Slender Man Stabbing Survivors Parents Describe Horrific Ordeal, Healing and Recovery. On a Saturday morning in May, police say two 1. It was the rouse they concocted, according to police, to carry out their plan to murder her, something they had been plotting for months. According to investigators, the two eighth graders, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier from Waukesha, Wisconsin, had decided they wanted to be with Slender Man, a fictional horror character born from a dark corner of the Internet. In stories they read about him online, Slender Man kidnaps and kills children. Not only did the girls believe he was real, police said, they were convinced the only way to get in his good graces was to kill someone too. But Slender Man isnt real. And their friend, a 1. Payton Leutner, survived being stabbed with a large kitchen knife 1. The Slender Man stabbing case would go on to not only rock the Waukesha community, but shock people across the United States and internationally. It would also put a spotlight on Slender Mans massive cult like following. In an ABC News 2. Admission, RollerSkate Rentals, and Small Sodas for Two or Four at Chester Skateland Up to 64 OffPrice 18. IDSERP,5109. 1All Night Skate is Always Fun at Skateland. Check out some of our past All Night fun July ALL NIGHT 2010. Skateland celebrated Americas. Directed by Anthony Burns. With Shiloh Fernandez, Ashley Greene, Heath Freeman, Brett Cullen. In the early 1980s, in smalltown Texas, dramatic events force a 19year. XJHQ6ucE03nEecjIMlXp30uhRU.jpg' alt='Watch Skateland Online' title='Watch Skateland Online' />Payton and her parents, Stacie and Joe Leutner, opened up for the first time about recovering from the horrific ordeal. TIMELINE Out of the Woods Slender Man Stabbing. Who Is Slender Man Fictional Horror Character Explained. How to Help Slender Man Survivor and Her Family. It was May 3. 1, 2. On a Saturday morning in May, police say two 12yearold girls convinced their friend to follow them into the woods for a game of hideandseek. It was the rouse they. Around the same time police say Morgan and Anissa were leading Payton into the woods, Paytons mother Stacie was in the backyard of their family home painting an old patio set. Her 9 year old son Caden was inside playing, and her husband Joe Leutner was at work. Suddenly, Stacie looked up and saw a police officer and another woman, a detective in street clothes carrying a badge and a gun, walking up the side of her house. They asked me, Are you Paytons mom Stacie said. The first thing that goes through my mind is my husband and my daughter are both gone. Something has happened to one of them because thats the only reason a uniformed officer and a detective comes to your house on a Saturday morning. Something has happened to somebody that I loved. They proceeded to tell her Payton had been stabbed. Then, Stacie said, the detectives phone rang. When she hung up, she told Stacie that her daughter was bleeding around the heart and she needed to get to the hospital. Thats when Stacie made the worst phone call of her life to her husband, Joe. I said, Morgan stabbed Payton, you need to come home, she said. After that, Stacie said she went into the living room where saw her son playing, and broke down. I just looked at Caden, and I said, Morgan stabbed Payton. We have to go to the hospital right now, she said. And Caden started crying. Waukesha Memorial Hospital is a short drive from the Leutners house and Stacie got there in a few minutes. When she walked into the trauma room, she saw Payton lying on a gurney. She was pale as a ghost, Stacie said. She was terrified, she was crying, she couldnt breathe. Seeing her mother, Payton reached out for her and Stacie rushed over and hugged her. And I said, youre going to be OK, its going to be fine, she said. But I could see that she was covered, her arms, her legs, abdomen, were covered in stab wounds. And all I hear is, theres five on her arm, theres seven on her leg, and Im thinking, seven What. It was the trauma nurses, counting the stab wounds on her daughters body. And one of the nurses said, OK, I count 1. I count 1. 9 as well, Stacie said. The wounds on Paytons arms and legs were to soft tissue and didnt pose an immediate threat, but two stab wounds were to major organs. In one, the knife had nearly penetrated her heart, but missed a major artery by less than a millimeter. Slender Man Survivor Was Human Hair Away from Death Surgeon. If the knife had gone the width of a human hair further, she wouldnt have lived, said Dr. Legion Of Superheroes Season 2 Episode 10'>Legion Of Superheroes Season 2 Episode 10. John Keleman, who operated on Payton. The other wound went through her diaphragm, cutting into her liver and stomach. To repair the wounds, Keleman had to crack open Paytons chest. She was in surgery for six hours. After the surgery, Payton was intubated and communicated by writing on a pad of paper. Two days after the incident, she was able to speak, but talking was still painful because of the damage to her diaphragm. Stacie said Paytons first words to her parents were I want to go home. Then, she asked something else. She asked, Did they get them Stacie said. Her father, Joe, assured her that the police had arrested Morgan and Anissa, and they wouldnt be able to hurt her anymore. He tried to keep a brave face for his daughter, Joe was angry. This is my little girl whos lying there, who just said something incredibly horrendous happened, and now shes scared for her life, because these two people could potentially find her again, he said. Stacie asked her daughter if she remembered what happened, and she said, I remember everything. Growing up, Stacie said Payton and Morgan were close. They spent all day together at school, and then called each other as soon as they got home and talked for hours. When they werent talking on the phone, they were messaging each other online. Joe said he thought it was a typical friendship for two pre teen girls who were best friends, but Stacie said she worried that Morgan seemed a bit more controlling, and sometimes the two girls would get into arguments. Payton would get so upset about them, she said. As a mother, I dont like seeing her upset over these arguments. Stacie said she would try to reconcile disputes, telling Payton to email Morgan when she made her upset. I would tell her, you need to have a conversation with her, she said. They were just little things to me. But Morgan also had another best friend, Anissa Weier. Stacie said Anissa entered the picture sometime when the girls were in sixth grade, but Payton wasnt close with her. Payton had casually mentioned Anissas name before, she said. She maybe ate lunch with Morgan and Payton once in a while, she says now. Anissa and Morgan shared a friendship outside of the one Morgan had with Payton, a friendship that concerned a dark character they learned about on the website Creepypasta. Slender Man. An illustration of Slender Man. Slender Man is not so unlike characters from other horror tales that have been around for decades the Boogeyman, the Man With the Hook or Bloody Mary, for instance. Slender Man is a tall, thin, faceless figure dressed in a black suit with long tentacle like arms he uses to abduct children. Slender Man was first sighted on the Internet in 2. Victor Surge posted two pictures of a tall, faceless man in the background of a group of children, implying that something bad was about to happen to them. What got people talking about the Victor Surge photos was this kernel, this sort of seed, that, ah, whats going on here said Dr. Eric Newsom, an assistant professor at the University of Central Missouri who wrote about Slender Man in his doctoral dissertation. We know that Slender Man abducts people but we have no idea what he does with them after that, Newsom said. Who Is Slender Man Fictional Horror Character Explained. Over time, fans have added their own made up stories about Slender Mans horrific dealings, building on his character. There are now thousands of Slender Man copycats depicting a mysterious and creepy man lurking in the background, including video web series with millions of views on You. Tube and a video game called Slender The Eight Pages. The game was released in June 2. Watch The Shadow People Online Hollywoodreporter. According to Payton, Stacie said Morgan and Anissa talked about Slender Man constantly. Morgan would send Payton links to different Slender Man stories that she wanted Payton to read. Payton was terrified of them, and Stacie said she told her to tell Morgan she was scared and wanted her to stop sending her stories about Slender Man. Stacie even offered to look at the Creepypasta site with her. Why Did Two Girls Want to Kill for Slender Man NYMag. If 1. 2 year olds Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser knew that the internet character they worshipped was a fantasy, why did they want to kill their friend for himFrom top Morgan Geyser being questioned by detective Tom Casey, and Anissa Weier by detective Michelle Trussoni, in the Waukesha police station, May 3. Payton had been called Bella since about the first grade. Morgan had been Bellas best friend since fourth. Both girls loved cats and playing dress up. Morgan was obsessed with Harry Potter at least one time at lunch, she and Bella imagined that Voldemort was pursuing them through the cafeteria. Now in sixth grade, they talked on the telephone every night. Morgans favorite teacher was Jill Weidenbaum, for reading and writing, and on May 3. Friday of Morgans 1. Ms. Weidenbaums classroom after school, helping her clean up. There were three girls at the sleepover at Morgans house that night Morgan and Bella and Morgans newer friend Anissa, who lived in the same housing complex as Morgan Sunset Apartments, on Big Bend Road and rode the school bus with her every day. Anissa and Bella knew each other, but Morgan was what they had in common Each would have said that Morgan was her closest friend. At school, Anissa was an outsider, and Morgan a fantasist who made up stories in her head. Bella was the most social of the three she had a reputation as a pleaser. But as a group, these were not the most popular girls at Horning Middle School. One Horning mother called them misfits not girly girls, maybe a little immature. They were not much interested in boys, or bands, or in trying out for the prizewinning Waukesha Xtreme Dance Team. Waukesha is a suburb of Milwaukee, a politically conservative and fairly bleak place, despite its spot on a few best places to live lists. Sunset Apartments, on the wrong side of Sunset Drive, consists of 7. The rather desolate downtown is marked by endlessly passing freight trains and a biker bar or two, but unless kids play sports, and lots of them do, there are not many obvious gathering places where they can meet. But there is Skateland an indoor roller rink, especially popular on Friday nights, where a DJ plays Top 4. Coke. That Friday, Morgan, Bella, and Anissa headed there around dinnertime chauffeured by Morgans father, Matt and stayed until about 9 3. Morgan said she wanted to leave. Back at Morgans, the girls goofed around on their laptops until they eventually settled down together in Morgans loft bed, Anissa and Morgan side by side and Bella horizontal along the head. Later, Anissa remembered that Bella accidentally kicked her in the face and that, in retaliation, she kicked back. The next morning, someone had the bright idea of crushing granola bars into Silly Putty and flinging the mess at the ceiling, which they did, then worried over how to get it down. Then they played dress up, each girl acting out her own avatar Morgan as Data from Star Trek the Next Generation Bella as a princess in pink and Anissa as a prosti troll, a character of her own creation and sort of inappropriate, Morgan commented later. There were doughnuts and strawberries for breakfast, then Morgan asked her mom if they could go outside and play. As the girls set out for Davids Park, Bella walked ahead and Morgan and Anissa lagged behind. It was then that Morgan pulled up the left side of her white and black plaid jacket to show Anissa what shed taken from her kitchen a thin knife, the kind youd use for cutting vegetables or steak, Anissa said, with a black handle and a gray stripe. Anissa and Morgan gave each other sidelong glances. I thought, Dear God, this is really happening,Anissa later told police, all the months of fantasizing coming down to this day. Davids Park is a green, grassy field about the size of a city block, with public restrooms for men and women at its northeastern edge it was inside this dingy outpost that Anissa and Morgan first attacked Bella. There was a tussle in which Morgan tried to restrain Bella, and another moment when Anissa halfheartedly pushed Bellas head against the brick wall. But Morgan fell apart just then, pacing and singing, and Anissa, the big sister type, sent Bella outside to play while she comforted Morgan, petting her, she said later, like a cat. It was Anissas idea to go play hide and seek in the woods that form the far boundary of the park. Once Morgan was calm, the three girls headed there. Its hard to understand Bellas decision to stick with her friends, why, after having been assaulted by them in the bathroom, she thought hide and seek might be a fun thing to do though she might have interpreted the bathroom attack as just a mean episode of imaginary play and its possible that, at the time, Anissa and Morgan saw it that way, too. Together they proceeded to the end of Big Bend Road, where the asphalt turns to gravel and dead ends by the woods. These are suburban type woods, not the state park variety, scrubby and weedy and thick with brush. The Les Paul Parkway and a Walmart are just on the other side, less than a mile away. Hide and seek was a haphazard affair. Morgan counted first, and Anissa and Bella hid. Anissa tried to tackle Bella, but couldnt hold her down. It was then that Morgan gave Anissa the knife, but Anissa handed it back, saying she was too squeamish. While they talked, Bella was crouched down in the dirt, playing with flowers. Im not going to until you tell me to, Morgan said. Anissa says she started to walk away, and when she had gone about five feet, she stopped. Kitty now, she said. Go ballistic, go crazy. Anissa heard Morgan say, Dont be afraid, Im only a little kitty cat. Then Morgan pushed Bella over and stabbed her 1. Stabby stab stab stab is how Morgan recalled it. It didnt feel like anything, she said during her interview with police, making a vague, loose stabbing gesture with her left hand. It was, like, air. Bella screamed and screamed I hate you I trusted youShe tried to get up and walk. She wobbled, though, and thats when Anissa took her by the arm and steered her deeper into the woods and told her to lie down. Morgan tried to dress Bellas wounds with a leaf, and then they fled, washing up in the sinks in the Walmart bathroom and filling their water bottles there. Watch Morris: A Life With Bells On Online IMDB. Then they wandered around Waukesha for a couple of hours, crying and singing and wilting in the heat, until they were picked up by police as they sat in the grass near an entrance to the interstate. Wheres Bellas body now Anissa asked later that afternoon, two and a half hours into her interview with police. Bella was alive, the female detective gently told the girl. According to the complaint filed by the Waukesha County prosecutors office, Bella had crawled into the road. She was discovered by a passing cyclist and taken to the hospital, and had enough time, before the anesthesia took effect, to tell police what had happened. Anissa had been crying for most of the interview, but now relief, and something like serenity, washed over her face. Will I be able to go back to school she asked. Since the third grade, she hadnt missed a day. From left Morgan Geyser, Anissa Weier. Photo. Courtesy of the Waukesha Police Department. Over the past year, the attack in Waukesha has come to be known as the Slender Man stabbing. This is because, during their interviews with police that Saturday, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, who at the time were both 1. Payton Leutner to please a mythical internet horror creature named Slender Man a tall, thin, faceless man in a suit who has tentacles growing out of his back and preys on children. The idea, Anissa carefully explained to the detective, as if giving a book report, was to become proxies, or puppets, of Slender Man through murder an initiation ritual requiring a blood sacrifice.