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Slender Man is a fictional supernatural character. He is depicted as thin, unnaturally tall, with long, tentacle-like arms, a featureless head and face, and he wears a black suit. It's just an internet meme that pops up in creepypasta stories. In this story, there are three young girls in the sixth grade, Morgan Geyser, Anissa Weir, and Payton Leutner. One of the kids believed so strongly that Slender Man is real, and she came up with a plan to prove it.
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This story is for the state of Wisconsin. On May 31st, 2014, two 12-year-old girls lured their best friend, Payton Leutner into the woods and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to prove the fictional character, Slender Man was real.
Slenderman is a fictional supernatural character that originated as a creepypasta internet meme. He is depicted as a thin, unnaturally tall humanoid with a featurless head and face and wearing a black suit. The stories of Slender Man often feature him stalking, abducting or traumatizing people, particularly children. Slenderman was created on June 10th, 2009 on a thread in the Something Awful Internet forum. The thread had a Photoshop contest where the users were asked to create paranormal images. Eric Knudsen who went by the name, Victor Surge on the thread, posted two black-and-white images of groups of children and then there was a tall, thin, figure wearing a black suit. The character was given the name Slender man and a quote under the photo read: We didn't want to go, we didn't want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time. There was a quote under the second photo that read, Once of two recovered photographs from the Stirling City library blaze. Notable for being taken the day which fourteen children vanished and for what is referred to as “The Slender Man”. Deformities cited as film defects by officials. Fire at library occurred one week later. Actual photograph confiscated for evidence.
These quotes transformed the photos into a work of fiction and Slender Man went viral. Horror stories were told in creepypasta and suddenly, Slender Man started evolving and became part of a YouTube series. His appearance, habits and abilities aren't fixed and can be changed from story to story. Typically, Slender Man is described as very tall and thin with unnaturally long, tentacle-like arms, which he can extend to intimidate or capture prey. In most of the stories, his face is white and featureless. He wears a dark suit and tie. He is often in dark forests or abandoned locations and has the ability to teleport. Stories often feature him targeting children or young adults. The young adults may be driven insane or act on his behalf. Even though, Slender Man was created on the internet as a character, many people still believe that there's a possibility he's real.
This story is about three young girls, Morgan Geyser, Anissa Weir and Payton Leutner. The girls went to school together and were in the sixth grade. They often spent time playing outside, drawing and having sleepovers. Morgan often talked about Slender Man and it terrified Payton and she ended up asking her mom if Slender Man was real and she reassured her that he was not. On the day of the attack, the girls got together to celebrate Morgan's birthday at a local roller rink and they were going to have a sleepover at Morgan's house that night. Typically, Morgan wanted to stay up all night when they had sleepovers, but this time, she wanted to go to bed. Payton woke up the next morning and the other two girls were already at the computer so, she joined them for donuts.
The girls lured Payton to a nearby wood park in Waukesha. Anissa told Payton to lie down on the ground and cover herself with sticks and leaves to hide. Payton believed this was part of a hide-and-seek game, but unfortunately, it was a trick. When Payton got on the ground, Morgan stabbed her 19 times with a steak knife. Morgan and Anissa soon left the woods and left Payton there, to die.....their plan didn't work out exactly as expected. Eventually, Payton got up, grabbed trees for support, and headed towards a nearby road where a bicyclist found her and was able to call for help.
Two of the 19 stab wounds hit major organs. One had cut through Payton's diaphragm, damaging her liver and stomach. The other almost penetrated her heart and missed a major artery by less than a millimeter.
When questioned by authorities, Morgan and Anissa claimed that they wished to commit a murder as a first step to becoming proxies for the Slender Man, after reading about him online. They also stated they were afraid that Slender Man would kill their families if they didn't commit the murder. The doctors noted that during their very serious conversations, Morgan would laugh hysterically and she was squatting or moving around constantly in the chairs during interviews. She seemed more concerned about her relationship with Slender Man, than she was about going to prison.
The girls had been planning the attack for months and revealed that they planned to kill Payton while she was sleeping at Morgan's house, but decided it would be better to bring her to a park.
Morgan ended up telling two doctors that she could communicate telepathically with a multitude of fictional characters. The doctors testified that she claimed to hear things that others can't, including: unicorns, Slender Man, and Voldermort from Harry Potter. She said she was able to see and communicate with Voldermort's snake and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
In Wisconsin, the law requires anyone age 10 or older to be charged as adults in severe crimes. Morgan and Anissa were charged as adults and eventually pleaded guilty. Morgan ended up receiving a harsher sentence because she was the one who did the actual stabbing. Morgan was ordered to spend 40 years in a mental institution. Anissa was committed to a mental health facility for 25 years.
Payton has made it very clear that she doesn't every want to speak with her attackers ever again. If she did talk to Morgan again she says, “I would probably, initially thank her. I would say, just because of what she did, I have the life I have now. I really, really like it and I have a plan. I didn't have a plan when I was 12, and now I do because of everything that I went through.” Payton plans to attend college and pursue a medical career, which she said was a goal inspired by what happened to her.
RESOURCES:
A Wisconsin girl who was stabbed 19 times after a slumber party shares her story
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/25/us/slenderman-victim-speaks-trnd/index.html
Wisconsin girl, 15, sentenced in Slender Man Stabbing case
https://www.foxnews.com/us/wisconsin-girl-15-sentenced-in-slender-man-stabbing-case
Slender Man Stabbing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing
Slender Man Stabbing victim Payton Leutner on the friends who tried to kill her
Wisconsin Slender Man attack victim who was stabbed 19 times speaks out for the first time, has come to accept all of the scars
