Beware the Slenderman

Hey! Over here!

Please!

911, what is the address

of your emergency?

Waukesha County, I'm gonna transfer

over a caller on Big Bend.

That's a dead end

just south of Rivera.

Okay. He came upon a

12-year-old female.

She appears

to have been stabbed.

She appears to be what?

- Stabbed.

- Stabbed?

Correct.

On Saturday, May 31st, 2014,

at approximately 9:50 a.m.,

the Waukesha Police

Department was notified

by a concerned citizen

that a 12-year-old girl

was stabbed

in the area of Big Bend Road

in the city of Waukesha.

The stabbing brought a huge

police presence to the area,

a major search by ground and air

looking for two other girls.

Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser

are accused

of stabbing their friend

and leaving her for dead.

Weier and Geyser lured Payton

into the woods

Police say that's when Geyser,

holding the knife,

was told by Weier,

"Go ballistic, go crazy."

And what happened?

Payton said,

"Then she started."

Geyser began to stab

the 12-year-old,

as she screamed, 19 times

with a five-inch blade.

In the arms, legs, and torso.

One of the knife wounds

missed a major artery

near her heart

by just a millimeter.

Payton somehow survived.

She crawled out of those woods.

A bicyclist found her

on the sidewalk,

covered in blood

and begging for help.

When asked who attacked her,

she said, "My best friend."

Police say the suspects

were inspired by a character

on a website called Creepypasta,

a site filled

with scary stories.

Now, the story they followed

was about a character

called Slenderman.

A tall, fictional boogeyman

featured on Internet blogs.

Slenderman, a faceless ghoul

many parents have likely

never heard of.

If you don't know

who Slenderman is...

well, we didn't either,

but plenty of young kids do.

If you don't know who Slenderman

is, you live under a rock.

Who's that?

Run! Run! Run!

Oh my god, run! No, run!

- Oh my god!

- Oh my god!

Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser

were found walking

near the interstate.

They later told police

they planned to walk

to Slenderman's mansion.

Police say it's also who

the young suspects claimed

they wanted to please.

Anissa felt as though

she needed to prove

that Slenderman existed and would be

able to do that by killing somebody.

And Morgan said that her family

would be in danger if they didn't.

Prosecutors have charged

the girls as adults.

If convicted on the charges,

each 12-year-old faces

up to 65 years in prison.

Did it seem to you at any point

during your interview with Morgan

that she was remorseful

about what she had done?

Absolutely none.

Did she cry at all at any point

during your interview of her?

There was no emotion

from her at all.

Did you, after discussing

the incident itself,

have any conversation

with Payton

about how she felt about Morgan

and Anissa at this point?

She said that Morgan should go to

jail for the rest of her life...

and that Anissa should

go to jail too, but not as long

because she was involved

but she didn't stab her.

She just stood there

and watched.

Hi, Morgan.

Hi, Morgan.

Morgan was a surprise.

And I didn't know how to feel

about it at first...

but I knew that I loved her.

Yay!

And she changed

our lives drastically

and for the better.

Morgan's always been quirky,

and she's always marched

to the beat of her own drum.

Even from...

from little on...

she didn't care

what people think about her,

which I think is a wonderful trait,

especially for... for a girl.

Girls are usually so...

so self-conscious

and concerned about...

about what others think of them,

and Morgan was never like that.

You know, she just...

She always just did

her own thing,

and if people didn't like it,

well, that was their problem.

Kitties and puppies

aren't wild animals.

- No, that's right.

- They're not. They're pets.

I had a camera in her face

for a good portion

of her childhood,

so I think she got sick

of it sometimes.

She got a real miniature baby grand

piano for Christmas one year.

And she would sit there

for quite a long time,

just making up

sweet little songs.

And we tried to capture as many

of them as we could on video,

but usually as soon as she realized

that we were paying attention

or recording her,

she would stop.

They'll stay stray forever

One thing about Morgan

that always struck us...

as a little...

odd was that she...

She didn't react the way

that you would

expect her to react...

like at the movies.

Like, if something bad happened

to the main character, she...

she wouldn't

have empathy for them.

Bambi, come here!

Look.

New spring grass.

I remember watching "Bambi"

with her for the first time.

We were so worried

to watch it with her,

because we thought she was gonna be

so upset when... when the mother died.

Bambi, quick! The thicket!

Faster! Faster, Bambi!

Don't look back!

Keep running! Keep running!

But the mother died,

and Morgan just said,

"Run Bambi, run! Get out

of there, save yourself!"

You know?

And she wasn't sad about it.

We made it!

We made it, Mother!

We...

Mother!

And I could think of...

a lot of other examples

along those lines

where she hasn't reacted

in the way

that we would expect

a little girl to react.

We were aware that Morgan

was interested in Slenderman.

She would show us some of the

characters and some of the stories.

While I wasn't thrilled

about her interest,

I didn't really see

the harm in it either.

We never thought

for a moment that she...

She could possibly believe

that it was real.

When I was Morgan's age, I...

I remember biking home from the

library with Stephen King's "It."

You know, so I liked that sort

of thing too when I was her age,

and I think most kids her age do like

scary stories and horror movies and...

scary stories on the Internet, you know?

So, that's all that we...

that's all that

we thought that it was.

I just can't imagine her...

I can't imagine her coming up

with that plan on her own.

My bonnie...

My bonnie lies

over the ocean

My bonnie

lies over the sea

My bonnie lies

over the ocean

So bring back

my bonnie to me

Bring back, bring back

Oh, bring back

my bonnie to me

Bring back!

Bring back

Back

Oh, bring back my bonnie

to me Bonnie... me

She lost a tooth, so the tooth

fairy gave her a dollar.

It was that tooth.

I was telling her...

I was like, "A dollar?"

I said, "I only ever got

quarters from the tooth fairy."

She was happy.

The tooth fairy

gave her a dollar.

This was the last video I have.

This was at the end of her

sixth grade year for school.

Hush, hush,

somebody's callin' my name

Hush! Somebody's

callin' my name

Hush, hush,

somebody's callin' my name

Oh my Lord, oh my Lord,

what should I do?

Yes, this is Anissa's

very pink bedroom.

At the time that we painted

this, pink was the thing.

Anissa's his person.

Tiger is Anissa's cat.

After Anissa left...

he would come up here

and he'd spend a lot of time

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