. It was cut, and the blog's ending was restored to its original state.
• High Octane Nightmare Fuel: The deer that is has it's organs torn out by The Gentleman was still alive, going so far as to thrash a bit afterwards.
  • The Wicked Gentleman splits his face into a smile.
  • According to Word of God, the asylum posts were created after someone hacked his blog and the author just decided to roll with it (though he later declared said posts Canon Discontinuitynon-canon). The fact that a slenderblog was legitimately hijacked does not bode well.
• Insane Equals Violent: As the Gentleman's attacks further push Eric into the crazy bin, the hiker's list of things he wants to do to his Eldritch stalker become more and more disturbing.
• Not Using the Z Word: Eric never refers to him as the Slender Man, instead calling him the Wicked Gentleman.
• Suicide by Cop
• Scenery Porn: Some of the photos posted on the tumblr are simply beautiful.
• Town with a Dark Secret: The Gentleman first appeared in the 1800's, and everyone in the town seems to know of the legend but won't talk about it.