Slender Man Strikes Again

Do you know, the muffin man? The muffin man?! The muffin man!! Okay, so this post isn’t truly about the muffin man, but it is about a creepy, scary urban legend called Slender Man. Slender Man stories have been dated back to as long as people can remember, thus why it is considered an urban legend, but he remains in our lives even to this day. There was a recent case that took place in Wisconsin a few years ago.

Legend has it that Slender Man is a tall, around seven to eight feet tall, man that has very long, spider-like limbs, and supposedly has a white “face,” that is truly no face at all. His face has been known to change to whatever his victim fears most. He is known to hide in wooded areas, but since his limbs are so long, and he has long, falcon-like fingers, he blends in with trees well. He is known to be seen wearing a formal suit, and targets children.

Two young girls were put on trial, for stabbing their friend, because Slender Man “told” them to. Morgan Geyser, 12 years old at the time, was with her friend Anissa Weier, also 12 years old at the time, had found and talked to Slender Man, as they claim. He had convinced them to become his servants, and to do so they had to kill. They chose one of their classmates, Payton Leutner, lured her into the woods and stabbed her multiple times, around 19 to be exact, with a kitchen knife. Leutner proceeded to crawl out of the woods to a road, where a bicyclist passing by saw her and called for help. Leutner survived despite all of the wounds, with her surgeon stating that one wound was 1 mm away from a main artery in her heart, that if struck, would have killed her.

A claim made by Geyser: “I just want to let Bella and her family know I’m sorry,” she said. “I never meant this to happen. And I hope that she’s doing well.”

Now, there are a lot of things to think about in a case like this. One of those being, are Geyser and Weier sane, because no 12-year-old child feels the urge to severely hurt another classmate? There is always the reasoning that children make mistakes because they can’t quite grasp the idea of consequences, especially long-term consequences such as attempted murder. Do these girls deserve to be tried for their actions or should they be dismissed?

There is also the theory that the Slender Man truly could be real. The things the girls claimed about this man were very explicit, almost giving it a true feeling. Here is what both of the girls claimed, “The attackers both told detectives they needed to kill Leutner to become proxies, or servants, to Slender Man, a demon like creature they read about online who is often depicted as a spidery figure in a black suit with a featureless white face. The girls said they were compelled to kill to protect themselves and their families from the demon, and after the slaying planned to run away to the demon’s mansion, which they believed was in the Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin.” This statement has an eerie feeling to it, and with the girls wanting to run away makes it seem surreal. Do you think that Slender Man told these girls to commit these crimes?

Should Geyser be punished for her actions if she has been diagnosed a schizophrenic and had psychotic spectrum disorder after this event? Some statements that doctors have made include, “Geyser in recent months was still hearing voices from someone named “Maggie,” the AP reported.” “Her lawyers and doctors said that when she and another friend, Anissa Weier, who were both 12 at the time, committed the crime, Ms. Geyser was delusional as a result of schizophrenia and psychotic spectrum disorder.” These statements seem to reign true if they were said in court. Should Geyser be held responsible if she was not mentally sure of what she is doing? How do we keep consistent with the law, while also respecting people’s mental health?

Geyser was sentenced to 40 years in a psychiatric institution, while Weier was sentenced to 25 years.

What are our overall thoughts? Is Slender Man real? Why do we think that he targets children? Should Geyser be able to plead insanity to this event?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/us/slender-man-case-sentencing.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/02/01/a-teen-stabbed-her-friend-to-impress-slender-man-and-will-spend-40-years-in-a-mental-hospital/?utm_term=.640ac3e1d4a8

http://www.playwithdeath.com/urban-legends-the-terrible-legend-of-slender-man/

Leave any thoughts below.

Bianca Asheim