Preteen Girls Claim Slender Man Drove Them To Murder

The Slender Man myth has jumped out of the computer screen and into the courtroom in one of the strangest, and most ridiculous, attempted murder defenses ever.

Two twelve year old girls from Waukesha, Wisconsin are claiming they brutally attacked a fellow classmate to appease the Slender Man- the girls stabbed their "friend" nineteen times and left her for dead in a park, but the victim managed to survive by staggering to the road and finding help.

One girl claims she was sure the Slender Man would kill her family if she didn’t appease him with murder, and they’re both sticking by their claims that the Slender Man is real.

Here's more on this strange case:

Weier told police that Slender Man is the "leader" of Creepypasta, and in the hierarchy of that world, one must kill in order to show dedication. Weier said that Geyser told her they should become "proxies" of Slender Man — a paranormal figure known for his ability to create tendrils from his fingers and back — and kill their friend to prove themselves worthy of him. Weier said she was surprised by Geyser's suggestion, but also excited to prove skeptics wrong and show that Slender Man really did exist.

So did the girls simply let their imaginations, and their dark impulses, get the better of them, or is the whole thing something they cooked up hoping to avoid being tried as adults?

-Via Kotaku