Two twelve-year-old Waukesha, Wisconsin girls have been charged as adults with attempted murder after stabbing a classmate 19 times in an attempt to appease internet folk monster Slenderman.

For those unfamiliar with Slenderman, he’s a fictional character created in forums five or so years ago. Usually, Slenderman is depicted as a strangely tall, thin man with a blank, white face and a black suit. In his original creation, he was said to stalk and snatch people–especially children. The Slender Man went viral, and began to appear as a character in stories all over the internet–but the largest concentration appears on the online horror fiction site Creepypasta. Since then, Slender Man has popped up in various games and other online collections.

Basically, Slenderman is an internet legend. But to two clearly troubled pre-teens, he is much more.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel weaves a thoroughly disturbing tale of two young girls, whose devotion to and fear of Slenderman led them to try to kill a friend–after “months” of planning.

According to the criminal complaint, the two girls originally wanted to kill their victim during a sleepover at one of their houses. That plan eventually morphed into one that involved killing her in a bathroom nearby a skate park. One of the accused said that she “knew there was a drain in the floor for the blood to go down.”

After than plan didn’t work out (reports indicate one of the girls got cold feet), the two girls lured their victim into the woods for a game of “hide and seek.”

From the Sentinel:

W—- then suggested they go for a walk, pointing out a wooded area near Rivera Drive and Big Bend Road. They could play hide and seek, distract the victim, then kill her. G—- was the first “seeker,” and W—- and the victim hid. W—- told the victim where to hide and told her to lie facedown in the dirt. The girl refused. W—- then pushed the victim and sat on her, thinking G—- could stab her. But the victim began to yell and complain that she couldn’t breathe. She was attracting attention, so W—- got off her.

Geyser gave W—- the knife, but W—- said she told G—- she was too squeamish and gave it back.

W—- said that once G—- got the knife back, G—- told W—-, “I’m not going to until you tell me to.” W—- said she started walking away from G—- and then told her, “Go ballistic, go crazy.” G—- said she would go ballistic, and W—- said, “Now.”

W—- said G—- then tackled the victim and started stabbing her. The victim was screaming. W—- said when G—- got off the victim, the victim screamed, “I hate you. I trusted you.”

Jesus.

The girls reportedly told police that they wanted to kill their classmate as an offering or sorts to Slenderman, to “prove themselves worthy.” They also said that the thought killing their classmate would protect them and their families from Slenderman, who would then invite him to his mansion in the woods.

More from The Sentinel:

G—- said they had to do it or “he would kill our family.” When asked who “he” was, G—- said she didn’t know him. When asked what she was trying to do when she stabbed her friend, G—- said, “I may as well just say it: Kill her.”

When asked about Slender Man, G—- said she had never met him but said he watches her and he can read minds and teleport. G—- said what she did was “probably wrong.” She asked a detective if it is illegal to stab someone in self-defense. The detective said sometimes, and asked her if that was what happened in this instance.

No, she said.

Both girls are facing up to 65 years in prison. Miraculously, the victim was able to walk out of the woods after being stabbed 19 times and was eventually found by a passing bicyclist. She’s currently in stable condition.

Claiming to have already received calls for “censorship and the shutdown of the wiki,” Creepypasta admin Sloshedtrain has posted a blog entry where they discuss the line between fiction and reality.

“This is an isolated incident, and does represent or attribute the Creepypasta community as a whole. This wiki does not endorse or advocate for killing, worship, and otherwise replication of rituals of fictional works. There is a line of between fiction and reality, and it is up to you to realize where the line is. We are a literature site, not a satanic cult,” says the post.

“Of course, only a small minority of people (mostly newcomers) on the wiki (and the Internet) truly believe what they read here. And for most people, they will not attempt replicate atrocities presented in some of the literature on the wiki. Something like this was bound to happen, considering the size of Creepypasta community. All it take is one person to do something insane and radical in the name of someone or something.”

This was clearly a horrible, screwed up thing that happened in Waukesha. And as this story continues to spread, it’s important that that horrible, screwed up thing cannot be blamed on a website or a video game.

Image via Wikimedia Commons