12-year-olds c and Anissa Weiser are about to stand trial as adults in the attempted murder of their then 12-year-old friend Peyton Leutner last spring in Waukesha, Wisconsin. They plotted for months to murder their friend, guiding by delusions about a fictional meme character called Slender Man.
Disturbing notebooks and mutilated Barbie dolls from Morgan Geyser’s bedroom were presented to the court this week, offering a look into her state of mind. She still holds on to her delusions, and has been diagnosed withs schizophrenia.
Psychologist Dr. Deborah Collins told the court that Morgan holds onto “sn enduring belief in the reality of Slenderman, a fictional character. Morgan’s belief in vulcan mind control, and her belief, conviction that she has relationships with Harry Potter characters. She thinks they’re real people.” Morgan has not shown any degree of sadness according to the psychologist, except when she feared they would medicate her, and thus cause her communications with Voldemort to cease.
Geyser maintains that she believes Slenderman would hurt her and her family if she didn’t murder Peyton. Anissa Weier has said that she wanted to prove that Slender Man existed, and says she actually saw him after Morgan started stabbing Peyton.
This summer Anissa’s brother spoke to The Daily Mail, saying “I know she understood what she was doing because she is very intelligent, to the point where by she lacks common sense. But she is only a little girl so I don’t think she understood the ramifications of what she was doing.” Weir has described Slender Man as “anywhere from 14 to 60 feet tall. He constantly wears a suit. He doesn`t have a face. He targets children. He has tendrils on his back. I was really scared he could kill my whole family in three seconds.”
In a newly released interrogation video, Morgan said stabbing her friend “didn’t feel like anything. It was like air.” She said it was extremely easy to lure Peyton deep into the woods. “We said we were going bird watching. People who trust you become very gullible. And it was sort of sad,” she says.
Slender Man arouse as a “creepy pasta” meme online several years ago that resulted in a number of stories being written about the character, a game app being developed, and even some Youtube videos. It’s an extremely popular urban legend among children and pre-teens. Scary stories, monsters, and urban legends are always popular among children, and serve as a developmental tool for dealing with the real negativity and uncertainty in the world, and developing morality.
Thankfully, Peyton Leutner, now 13, was able to survive, and made an astounding recovering despite having her liver, stomach, and pancreas punctured during the attack. This fall she was able to go back to school, and she is moving on with her life. “As horrific as all of this is and has been, they consider themselves lucky,” says family spokesman Stephen Lyons. “At the end of the day, Payton wakes up in her bed, they get to celebrate Christmas together, birthdays together, get pizza together – all the stuff that families do.”
