WARNING: Abuse, Violence, Attempted Murder
Who is Slenderman?
Slenderman is a fictional internet creature created in 2009 on an internet forum called Something Awful. It started with a contest for users to make a normal day image seem off-putting using Photoshop. The creator of Slenderman is Eric Knudsen, also known as “Victor Surge” on social media. The character Slenderman has inspired many things, such as a video game called “The Eight Pages” by Blue Isle Studios in 2012, and the Slenderman movie in 2018, directed by Sylvain White.
Where did it start to go wrong?
Horning Middle School in Waukesha, Wisconsin is where the horrifying events of 2014 would go down. Two girls named Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, both the age of twelve, stabbed their friend and classmate Payton Leutner 19 times. Leutner and Geyser were already friends, and they were meeting Weier later on. Weier became intertwined with Geyser In their 6th-grade year and would join the group. During this time, Weier became fixated on the character Slenderman and pulled Geyser in with her.
Geyser and Weier now both believed in the internet forum dedicated to the “Creepy Pasta” genre, becoming obsessed with Slenderman. Both girls tried to become one of his ”proxies.” In this case, a proxy is a human or nonhuman serving Slenderman. Their Infatuation with Slenderman led to them feeling a need to serve him to keep their own families safe. While being questioned both girls said, “It was necessary to please Slenderman.” Leutner never believed in Slenderman like Geyser and Weier, and years later in an interview with Leutner, she would say “I told [Geyser] that it scared me and that I didn’t like it,” Leutner said. “But she liked it and thought it was real”.
Before the stabbings took place, there was a time when all girls would tolerate each other. Geyser and Weier became very close very fast, with Leutner not liking Weier: “I didn’t like [Weier] at all” in an interview about her past thoughts. Despite this, they would frequently have sleepovers and general hangouts with Leutner, staying in the friendship even with the discomfort. One of the last sleepovers at Geyser’s home was the day before the stabbing. Weier was going to bed early, which Leutner would state a few times Weier never did, also saying in a later interview “Once I look back on it, I was like, that is really weird”.
What was initially told to investigators by Geyser and Weier was the murder of Leutner was going to happen during the sleepover when she had fallen asleep, however, all girls decided to go to a park that morning, unknown to Leutner the malicious thoughts Geyser and Weier had. Once they were headed to the park, a shift would happen again. With Geyser and Weier convincing Leutner to play hide and seek. The heavily wooded area of Waukesha, Wisconsin is where Leutner would be stabbed 19 times. The stab wounds were with a five-inch steak knife from Geyser’s home; wounds were not in one spot with torso, legs, and arm all being hit by the knife. One of the 19 punctures went through her diaphragm, liver, and stomach in the process.
Geyser and Weier Left Leutner for dead, but she would survive. Alone in the woods, Leutner would have to crawl her way to the nearest road. While on the side of the road, a passing cyclist found 12-year-old Payton Leutner bleeding out in her shirt that said “love, hope, beautiful, dream” in a rainbow heart. Emergency services were called by the cyclist, taking Leutner to have emergency surgery to fix the extreme trauma done to her body.
Geyser and Weier would not be found for a few hours after the attack. Geyser and Weier were trying to go to “Slenderman’s mansion” suppository in the Nicolet National Forest. Geyser and Weier ended up being found near a furniture store 4.9 miles away from where they left Leutner in the woods. Geyser and Weier, when detained by police, would be brought in for questioning immediately. At first Geyser and Weier both pointed the blame at each other for the crime with Geyser later in the interview after admitting to being the one to stab Leutner. Geyser claimed, ” It didn’t feel like anything” and, “It was like air” when referring to the act of stabbing Leutner. In the end, both girls confessed to their part in the traumatic event.
How were Anissa and Morgan Tried?
Geyser and Weier were charged as adults regardless of the fact they were still 12 at the time. Both girls are charged with attempted first-degree murder, And both girls were proven not guilty in the end because of their extreme mental problems. Geyser was given 40 years to life at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where she would be treated for childhood schizophrenia. Weier was given only a maximum of 25 years; after being incarcerated, she was diagnosed with a shared psychotic disorder.
Where are they all now?
Weier was released before her 25 years were up, being released at 19 from the mental institute and put in the care of her father in 2021. Weier’s family was against this decision saying, “We wished she served a longer sentence”. Weier being allowed to be out means she must abide to certain rules,and is on a form of probation currently with not all details to the public yet, but it is known that she has to wear an ankle monitor. Weier talked about the situation:” If I am to become a productive member of society, I need to be a part of society”.
Geyser filed her fourth petition to leave the Winnebago Mental Health Institute October/11/2024. She has yet to be seen by a judge to determine if she will be granted release from Winnebago. any people in the public eye are currently against Geyser getting out, despite the fact she was a child when she committed her crime. The crime committed was thought out which is why all other Court hearings on the topic to leave this far have been unsuccessful.
In 2020, Payton Leutner had an interview with ABC News, which was Leutner’s first time talking to any news source. Leutner tried to move past the event while not forgetting it saying “It’s just part of me”.
