Victor Surge (possible real name Eric Knudse) is the original creator of Slenderman, and the first person to begin creating the Slenderman mythos. Through his original image manipulation and stories, provided in excerpts of newspapers or parts of documents from Optic Nerve on the Something Awful forums, Victor was the person who started the landslide of photo manipulations and creepypastas.

The Slenderman mythos trend of Surgism is based off his name and contributions.