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Two 12-year-old American girls have appeared in court in chains and prison uniforms accused of repeatedly stabbing a school friend in an effort to please a fictional internet demon-like character named Slender Man.
The girls have been charged as adults with attempted murder after luring their victim, also aged 12, to woods near their homes in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and trying to kill her in a frenzied knife attack, according to court documents.
They allegedly told detectives that they had been planning to kill their classmate for months because they wanted to join the cult of Slender Man, a creature from an online horror story website who they believed was real.
They wanted to become "proxies" for the character by proving their loyalty with the murder and intended to run away to his mansion, the court complaint said.
"The bad part of me wanted her to die, the good part of me wanted her to live," one girl told an investigator. They left their victim lying in the woods with 19 stab wounds, but she managed to crawl to a road where a cyclist found her.
The girl, who has not been identified, is now in a stable condition in hospital where doctors said that one slash of the blade missed an artery around her heart by just a millimetre.
The accused girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, were named as they have not been charged in juvenile court. They face up to 65 years in prison if convicted as adults, but lawyers said that they would push to have the case moved to juvenile proceedings and would cite mental health issues in the defence.
The Slender Man character has become an online viral sensation since it was first created in 2009. The figure is normally portrayed as a tall, thin male with a blank face, long slender arms and legs and spindly black tentacles that protrude from his back.
The Slender Man is said to stalk and abduct his prey, mostly children. Once his arms are outstretched, his victims are put into what resembles a hypnotised state, where they become helpless to stop themselves from walking into them.
The accused girls told detectives that they became obsessed with the character after reading about it on a website, Creepypasta Wiki, that collects short horror stories.
Morgan told investigators that Slender Man watched her, could read minds and teleport. Her relatives broke down in tears during her court appearance.
The court documents contained chilling testimony about the alleged plot. The girls told investigators that they first invited their friend to a sleepover where they intended to duct tape her mouth while she was sleeping and stab her in the neck.
They backed out of that plan, deciding to kill her the next day in a nearby park bathroom so blood would go down the drain, but neither could bring themselves to stab her at first.
So they finally lured her into the woods, where one girl pushed the victim down and sat on her. The girls passed the knife back and forth before one of them began stabbing her, according to the complaint.
In a response posted online, an administrator for the website wrote: "I'm going to make myself loud and clear: all works presented on this wiki and other sites (including Slender Man) are fictional stories and characters. This wiki does not endorse or advocate for the killing, worship, and otherwise replication of rituals of fictional works. There is a line between fiction and reality, and it is up to you to realise where the line is."
The girls have been charged as adults with attempted murder after luring their victim, also aged 12, to woods near their homes in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and trying to kill her in a frenzied knife attack, according to court documents.
They allegedly told detectives that they had been planning to kill their classmate for months because they wanted to join the cult of Slender Man, a creature from an online horror story website who they believed was real.
They wanted to become "proxies" for the character by proving their loyalty with the murder and intended to run away to his mansion, the court complaint said.
"The bad part of me wanted her to die, the good part of me wanted her to live," one girl told an investigator. They left their victim lying in the woods with 19 stab wounds, but she managed to crawl to a road where a cyclist found her.
The girl, who has not been identified, is now in a stable condition in hospital where doctors said that one slash of the blade missed an artery around her heart by just a millimetre.
The accused girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, were named as they have not been charged in juvenile court. They face up to 65 years in prison if convicted as adults, but lawyers said that they would push to have the case moved to juvenile proceedings and would cite mental health issues in the defence.
The Slender Man character has become an online viral sensation since it was first created in 2009. The figure is normally portrayed as a tall, thin male with a blank face, long slender arms and legs and spindly black tentacles that protrude from his back.
The Slender Man is said to stalk and abduct his prey, mostly children. Once his arms are outstretched, his victims are put into what resembles a hypnotised state, where they become helpless to stop themselves from walking into them.
The accused girls told detectives that they became obsessed with the character after reading about it on a website, Creepypasta Wiki, that collects short horror stories.
Morgan told investigators that Slender Man watched her, could read minds and teleport. Her relatives broke down in tears during her court appearance.
The court documents contained chilling testimony about the alleged plot. The girls told investigators that they first invited their friend to a sleepover where they intended to duct tape her mouth while she was sleeping and stab her in the neck.
They backed out of that plan, deciding to kill her the next day in a nearby park bathroom so blood would go down the drain, but neither could bring themselves to stab her at first.
So they finally lured her into the woods, where one girl pushed the victim down and sat on her. The girls passed the knife back and forth before one of them began stabbing her, according to the complaint.
In a response posted online, an administrator for the website wrote: "I'm going to make myself loud and clear: all works presented on this wiki and other sites (including Slender Man) are fictional stories and characters. This wiki does not endorse or advocate for the killing, worship, and otherwise replication of rituals of fictional works. There is a line between fiction and reality, and it is up to you to realise where the line is."
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