Slender Man Stabbing

On May 31, 2014, twelve-year-old Payton Leutner was stabbed nineteen times.

The previous night, Payton spent the night at a birthday sleepover with friends, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier. On the morning of May 31, the girls went to a local park where Morgan and Anissa had intentions to kill Payton. After the Slender Man stabbing Payton, Morgan and Anissa left her in the woods and traveled five miles on foot. When police found the girls, they were calm and collected, explaining that Slender Man made them do it. They were told by Slender that they had to kill someone to be worthy of living alongside him, and if they failed their family would be killed.

Wisconsin law states that an individual over ten years of age can be tried as an adult in attempted murder cases. Both girls initially pled not guilty, due to mental illness, but both took plea deals to avoid prison. Morgan, who stabbed Payton, was sentenced to forty years in a mental institution and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychotic spectrum disorder, which made her prone to delusions. Anissa, who planned the attempted murder, was sentenced to twenty-five years in a mental institution.

Payton Leutner miraculously survived the attack, after crawling to an open patch of grass and being spotted by a bicyclist. Doctors stated that she was one millimeter away from death, as the kitchen knife used to stab her barely missed her heart.

Slender Man is a fictional character created on a website called Creepy Pasta. He is a tall, slender creature with white skin and no facial features. The story was created by many individuals online and was added to over the years, with fictional lore, hoax videos of sightings, and altered photographs.