The Slenderman Stabbing | CreepCast

53:45This was despite being fully aware they were going to actually go through with the murder of someone she knew. I was surprised, but also kind of excited because I wanted proof that he existed. Because there are a bunch of skeptics out there saying that he didn't exist. And there are a bunch of photos online and sources online saying that they did see him. So I decided to go along, to tag along, to prove skeptics wrong. With their end goals in mind, the girls began plotting how they would commit the crime months in advance. Still caring for their shared best friend, they wanted the killing to be painless and preferred that Peyton be asleep or unconscious when it happened so they didn't have to look her in the eyes.

54:27The attack was set for Morgan's 12th birthday. She would invite both Anissa and Peyton over to her house for a sleepover and would go forth with their plans from there. The first idea they came up with to sacrifice their friend was to duct tape her mouth to keep her from screaming and stab her in the neck before running out into the night at around 2 a.m such brutal unreal unreal on horrific things for a child a 12 year old to be planning for their birthday party you know man do you think that some of these like do you think that the idea like or like like i'm wondering well a couple things i'm wondering one it has to be in the lore somewhere that people were sacrificed or is it just from like the games and stuff where it's like slender man picks up people trying to find him so therefore that that it's not from the games or anything like that it's just kind of i mean but there were hundreds of creepypasta stories right so it's just any of the media that where people probably wrote that like you had to offer a sacrifice someone wrote something about sacrificing a slender and that was enough for this to roll with um because all the mainline stuff is just kind of like a figure that's a lurker stalks you or something like that but i mean maybe someone did write a story where he said people should sacrifice children to him that's all it took for you know the mind to run wild right in the weeks leading up to the murder the girls would constantly discuss their plans in school or when they hung out to avoid any suspicion they began using code words to hide some of the grotesque details crackers were used for the knife they were going to use and itch was used to refer to the killing itself they also gave each other nicknames with morgan being kitty and anessa being scorpio morgan again it's tragic how these are like things a 12 year old girl would do you know but it's around killing someone well just it's the the just the level of delusion yeah just the just the i mean it's it's just so horrifying the people the amount of people too that probably have these conversations that don't go through with it is also probably fucking frightening you know that's kind of what i'm thinking about is the amount of people that are upset or translating these thoughts into uh possible actions and maybe it just never comes to fruition or the amount that do end up happening it's just yeah yeah crazy crazy crazy morgan believes that these personas would help them be better proxies she planned to draw whiskers on her face and have a signature catchphrase.

56:59Don't be afraid. I'm only a little kitty cat. Each discussion, Morgan grew more obsessed and repeatedly searched up how to get away with murder and what kind of insane am I on her personal computer. As the day approached, thought of murder was no longer something out of reach and was slowly becoming a reality. Morgan would send out the invites one month before her birthday on May 30th. The night before the sleepover, both girls packed backpacks with granola bars, water bottles, and clothes in preparation for the long trek to the National Forest where Slenderman lived. The next day, Peyton was overjoyed and excited to go hang out with her friends.

57:36She had packed her overnight bag with pajamas and her favorite American Girl doll before her mother dropped her off at the Gazer home. After all the guests arrived, the girls headed over to the local indoor skating rink, Skateland, and had a great time before heading back to Morgan's house for the sleepover. As 2 a.m. approached, the girls woke up and mulled over whether they would go through with their plan. Sitting in the dark, the girls discussed how to start until Morgan said she thought the plan would fail since hiding the body would be impossible. So they scrapped their initial plan, saying they wanted to give Peyton one more day.

58:12Before heading to bed, Morgan and Anissa agreed to go with their backup plan to take Peyton to a public park. The plan was to knock her out and murder her in the bathroom stall so her blood would go down the floor drains. The next morning, the girls woke up as normal and went about their day. They ate strawberries and donuts for breakfast and played dress-up while messing around with Silly Putty. Payne's mother was expecting her to call around 10.30 a.m., so the girls knew they were running out of time to save their families. They finished playing and went up to Morgan's mother, Angie, to ask if they could go to david's park which was near the home and filled with dense woods morgan's mother said yes and the girls all walked down to the park taking the next step in their plan again these things are so it's heartbreaking how childish they are between like the american girl doll and um like oh well if we kill them in the bathroom all the blood will go down the drain like that's how they think it works um yeah it's miserable having having this having this conversation having this conversation around uh peyton while she's sleeping of being like no like to imagine that you're sleeping at your friend's house and they're plotting to kill you is i mean i can't oh yeah just came around my head around that you know i mean it's just unbelievable yeah no joke before leaving the geyser home morgan grabbed a five inch long kitchen knife and slipped it in her waistband seemingly unable to contain her excitement morgan would lift her jacket and show anissa the knife on the way to the park while they walked with Peyton.

59:46Once they arrived at the destination, the girls played for a bit before Morgan and Anissa led Peyton toward the public bathroom and persuaded her to go inside with them. Unsure of why her friends were so adamant about going into the bathroom, Peyton hesitated but eventually headed inside. The loud metal doors slammed behind the trio as they all stood in the entryway. As Morgan looked around the concrete bathroom where the attack was supposed to happen, panic began setting in. Seeing her accomplished dress, Anissa asked Peyton if she could step out for a little while so she could talk to Morgan privately.

1:00:21When Peyton was outside, Morgan handed the knife to Anissa and said, I can't do this. I'm too scared you have to. As we began to feel the pressure of the situation as well, hooked her friend and petted her like a cat to calm her down. Minutes later, Anissa brought Peyton back in and sat down with her against the wall while Morgan nervously hovered around the sinks. This is when Anissa initiated their plan and asked if Peyton could put herself to sleep. Peyton replied, No, I'm not tired. Morgan then beckoned Anissa over and asked if she could knock Peyton out so they could get on with the murder.

1:00:57Anissa agreed and sat back down next to Peyton. Anissa described the next moment saying, So I asked Bella if she could put herself to sleep. I kind of went like that to her forehead, banged her up against the concrete wall. pant reacted defensively and pushed anissa's hand away as she said excuse me feeling awkward and this replied sorry i got bored and i need something to do with my hands i think too that uh payton is um maybe bella was like her nickname or something yeah maybe in that case who knows oh god my my word it's one of those i mean i yeah yeah my god even in the moment being like i can't do this and handing it off to someone else.

1:01:41And like, it's just the level of delusion there. is i mean and also i mean just manipulation too of like this other child right being coerced into doing this thing is just wild wild yeah um it's so wild yeah um it's so wild it's wild tragically pathetic about how bad they are at it. Like she kind of softly hits her head on the wall and Peyton's like, why are you doing that? And she's like, Oh, I got bored. It's like, she can't even, hasn't even thought of what to do here. Like, yeah, just the childness show. The childness, ness of it is very tragic. It's crazy to me that this situation too, which don't get me wrong.

1:02:26They're obviously so far gone, but it's like, there's still this, like there's still this like level of humanity of like trying to hold them back from doing this from doing this action you know like oh i i don't like they're fighting this this urge to do this thing but yet they still are able to like push past that initial gut reaction and follow through with it it's crazy yeah yeah the girls did not have the confidence to kill peyton in the bathroom so they moved on to their final plan, luring Peyton into the woods. Since they were already at the park, they asked Peyton if she'd like to play a game of hide-and-seek.

1:03:04She agreed, and all three girls exited the bathroom and made their way towards the nearby tree line. Morgan and Anissa chose these nearby woods, hoping they could coax Peyton deeper into the woods so they could commit the crime. As they walked deeper in, they told Peyton to go hide and both Morgan and Anissa would seek. Anissa described the moment, saying, she's going to hide one place, I was going to hide another, and then Morgan and I were going to be like a lioness chasing down a zebra. Likening the murder to an act of nature, unsuspecting prey about to be slaughtered by a predator for the sake of their family's survival.

1:03:39As Peyton ran off to find a hiding spot, the girls met up once again and began to exchange the knife back and forth, unsure of who was going to do the killing. Morgan approached Anissa and began panicking as an unwillingness took over. Anissa said she had to reassure her friend once again saying Morgan hands me the knife and says I can't do it you know where all the soft spots are oh yeah Anissa hands Morgan the knife again and states you do it go ballistic go crazy make sure she's down Morgan replied I'm not doing it until you tell me to girls parted ways and began to circle around where Payton was hiding.

1:04:18When Morgan was five feet away, Anissa yelled, Now! Morgan and Anissa pounced onto Payton, pushing her to the ground and restraining her arms and legs. While fighting against her friend, Morgan muttered her catchphrase, Don't be afraid. I'm only a little kitty cat. and pulled out the kitchen knife. Scared by what was going on, Payton began to freak out as her friend stared down at her and brandished the large blade. As Morgan raised the weapon, she got close to Payton and whispered in her ear, i'm so sorry before plunging the blade deep into peyton's body time seemed to slow down as morgan repeatedly stabbed her best friend someone she knew for most of her life someone she loved pain's abdomen and chest would be punctured repeatedly with such force that it caused blood to splatter over both morgan and anissa's clothing as well as the nearby trees Peyton screams of agony.

1:05:10I hate you. I trusted you. I can't see. Echoed out into the air as Anissa stood by and watched, egging on her best friend to continue the bloodbath. When all was said and done, Peyton had been stabbed 19 times. Her diaphragm had been repeatedly punctured, causing extreme internal bleeding and severe damage to her stomach and liver. My God. Believing she was dead, Morgan stood up, put the knife in her bag, and began getting ready for the trek to Slenderman's mansion. Peyton lay on the ground, clinging to life as her love-hope-smile-beautiful-dream t-shirt and yellow jeans soon grew soaked with her own blood.

1:05:48Thinking they had successfully sacrificed their friend, the girls began to walk away when Peyton showed signs of life. Her breaths were incredibly shallow, and it was hard to speak, but she had miraculously survived the attack. Slowly but surely, she managed to pull herself up to her feet and stumble around before securing herself on a tree. Her limbs were weak from the blood loss, causing her to wobble faintly from tree to tree in a desperate attempt to save herself. Unsure of what to do, both Nissa and Morgan ran back over and urged their friend to lie down while they ran off to get help. Girls never intended to help and made their way out of the woods.

1:06:25The knife, still dripping with blood, was stashed in Morgan's bag as she began to dab, paint, and stab wounds using a leaf on the ground. realizing they needed to flee the area both girls walked to a nearby walmart to clean themselves inside the bathroom the girls splashed water on their bloody clothes watching as the pinkish water went down the drain once they left the store their journey consisted of occasionally hiding from police and tall grass and singing songs as if nothing was wrong though they tried to be excited about what they had just done waves of emotions crept over them triggering crying fits and panic the girls would then make their way through the streets of wakisha eventually walking along interstate 94 to chiquamagon nicolette national forest it's um it's fascinating the how much it sounds like a kid who like broke something in the house and their mom's gonna to find out soon you know like this childish panic for something they've done wrong uh because it's like to them that's what it is it's like oh if we act normal if we do this it'll be fine um and then these random outs of panic when you fear you're going to get in trouble it's uh no it's i i mean the roller coaster of just i mean just think back to what was just read i mean it's a thing of stabbed her she gets up they run back they pretend that they're gonna help her or they probably think like oh god okay here and then they pretend they're gonna help her they leave again they're like having these like emotional fits where they're crying and then all of a sudden they start singing as if nothing's wrong i mean it's just like such a chaotic it's it's a fucking chaotic storm that's happening right now yeah yeah um it's uh it's tragic i mean all of it's tragic obviously Obviously, the biggest tragedy falls with Peyton, of course.

1:08:24But man, just what a sick world where a child can be exposed to an illness that makes her develop these delusions and hurt others. Man, it's rough. With her friends long gone, Peyton would roll over and begin to crawl along the forest floor. As twigs and leaves grazed against her open wounds, she relentlessly fought as her consciousness threatened to flick her out with each labored moment. Her vision would fade in and out, and her shallow breathing would worsen as she pulled the weight of her weak body. For what felt like hours, Peyton crawled until she finally made it out of the dark forest and felt the sun hit her skin.

1:09:05The grass was warm as she continued to crawl, hoping to find help until she reached a bike trail running parallel to the woods. within minutes greg steinberg a wakasha resident was riding his bike and saw the young girl lying in the grass and asked if she was okay through her weak state peyton mumbled can you help me i've been stabbed multiple times greg immediately called the authorities and waited by her side until they arrived unbelievable to have that kind of dexter i mean like to hold on that long yeah i I mean, God, it's so fucking it's sick. I mean, I'm like, it's just such a fucking badass move.

1:09:43I'm like, God, I can't even imagine. First off, she gets up earlier, walks around, tries to hold herself up. Imagine being stabbed 19 times and like even being able to utter a single word or move whatsoever. Not only that, but to find like your way out through the midst of that. Officer Dan Klein was the first to arrive on the scene and could immediately tell that something was very wrong She wasn't moving a whole lot As I approached her I said, hi I'm Officer Dan, are you okay? She said no As I got closer I started to see a lot of blood And the closer I got, the more blood I saw Payne was able to talk to the officer and identify Morgan Geyser as her attacker And said that there was another girl with her whom she identified as Anissa Weyer A manhunt for the girls was launched as Wakesha police frantically searched the city for the young culprits.

1:10:37One of the first places official search was the Gazer home, believing the girls had fled there and were hiding inside. At the time, Angie Gazer was vacuuming in the basement when her six-year-old son ran down the stairs, saying the police were at the front door asking where her daughter was. Confused, she rushed upstairs and was met with police standing in her home, adorned in riot gear. The police asked where the girls had gone, and she stated they had gone down to the park. Seemingly not believing her, they began searching her home as she frantically asked what was going on. Officers then said that one of the girls was hurt in an accident.

1:11:13They sent Angie spiraling. Police arrived at the Weir house around the same time and told Anissa's mother, Christy, her daughter was missing. Believing her daughter had been kidnapped, Christy made her way over to the Gazer residence, where police were swarming the streets. She made her way into the home and found her daughter's cell phone, hoping it would have clues about where the girls might be. As she searched through the phone, she opened the notes app and found that her daughter had left a note detailing her final wishes. Christy quickly showed the message to the police, which read, This is my final wish to those who care.

1:11:47Do not grieve my absence, but remember me for who I was. I love and cherish you all. It wouldn't do you harm. While all of this was going on, When Peyton's mother was at home peacefully painting an old patio set and awaiting her daughter's phone call to pick her up from the sleepover. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw police quickly walking towards her along the side of her house. Before she could speak, they asked, Are you Peyton's mom? Immediately, Stacy's heart sank, wondering whether they were for her daughter or her husband, who had been at work at the time. The worry she felt soon turned to utter dread when police informed her that her daughter had been stabbed 19 times by her best friend and was fighting for her life at the hospital.

1:12:30Stacy ran inside and called her husband frantically, saying, Morgan stabbed Peyton. You need to come home. Peyton's younger brother had been playing inside the whole time and watched as his mother broke down in tears. After her phone call, she approached him and the two began to cry as they loaded into the car and went to the hospital. When Stacy identified herself as Peyton's mother, it wasn't long before she was guided through the busy er to her daughter who lay looking lifeless on a hospital gurney payton's mother couldn't believe her daughter's condition stating she was pale as a ghost she was terrified she was crying she couldn't breathe man what a horrifying situation i mean i can't i can't even imagine i can't i can't i cannot fucking even fathom dude yeah and i won't i won't even speculate on it me i refuse i said i can't imagine it location I can't imagine it.

1:13:22And I'll tell you what, Isaiah, I simply won't. I also feel bad for not Morgan, Anissa's mother, right? Because Morgan's, I mean, I also feel, you know, sympathy, of course, but there were signs that her daughter was unwell. But I imagined for Anissa's mother, who just knew that her daughter didn't get along well with school and you know was a little behind her other classmates and stuff i mean you just think your daughter has a friend and then you find out all of this that's got to be crushing as well right oh my god i mean like oh hey i got a new friend school that's so cool you're happy for her right and then all of a sudden it's like by the way we're planning a fucking murder for a fictitious for slender man i mean it's a it's like it's bordering on the line of being like hey we murdered someone because we thought that we could steal their V-Bucks or something.

1:14:17It has like that level of fucking like memery too. It's unbelievable. Murdering someone for their V-Bucks. It's kind of like that, right? I don't know. It's not like that at all. I mean, I guess. I mean, I don't know.

1:14:36All I can say is this. I'm very, very happy that Very happy that I just, I still cannot believe somebody getting stabbed 19 times and just being like, also a child, mind you, getting stabbed 19 times. And then just having the sheer willpower to also just be like, I'm not fucking dying. And then to even just be like, yo, I need to go to the hospital. It's kind of what you just straight up said to the guy when he came up. Hey, by the way, they stabbed my guts like 20 times. I need to get to the hospital quick. I looked up. I looked up. Has anyone ever killed anyone over V bucks? um and the the helpful is always google ai says nope however there was uh i don't believe it a case of a man shooting his stepson in 2024 over a dispute involving a nine-year-old playing the game against parental rules and also a 10-year-old boy made national headlines after shooting and killing his mother in 2022 because she refused to buy him a vr headset i still feel like i well first off i don't trust the ai with my life but i will say that i i refuse to believe that someone has not been shot and or stabbed uh for v bucks or because of v bucks actually for v bucks for as if someone was like stealing petty cash off someone yeah i i feel like there has to be a v v bucks murder yes people have been physically assaulted robbed and violently targeted in real life over fortnight v bucks you gotta watch out there's a beautiful it's a big currency multiple documented cases of players meeting up in person to trade accounts or give v bucks only to be robbed at gunpoint or god dude i don't know what kind of waterhead you have to be to sit there and i don't know what kind of waterhead you have to be to sit there and be like i'll be right back I'm going to go to Chipotle down the road real quick and meet up a guy to do a V-Bucks transfer.

1:16:37There's got to be other ways, bro. There's got to be other ways. Man, I got to. Okay, this is a topic for a later date. But I got to know about the V-Bucks. I got to know about the V-Bucks. Is this a future Windu Koon video? I mean, it might be. Minutes before her arrival, Peyton was ushered into Wakesha Memorial Hospital. where trauma surgeon Dr. Brian Huckstorf rushed down to the ER to inspect a 12-year-old girl suffering severe trauma from stab wounds. When he arrived, he couldn't believe his eyes. By all accounts, Peyton should not have survived the attack, let alone been able to crawl out of the woods.

1:17:16He quickly noticed how badly damaged her internal organs were, but what scared him the most was the stab wound that entered what is referred to as the cardiac box, where the heart and major arteries are located. During his analysis, Dr. Huxdorf and other doctors saw that the blade of the knife had missed a major artery in Peyton's chest by less than a hair, saving her from an almost instant death. Doctors knew she needed life-saving surgery and began to prep her as her mother stood next to her daughter. Stacey repeated over and over again, You're going to be okay. It's going to be fine. As her little girl faintly lifted her hand out, seeking comfort.

1:17:53The longer she stayed in the trauma room, the more the severity of her daughter's situation sank in. The nurses next to her were counting out the stab wounds. There's five on her arm. There's seven on her leg. Okay, I count 19. I count 19 as well. Hearing these words was something no mother could ever imagine. Before she could even begin to process her emotions, her daughter was rushed off to surgery room with a 25 to 50 % chance of survival. By the time Peyton was entering surgery, multiple police departments were on the hunt for two suspects of a supposed stabbing. While driving along Interstate 94, five miles from Davids Park, Wakesha Sheriff's Department Lieutenant Paul Rinkes saw the two girls walking along the interstate after receiving a call of a possible sighting.

1:18:38When he stopped and got out of the car, he was shocked to see that the supposed stabbing suspects were two little girls. Before he did anything else, he asked if they had anything that could poke him. To which the girls responded that they had a knife in their bag. Before he placed the girls in the back of his squad car, Lieutenant Rinkes noticed the ungodly amount of blood staining Morgan's clothing and asked if she had been injured. Morgan shook her head and said no, which confused Rinkes even more, prompting him to ask where it came from. Without hesitation, Morgan replied, I was forced to stab my best friend to death.

1:19:12My God. Yeah, well, I mean, like, again, she's delusional. She thinks that she's doing this to save her. 100 % it's just, fuck. Good God almighty. This was the exact moment all doubt was erased in Paul's mind. Realizing she was the suspect, he read her, her Miranda rights, and kindly asked if she'd be willing to talk to him about it. Yeah, dude. Well, that checks enough boxes for me. I better call this in. It's like, yeah, dude, what? All right, well, hold my doubts. I've got a feeling here. Two little girls covered in blood walking down the interstate. Color me curious. Do you have anything that could poke me?

1:19:54I had to stab my friend for a fictional Tumblr character. Okay. Another box checked. He has a box that says Paul! Bring him in! It's like, my God. He has a box that is labeled I had to stab friend for fictional internet character. It's as big as Steve's notebook from Blue's Clues and he's using a giant crayon and he's like doing check marks. This is like the Spongebob case from last week. Okay. But that was television. This is the internet. What do you think, Blue? He just has a dyed blue German shepherd in the back of his car just barking viciously. I think it's a bit of a quinky dink, isn't it, buddy?

1:20:49we just got all right you guys are gonna have to sit back there with blue don't put me back there with him now i'm thinking of this cop character going to different like scenes and stuff like that like like he goes to like someone someone took their own life and there's a note on the table he's like we just got a letter wonder

1:21:15I have a suspicion that this was the this was the victim's note it's like yeah all right girl what have you looked at you said all right girls get in the battle bus

1:21:28I think this is always worrying with these things that I'm being disrespectful of the story and my rule is always that as long as I'm not you know discrediting the tragedy that happened are the people going like, you know, well, yeah, I feel like this is like this is riding the handrail of that. I am just trying to make a light of I'm I'm just trying to make I mean weird. I am not at all making light of the what the girl went through, but just the idea of a cop walking up on two girls covered in blood on the interstate. And it's like, OK, well, we're looking for two girls. He's like, OK, that might be them.

1:22:08They are riddled with blood. No, just two kids, just two girls covered in blood here. Nothing to report. Hey guys, sorry to inconvenience you. I know you're covered in blood. Did you get any scrapes? No. Okay, well, do you have anything that's just a thing where it's like, I don't know. Just a little silly. Just going through the whole question here. Can we not have a bit of brevity in this moment? Sure. Right? Hey man, it's your world. I'm just living in it. Realizing she was the suspect, he read her Miranda rights and kindly asked if she'd be willing to talk to about it. Once again, Morgan repeated that she had a sleepover at her house and she and Anissa were forced to stab Peyton.

1:22:45Paul's mind began to race, worrying that if this story were true, there was a victim in Wakesha who needed assistance. After loading them into the cop car, he called dispatch, letting them know he found the two suspects and wondered if the victim had been found. After being informed that Peyton was in surgery, Paul rushed the girls back to the Ocasio Police Department to be questioned further. Headlines would soon come out about the attack, causing uproar in the little town of Ocasio as reports began flooding the town. Slender Man was now at the forefront of every TV as the entire world was being exposed to it.

1:23:17The creepypasta community came under fire for the attacks, with people believing the forum was solely responsible by corrupting the girls. The creator of Slender Man, Eric Knudsen, publicly apologized and condemned the act. I am deeply saddened by the tragedy in Wisconsin, and my heart goes out to the families of those affected by this terrible act. He said in a statement to the media, Moderators of the forum also spoke out against the crime, thinking it was absurd to blame the creepypasta community for the girls' actions. Placing blame solely on an interest in reading slash writing about horror, paranormal myths, urban legends, etc.

1:23:50for a tragedy would be off the mark. The really young kids, while I don't believe that creepypasta stories will cause them to become evil or sick, I do think it could scare them and or make them very anxious. And if your child has issues with violence or destructive or depressive issues, it's really important to make sure that they're not interacting with things that will exacerbate that. Yeah, correct. I agree. The creepypasta forum was under a media frenzy as people began to view it as an evil entity responsible for corrupting two innocent little girls. The media was so distracted by the creepypasta forums that they neglected to pay any attention to the real monsters that were currently being interrogated.

1:24:30I do think it's funny that they I do think it's funny that they like go to the guy who created the Slender Man image and they're like how do you feel like you know for sure the media was twisting it exactly the media is like twisting it to happen basically like I mean like I mean I don't particularly feel great about it I think it sucks so you feel remorse you feel sorry for it it's just twisting in that way it's just so fucking scummy man yeah it's I remember when this was happening, it was all the news reports like creepy pastas. Is this the next school shooting more at 11? Like just no understanding of what happened or why it happened to things.

1:25:12It was a mentally ill child who was wasn't being regulated in a way they should have been and then acted on those like depraved ideas and delusions. But all the news can do because they just minimize it. like i said same as the video game conversation while while slender man was popular in online circles did this event truly skyrocketed into a like into a very mainstream no one knew who slender man was in the mainstream uh like internet even creepypastas as well well i mean like if you knew creepypastas you knew who slender man was or no no i sorry what i meant was did it also just like give more did it give more eyes to also like creepypastas and like those kind of horror communities in general yeah i remember coming home from school when this or no it was it was in the summers right of school's out but i remember coming to the living room one day and i remember my mom being like oh whatever this is you make sure you stay away from it and i'm like what and she's like this slender man thing you don't you don't know about that right And I'm like, all right, so we need context.

1:26:23I mean, I was 15, so I was old enough that, you know, my mom trusted me when I was like, this isn't a bad thing. This is just clearly the news has no idea what it's talking about. You were swirling your glass of whole milk. You're like, listen, princess, I've been showing your audio versions of this. I've been showing the ladies these things for quite a while now. Why don't you suck on your chug jug and calm down? Because I've been showing girls the Mr. Creepypasta versions of this for a long time. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's just like, it's how the news is with anything. You have a bunch of people sitting around a table.

1:27:00Of course, sensationalize it. Yeah, and they're like, can you believe this? Like, should this be allowed? Should the internet be allowed to use words like die and kill in front of kids? Anyway, after the commercial break, we're going to talk about a car bomb in Lebanon in which 13 children were killed. It's like, well, yeah, whatever. If it benefits them, it's justified. If it can be sensationalized, it's bad, whatever. But yeah, this projected the idea of Slender Man into the stratosphere. But because of that, a bunch of people's interpretation of Slender Man is that it's something that makes kids kill each other online.

1:27:36Oh, sure. Like now it's like changed the lore of it in the public perception. In the public perception. I mean, it didn't really change the online scene. I don't think that much. Most people kind of have like a reverence for the story to not touch it or incorporate it, you know. But if you ask like some adult, like a boomer who's never read a creepypasta, but heard about from the news, it's like, oh, Slender Man. Yeah, that's that girl that stabbed that girl right over that cartoon thing. Yeah. So in the dimly lit rooms of the Wakesha police station, the girls were questioned for hours on end.

1:28:10Morgan, being the main suspect, was questioned for longer and calmly discussed every detail with the officer. When asked about her motive, she went into great detail about Slenderman and how they had to become proxies otherwise their families would have been killed. Throughout the interrogation, she implied that Anissa was the main person behind the crime. Morgan claimed Anissa was the main planner. She was the one who insisted on the murder and that she was less remorseful. Unaware that Peyton already identified her as the main suspect. Morgan tried to portray herself as an innocent accomplice.

1:28:45With each passing question, she slowly revealed her sinister mental state by expressing how she felt while stabbing her friend. I felt no remorse. I actually felt nothing. She would continue to say as she questioned why she didn't feel as guilty as she thought she would for the betrayal. When she got to the details of the sacrifice, she broke down crying, recalling hearing her friend's cries ringing in her head. Morgan opened up about her visions, her fantasies of hurting people. When she ended her side of the story, she started shutting down, saying she was numb. Down the hall, Anissa was given a lot of the same information.

1:29:20She explained how they planned the murder months in advance and that they had to become proxies. She, on the other hand, was putting all the blame on Morgan. Anissa said that it was Morgan who initially proposed killing Peyton. Though she painted Morgan as the mastermind, and is admitted to pushing Peyton to the ground in the woods and restraining her on the ground. This is all very brutal, too. I don't know if you've ever seen the documentary Beware the Slender Man on HBO, but these, you can kind of get, they have a lot of the police interrogation room footage of this, and it's very haunting, very tough to watch.

1:29:56Yeah, yeah, it's... I mean, I don't know. it's a it's tragic situations like this and you want to be mad at someone uh you know but then it's like you for me at least i look at the the perpetrators it's like gosh they to like you have a mentally ill child and another one who um was developmentally behind and stuff like that it's like just what a horrible circumstance to lead between all three of them to lead this to happen you know two lost children that were able to uh ruin their fantasies for too long. Yeah. Yeah. No one helped. Yeah. Yeah. The questions kept coming one after the other as Anissa said and answered everyone.

1:30:43Slowly, she began to question everything about stabbing and her beliefs about Slenderman. Anissa told the officer that while out on the interstate, she had a nervous breakdown and laid down on the side of the road. Morgan began to panic and called out to the woods. Sunder, if you're listening, please help us. Ugh, God. this is when the wave of panic would fully consume both girls as they slowly began to realize maybe slender man wasn't real oh god not even halfway through the interview she coyly told the officer forehand i believe but now i know that it's just teenagers who really like scaring people and making them believe false things oh god yeah just the tragic clarity there my god man yeah well i mean kids should have just never been exposed this kind of thing you know if they can't handle it.

1:31:32In her mind, Anissa was trying to control the damage as much as possible and make herself seem innocent. She clearly stated that she feared for her family's life and, more importantly, feared going to prison. She claimed to be squeamish and could never stab anyone. She claimed she wasn't a violent person, yet she was there every step of the way and only showed remorse when the murder attempt was over. Anissa asked if Peyton was alive and when they said she was in surgery, she said she was kind of happy but worried that she would hate her when they met again again like the the childness of it the the childness of it where it's like oh well will my friend be mad at me you know um kind of adds to the the sorrow of the whole thing it's so hard not to lash out emotionally at that kind of thing too you know i mean like i i can see a lot of people who will listen to this or you know see the documentary read about it do whatever and than just be like oh you're just covering your ass you don't give a shit you know without understanding like the complexities of like i guess just the absolute mental turmoil and like how just severely mentally broken and uh destroyed this person's brain is you know what i mean yeah doesn't doesn't condone what she did i'm just saying that like it's it's not a justification is just a reason not at all it's just what a fucking murky murky waters that is for a person's brain yeah as they were being questioned police dug through morgan's room and discovered all of her mutilated dolls in the pages in her diary at that point the police were already seeing how oblivious the parents and school staff were during the months leading up to the attack police in turn questioned the parents about what they knew about their children's unhealthy obsession with the creepypasta.

1:33:16Morgan's parents claimed she was just a typical girl who had an obsession with horror. Her mother said, she would show us some of the pictures and she would read us some of the stories and while all the subject matter was a little dark I wasn't concerned. When I was Morgan's age I was reading Stephen King novels. I remember being 11 years old and riding home from the library with the It book under my arm. That's a very scary and dark story so I just thought it was normal for a child of middle school age to be interested in scary stories. I mean that, so that kind of justification is the exact kind of thing I would probably say, right?

1:33:50Like a million percent, a million percent. Once again, though, you're, you know, I mean, it just comes down to the point of being like, huh, does my child have schizophrenic tendencies? Like also how off, like, I mean, there's, there's just no other things too. Like let me ask you in the nuance of them yeah yeah let me ask you this isaiah if you're let's say if your kid was like i like which obviously your your kid's gonna like horror stories and all that i mean that's just a given right you could also just despise me and everything to do with me but more than likely yeah yeah they're just also like i actually fucking hate you yeah you're like that's weird buddy here i'm not gonna okay you're fine i'm gonna shut my door i'm gonna i'm gonna shut your door and you get to have six hours alone time in your room now the uh if you went up to your kid's room and you saw like mutilated dolls and all that kind of stuff like at what point are you do you i mean do you sit the kid down like hey but are you okay what do you what is this all about if they're like yeah if they're caught i feel like if they pulled the heads off dolls no because i used to do that with action figures just because uh not in any murderous intent i think i was just like oh how's the head work on the puppet thing um but if they were like carving symbols into their chest and stuff like that i think that's the sit down on the bed and have a long talk you know at least kind of step i would probably even if it was a person because also i'm going to be like because even if let's if that was you if i was your dad isaiah and i went into your room there was there was the heads off dolls or whatever you're like take them off i'm just curious I'm just curious how they work I want to see how the blood works I would be I feel like at some point at some point this story has made me or like this scenario where basically like this crime has definitely made me be like if you see something weird you just need to sit down and be like you realize buddy that like you know this is make believe right or like you know why is this fascinating I don't think it necessarily just immediately means that like, I think that my child's going to murder someone, but it's, it's good to do a temperature check, right?

1:36:03It needs to be every once in a while. I think. Yeah. Cause there, there's a layer between reading it and, uh, you know, writing about how you have to kill someone to save your family. Like, right. Right. Which I, you know, once again, who, I mean, who knows the amount of like, insight she had and yada i mean like i'm just saying in general there's a layer in there i mean parenting's hard i i completely sympathize with that but there's got to be a stopgap so there also has got to be signs right well i mean they said that there has got to be signs and stuff like that and talked about demons biting her so also i want even in the school there's gotta be something i mean like the rubber counselor turn the counselor turning a blind eye all of these things to where even like let's say not even the rubber mallet there's gotta be things of like things said where it's just who is turning a blind eye and just be like ah kids are kids the kids there had to be a bunch of people that could have done something drop the ball i feel like situations like this uh are prevented a lot because at least one adult down the pipe was like hey um should someone say something do something you know um how how do you as a teacher let's say you're the teacher here isaiah and you're in the class what do you what do you try to do here to check in on the kid and maybe divert their path right there were uh there were some kids at my school in high school who were a little questionable as to they might hurt someone And I remember one day there was a kid who made a joke about having an AK in his backpack.

1:37:51Uh, and the moment he made that joke in school and one of the kids, uh, went to a teacher and that teacher ripped him out of the hallway immediately. I'd like took a, like with the principal and they like searched his backpack and everything. And I don't think he had one, but there was, I don't know all the details about it because, you know, it's good on everyone past rumors around and stuff like that. Good on that teacher. But he got expelled for that. But there was, you know, I don't, I don't think he had, I'm pretty sure he did not have a weapon, but there was something else found in combination with that, that led to enough suspicion that it wasn't just a joke.

1:38:33Maybe they found a note or something like that. I don't know. The people, the people that do that stuff though. It just takes one adult to be like, Hey, hold on. What's going on here? So the people that are doing these things, I feel like they nonchalantly say that stuff because I feel like they want the attention for someone to stop them or just give them that attention to where I'm curious. Once again, all speculative hindsight, 2020, right? I'm not, I'm, I'm just talking because we're on a podcast and I get to talk. I bet you fucking anything. Morgan said something. said something along the line.

1:39:10She was talking to a psychologist. She was talking about ghost biting her and stuff like that. Ghost biting. But I'm even saying to the extent of being like, going to have to make a sacrifice to Slender Man. Oh. Going to have to do it. I bet you it was that casual. And people probably were like, what the fuck? And kids are probably like, what the fuck are you talking about? You know what I mean? And like discarded it. But I'm just saying, now with this story, with this information, if I was a teacher and I heard something like that, I would pull her aside and I would say what in the fuck are you talking about?

1:39:42Explain. Because if she's this far gone, she might be like oh well I just, I mean, I have to make a sacrifice. It might be that nonchalant. That's what she did when she was being interrogated. That's what I'm saying! That was a lot with mentally ill people who commit like murder. You'll see in interrogation tapes they're just like, yeah well I killed him. Yeah well I had to kill him so I just killed him. Yeah that's what I'm saying. If you got that, if you were able to get that far beforehand with just a simple conversation of asking a kid how they're doing, what is it? How much of this could have been prevented?

1:40:16Once again, hindsight 2020, just saying. Nissa's mother said, She never mentioned anything to me about her belief in Slenderman. Both fathers were supposedly oblivious to their daughter's beliefs. Eurely, however, a month before the murder, Morgan's dad posted a picture on Instagram of a Slenderman drawing made by his daughter. Once the interrogations ended, there was little doubt the girls would face prison time. They were handcuffed and taken to jail to a way trial. I don't know about the Morgan's thing, but do what? What do you know about them? What do you mean by the Morgan's? I was saying, I don't know how much Morgan's dad actually knew versus like, Oh, my daughter drew a picture.

1:40:56Right. You know? Oh, a hundred percent. I'm just saying now, let me just to be a, just to be devils or just to fucking be the devil on your shoulder a bit here that's what that's your job on this podcast do you really believe that they didn't understand some shit um so again going back to morgan's father having schizophrenia and not taking his medication because he liked the entities that he would speak to um i hate that we keep bringing that up because now every time because because every time you're doing it in a way that's justified and you're like you're putting reason behind it right but i'm dumb isaiah and what i'm doing is i'm now taking it and then the mom's like i don't think that she really believes in this right and he's and the dad's like no i doubt it right mr balapetus and it's like a giant polka dot man he's like i doubt it i doubt it mr morgan's dad so in my mind that's where my mind's going that this is a full-on insane man which i know is not true but the way you keep bringing it up i just keep picturing this giant like polka dotted man who's just like yeah we all have a crazy interest don't we yeah man something like that we can cut that i mean i thought i thought it was funny i thought

1:42:24But because of that, I wonder if the father did know something, how reluctant he would be to share it or to prevent it. Or if he'd be in a position to prevent it. Because all that we get from this document is that he didn't take it when he was younger. Or he quit taking it when he was younger because he liked the entities he was talking to. That doesn't necessarily mean he didn't take it into adulthood or got better or anything like that. Just at one point, that was his idea. But I wonder if he'd be in a state or willing to share if he knew something. So who knows? I fully believe that they thought that it was a phase, right?

1:43:15but I am hesitant I'm hesitant to believe that she never once ever said yeah Slenderman's real and they were like mhm you know and just did you know like that's nice whatever I'm wondering if that ever popped up of the idea of Morgan being like yeah I don't know I just think he's really cool I can't wait to meet him something like that right Yeah. Doesn't mean like, hey, guys, this is my God. I don't think that she ever said something like that. Yeah. But I just mean that something to where, you know, if I was like doing the dishes, I would like turn off the faucet and be like, you know, say what?

1:43:52You know, like that kind of like, what are you like? What? Yeah. Because then I'm curious if that ever actually happened. Because, you know, I them just saying like, no, I, you know, we had no idea about her belief of it. I don't know, man. To quote Michael Scott, which, you know, is a funny thing to do. Crazy, crazy pull. right now i'm not super i'm not superstitious i'm a little stitious and that's what i was gonna say okay thank you it actually legitimately cut that because i wanted i i'm gonna fucking kill myself if that actually goes up no it should go up you in the midst of this story and if you want to keep your job in the words of michael scott during the slinterman step yeah during the editor legitimately if you want to keep your job if you fucking cut editor if you want to get uh paid double he has no pay double whatever hunter's paying you uh i don't know can leave that in thank you if you leave that in unironically i will send you a tip so okay you cannot fight do not bribe the i just did with tips i just did it's 50 percent right where i can bribe whoever you want it you want you want isaiah's tip i said that i'm really smart isaiah's gonna give you the tip uh-huh if you leave that in.

1:45:05Just the tip. You can scare him out of it all you want. It's already done. The fate is already sealed. If Nate's editing this, you couldn't pay him to cut that. Peyton would undergo a six-hour surgery before being intubated. Her breathing was weak and her voice was gone, forcing her to communicate with the police and her parents by writing on a pad of paper. Two days after the attack, she was able to speak, and one of the first things she asked was if Anissa and Morgan had been caught. I remember the first thing that I thought after I woke up was like, did they get them? Are they there? Are they in custody?

1:45:42Are they still out? Her father knelt by her side and assured her that the girls had been caught. This is my little girl who's lying there, who just said there's something incredibly horrendous happened and now she's scared for her life because these two people could potentially find her again. No shit, dude. With Anissa and Morgan in custody, the girls were getting set up for their trial as prosecutors sought to lock them away. Psychological evaluations were issued to both girls and led to Morgan getting an official schizophrenia diagnosis. Her symptoms would only worsen the longer she was in jail, with her mother describing her as floridly psychotic.

1:46:18Initially, I mean, she really... Oh, this is a quote. Go ahead. Initially, I mean, she really behaved like a caged animal. Her hair was wild. The first time I went to visit her, she looked at me and she had sort of this flat expression on her face and she said why are you here it's heartbreaking i sympathize with the parents in that way once again of course yeah this revelation and stuff at the same time peyton's dad fully on i mean i if i was peyton's dad i would be in the same mindset of like these people did this for a fictional character what makes you think they are going to stop at like I could only imagine the rage I imagine they would sneak in or something would happen I could only imagine the rage that Peyton's parents would feel oh I would I would be like my heel your fucking temple and I would do a fucking street fighter kick I look like I'd look like king from from Tekken that's what I would do I wanna let's get let's get a tally going of times hunter makes pop culture references in the midst of the child stabbing video i will stop i'm once again my brain is simple i only have references that i can use i'm trying to basically i'm just skirting around the idea that i would find these children and i would fucking kill them is what i'm saying right right right yeah no i get it i think that'd be the i was trying to have a more more palatable digestible version of that yeah yeah uh and And I think that would be an understandable, you know, anger for the parents to have in that moment.

1:47:53Because, I mean, my gosh, your child stabbed 19 times. What kind of parent wouldn't, you know? Caretakers at the jail recorded Morgan talking to figures that were not there. While in her cell, she continued to talk to Slender Man, as well as Severus Snape, Lord Voldemort, and one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Unicorns. That's a rough match for you, that sentence. A lot of laying minds for you. that one literally right after the pop culture reference and you hit me with that yeah go ahead tell me take your comment no no no i i said i wouldn't dude actually didn't you never said you would i said i wouldn't i said i said i'm done i said i won't okay all right unicorns allegedly filled her room as she pretended to be a cat and kept ants as pets during one of her competency reviews she squatted on a chair and laughed uncontrollably while a psychologist questioned her she told her doctor directly that she wasn't afraid of going to prison because she could use vulcan mind control from star trek to believe whatever she wanted

1:48:59go ahead hunter no no well i'm trying to find this is this see this is another problem with me and you're gonna you need to ground me okay ground me right now my problem right now is i want to say oh how convenient that once you're caught now you're starting to act like a fucking nut in there you know what I mean I don't know does it not feel a tad performative I mean am I wrong or am I just being a bit doomed no not someone who's that gone so what it was is more than likely is when she was outside before she got arrested she had so many barriers adjusting her like for example if you imagine someone you're saying the floodgates are open now Yeah, floodgates are open now.

1:49:44Like, think about it this way. If you have a condition where you imagine people who aren't really there, right, and you're in public or you're at your house with your family, and you're the only one who sees them and no one else addresses them, that kind of acts as, like, barriers for your mind to be like, okay, they don't. I'm the only one. I'm the only one. But then you're locked up by yourself all day. Well, then, you know. Oh, I see what you're saying. So solitary confinement, because there is no, well, let me ask you this. I don't even think she was in solitary confinement, but just being outside of that setting where you have constant buffers for your mindset, where there's not someone with you.

1:50:23Would the buffer not be the cop, though? Would the buffer not be the cop being like, this is not real? Well, there's not a cop sitting there all day doing that with her. Well, sure. Not all day, but. There's also the fact that mental illnesses tend to compound when exposed to things like stress and paranoia. I mean, the trauma of actually performing the act was probably also the opening of the floodgate. Yeah. And now she's in jail and she's a she's a young girl who doesn't go to school anymore. Doesn't see people anymore. She's now locked in a room like all of those. Once again, I'm would compound.

1:50:55I'm reacting. I'm reacting emotionally and not and not, you know, I'm reacting emotionally. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm just I'm at this point where I'm like, you cannot get out of this. You know, I'm just I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, spoilers. That's where it goes. but so when her parents heard her diagnosis they said they were not surprised because of her father's history when they told us what had happened and that she had to and that she had done it because she believed slender man is real that's where my mind went says she must be sick angie and her husband even admitted that they knew their daughter lacked basic empathy we had been concerned to show morgan the movie bambi because she was a sensitive and empathetic child at least towards other people so we were afraid that when we we were afraid that when she saw the movie that when Bambi's mother died she'd be devastated.

1:51:42She in fact had quite the opposite reaction. After Bambi's mother was shot, Morgan just said run Bambi, run and had no reaction whatsoever to the mother dying. So it was kind of the opposite reaction that we expected. Interesting. I don't think that's that crazy of a response is it? Bambi, get the fuck out of there. Well more so I mean the fact that because not showing empathy is sociopathy or psychopathy which is different very different from schizophrenia but the idea that maybe she couldn't really project empathy onto something else that's a that's an interesting idea from the parents but also the parents could just be you know this is a circumstantial story like you said it could just be she was just thinking of bambi and didn't really process the mom yet or something.

1:52:32Yeah, I mean, well, yeah. All speculative, everything we're saying, take it with a grain of salt. With all of her psychological diagnosis, her parents finally took notice and began to listen to their daughter's delusions. For years, Morgan cried out and no one listened. Only after committing a heinous crime did people begin to give her the treatment and care she needed. Her parents petitioned that she be moved to a mental institute to receive proper care. After a judge approved the move, her overall condition improved, though she still had bouts of mental instability. After numerous visits, her own mother said, The best way to describe it is that it was like the light came back behind her eyes.

1:53:12If I had any idea that she believed Slenderman was real, we would have done something about it. We had no idea. I think on some level, I always feel responsible for not knowing that my daughter wasn't well. As a mother, you're supposed to be there to protect your child, and, you know, I think on some level, I always feel that I failed in that regard. despite improvement Morgan had fought hard against being medicated just like her father knowing that once she swallowed the first pill her lifelong friends would disappear Morgan is adamant in her perspective that she does not want medication she has been told that the medication by a clinician not myself that the medication will take away the voices she wants the voices to stay if she doesn't want medication yeah same as her father Anissa had been separated from Morgan as soon as she walked through the front doors of the Wakesha Police Department.

1:54:01After her interrogation, Anissa was moved to the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center, where guards described her as a model inmate. She excelled in her schooling and looked after other inmates, acting as a big sister. Though she appeared to be doing fine, the memories of the attack still haunted Anissa. Other inmates harassed her and called her a monster, which ate away at her psyche. That's what I am. Exactly what they called me. her psychological evaluation found that she suffered from folie adieu adopting and reinforcing morgan's delusions as a form of escapism because the fantasy world felt safer and more appealing than reality for years and this is mother struggled to watch her little girl through the glass in the meeting room while she awaited trial the visiting area there's a cement table on a piece of glass and we can see each other but we can't touch her i can't wipe away a tear i can't give her a hug.

1:54:55I can't kiss her. For three years, the girls were held in separate facilities and brought in and out of courtrooms as they fought for their innocence. After a lot of back and forth between doctors and lawyers, both girls were deemed competent to stand trial despite their psychological evaluations and were said to be sentenced in adult court. Their defense argued they should be tried as juvenile since they were only 12 years old at the time of the crime, but the judge denied their request. The misguides the situation based on the nature of schizophrenia and mental health law, once she left the juvenile system, there would be no oversight or control.

1:55:28No way to protect public safety. Stacey Lutner celebrated the court's decision. Adult crime is adult court. If they had stolen the candy bar, sure, that's a child. But you try to kill somebody, that's an adult crime. I think we talked about that in a previous episode or I talked about somewhere where typically the whole like charged as a child is just for like not capital offense level crimes like once you do that then it's suddenly not a juvenile court anymore it's now adult court knowing how violent the crime was and that it was planned months in advance there was no way either girl was going to be tried as a juvenile anissa had expressed remorse for the crime but morgan only began to show regret after she was medicated it was the opinion of one of her doctors that she simply needs to grow up to be deemed competent.

1:56:20In 2017, Anissa was charged with attempted second degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime with the use of a dangerous weapon. It's pretty specific, but I think that covers everything. A jury found her guilty, but not guilty due to mental disease or defect. With all the evidence laid out before him and after hearing the jury's verdict, Judge Michael Boren sentenced Anissa to 25 years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, with mandatory three-year confinement and communal supervision until the age of 37. Morgan's trial would take place six weeks later, where she would also be found guilty but not guilty due to mental disease or defect for her charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime.

1:57:06She would be sentenced to the maximum sentence of 40 years in a mental institute after her psychological evaluations were read to the court. When the sentencing was over, Payton's family breathed a sigh of relief knowing justice had been served. Years of waiting and anticipation were over with one hit of a gavel. Payton returned home from the hospital one week after the attack. She constantly ran fevers and had shallow breathing, even when walking short distances. It was hard to move on after such a traumatic experience. At only 12 years old, her life was almost ripped from her by her best friend.

1:57:40Only surviving by the grace of a good Samaritan passing by and the will to live. Thankfully, it wouldn't be long until things started to return to normal. Just six weeks after the attack, Peyton was allowed to go swimming again. Thousands of letters poured into her mailbox showing nothing but support as she recovered. By September, she had fully recovered and could once again attend school. Though her body had recovered, Peyton's mind still relived the horrors of that day constantly. She could no longer sleep alone, and had to sleep with a pair of broken scissors under her pillow while her mother lay next to her.

1:58:14Even as she had to console her daughter every night, Stacy was just happy to have her daughter home alive. But she knew she had a long road ahead to truly return to normal. Her daughter had lost all trust in her friends and family, fearing they might attack. She has friends, but initially, even with those friends, she kept them at Arden's links. And for a long time, even trusting family members was hard for her. As time went on, she grew more curious about her friend's motives and wasn't surprised when she learned that the girls wanted to appease Slender Man. After I heard what she did, it was all like, well, this doesn't even surprise me at all because she believed so hard in this thing that she would do anything for it.

1:58:53Most people were shocked to hear how forgiving Peyton was, especially after hearing how critical people were of Morgan's mother, Angie. I've thought about what she's going through and how hard it must be for her. because I'm sure a lot of people are trashing on her and hating her and saying it was her fault. She raised Morgan wrong. It wasn't Angie's fault. Morgan schizophrenic. There's nothing she could have done to stop that or control that. It was not her fault. God damn. Does this woman, does this girl have angel wings? Good Lord. What is, what is, I mean, like my God. Yeah. Well, I mean, it is a, uh, it is a very inspiring level of um you know forgiveness forgiveness yeah yeah forgiveness and understanding at that age after being that traumatized the clarity that comes with it yeah and even facing her own demons of the trauma that that gave her she's still able to have the clarity to just be like you know what man you'd like it's unbelievable yeah yeah she's she's cool Payton's mother had bought into the hatred spewed at the Gazers for what their daughter did, but she too learned to forgive them.

2:00:05I was angry for a long time, especially at Morgan's parents, knowing that Morgan's dad had schizophrenia for a long time. I thought that they were maybe just in denial and ignoring her symptoms, but I'm not angry anymore because I recognize that they're going through their own hell. That's also a piece of clarity from the mother. There is suffering involved with them. didn't it say that when she was a child they had her tested and she had like schizophrenia like symptoms

2:01:00like if she was little little family endured widespread hate from random strangers nationwide. Their daughters had committed the unthinkable, and they had been ostracized from society. Even after Anissa came home in 2021, her father did their best to keep her at home and out of the public eye. To the public's surprise, Morgan in 2025 would also be set free from the mental institution and placed in a groomed home where she could be more independent. it once her friend anissa was allowed to go home morgan began sending petitions to be released to a group home which were rejected until a judge finally upheld her petition and agreed to send her to one wait morgan would be sent okay morgan started sending them after anissa got released i got it yeah for months morgan's caretakers searched for a home that would take her but nobody was willing a group home in milwaukee was initially considered for morgan's placement but the plan was quickly abandoned after officials realized it was only eight miles from the Lutner family home.

2:02:00Oh my God. Yeah. This stuff is so, I mean, this happens all the time when people get declared as like mentally incompetent or unwell, which obviously is justified the majority of the time, but sometimes it'll be horrific case like this and they'll get sent and then after five years, it's like, you're doing better, you know, kick it kick him back out there see how it goes now this case is different they're not just releasing her they're putting her in a group home which is a bit you know less stringent but man yeah but still just eight i mean oh my god i would fucking lose sleep over that the next place they looked was in sun prairie wisconsin where the presiding judge was optimistic stating i don't see the risk to the public that's the exact voice you have I can't remember the story but when you're like did I mention I'm a crippling alcoholic

2:03:00I don't see the risk to the public also I forgot to tell you I'm blind oh uh I dared my best friend to ruin my life that's it yeah I don't see why not yeah

2:03:13however a city attorney from Sun Prairie was quick to reject this transfer and had her move to another facility in Madison, believing she was still a threat to society. Citizens of the city were also worried about living in close proximity to Morgan out of fear that she would escape. I like how they're true. I mean, like, yes, I understand keeping her locked up and stuff like that, but the people in the town next to the facility, like she's the Joker in there. I mean, at a certain point, it has to be a thing of being like, I don't, We don't want that fucking, we don't want that near our families.

2:03:50Look, I get it, but there's already a, like, mentally unwell criminal facility there. It's like. That's true. It's just this one has a, you know, this one just has a reputation. Yeah, yeah. So it's able, people that have the other mental facility, they're like, well, I don't know their story. They can, like, lie to themselves and be like, well, it's okay. Versus this is like, I don't want my kid getting stabbed 19 times. Maybe they're only there because they stole money to give to the homeless. it's like yeah sure sure lady whatever it's a building full of robin hoods that's what happens in the criminally insane building full of robin whatever helps you sleep at night misunderstood yeah they're they're all heroes and they're all i bet if you went in there it'd be like the green mile like a thousand times in a row yeah yeah let john coffee go john coffee goes like 1200 people were killed today

2:04:48morgan's attorney argued that the move was actually a good thing and would help her adjust to living in society again people should be aware of what is going on in their community but people have been released somewhere and so if you permit cities to object then you'd have everybody objecting you'd never release people but that sounds great can we do that yeah exactly okay keep him in there so she's getting transferred to a home right instead of the yeah like it's still a facility it's just not like it's still gonna be a facility but it's just way more i don't think it's it's definitely not i mean it's not a group home you know i mean group home yeah yeah it turns out people were right to be afraid of morgan moving into their neighborhood because one month after her release, she cut her ankle monitor and fled 170 miles south to Poe's in Illinois with 43-year-old Chad Mecca, whom she met at the group home.

2:05:47My fucking God! I mean, could you imagine all these people in town who are terrified of her getting out? Everyone's like, she's not going to get out. Yeah, well, I can't possibly see the right. I don't see the risk of that. she's 170 miles I'd be burning that motherfucker's house right there we'd have a straight up pig roast with that motherfucker after that happened oh boy four weeks into her being released immediately like comedic timing gets out runs away after removing her monitor she simply walked out the front door and hopped on a greyhound bus in Chicago she didn't even have to break a window she cut it with a pair of children's safety scissors and walked out the goddamn front door all right you can be trusted off you go from there they walked through chicago to a pace bus station and rode 20 miles to posen police would find her at a truck stop aided by numerous tips and surveillance footage across chicago when officers confronted her she refused to identify herself and snipped at police saying just google me police knew that's her voice now police knew who both of them were arrested them and extradited them back to Wisconsin Morgan was sent back to Winnebago Mental Health Institute where she will reside for the remainder of her 40 year sentence wow so she was so she had to go back to the original place obviously wow they trust you in a group home and you're out in four weeks like no you can't go back to one exactly it just seems like it's man i sometimes the rehabilitation aspect like she was she just putting on a show she saw that anissa was able to get out and then someone told her and she's just like i should just put in for the same thing i think like the intention of these facilities is originally is there are some people who are so unwell they cannot be trusted to interact with a society but also because they're unwell it's not their fault and they shouldn't be punished for it in like a prison or execution or something like that but if people you know are to the degree that the rest of us are not safe if they're around um then that's what these facilities are and she clearly seems like a case of that because the moment she had any leeway another guy was like hey cut your monitor and run and they're like yeah of course that makes sense to me so all it takes is someone else to meet her and be like thank god i attack someone else thank god for the tips and the surveillance and thank god there was another uh another cop there with the uh giant blues clues notebook hey do i think you are who you are you think google me you think when she said that he just pulled out a comedically large phone and started typing yeah he had a giant old person phone looks like one of it's just huge buttons he's like Hold on a second.

2:08:45You have to tap through the numbers to get to the letters. Yeah. Yep. Oh, I got to go back now. Dang it. That big finger. It's been 12 years since that fateful day. Payton graduated from high school in 2020 and wanted to pursue a medical degree inspired by the doctors who saved her life. She thanked Morgan for changing her life and turning her into the person she is today. I would probably initially thank her. Lutner said to Muir. I would say just because of what she did, I have the life I have now. And I really, really like it. And I have a plan. I didn't have a plan when I was 12. And now I do because of everything that I went through.

2:09:29I wouldn't think that someone who went through what I did would ever say that. But that's truly how I feel about the whole situation. I wouldn't be who I am. That is a girl who had such a horrific tragedy happen to her, but she has such a great perspective on where she is now that she doesn't hold. I'm telling you, that's true forgiveness. The world is going to be a better place with her in it and that perspective. Yeah, of course. Whatever she does, she is going to impact people in such a positive way. God bless that child. Yeah, I think being able to have that optimism afterwards is a very, very blessed thing.

2:10:08Very cool person. Worried that other young girls might face the same fate as her, Peyton urges parents to educate themselves and talk to their kids about the content they consume online. She also offered some wisdom to other children who may be stuck in toxic, manipulative friendships. Get out before something bad happens to you. Even if you're guilted into it. If you've been friends with them for years, if you feel like something's bad, you need to get out while you still can. Preach! she never would have suspected that her lifelong best friend would be the one to nearly take her life life can truly be fragile the distance of one human hair would have changed this story lives of those in the town of wakasha forever and that my friends as of as of recent it's as of today is this story of the slender man stabbing it is the anniversary cannot believe it's been 12 years i feel like it's insane it's been that long now but my god i gotta tell you that is to end it on that quote from Peyton is so true toxic relationships friendships even is something that I feel like people get walked over all the time it's crazy and I think that like there's been so many cases especially from online communities that have transferred the things they do online into actual tangible physical relationships like another example that's a great video online from Frederick Nunson is the final final fantasy house.

2:11:33Have you heard that? That's another one where it's people online interactions. They have like, it's just a niche community. Those people meet up in real life. And then the toxic traits of that person completely consumes the other person. And like, it basically just ends in abuse. And in this case was almost murder. It's just insane. And that's, that's the true fucking horror story of this. That's the true horror of the story is the, is the kind of relationships you put yourself through or the kind of things that you do that can result in actual physical altercations or even life and death scenarios pretty fucking crazy man yeah i think uh it's um it's tragic but i do love the optimism that came out of it and man thank god she lived in many senses but gosh oh unbelievable it's amazing it is a miracle she lived and i'm glad she did of course uh and also all the the optimism she's able to have on the other side of it but you see that a lot with like a lot of tragedies that happen it's because someone had a friend who got them closer and closer to a spot that they should have come out of but didn't i mean like the classic example columbine right dylan and eric um and then you have like i mean tragically the shooting that happened just the other day at the mosque in california two friends that knew each other from school and then they got into the 764 which i mean that group is responsible for, I don't know how many deaths at this point between mass shootings and stuff like that.

2:13:01But again, that entire group operates on getting people to be your friend, inducting them, blackmailing them, stuff like that. So I don't know. At some point I understand that, uh, relationships can be hard to break off and, you know, you can't have dependence on people, but that doesn't object you from any of the wrong you do with them. So. Yeah. it's a it's a slippery slope man and i think it all starts with self-love it starts with knowing how you should be treated by people and as long as you have that and also to just know that like man there's better people out there and also to i mean this is a huge case for unchecked mental illness and i mean like it's just this is such a crazy what a crazy storm that results in this it's like fucking getting struck by lightning or something it's just like the perfect storm that hit this tar you know i mean it could have happened to anybody but it happened to this girl and then it just got it got swept in with everything else it's just uh such a wild wild story um and i don't know i mean like we were talking about this it was the anniversary of the stabbing and it was just such a crazy thing and we had just recently uh within the past like however many months just finished the marble hornet series as well we just i remember we were just talking about it and we figured that we would try to do this format.

2:14:26I know it's a little new. Hopefully you all enjoyed it. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I thought that it was a fun way to kind of tell the story in a way that still lets you narrate and we can kind of use these quotations and stuff for the normal things that we do. Also what we'll do as well for all the documentation and stuff of the story, we'll be sure to put our links and sources below in the description. And just want to thank our researchers and stuff for writing up this document because it It was very informative and just eye-opening. I mean, gut-wrenching at times, too. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you guys so much for listening to today's episode.

2:15:00We appreciate you. If you are listening on the audio platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, anywhere you can listen to podcasts, be sure to give us a nice rating if you enjoyed the episode. And also to our beautiful patrons who just got some more episodes this week. We just read one that was really funny. I think the – or it was a good story. You have to be there to listen to it. but yeah kind of a it was a bit of a recording but it was a fun one so thank you to the patrons who helped the content and also get a little extra on the side we appreciate you uh until next time guys stay creeped i don't i feel like this is too serious to have a funny um final line with so uh what he said stay creeped or whatever bye

2:15:49Let's go.

2:16:40I see you. Avatar Fire and Ash is now streaming on Disney+. It's the film critics are calling the best Avatar yet. A true epic and completely jaw-dropping. This is the only purest thing in this world. Return to Pandora on Disney+. It will be an adventure for the whole family. And watch the Oscar-winning phenomenon at home. This is sick! Avatar Fire & Ash, now streaming on Disney+. Rated PG-13.