SLENDERMAN: BLURRING THE LINES OF REALITY – The Truth Behind The Legend

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What is perhaps most interesting about the Slender Man legends
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is that it is very much a case of urban folklore,
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with definite and documented origins, one that we have seen
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grow before our collective eyes, and in doing so it
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has offered those who research or simply have an interest
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in such things as legends, myths, and folklore the opportunity
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to see such a legend grow and develop right in
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front of them, and so perhaps offering how such legends
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and myths of ancient times grew and maintained their presence
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in the human psyche thousands of years later, and also why,
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despite in this case, these solid, concrete, documented origins, some
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people still insist that they've had a genuine encounter with
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this mysterious figure. The legend very much crossed over into
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reality with the Waukeshaw incident also referred to as the
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Slender Man stabbing in twenty fourteen, with the attempted murder
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of a young girl by two of her friends in
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order to appease the Slender Man. This should make us
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contemplate just what it takes for a myth to become
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reality and how much perception really does matter to that process.
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What is nothing but a fictional creation for most can
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become a cold reality to others, and consequently, while indirectly
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to the rest of us. Indeed, the slender Man legend
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is as unique as it is unsettling, and one that
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will undoubtedly continue to grow as the years and the
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decades go by. Just where the slender Man and its
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position in the subconscious of humanity might be in hundreds
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of years is perhaps equally as fascinating. I'm Darren Marler
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in This is Weird Darkness. Welcome weirdos. I'm Darren Marler
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and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of
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the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre,
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unsolved and unexplained. Coming up in this episode, we'll look
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at the intriguing start to the slender Man legend, how
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it evolved into not just one real life murder, but
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suicides as well. We'll debate whether it's possible for an
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imaginary figure like slender Man to become a reality, and
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we'll look at a possible connection between slender Man and
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a real life mystery in the eighteen thirties. Now Vulture doors,
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lock your windows, turn off your lights and come with
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me into the weird darkness. Unlike many other myths, both
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ancient and contemporary, the origins of the slender Man are
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very definite. They can be traced back to the exact
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date of June tenth, two thousand and nine and the
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Internet forum Something Awful. It was on that forum that
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users were asked to create paranormal images that could be
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passed off as something real, unnerving, and most importantly real.
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One user who took up the challenge would submit two
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photographs under the name Victor Serge is real name Eric Knudsen,
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photographs which were indeed unsettling, largely because of the slow
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burned nature with which most people first see them. What
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perhaps made searches submitted photographs stand out was the captions
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of text that he submitted with each of the pictures,
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which also succeeded in adding a further chilling backstory as
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well as giving his discreet but spine chilling character a name.
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The first picture shows a group of children who are
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clearly disturbed and scared, while a tall, slim, dark figure
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is seen standing discreetly in the background. With the picture,
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Serge added the following text, we didn't want to go.
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We didn't want to kill them, but its persistent silence
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and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time.
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Nineteen eighty three photographer unknown, presumed dead. The second picture
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shows children playing in a park, much happier, but with
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the same unnerving figure standing in the background. In this
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picture there is even the suggestion of tentacles stretching from
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the figure's back, but in a moment of genius on
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Surgei's part, this is explained away in the caption text
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as film defects, adding a sense of credibility and seriousness
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to the photographs and the strange menacing man. The caption
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for the picture reads one of two recovered photographs from
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the Sterling City Library Blaze, notable for being taken the
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day which fourteen children vanished and four is referred to
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as the slender Man deformities. Cited as film defects by officials.
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Fire library occurred one week later. Actual photograph confiscated as
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evidence nineteen eighty six. Photographer Mary Thomas missing since June thirteenth,
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nineteen eighty six. To say the pictures captured the attention
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of thousands would be an understatement. As soon as the
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pictures went online, the legend of the slender Mans was born,
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and he would take on a life of his own.
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Nudsen drew inspiration from several well known horror characters and writers,
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and would state in a twenty sixteen interview with Vanity
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Fair that he wanted to create something whose motivations can
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barely be comprehended, and which caused unease and terror in
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a general population. And as the slender Man spread across
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the Internet, not only had he achieved this, but the
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legend grew and grew rapidly. His description is indeed one
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of an unnerving nature, unusually tall and slim, with arms
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that are much longer and out of proportion to the
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rest of his body, with some descriptions stating the arms
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to be like tentacles. Others state tentacles come from slender
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Man's back. Perhaps most unsettling, however, is his face, or,
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more to the point, the lack of it. Most depictions
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either have a blurred face with no discernible details, or
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a completely blank white face, whether it's because they can
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be of a menacing and unsettling nature themselves. The slender
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Man was often associated with the woods and dark forests,
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even more disturbing, he is said to reside in abandoned
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locations such as houses, buildings, or even caves, which certainly
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sits well with other supernatural creatures, both fictional and alleged
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real entities. The slender Man, according to the legends, can
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also transport himself from one location to another as he wishes.
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There have even been symptoms or signs agreed upon that
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the slender Man is near or watching you. These include
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sudden paranoia, intense nightmares, apparent partial memories that suggest hallucinations,
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as well as the sudden onset of nosebleeds. What is
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perhaps interesting with these is that they are very similar
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to many of the discs great signs of alien abduction.
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And while we are not for one moment suggesting that
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the slender Man, a completely fictional character, remember is actually
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an alien, but what we might suggest is that some
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of the apparent claims of real encounters with the slender
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Man might actually have been alien abduction, only recalled as
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encounters with the slender Man, particularly in the Young speculative. Admittedly,
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but worth noting the reasons for slender Man's immediate popularity
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and how fast it spread around the Internet to become
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an overnight urban legend are intriguing in themselves. The legend
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of the slender Man, though, was about to step from
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the digital, virtual, and in this case, imaginary world of
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the Internet and into the reality of the American public
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in a most chilling and disturbing way. Up next, slender
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Man crosses over into cold, hard and murderous reality when
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Weird Darkness returns. On May thirty first, twenty fourteen, in Waukeshaw, Wisconsin,
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two twelve year old girls, a Nissawir and Morgan Geyser
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led their mutual friend Peyton Lightner, also twelve, to the
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woods nearby. Once there, they turned on her, stabbing her
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no less than nineteen times before leaving her for dead.
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They've been playing hide and seek in the moments before
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the attack. By the time it was over, Lightner would
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have injuries to her arms and legs, as well as
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several wounds in her torso, two of which were to
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major organs and another narrowly missing a major heart artery.
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The victim managed to drag herself out of the woods
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and was eventually discovered on the roadside by a passing
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cyclist who immediately notified authorities. She would name her attackers,
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who were arrested a short time later at a nearby store,
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the knife they had used in the attack still in
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her possession. They would state that they had carried out
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the attack for the slender Man, and while Weir did
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appear to feel guilt over her part in the frenzied assault,
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Geyser was seemingly unconcerned. She claimed that the slender Man
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would be displeased with them if they had not carried
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it out. ABC News covered this case very well. Here
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is just some of the audio from those news reports.
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A birthday sleepover with three twelve year olds the night before,
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and now two girls are missing. The other Peyton Leichner,
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has somehow crawled out of the woods, covered in stab wounds,
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nineteen of them. She is wheeled into the operating room
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more than eight months after that moment, the pre trial hearing,
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and we're now hearing from the detectives who tried to
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talk to her the moment she is flawed in.
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It seemed that it hurt too much for her to talk.
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She had a hard time breathing.
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Outside that hospital, in that town, a major search by ground.
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These are the woods where the stabbing pics are still
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on the senior. Frantic search for the two missing, Morgan
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Geyser and Anissa Wire.
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Two or twelve year old girls stabbing their friend nearly
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to death is unimaginable anytime, but especially for a safe
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community like the city of Waukesha.
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So unimaginable that even the brother of one of those
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missing girls at first confused, fearing for her safety too,
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showing reporters photos of his sister, asking have you seen her?
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That's her, that's Anissa.
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She's been missing.
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I don't know how long.
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Now.
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Well, back at the hospital, the surgeon John Kelleman is
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about to discover just how much damage has been done.
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The knife came directly down at this point where this
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large branch was coming off of this major artery, and
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cut through the tissue overlying it, so that the vessels
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were totally exposed by this injury. The knife cut through
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the tissue, but not the artery itself exactly. The knife
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stopped at the wall of the artery, and had it not.
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Had it not, she would have had a major heart
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attack from the amount of bleeding and probably died within
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a minute or two. That close to death, but they
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were now saving her life while the hunt for the
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other two girls is in high gear. Every agency in
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the area searching.
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We had the Wakshaw County Sheriff's Department, the City of
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Walkshow Police Department, New Berlin Police Department, City a Wakshaft
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Fire Department, and Flight for Life all scouring that area.
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Then five hours after Peyton crawled out of those woods,
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the two other girls are found. They were right here
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along Interstate ninety four heading out of Waukesha. A knife
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with a five inch blade found in one of the
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girl's bags. And just this week in court, we heard
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from the officer describing a Nissa Wire the moment she
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was taken into custody.
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I asked her to show me her hands, and she complied,
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and then I asked her to walk towards my voice.
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I noticed there was some staining on her sweatshirt or
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on the abdomen area.
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And Anissa, in her own words describing the moment she
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was found, I'm.
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Scared I.
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Do something.
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My family would be adagent.
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Neither girl puts up a fight, they would soon be questioned.
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And we now hear Morgan describing the victim, Peyton as
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one of her closest friends.
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She was my best friend. Who was.
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So why did you pay Peyton?
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I didn't take her?
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And as Morgan is being questioned that friend, Peyton is
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coming out of surgery.
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And when that surgeon comes out, what did he reveal?
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He said, so we had to crack her chest. It
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was awful to hear that she had to go through that.
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How close do you think she was to losing her
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If the knife had gone the width of a human
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hair further, she wouldn't.
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Have lived a human hair? What is that? A millimeter?
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Less than a millimeter between living and dying?
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Yes?
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Where on earth do you think she got the strength
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to crawl out of those woods?
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We asked her, and she said I wanted to live.
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At first, Peyton couldn't talk, writing to communicate. Do you
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remember the first message she wrote?
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I want to go home.
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I want to go home.
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When can I go home?
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And has Peyton talked at all about the horror of
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that moment? She told me she was scared.
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But the first time I asked her what she remembered
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about what happened, she said, all I remember is the pain,
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the pain, and they.
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Would reveal to me there was something else.
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She asked, did they get them?
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We told her they were found and the police have them.
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And as a dad in that moment, how hard was that?
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Harder than I would have ever been able to imagine.
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This is my little girl who's laying there, and the
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only thing that I could tell her at the time
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to make her feel better was that the police have
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them and she.
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Was safe with us.
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He's daughter terrified of the two girls who were her friends.
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How well did you know these these two other girls?
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Friends?
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Fourth or fourth grade.
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Is when we met Morgan for the first time.
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They say Peyton would talk to Morgan every night on
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the phone.
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Were there ever any red flags.
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They would have little arguments, but every twelve year old
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girl has little arguments.
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The other twelve year old a Nissa Wire, They had
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not met, but they say Peyton knew her from school,
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And as Joe and Stacy reassure their daughter that the
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girls had been found, police were questioning them. What did
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they do to their friend? And even more disturbing, why
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did they do it? Tonight? Morgan for the first time
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in those interrogation tapes, seeming to waver did.
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Any want to do them?
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And Denisa, also fearing what would happen if they didn't
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do it, I really scared, knowing that slithering and Italy
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few like Alaily. And second, and just listen to the
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detective who was questioning her when Morgan.
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Said to you, then if we don't do this first Lender,
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our family tried and when was there going.
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To be killed?
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You honestly to dad?
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Oh yeah, needless to say, rightly or wrongly. There was
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a great deal of interest in the attempted murder trial
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that followed the young girl's arrests and subsequent charges of
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attempted first degree murder for Geyser and attempted second degree
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murder for Weir. In fact, Weir's statements, both in police
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interviews and in the court provided an insight into the
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whole harrowing affair. She offered that slender Man was the
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leader of the creepypasta world and that killing showed dedication
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to him. She would also state that it was Geyser
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who had suggested killing their friend in order to make
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themselves proxies and prove their dedication to him. According to Weir,
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she and Geyser believed that slender Man was real and
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the killing of Lightner would prove this to people. They
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also believed that this mysterious supernatural figure lived in the
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Nicolette National Forest in a strange mansion, a residence that
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they planned to visit immediately after the attack. The sickly
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affair began to unfold shortly after school on Friday. We
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Are in god gys had gone straight to her home,
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where Weir proceeded to pack a backpack with such things
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as granola bars and water, spare clothes and pictures of
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her family, later stating that she wished to remember them
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after arriving at slender Man's mansion. Following this, they made
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their way to Geyser's home, whose father would drive them
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to Lightner's home a short time later before taking all
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three of them to Skateland. They returned to Geyser's home
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at nine thirty pm, with all three girls sleeping in
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Geyser's bedroom. We Are further revealed that the original plan
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was to kill Lightner in her room at two am
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by placing duct tape over her mouth and then stabbing
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her in the throat. They would then pull the covers
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over her as if she were sleeping, before making their
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way to what they believed was slender Man's mansion. However,
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at some point during the evening at the skate park,
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the plans changed. Weir noticed that in the bathroom at
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a park nearby, there was a drain on the floor
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that would allow blood to drain away. They decided the
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following morning they would visit the park and commit the
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killing there. On the Saturday morning, the three girls made
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their way to the park. Weir would recall that before
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they left, Geyser flashed a look of the knife under
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her jacket to her. It was at this point that
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she began to feel a little uneasy with the fact
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that this was really happening. They did indeed find themselves
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in the bathroom, and according to Weir, there was an
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attempt made by Geyser to restrain Lightner, but she suffered
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a nervous breakdown and had to be calmed down by
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your friend. Despite this apparent attempt, Lightner remained with the
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girls and they agreed to walk to the nearby woods
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and play hide and seek. Geyser would seek first, with
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the other two girls going to hide. This is where
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things began to escalate, eventually resulting in the frenzied attack.
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Weir suggested to Lightner that she hide on the ground,
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face down in the dirt. Lightner, however, refused to do so.
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At this point, Weir forced the victim to the ground
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and proceeded to sit on her to stop her from
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getting up. Geyser was near by, and Weir expected her
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to come over and stab their friend. Lightner, though, began
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to shout, meaning that passers by might arrive to see
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what the matter was. Weir got up from her back
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so she would become quiet. Geyser, according to Weir, passed
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the knife to her and indicated that she should stab
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the victim. Weir then claimed that she was too squeamish
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and immediately passed it back to Geyser. It was at
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this point the frenzied attack was launched. Ultimately, the two
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girls pleaded guilty and were given lengthy sentences. Weir, although
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sentenced to twenty five years to life, only three of
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these had to be spent incarcerated in a mental health facility,
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followed by supervision until the age of thirty seven. In
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a summer of twenty twenty one, she was released from
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the facility and then subjected to the public supervision order.
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Geyser was sentenced to forty years to life and remains
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incarcerated at the time of this recording in a mental
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health facility. As we might imagine, there was much discussion
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and debate as to the influence of the slender Man,
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not only Weir and Geyser, but society, particularly the young
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as a whole, and this debate was not limited to
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the state of Wisconsin, but led to a wider nationwide debate.
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One result of these debates was the blocking of Creepy
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pasta wiki in the Waukeshaw School District. The administrators of
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the website responded that the attack in the district was
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an isolated incident, although as we will examine shortly, this
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would prove not to be the case, although through no
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fault of their own, and that the website was a
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literary website, not one that promoted nor condoned murder. Eric Knudsen,
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slender Man's original creator, would state that he was deeply
349
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saddened by the attack. As the discussions on the case
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and connection to the Internet character of the slender Man
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went on, the debate began to shift to the overall
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effect of the Internet in general. It's easy to see
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how a knee jerk reaction might have happened. However, while
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there were plenty of recommendations to parents regarding what their
355
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children might view on the Internet, it was argued that
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such influence has had seemingly happened in these slender Man
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stabbings could just as easily have come from horror novels
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about all manner of scary creatures. At this point, it's
359
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perhaps worth pausing for a moment and examining just how
360
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real a legend such as the slender Man, who we
361
00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:28.640
know was created for the purpose of an Internet forum,
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can actually be. We'll try to answer that question up
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next on Weird Darkness. How real can an imaginary figure be?
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We might state, for example, that in the minds of
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the two girls who carried out the attack in Wisconsin,
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slender Man was very real. And what's more, they were
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seeking not only the approval of the slender Man, but
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we're looking to prove to the world is authenticity. Perhaps
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the fact that they carried out such a vicious attack did,
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in a roundabout way, bring the slender Man to life,
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making him a reality to all of us.
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A slender man, a faceless.
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School HBO's Beware the slender Man. Taking an in depth
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look at the twenty fourteen so called slender Man inspired attack.
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This isn't a who done it?
376
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We know they did it. It's really a how done it?
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It's a why done it?
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Officials say. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Wire, at the time
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just twelve years old, lured their friend Peyton Lutner into
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the woods in Wisconsin, stabbing her nineteen times with a
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kitchen knife. Though left for dead, twelve year old Peyton
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crawled to a nearby bike path, where a passerby called
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for help.
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Is there any bleeding going on? Her clothing has got
385
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blood on.
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It, The girls later saying they'd attack their friends. Please
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the fictional internet character slender Man.
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A million men for doing the Italy Hill the host
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family and Ken.
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In the documentary, Anissa's parents speaking out, saying their daughters
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spend a lot of time on the Internet, adding while
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they've been aware of slender Man, they had no clue
393
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their daughter thought he was real. Now each of the
394
00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:40.559
girls has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental defect
395
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or disease. They face up to sixty five years in
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prison if convicted. The victim's family wouldn't comment on the documentary,
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but say they quote fully support the efforts of the
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District Attorney's office and that their priority is making sure
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their daughter can move on with her life.
400
00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:57.799
Amy all right, Mara, thank you, and the parents of
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00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:00.880
Anissa Wire Bill and Christy joined now, thank you for
402
00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:02.279
being with us. And Bill, I want to begin with
403
00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:04.000
you because I want to ask what was that moment
404
00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:06.960
like when you found out what had happened and your
405
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daughter's involvement in it.
406
00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:12.000
It was It was really kind of surreal, from the
407
00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:14.359
time I got the phone call to the time that
408
00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:19.039
we realized there were more things going on than what
409
00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:25.200
we were initially led to believe. It's yeah, I think
410
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:27.920
surreal is the best way to describe it because you
411
00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:30.799
try to struggle with how are you processing what you're
412
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finding out about what your child is capable of being
413
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suspected of.
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Right and Christy, I know that when you when you
415
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watch the interrogation videos, both your daughter and the other
416
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young girls seem to believe that Slenderman is real, that
417
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there was no difference between fact and fiction for them.
418
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At during the interview tapes that we've seen, they thoroughly
419
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believed that Slender May was real and they wanted to
420
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prove that he was real, and.
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You had no indication of this at home, that this
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was like something that she was obsessed with or couldn't
423
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stop watching.
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We've never seen her watch videos or read stories or hey,
425
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look what I found on the Internet or anything. She
426
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was just typical.
427
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She was a typical twelve year old at that point.
428
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You didn't think she had any here.
429
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To the other three children. She didn't show any other
430
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signs of.
431
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Disbeliefs anything, no suspension from reality. Your daughter's fifteen now.
432
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Yes, has she expressed remorse?
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Absolutely?
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Absolutely?
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And I know that you all have never spoken to
436
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Peyton and her family yet. Is there anything that you'd
437
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like to say to them now?
438
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If they were here face to face, I would tell
439
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them I'm sorry. I tell them that I'm thankful that
440
00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:09.039
Peyton survived, and I would tell them that for as
441
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much as they are struggling with trying to process as
442
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and what happened to their daughter, we are struggling equally
443
00:27:16.440 --> 00:27:19.759
trying to process this with what happened not only to
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their daughter, but.
445
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To our daughter.
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Sadly, the case in Waukesha is not the only one
447
00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.599
where the slender Man has been connected to grim and
448
00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:32.839
potentially deadly events. In June twenty fourteen, only weeks after
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the attack on Waukesha, a thirteen year old girl who
450
00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:38.160
was said to have had an obsession with a slender man,
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00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:42.599
attacked her mother with a knife in Hamilton County, Ohio. Fortunately,
452
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the victim survived to speak of the attack, which she
453
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blamed on her daughter's mental health issues. She would state
454
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that she'd arrived home on the night in question and
455
00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:54.279
found her daughter waiting for her in the kitchen wearing
456
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a white mask. She would continue that her daughter had
457
00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:02.640
written about demons and insane, as well as several references
458
00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:07.279
to slender Man. Around the same time, in Las Vegas, Nevada,
459
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a man was accused of killing a member of the
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public and two police officers before committing suicide with his wife,
461
00:28:14.039 --> 00:28:17.119
who was connected to the slender Man legend. According to
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a neighbor, the gunman had an obsession with the slender
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Man and would often dress up in costume as the
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spooky figure. Only months later, in September twenty fourteen, a
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fourteen year old girl would set her family home on
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00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:34.839
fire in Port Ritchie in Florida, allegedly inspired to do
467
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so by the slender Man. According to the police report,
468
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the teenager fled the premises as the flames took hold
469
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and spent the night in the bathroom in a nearby park,
470
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where she was arrested. Although the home was entirely destroyed,
471
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all inside made it out alive. The teenager had an
472
00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:56.440
apparent obsession with the slender Man, as police discovered from
473
00:28:56.440 --> 00:28:59.440
her Internet history, as well as her own admission that
474
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she had been reading a lot about him online. Whether
475
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the slender Man did, if only in her own mind,
476
00:29:06.759 --> 00:29:09.160
inspire the young girl to set fire at the house,
477
00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:14.000
the police certainly believed that there was a connection. There
478
00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.640
has also been a spate of suicides that the slender
479
00:29:16.680 --> 00:29:19.799
Man legend has been connected to that took place in
480
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between the end of twenty fourteen and the early summer
481
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of twenty fifteen at a pine ridge reservation at Oglala
482
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Lakota Reservation in South Dakota. The New York Times would
483
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report that there had been in excess of one hundred
484
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suicides in the six months leading up to their report
485
00:29:35.960 --> 00:29:39.559
in May twenty fifteen, and that several officials with knowledge
486
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of the cases said that at least one of the
487
00:29:42.279 --> 00:29:45.720
youths who committed suicide was influenced to do so by
488
00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:51.119
Slender Man. What is particularly interesting about these unfortunate events
489
00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:54.359
is that there is a local belief in a suicide
490
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:58.799
spirit whose various names ellude very much to the Slender Man.
491
00:30:00.200 --> 00:30:03.240
It was known by several names, including the Tall Man,
492
00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:07.799
the Big Man, or Walking Sam, and would encourage its
493
00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:12.839
unfortunate victims to commit suicide. Were these, apparently Slender Man
494
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:17.079
influenced suicides unique to the youth of Pine Ridge Reservation,
495
00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:20.599
perhaps because of the local folklore of the Tall Man
496
00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:24.839
or Walking Sam. It is perhaps intriguing in itself that
497
00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:28.599
such legends that are very similar to the fictional legend
498
00:30:28.599 --> 00:30:32.440
of the Slender Man existed before his creation, if we
499
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:35.960
assumed that Slender Man's creator had no knowledge of them.
500
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:39.240
There was also an account of a potential mass suicide
501
00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:42.759
that almost took place on the reservation when multiple teenagers
502
00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:46.960
ventured into nearby woodland. The aim was simple to hang
503
00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:50.480
themselves from the trees. At the same time, according to
504
00:30:50.519 --> 00:30:54.480
the report, a local pastor named John Toobolls got wind
505
00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:57.440
of the tragic incident about to unfold and managed to
506
00:30:57.480 --> 00:30:59.960
make his way to the location and bring proceedings to
507
00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:04.960
talk among many of the reservation community believed the teenagers
508
00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:08.880
have been led there by walking sam. Whether such an
509
00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:11.799
effect of the slender Man has occurred in other suicides
510
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:14.240
around the world in the decade or so since its
511
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:18.799
creation is unknown. However, it's clear that this fictional character
512
00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:21.880
has had very real influence in the lives of other
513
00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:25.680
people around the world. We could do worse than turn
514
00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:28.480
to the research files of Nick Redfern and an account
515
00:31:28.519 --> 00:31:31.920
he relays of a trainee flight attendant from Erie, Pennsylvania,
516
00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:35.720
who claimed to the researcher that she had several encounters
517
00:31:35.799 --> 00:31:39.519
with the slender Man beginning in twenty sixteen. She would
518
00:31:39.559 --> 00:31:42.359
claim that these encounters began shortly after she read the
519
00:31:42.359 --> 00:31:46.119
book by Robin Swope, slender Man From Fiction to Fact.
520
00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:49.920
What is also of interest is that, by her own admission,
521
00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:53.960
she quickly became obsessed with the mysterious and very fictional
522
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:58.160
figure after reading the book. As Redfern writes, Lacey didn't
523
00:31:58.200 --> 00:32:00.599
see the slender Man in the flesh in three D
524
00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:04.880
physical form. She did, though, encounter him on her laptop
525
00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:09.160
one evening in the summer of twenty sixteen. Her laptop
526
00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:14.359
was beside her in sleep mode while Lacey was watching television. Suddenly, however,
527
00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:17.200
the laptop came to life, seemingly of its own accord.
528
00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:21.480
Even stranger and more unnerving, for the briefest of moments,
529
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.559
Lacey could see what appeared to be the strange image
530
00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:27.920
that was somewhere between a man and a long legged bug.
531
00:32:28.920 --> 00:32:31.400
She tried to push the incident from her mind, telling
532
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:33.160
herself that the image had been a trick of the
533
00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:37.480
lights and shadows in the room. However, two nights later,
534
00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:41.359
a very similar incident took place, and she knew that
535
00:32:41.480 --> 00:32:46.359
something rather extraordinary was taking place. On this second occasion,
536
00:32:46.680 --> 00:32:50.319
as her laptop suddenly came to life again, another image
537
00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:54.839
quickly presented itself. However, rather than being a bony, tall body,
538
00:32:55.160 --> 00:32:58.200
it was a clear depiction of the slender man's face,
539
00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:01.880
or perhaps a more accurate description would be a lack
540
00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:04.759
of it, as the eyes, the nose, and the ears
541
00:33:04.759 --> 00:33:07.920
were all missing, just as the legend states is the case.
542
00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:12.559
Lacey was immediately terrified by the events and raced out
543
00:33:12.599 --> 00:33:15.279
of her apartment, making her way to her mother's house,
544
00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:19.079
where she would spend the night. Several weeks passed with
545
00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:22.440
no further incidents, and Lacy began to put the episodes
546
00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:26.599
from her mind. However, late one evening, around eleven PM,
547
00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:28.519
while she was wrapping presents on the floor of her
548
00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:31.920
living room, her laptop suddenly came to life once more.
549
00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:35.799
This time, though rather than see a strange figure or
550
00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:40.960
a blank, featureless face, a quiet, deep voice spoke to her, stating,
551
00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:45.359
we are friends, before the laptop returned to its sleep
552
00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:50.000
mode as if nothing happened. This time. Lacey was almost
553
00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:53.359
beside herself with terror and made a conscious decision to
554
00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:56.160
cease all of her reading and research into the slender Man.
555
00:33:56.920 --> 00:34:00.160
Such was her terror that she even deleted all for
556
00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:02.960
research files and even went as far as burning the
557
00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:05.640
aforementioned book in a metal bin in the yard of
558
00:34:05.640 --> 00:34:10.480
her mother's house. Following this, the strange visits suddenly stopped.
559
00:34:11.719 --> 00:34:14.639
According to what Lacey told Nick Redfurn, it was her
560
00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:17.840
belief that her intense research into the subject of the
561
00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:21.679
slender Man had caused the Internet itself to realize it
562
00:34:21.960 --> 00:34:25.719
and so presented her with the slender Man himself. This
563
00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:29.440
might sound a little outrageous, but we will return to
564
00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:36.800
this notion very shortly. Is it possible that slender Man
565
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:40.480
has connections to another mysterious figure from the eighteen thirties.
566
00:34:41.320 --> 00:34:44.400
We'll look at slender Man's tie to spring Heeled Jack
567
00:34:45.000 --> 00:35:15.239
when weird Darkness returns. It might be worth our time
568
00:35:15.400 --> 00:35:19.199
straying slightly into the sightings of spring Heeled Jack from
569
00:35:19.239 --> 00:35:22.119
the eighteen thirties to the very early years of the
570
00:35:22.119 --> 00:35:26.440
twentieth century, although these later sightings were much fewer and
571
00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:30.559
more spread Apart, there have been many suggestions put forward
572
00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:34.360
for who or what might be responsible for spring Heeled Jack,
573
00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:39.000
ranging from a deranged maniac to a supernatural entity or
574
00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:44.159
possibly even an alien being. However, to some researchers, admittedly
575
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:47.920
more from the mainstream, it's clear that the initial spring
576
00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:51.159
Heeled Jack sidings were the work of one person who
577
00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:54.360
was then copied throughout the years, which would explain the
578
00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:57.519
sightings in different parts of the UK and decades later.
579
00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:01.480
If this was the case, does that make spring heal
580
00:36:01.639 --> 00:36:05.679
Jack a Victorian version of the Slender Man, using real
581
00:36:05.800 --> 00:36:09.800
sightings and largely nonviolent attacks which are then reported in
582
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:13.239
the newspapers and so contribute to the ever growing legend
583
00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:16.079
of this mysterious menace on the streets of London and
584
00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:19.239
further afield. And even if a small number of the
585
00:36:19.320 --> 00:36:22.719
reports were leaning more to the fictitious, they still achieved
586
00:36:22.760 --> 00:36:27.440
their aim of adding another layer of intrigue to the legend. Indeed,
587
00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:30.760
might we see slender Man take on a more physical
588
00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:34.440
role in the real world over the coming years, albeit
589
00:36:34.519 --> 00:36:36.920
one that would seemingly be one that is much more
590
00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:41.039
horrific than the largely mischievous nature of spring Healed Jack.
591
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:44.760
It's interesting that in the days leading to the author
592
00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:47.760
writing the article on narrating for you here, he spoke
593
00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:50.400
with his son, who is about twenty years old now,
594
00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:54.079
about the slender Man. What was interesting is how his
595
00:36:54.199 --> 00:36:57.320
son stated, matter of factly, as if he were referring
596
00:36:57.320 --> 00:36:59.920
to a nursery rhyme that quote, any one of his
597
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:04.000
age knows whose slender Man is, and what's more, they
598
00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:06.480
have known about him for as long as they can remember,
599
00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:09.000
even though they are perfectly aware that he is just
600
00:37:09.039 --> 00:37:13.559
a myth and recently created legend. In this sense, to
601
00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:17.159
anyone born after two thousand, the slender Man is simply
602
00:37:17.159 --> 00:37:20.119
an accepted part of imaginary life and takes a place
603
00:37:20.119 --> 00:37:22.480
in the same realm as the Boogeyman might have for
604
00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:26.960
previous generations. This shows the sheer power and reach of
605
00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:31.000
the slender Man legend, and perhaps also demonstrates the delivery method,
606
00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:33.880
in this case the Internet and how effective a tool
607
00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:39.719
for information sharing it truly is. We are seeing the creation, development,
608
00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:44.199
and growth of an urban legend, modern day folklore in
609
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:47.280
real time, and it is for this reason that many
610
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:51.559
who study myths, legends, and folklore, both from a research
611
00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:55.360
perspective or a scholarly level, are so fascinated, as it
612
00:37:55.400 --> 00:37:58.440
perhaps gives us a window into how such legends and
613
00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:01.840
myths of the past were formed and what truths might
614
00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:05.000
be within them. In this case, we know that from
615
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.159
a completely fictional character, a real version sprang, if only
616
00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:11.400
in the minds of the two young girls who attempted
617
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:14.280
to then murder their friend in this imaginary MENACE's name.
618
00:38:15.239 --> 00:38:18.840
Once more, for those involved, including the victim, the slender
619
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:23.039
Man was suddenly very real, as were the consequences of
620
00:38:23.079 --> 00:38:28.159
the actions he influenced. When we consider the suicides mentioned before,
621
00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:31.639
If we assume the connections made are correct, then we
622
00:38:31.719 --> 00:38:34.480
might state that for these tragic people who felt their
623
00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:37.320
only option was to take their own life, the slender
624
00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:42.480
Man was also very real. These real events have over
625
00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:46.239
time become intertwined with the legend of the slender Man.
626
00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:49.800
For example, some legends speak of him convincing people to
627
00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:53.119
take their own lives. In this sense, the fictional slender
628
00:38:53.119 --> 00:38:57.800
Man feeds the real slender Man, and vice versa. There
629
00:38:57.840 --> 00:39:02.760
is a saying that perception is reality. If someone thinks something,
630
00:39:02.960 --> 00:39:06.360
then unless they somehow change their perspective, it might as
631
00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:09.679
well be as they think it is. This is perhaps
632
00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:12.679
the same for those who, for whatever reason, perceived the
633
00:39:12.679 --> 00:39:18.159
slender Man as very real. This idea of perception being reality,
634
00:39:18.599 --> 00:39:21.679
if in a twisted and skewered type of way, is
635
00:39:21.719 --> 00:39:25.599
perhaps worth staying with a little longer. In the movie
636
00:39:25.880 --> 00:39:29.000
Shadow People, for example, the idea is floated toward the
637
00:39:29.079 --> 00:39:32.480
end of the film that just knowing and then consequently
638
00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:36.599
believing in the menacing shadowy entities was enough for them
639
00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:39.679
to appear and wreak havoc, almost as if they were
640
00:39:39.679 --> 00:39:41.960
only real in the minds of those who were aware
641
00:39:41.960 --> 00:39:45.519
of them. And while this stopped short of saying in
642
00:39:45.559 --> 00:39:49.159
the film that shadow People were completely imaginary, it was
643
00:39:49.199 --> 00:39:53.559
an intriguing twists and notion. Might much the same be
644
00:39:53.679 --> 00:39:58.280
said for the slender Man. For similar reasons that somewhere
645
00:39:58.360 --> 00:40:02.559
in the human psyche there is a contemplation of his authenticity,
646
00:40:03.039 --> 00:40:06.320
even if the person is not aware of it. Why then,
647
00:40:06.519 --> 00:40:10.239
do these slender Man legends in particular appear rife for
648
00:40:10.280 --> 00:40:14.960
this conversation from fictional creature to a perceived real entity,
649
00:40:15.480 --> 00:40:18.599
and why does this not happen with other manufactured horror
650
00:40:18.679 --> 00:40:22.320
characters from the movies, such as Freddy Krueger, for example.
651
00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:26.599
It is perhaps interesting to note that some legends, such
652
00:40:26.639 --> 00:40:30.400
as Dragula and vampires in general, have been acted out
653
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:33.440
in the real world, with many people committing murder in
654
00:40:33.480 --> 00:40:38.559
the belief that they themselves are vampires. Perhaps subconsciously, the
655
00:40:38.679 --> 00:40:42.320
human mind rejects the movie horror figures and contemplates those
656
00:40:42.360 --> 00:40:45.320
of legend and folklore simply because a tiny part of
657
00:40:45.360 --> 00:40:48.519
them can't be one hundred percent certain that they are
658
00:40:48.679 --> 00:40:53.280
entirely fictitious. It's also interesting to highlight the words of
659
00:40:53.360 --> 00:40:58.000
researcher and writer Miguel Romero, also known as red Pill Junkie,
660
00:40:58.079 --> 00:41:01.000
who would comment on the reality of the slender Man
661
00:41:01.079 --> 00:41:03.920
in the modern world as being a cultural remix between
662
00:41:03.960 --> 00:41:07.079
the older myth of the tall man suicide spirit, which
663
00:41:07.159 --> 00:41:10.280
already existed among Native Americans prior to the rise of
664
00:41:10.280 --> 00:41:13.960
the World Wide Web and the newer, more potent icon
665
00:41:14.039 --> 00:41:17.039
of slender Man, which it found its way into the Reservation,
666
00:41:17.480 --> 00:41:20.360
as it had in many other homes around America and
667
00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:24.519
indeed the world. And while Romero is certainly not saying
668
00:41:24.519 --> 00:41:27.079
the slender Man is real in the conventional sense of
669
00:41:27.079 --> 00:41:30.119
the word, he certainly appears real enough to have a
670
00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:34.360
drastic effect on the minds of various young people. There is,
671
00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:39.480
though another possibility, however, unlikely, that we should consider, and
672
00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:41.960
it is to that train of thought where we will
673
00:41:42.000 --> 00:42:14.639
turn our attention next. Although this is rampant speculation and
674
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:17.960
certainly not meant in a disrespectful way, it is still
675
00:42:17.960 --> 00:42:21.760
perhaps worth considering such ideas as the psychic Internet theory
676
00:42:21.960 --> 00:42:25.880
put forward by researcher and author Peter McHugh. At its
677
00:42:25.920 --> 00:42:30.599
most basic, the psychic Internet theory suggests that each human
678
00:42:30.679 --> 00:42:35.079
mind subconsciously has the ability to connect to others, much
679
00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:39.000
like computers connected via the Internet. And what's more, the
680
00:42:39.039 --> 00:42:42.840
power of these collective and connected minds can manifest what
681
00:42:42.920 --> 00:42:47.519
they are subconsciously tapped into in reality. For example, if
682
00:42:47.559 --> 00:42:50.280
a group of people with an interest in UFOs all
683
00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:53.840
descend upon a UFO hotspot, they might very much be
684
00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:58.920
expecting to see a UFO. Even if these expectations are subconscious,
685
00:42:59.360 --> 00:43:04.000
This potential concentration of subconscious mental energy might very well
686
00:43:04.039 --> 00:43:08.719
result in the said UFO appearing like a collective hallucination
687
00:43:09.280 --> 00:43:13.519
but real at the same time. Admittedly, these ideas are
688
00:43:13.679 --> 00:43:17.440
speculative and bordering on outlandish, but also make a certain
689
00:43:17.440 --> 00:43:19.760
amount of sense given how little we know of the
690
00:43:19.840 --> 00:43:23.639
human mind. And then if we bring in legends from
691
00:43:23.639 --> 00:43:26.840
the ancient world, in this case that of Patah, one
692
00:43:26.920 --> 00:43:30.239
of the creator gods of ancient Egypt, they become even
693
00:43:30.360 --> 00:43:34.559
more intriguing. It is said that Patah sat upon a
694
00:43:34.599 --> 00:43:38.039
winged chair and was able to bring his thoughts literally
695
00:43:38.239 --> 00:43:42.119
to life, so much so that he essentially imagined the
696
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:47.119
world into existence, as unlikely as it might be, although
697
00:43:47.159 --> 00:43:50.519
we should remind ourselves that the ancient Egyptians themselves declared
698
00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:54.039
such writings as fact and not legends or myths. If
699
00:43:54.039 --> 00:43:57.000
there was any truth to legends of Batah, might we all,
700
00:43:57.280 --> 00:44:00.559
or at least our subconscious minds, have the ability to
701
00:44:00.599 --> 00:44:04.639
manifest our thoughts into reality. At this point, it's worth
702
00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:08.079
our time reminding ourselves of the account of Lacy as
703
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:11.800
relayed by researcher Nick Redforn. It was her belief that
704
00:44:11.880 --> 00:44:15.159
her own interest in research had resulted in the appearance
705
00:44:15.199 --> 00:44:18.360
of the slender Man on her laptop. We might also
706
00:44:18.519 --> 00:44:22.079
consider the claims of such alleged advanced technology that caused
707
00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:25.880
hallucinations in masses of people, as well as the alleged
708
00:44:25.920 --> 00:44:30.440
experiments of intelligence agencies of a person manifesting objects into
709
00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:34.679
reality on the power of their mind alone. As the
710
00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:38.280
legend of the slender Man grew and circulated around the Internet,
711
00:44:38.840 --> 00:44:42.800
might it be possible, however unlikely, that the collective subconscious
712
00:44:42.840 --> 00:44:46.079
of the human mind then brought it to life and
713
00:44:46.159 --> 00:44:50.199
imagined it into reality. If a group of people, in
714
00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:53.480
this case connected together by the Internet itself, began to
715
00:44:53.559 --> 00:44:57.199
imagine seeing the slender Man for real through Internet forums
716
00:44:57.199 --> 00:45:00.599
and message boards, even if they were not aware of it,
717
00:45:00.719 --> 00:45:04.280
might the power of their subconscious mind have manifested this
718
00:45:04.519 --> 00:45:09.079
entity into existence. It is perhaps comforting to us that
719
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:12.679
such notions are unlikely, for if there were any truths
720
00:45:12.719 --> 00:45:15.559
to them, it would mean not only altering our perceptions,
721
00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:18.800
but the need to confront a terror that we couldn't
722
00:45:18.920 --> 00:45:22.480
or in this case could imagine as we can see,
723
00:45:22.480 --> 00:45:25.800
then the slender Man could be argued to be both
724
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:31.280
entirely fictional and very real at the same time, at
725
00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:35.760
least from certain perspectives. For example, the two twelve year
726
00:45:35.760 --> 00:45:39.199
old girls in Waukeshaw had not believed in the reality
727
00:45:39.199 --> 00:45:41.800
of slender Man, they would surely have not attempted to
728
00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:45.760
murder their friend in order to appease him. Much could
729
00:45:45.760 --> 00:45:48.440
be said of the other attacks by youngsters that followed.
730
00:45:49.239 --> 00:45:52.000
Was this some kind of mass hysteria or did the
731
00:45:52.039 --> 00:45:55.480
slender Man slip into the perceived realities of many young
732
00:45:55.559 --> 00:45:59.360
minds around the same time and so ultimately bring him
733
00:45:59.360 --> 00:46:03.840
to life through their actions. And we might also consider
734
00:46:03.880 --> 00:46:07.360
the suicides of the Pine Ridge Reservation. While we might
735
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:10.679
argue that each person who tragically took their own life
736
00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:13.760
must have had their own personal demons working against them,
737
00:46:14.239 --> 00:46:18.079
if they also bought into or believed the legends of
738
00:46:18.119 --> 00:46:22.079
slender Man enough, which remember, were almost becoming intertwined with
739
00:46:22.199 --> 00:46:25.719
ancient legends of the suicide Spirit, then to them this
740
00:46:25.840 --> 00:46:31.480
dark character suddenly becomes very real. Here's more from that
741
00:46:31.519 --> 00:46:32.519
ABC News.
742
00:46:32.320 --> 00:46:37.679
Report, Breaking news. A twelve year old girl is sad.
743
00:46:38.119 --> 00:46:40.280
The girl was lured to the area by two of
744
00:46:40.280 --> 00:46:43.880
her classmates who allegedly stabbed her nineteen times.
745
00:46:44.239 --> 00:46:46.079
The girls had hope the attack would earne them a
746
00:46:46.119 --> 00:46:47.960
home in slender Man's mansion.
747
00:46:48.079 --> 00:46:50.119
Slender Man as a fictional horror character.
748
00:46:50.800 --> 00:46:54.000
We have been there for the journey. Two different mothers
749
00:46:54.199 --> 00:46:57.719
now visiting their daughters locked up since they were twelve.
750
00:46:58.519 --> 00:47:01.000
We try to visit at least one week. On a
751
00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:03.239
good week, I can get up there two or three times.
752
00:47:03.880 --> 00:47:09.360
Anissa was actually sent to the Washington County Juvenile Detention Facility.
753
00:47:09.760 --> 00:47:12.239
Christy Wyer, her daughter is a Nissa.
754
00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:16.679
Most children are only up there for an average of
755
00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:21.079
four months, and she's been there almost three years.
756
00:47:21.639 --> 00:47:24.880
Angie Geyser's daughter Morgan, who came up with the plan
757
00:47:25.239 --> 00:47:26.519
and who held the knife.
758
00:47:27.239 --> 00:47:31.960
The children have no access to the outdoors or even
759
00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:33.079
windows to look out of.
760
00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:39.719
In the last thirty five months, Anissa's maybe had forty
761
00:47:39.800 --> 00:47:41.280
hours of fresh.
762
00:47:41.119 --> 00:47:45.960
Air, and there is no physical contact.
763
00:47:46.239 --> 00:47:48.679
I can't wipe away a tear, I can't give her
764
00:47:48.719 --> 00:47:51.920
a hug, I can't kiss her.
765
00:47:52.400 --> 00:47:56.440
Their daughters are now teenagers. They have spent countless hours
766
00:47:56.599 --> 00:47:59.800
driving to visit their daughters locked up, trying to wrap
767
00:47:59.840 --> 00:48:03.079
their heads around how They're two little girls, just twelve
768
00:48:03.159 --> 00:48:07.000
years old at the time, could have done something so unimaginable.
769
00:48:08.400 --> 00:48:11.679
And all of it began that Friday night. What was
770
00:48:11.719 --> 00:48:12.760
the plan for that night?
771
00:48:13.440 --> 00:48:18.360
On Friday nights, Skateland had free pizza. So the girls
772
00:48:18.440 --> 00:48:20.840
went a little early and eate dinner and skated.
773
00:48:21.519 --> 00:48:24.159
And the third girl who was with them, Peyton Leidner,
774
00:48:24.519 --> 00:48:28.360
also just twelve. Stacy and Joe Lightner. Remember their daughter
775
00:48:28.679 --> 00:48:30.960
had been looking forward to it for weeks.
776
00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:33.480
You remember how excited she was that Friday.
777
00:48:33.519 --> 00:48:36.360
Oh my gosh, she was so so excited.
778
00:48:36.599 --> 00:48:38.320
Do you think Peyton had any idea?
779
00:48:39.039 --> 00:48:41.159
No, she had absolutely no idea.
780
00:48:41.280 --> 00:48:44.960
She was blindsided, blindsided by what those two friends had
781
00:48:44.960 --> 00:48:48.480
in store, and they'd been planning it for months. After
782
00:48:48.519 --> 00:48:51.159
that night of skating, they would return to Morgan's house
783
00:48:51.760 --> 00:48:54.039
Morgan's mother Angie downstairs.
784
00:48:54.639 --> 00:48:57.960
They played up in Morgan's bedroom with Morgan stalls. I mean,
785
00:48:58.000 --> 00:48:59.519
it was just a normal night and no.
786
00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:01.920
Sign too were plotting against Peyton.
787
00:49:02.159 --> 00:49:06.039
Oh, no sign whatsoever. The next morning, Morgan asked if
788
00:49:06.039 --> 00:49:06.440
they could go.
789
00:49:06.480 --> 00:49:09.000
To the park. How often would they go to the park.
790
00:49:09.440 --> 00:49:11.760
While we were actually, believe it or not, pretty strict
791
00:49:11.840 --> 00:49:16.360
parents and didn't let Morgan go out on her own
792
00:49:16.679 --> 00:49:18.039
very often, but you.
793
00:49:17.960 --> 00:49:20.880
Thought they could. She had her two friends, it would
794
00:49:20.920 --> 00:49:21.280
be safe.
795
00:49:23.039 --> 00:49:26.440
The first sign anything is wrong a police officer showing
796
00:49:26.519 --> 00:49:28.239
up at Angie's door.
797
00:49:28.039 --> 00:49:30.719
And my heart dropped down into my stomach. Not only
798
00:49:30.800 --> 00:49:32.599
were there police in my living room, but they were
799
00:49:33.639 --> 00:49:34.760
wearing riot gear.
800
00:49:35.519 --> 00:49:39.320
Across town officers are also arriving at Peyton's house.
801
00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:42.480
Around the side of the house, up over the deck
802
00:49:42.639 --> 00:49:45.679
came a uniformed officer. The first thing that goes through
803
00:49:45.719 --> 00:49:48.639
my mind is something has happened to somebody that I love.
804
00:49:48.880 --> 00:49:52.800
And they asked me, where's Morgan. I said, she's at
805
00:49:52.800 --> 00:49:54.360
the park with her friends.
806
00:49:54.880 --> 00:49:58.079
Angie Geyser says. The police tell her that Morgan is missing.
807
00:49:58.320 --> 00:50:01.159
They think she may be hiding her. They searched the.
808
00:50:01.119 --> 00:50:04.400
House and I just kept asking, you know, what happened,
809
00:50:04.440 --> 00:50:08.039
what's going on, And they wouldn't tell me other than
810
00:50:08.079 --> 00:50:10.719
to say there had been an incident at the park
811
00:50:11.599 --> 00:50:12.960
and one of the girls was hurt.
812
00:50:13.679 --> 00:50:16.559
At first, police refusing to reveal which one of those
813
00:50:16.559 --> 00:50:20.000
girls was hurt by quickly also tracked down the parents
814
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:23.440
of the third friend, Anissa Wire, telling them their daughter
815
00:50:23.719 --> 00:50:24.480
is missing too.
816
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:30.800
My thought was child abduction. Where's my daughter? That's the
817
00:50:30.800 --> 00:50:32.320
only thought I had in my head.
818
00:50:33.079 --> 00:50:36.199
It would take hours to piece together exactly what happened
819
00:50:36.239 --> 00:50:39.480
at that birthday sleepover. The first moment anyone would begin
820
00:50:39.559 --> 00:50:43.519
to learn of the horror is this call to nine
821
00:50:42.440 --> 00:50:46.800
one transfer over a caller on Big Bend. Twelve year
822
00:50:46.800 --> 00:50:49.599
old Peyton Leiitner had just crawled out of the woods,
823
00:50:49.719 --> 00:50:54.039
covered in blood, stabbed nineteen times. And you can hear
824
00:50:54.079 --> 00:50:57.800
it in their voices. The operators cannot believe what they
825
00:50:57.880 --> 00:50:59.880
are hearing. He came upon a twelve year old female.
826
00:51:00.280 --> 00:51:02.639
She appears to be stabbed. She appears to be what
827
00:51:02.960 --> 00:51:07.920
stabs stabbed. Greg Steinberg was riding his bike that morning
828
00:51:08.119 --> 00:51:10.840
on a path that had actually been chained off. It
829
00:51:10.920 --> 00:51:13.719
was pure chance. He came this way and you were.
830
00:51:13.679 --> 00:51:15.440
Viking by, and she says to you, what could you
831
00:51:15.480 --> 00:51:15.800
help me?
832
00:51:15.840 --> 00:51:17.599
Please? I've been stabbed multiple times.
833
00:51:17.760 --> 00:51:19.480
I quick got out my cell phone.
834
00:51:19.559 --> 00:51:20.199
I was shaken.
835
00:51:20.719 --> 00:51:24.599
He watches as the ambulance rushes her away, and when
836
00:51:24.599 --> 00:51:27.079
you looked at her, it was immediately apparent she'd been
837
00:51:27.079 --> 00:51:28.159
stabbed multiple times.
838
00:51:28.239 --> 00:51:31.320
Yeah, thro her chest and abdomen and arm and.
839
00:51:31.360 --> 00:51:35.760
Leag doctor's fear she might not survive, and her mother, Stacy,
840
00:51:35.840 --> 00:51:37.719
has just been told that Peyton has been rushed to
841
00:51:37.760 --> 00:51:38.360
the hospital.
842
00:51:39.000 --> 00:51:42.119
She was terrified. She was crying, she couldn't breathe.
843
00:51:42.559 --> 00:51:44.519
But she saw you there, she saw me, and she
844
00:51:44.599 --> 00:51:47.280
put her hand out and I rushed over to her,
845
00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:49.679
and I put my arms around her, and I laid
846
00:51:49.719 --> 00:51:51.840
next to her and I hugged her, and I said,
847
00:51:52.679 --> 00:51:53.079
you're going.
848
00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:54.760
To be okay, It's going to be fine.
849
00:51:56.800 --> 00:52:00.039
But I could see that she was covered her arm
850
00:52:00.199 --> 00:52:02.280
and her legs and her abdomen, they were covered in
851
00:52:02.360 --> 00:52:03.079
stab wounds.
852
00:52:03.480 --> 00:52:06.400
There were so many stab wounds it took two nurses
853
00:52:06.440 --> 00:52:09.960
to count them, nineteen in all. And her little girl
854
00:52:10.159 --> 00:52:11.800
is now being raced down the hall.
855
00:52:12.039 --> 00:52:15.199
Did you say anything to Peyton as they were wheeling her.
856
00:52:15.159 --> 00:52:18.239
Away, that I loved her and that she would be okay.
857
00:52:18.920 --> 00:52:22.480
Peyton's mother could not believe that her daughter's friend could
858
00:52:22.519 --> 00:52:23.400
be capable of this.
859
00:52:23.920 --> 00:52:26.199
Morgan didn't do this is what's going through my head.
860
00:52:26.239 --> 00:52:29.679
There's no way, there's no way that's what happened. Morgan
861
00:52:29.800 --> 00:52:30.400
is twelve.
862
00:52:31.239 --> 00:52:36.079
Morgan has never heard a fly. It was just unthinkable
863
00:52:36.119 --> 00:52:39.400
that Morgan would would do anything to hurt someone else.
864
00:52:39.880 --> 00:52:43.440
But that's exactly what investigators were telling Morgan's mother, that
865
00:52:43.639 --> 00:52:47.800
her daughter and Anissa Wire had stabbed their friend multiple
866
00:52:47.840 --> 00:52:51.320
times and now both girls were nowhere to be found.
867
00:52:52.320 --> 00:52:55.760
They had run away and the police hadn't found them yet.
868
00:52:55.920 --> 00:52:57.239
They're going to find a mansion.
869
00:52:57.599 --> 00:52:59.679
Oh, the mansion, Yeah, the mansion in the woods.
870
00:53:00.159 --> 00:53:03.400
They're into the Nicol Forest because they believed that there
871
00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:06.840
was a mansion there that Slenderman lived in.
872
00:53:07.519 --> 00:53:09.679
For those who have to deal with such attacks and
873
00:53:09.719 --> 00:53:13.719
suicides with connection to the Slender Man, the consequences of
874
00:53:13.760 --> 00:53:17.960
that respective and at times collective belief are also very
875
00:53:18.039 --> 00:53:22.639
real and very tragic, without a doubt, though, from a
876
00:53:22.760 --> 00:53:27.480
research point of view, from various perspectives, disciplines, and fields
877
00:53:27.519 --> 00:53:30.599
of interest, the Slender Man legends and how they have
878
00:53:30.719 --> 00:53:33.800
unfolded have been a chance to watch the development and
879
00:53:33.880 --> 00:53:38.599
evolution of modern folklore in real time as it happens,
880
00:53:38.679 --> 00:53:42.280
as opposed to observing a fully formed legend from thousands
881
00:53:42.280 --> 00:53:46.840
of years ago. The opportunity to do this offers potential
882
00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:52.159
insight into many such legends and folklore of yesteryear, where
883
00:53:52.159 --> 00:53:55.119
the slender Man legend may go from here. If it
884
00:53:55.159 --> 00:53:58.840
grows in stature or declines an interest remains to be seen.
885
00:53:59.599 --> 00:54:03.400
It will mean though, what are the most intriguing, unsettling
886
00:54:03.840 --> 00:54:09.599
and unique legends and history of that there is little doubt.
887
00:54:18.280 --> 00:54:21.159
Thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share
888
00:54:21.199 --> 00:54:23.360
it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or
889
00:54:23.400 --> 00:54:28.039
strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do.
890
00:54:29.119 --> 00:54:31.880
All stories in Weird Darkness are purported to be true
891
00:54:32.000 --> 00:54:34.800
unless stated otherwise, and you can find source links or
892
00:54:34.920 --> 00:54:38.360
links to the authors in the show notes. Weird Darkness
893
00:54:38.440 --> 00:54:41.840
is a production and trademark of Marler House Productions, Copyright
894
00:54:42.039 --> 00:54:45.360
Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark,
895
00:54:45.719 --> 00:54:49.440
I'll leave you with a little light John sixteen, verse
896
00:54:49.480 --> 00:54:52.599
thirty three. I have told you these things so that
897
00:54:52.679 --> 00:54:55.519
in me you may have peace. In this world you
898
00:54:55.599 --> 00:54:59.480
will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.
899
00:55:01.079 --> 00:55:05.280
And a final thought, you don't have a soul, you
900
00:55:05.360 --> 00:55:11.079
have a body. You are a soul. I'm Daryn Marler.
901
00:55:11.800 --> 00:55:14.719
Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness