The Slenderman Stabbing | CreepCast

[MUSIC] Welcome back to Creekcast. Today we're doing something a little new, a little, uh, something that we've been wanting to try for a bit. Which is, talk about something that pertains to creepypasta that is, uh, something very real and very, uh, horrifying in real life. But it does connect to the thing that we've covered before. Which we are coming up now on the anniversary of the Slender Man stabbing. Which is a very, very real thing. And it's a fascinating story. And we have formatted it in a way to where now it's a digestible story to be ingested the same way as a creepy, as a creepy, as a creep cast episode. But done in a way where we can, you know, shed light on something that's, uh, very real and horrifying. Yes. I would agree. So yeah, the Slender Man stabings were on May 31st of 2014. As I'm sure a lot of, you know, a very tragic circumstance where a couple young girls became, uh, far too invested in internet culture around creepypasta specifically. Slender Man, uh, and became obsessed with the idea that Slender Man was real and they could dedicate themselves. It's like a proxy to him. Uh, and they took out those fantasies on a friend of theirs who will get into, but thankfully survived. Um, but it's a very, it's a very upsetting story. It's a very wild one. Um, especially some of the details of how the young girls survived are, uh, both terrifying and impressive. So we want to say, go ahead. Yeah. The survivor has to be one of the biggest badasses of all time. Yeah, her, the, we'll get into it. But the way she lived was pretty outstanding. Uh, I would have died. Once again, for people who might not have seen some of the previous episodes that we've done, we did a creep TV, which was on our show is, basically horror adjacent video content in, like horror storytelling content in video form that we like to talk about. And one that Isaiah showed me that, uh, was a three-part video series was the, um, Marble Hornets, Marble Hornets, Marble Hornets. Marble Hornets. Oh my god. I said Mandela catalog. You should not Mandela catalog. Yeah. And the three part series that we covered was Marble Hornets from years ago. I mean, actually, let me ask you this. Was Marble Hornets was before these correct because it was pretty, it was pretty, uh, it was pretty close to the original posting of the picture or, you know, of the kind of like fan, the start of the fandom with the, uh, first upload of the Slender Man image, right? So the original Slender Man image was uploaded and then a week after that, I believe the first Marble Hornets video was posted. So Marble Hornets, uh, second to the original image was the first Slender Man adaptation, first thing to give it to narrative. So yes, these came way after that. To think that the thing that we watched, which granted Isaiah a completely different time, right? But to think of the thing that we watched may have helped inspire this act or just like the phenomenon that was Slender Man, which it's not, it's obviously, you know, the crimes that were committed were in act, they say that it was in, it was in service to Slender Man and stuff. But it was really, I feel like it could have been anything that, that just, well, struck their fancy. I mean, it may have contributed to it. And like the sense that it popularized Slender Man and that led to this, but as I'm sure we'll talk about, um, their obsession with Slender Man had a lot to do with like the, uh, the fandom side of things with the idea that people can be like servants of him and that there's, I think they talked a lot about the Slender Man mansion, which was kind of like, uh, the equivalent of like an OC character thing where like Slender Man takes his followers to a mansion where they all live together and stuff like that. It was very like fandom coded, um, you know, people making their OCs and like making them interact with characters they like sort of thing. The same kind of community that would do Jane the killer, yeah, just the killer offshoots that they people absorbing media in different ways and like basically having like that cult like mentality around them is very, very fascinating. So today, bear with us. We're going to do something new. I'm actually pretty excited just to change the format up just a little bit and just see, uh, uh, read something that is real and extremely horrifying and has one of the most heroic, uh, dare, dare, dare, dare, dare say one of those heroic means of escape and survival of all time. It's, it's pretty, it's pretty phenomenal. Um, but just wanted to say thank you to our patrons and for people listening on audio platforms right now like Spotify and Apple podcasts. Thank you so much. It does help us out. If you give us a nice reading, uh, Isaiah, are you ready to jump in? Yes, I'm ready to jump in. Uh, thank you. Did you say thank you to the patrons? I did. Thank you patrons. All right. So, uh, for the first, I guess what we'll even call this is, was this still a creep cast or is this like, uh, I guess we're calling a creep cast. I don't know. It's like, it's just a little, yeah, creep crime. Let's do that creep. Sure. I'm a creep prime. Sure. Why not? The slender man stabbing in the suburbs of Milwaukee, just a few miles inland from the mighty Lake Michigan, lives the quiet and affluent town of Ocasio, Wisconsin. For anyone driving through sprawling parks and home paint the picture of a quintessential American town, residents knew it as a safe and cozy place to raise a family. A place where you could let your kids play outside until the street lights came on. Joe and Stacey Lutner owned a traditional single family home in town and raised their two kids, Peyton and Caden. Around Wakesha, the Lutners were well respected. Joe had a steady job and Stacey was able to stay home and raise the kids. Her two children were described as compassionate and well-rounded individuals, and with only a two-year age gap, the siblings were very close. 12-year-old Peyton, otherwise known as Bella, was just your average little girl with dark brown pigtails and blue eyes. Her younger brother, Caden, was a short blonde and tied together what many would call a picture-esque family. Among all her friends was another 12-year-old girl with long brown hair named Morgan Gaser, or Kaiser, also a Gaser, who was Peyton's best friend. The two girls met when they were nine years old and soon grew close, going to each other's house to play with dolls and draw. When they were young, they were very similar to one another and shared many of the same interests. However, as they grew older, a clear divide emerged between the two. While Peyton was blossoming into a teen, taking an interest in makeup and boys, Morgan was beginning to show more macabre and concern in behavior. Since she was little, Morgan had experienced weird visual phenomenon that only she could see. As a toddler, she would approach her parents and tell them that ghost would hug and bite her. Psychologists later revealed she had vivid dreams when she wished she could change. These anomalies grew stronger and recurred more often as time went on. In elementary school, she would watch as the colors on the wall melted down to the floor and pulled around her. Not long after that, Peyton, woman's voice, which she called Maggie, would regularly talk to her inside her own head. Morgan herself would grow more concerned about the things she was seeing out of the corners of her eye. Another figure named Sev soon manifested from the anime show she watched. So it was unlike any of the previous visions because Morgan claimed he felt real to the touch. She treated him as though we were a real person, even allowing him to sleep in her bed. While lying together, Morgan would place her hand on his chest and feel his heartbeat. In the morning, she claimed she would wake up with hair wet with Sev's trule. Just want to see how fucking horrifying that is, by the way. I mean, the idea of just from the, I mean, one, I guess to conquer your. I feel like this would be so easily discarded as like, "Oh, you have imaginary friends." They're like, "Oh, it's just in your head." Whatever, people like brushing this kind of stuff to the side, but going to that level of detail and that level of clarity. I don't like feeling someone's heartbeat, claiming that you're waking up from Sev's trule, from sleeping in your same bed. I mean, just living with that day in and day out, my god, that would be fucking rough. Yeah, I think it's a hard situation to navigate around. Because for one, it's hard to understand with the kid how serious something like this is. Like when I was eight, I think I told my mom that I was in love with Raven from Teen Titans, which was fitting, and I was proud of my younger self. But it's like at what level is it just like a kid who's watching a cartoon and what level are they actually like have a diagnosis of illness? I think the fact that she was being seen by psychologist when she was so young is kind of an indicator of how serious it was. And it helps me with that level of, I mean, with that level of what you're saying every day. Yeah, saying she's talking about the bider and stuff like that. Yeah. I mean, we'll talk about it more as we get the details of the case, but that's the reason this stuff was so damaging to her or her worldview because she was already perceptive to taking outside influence and then making it real in her head. So that needs to be done, which a lot of people, again, we'll get into it, but a lot of people around this, especially the media had conversations like, oh, is it okay to talk about slender? Is this the kind of thing kids should be talking about? And I think it's the same as like the video game argument where it's like 99% of people have no issue, but the 99 shouldn't be, you know, restricted because of things that 1% need kept from them, I believe, because I mean, there were plenty of people that listened to the slender band stuff and wrote fan fiction, all that and didn't stab young girls. So, you know, also so easy to have these conversations in hindsight, you know, yeah, or like it's so easy to talk about these things, whatever it's like, well, the horrible thing happened. So let's discuss why versus just versus let's make a blanket statement or a blanket idea that covers everybody versus just like focusing in and trying to figure out why exactly this person had this happened, which we're already starting to see here. I mean, associating an imaginary person and like associating with him as the sev in the bed and like manifesting those things and having to be something that feels so real. I mean, we're already, even at the age of 8 already starting to get that idea, yeah, yeah. Her entire life, Morgan knew something was off and would regularly talk to her parents about what she was seeing, but nothing was ever done. Unbeknownst to anyone, Morgan was schizophrenic, just like her father, Matt. When her father was seven years old, he wandered up to his parents and told them about how he had seen his unborn sister's ghost. His parents saw their child just had a creative imagination and sent him to bed. Years later, when he was in his teens, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but stopped taking his medication at 19. His doctors tried to reason with him, however, Matt worried taking his medicine would make the devil in his visions disappear, eliminating one of the only sources of joy he had in life. Phenymom, man, that's rough. Phenymom was going to catch what was going on with Morgan. It would have been her father who shared a similar diagnosis and story. Like his own parents, however, Matt ignored the red flags and allowed his daughter's condition to worsen. Other people in Morgan's life, like her school counselors, didn't say anything either when her odd behavior continued at school. She would bark at other students at the playground, and early one morning, she was caught smuggling a rubber mallet into class. She would claim she needed it for protection, like a fog creeping over her brain. Morgan's schizophrenia began to change her, making her more paranoid. Again, it's like the parent should have known, and a lot of, I feel like a lot of this fault would fall on Matt because he became so, it's from this. It seems he became so at peace with his own delusions that he figured it'd be fine for his daughter to have, which is a very reckless place to, to leave a child, you know. Oh, sure. Well, also too, the way that you grew up and the way that those things were, how, how, how previously those things were approached to you. And I think, totally dictate how you respond to it now, you know, like if he's just like, they treated me like shit. So therefore, I'm going to like, I'm not going to put my daughter through that hell. I will say though, the counselors, not like a, like at a school, seeing like this girl bring up these problems, bringing in fucking Matt, like rubber mallets and stuff. Like, like, I don't know, like fucking Elmer Fudd into class and stuff, trying to like whack Wily Coyote. I mean, like, how the fuck do you, I'm like, how do you not report this to anybody? I like the, like the counselors are just like, I'm sure it's fine. You know, I, I am, I am so afraid of my life that I'm going to be like either a parent who just like, it completely ignores these red flags or I'm going to go to like a parent teacher conference and then to be like, also, by the way, so your daughter is pretending to be a werewolf and she keeps removing her teeth in the back of the class. And you're like, why? Am I just hearing about this now? You know, well, we didn't want to be alive. We didn't think it was that big of a little, little kids loser teeth of the time. I'm like, yeah, well, not by fucking pulling them out of their mouth. You've gone. Well, that's what the mall is talking about. Yeah, exactly. Well, that was what the rubber mallet was for. It's, um, I don't know, because some stuff, it's like, you could see how it would happen. Like the, um, what's I think? It's, oh, the barking at other students. It's like, yeah, there's weird kids that do that kind of thing. Oh, dude, it's easy. I mean, all the amount of people that in even the school system, you must see in like, you must see like just strange behaving kids all the time that in a way, it literally must come off as normal. I mean, dude, I remember, you know what I mean? Horse girls were in my grade school classes. You would have thought the way you would have thought it was a god damn stable versus a school. I mean, it was like acted like horses. Yeah. Dude, horse girls, especially in elementary, which I don't know how prevalent that was. I mean, you got it. You've had, did you have some horse girls in your school? I don't think we did. I mean, keeping my, my middle school class was six people. So it was, okay, I was pretty small. Even if it was, I mean, like, I didn't have the biggest class either. But I'm just saying that like horse girls were a thing, even just like, you know, there's just some strange kids. You know, I mean, one of the horse girls she would eat fucking pringles and ketchup at lunch and people were more weird up by that than the idea that she would like buck and nay and like hop around the god damn auditorium. You know, who knows? I mean, it's once again, I just want her preference. It's so easy to look at these things and hindsight and be like, oh, God, the signs were there. But I mean, God knows the amount of weird shit you see during the day. I'm saying this out of love because I care about both of you. But Alison, a million percent strikes me as someone who was a horse girl at some point. Do you have no idea? You have no idea how bad I feel duped. When I started doing what I started to be trending. Oh, bad. I was, when I was, when I was, I was just Alison's friend before we was already dating. There was no, I don't think I ever heard her say the word horse, right? And then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, we're like four or five years in our relationship. She's like, I'm just just really just started drawing horses a lot. I mean, I felt like I did feel like a guy coming in. I thought I was going to walk it in being like, hey, Morgan, what is this? And she's like, a slender man. That's how I felt to me with Alison drawing these horses. And I was like, you know, you've been drawn a lot of horses lately. She came up and she was like, yeah, I think I'm about getting a horse. I'm like, what? We're like, and then it was just all, and then it from there, she's just dressed like Alan Jackson for the past like seven years. So what was she a horse girl when she was younger? Dude, I acted like a horse. Now, I don't, now I don't know. She's always been a big animal person. I like she 100% might have been. I've seen her videos where she talks about like her furry. Oh, see, she had when she was a child. Don't get me wrong. Once again, Isaiah, the hindsight is there, right? I can look back now and be like, oh, make sense because he used to joke around college and stuff. She's like, yeah, to pay my bills and to like help pay some of my bills whenever she was like younger, she would do furry art and stuff or. Or she was younger. She was part of the community, blah, blah. And you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, because you're just like, oh, not me, more. Yeah. How foolish I would say that. You would say that. I would have got onto that immediately. But Hunter's like, I mean, that's normal, right? Like people, you know, you're an artist, a dresser. I once again, Isaiah, blinded when you go to a liberal arts college. And I was getting all horned up for Allison, who like was a short haired crust punk looking kind of like girl. Listen, I'm like, come on, dude. I'm like, she can't tell me anything at that point. I'm like, hey, live in Lovita, Loka, baby. You know, I was all about it. Also, the amount of other weird sheet. You see, I'm like, I would have thought I was like, I will settle for anything. I'm like, give me a furry artist. Over some of the crazy shit that I'm saying, you know, I think my perception would have been totally different if she's like, by the way, I'm a horse girl. If you, if you drilled her on it, I guarantee you she like would buck a name when she was like nine years old. Dude, I bet, I bet. I don't know. I'm just saying those people exist. And I'm saying that once again, we can dog the counselors all day. And I want to, but it's just it's the amount of stuff you see must be crazy. And I don't know at what point does something unless something like it's what you know what it is though to what's kind of fucked up is it seems like it's one of those things and tell something horrible happens. No one does anything, right? Well, I mean, I don't know. She has a rubber mallet because she says she's whack and invisible whack emoles at her desk. And you're like, well, probably she probably should have told me about that. Well, she wasn't hurt anybody. You know, it's that kind of thing. Yeah. I just figured you know, get to let off some steam. She said at her desk playing that fucking, remember that Chuckie cheese game where it was like you, uh, you hit the spiders like the bug splat thing, the things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, she's doing. She was doing that at her desk and we didn't we just we thought it was fun. We like chucky cheese games, too I don't know. It's where kid can be a kid a kid can be a kid and I will say just But I will say you was the best chucky cheese game what and I I'm not even joking I've looked for this for my studio. I've looked it's that fucking pirate ship game. You control the pirate ship It's a 2D pirate game. You it's like a driving game. We have like the pirate steering wheel. Do you remember you're probably too young? Do you remember this or no? No, the only one I remember being real hyped at a chucky cheese was the Jurassic Park one with the giant spiders Like the shooting game. Is that the one where you get to stick where you get to sit in? Yeah, you sit in like yeah, those are so damn sure that I'm yeah, did the pirate ship game. I can't even fucking tell you. It was I mean, it's my fucking jam It was called dead storm pirates, and let me tie it. It was just on Dead storm pirates Sorry, this is this is actually desperately important people are gonna see the title of this episode They're gonna be like how are they gonna get on side tangents with this topic. It's like oh You wait many thought that the school counselors would have intervened by now, but it was more complicated than that Both the school staff and her parents believe she was just acting out and being a quirky chain Part of the problem was that the school she attended had over 680 students with only two counselors to manage them Morgan just happened to be one of the many children neglected by the system in which she was raised For a long time Morgan's only real friend was Peyton, but as they began to drift apart She met someone new who would change the course of her life forever During middle school Morgan met another girl named Anissa Weir who lived near the Geyser home from an early age Anissa had a normal childhood, but she was allegedly born with an undiagnosed severe learning disability that ostracized her from people her age while her life had once been stable It took a dark turn when her parents went through a bitter divorce when her parents split and affected Anissa's social life even more But was once a normal kid soon devolved into a lonely, desperate little girl seeking approval from anyone in her life With her parents focused on the divorce her needs were sometimes overlooked and she began to feel pushed aside When she met Morgan it felt like a beacon in the darkness and she clung to her new friend Anything her new friend wanted to do she would do it as long as she could keep clutching on to this single connection Both girls had gone to school together, but were never close until Morgan's behavior began to change isolated her from her classmates Since she couldn't rely on Peyton as much anymore, Anissa filled in the gap that her old friend couldn't So to grew closer, they would spend hours online together watching videos and visiting random websites While surfing the net, they stumbled upon a forum called Creepypasta.com At the time Creepypastas or Creepypastas were at their peak in the online side guys Stories like Jessica Killers, Sonic.exe and Ben Tround had grown immensely popular and spawned a new generation of writers shaped by internet culture During their time on the forum, Anissa and Morgan read countless stories, but none interested them more than Slenderman. I will say that Reading that was like a series of flashbacks Well, yeah, especially for us. It's it's it's also a Sonic.exe Ben Tround. Yes, it's it's it's so interesting to just once again how These times of people whenever it's like that finding community online versus in schools is such a huge Such a huge thing that also people had no idea about yet. It was still so new So even something you're like wait, what the fuck? I mean, how many times have you did you show your bomb or dad something and they're like what? Because it's just such a foreign Concept the idea that's like yeah, I'm online and it's this community and we're reading about this thing called Jeff the killer It's like an online horror story and you're like Okay, you know, like and not understanding that like there's a community and a fandom around like this kind of character You know, these kinds of subcultures that movie What is it? We're all going to the world's fair or whatever. Yeah, you see that I haven't seen that other what you're talking about That is a great move that kind of captures the isolated feeling and like the only like the isolated feeling of no I didn't want you. Yeah, the whole thing's the little girl holding the camera. Yeah just from the camera perspective from her computer. Yeah, but it's a great it's a great study on Like escaping and believing in something from the internet and like social isolation it's a it's just like It's so interesting how all these kids who are probably bullied in school or were misunderstood in these schools Really did flock to these online circles in droves and found their community there And I think that's also what helped just like breed these obsessive traits when people were just like well I don't need to fucking people in real life because they suck like this is a this is my new home You know what I mean? And now more than ever I would say that I would say generally a lot of social groups not all them, but I would say generally it is like a much heavier Like it's it's a much like larger sect of people that are associating generally online versus like in you know in person relationships and stuff that you might find even via friendships and stuff It's it's it's just it's crazy how probably that's like I can't even imagine like fucking Like I like quadrupled. I mean like or it's just doubled down and how people approached their conversations now that like What was weird back then is now completely normalized? Yeah, it's It's interesting how the the shift has been I remember one time I was in the car with my dad and I wanted my dad to be interested in things I was interested in so I played The Russian sleep experiment Because I really liked it and he was just so Did he believe it all that it was a real story? Barely listen to it. He's like what they're like they're like mad or something He's not sleeping I've ever do that thing when like you know when you like go to show someone something on your phone And they're not paying attention. So you're just kind of slowly like pull the phone away. Like Yeah, like see if they care that you're moving it away. That's what I did It's a thing that you can definitely tell my I my preacher my dad hated me when I was younger Like it's just these things we've got more and more blanket like maybe it becomes more more obvious When you like go through it and you do try to show them something and you're like your parent is just like You because you what so easy to do to a child lie, right? Yeah, that's really cool. Isaiah. Wow, that's awesome That's all it had to be right I Was playing a banjo Kazooie 64 and my dad was like so what the bear could talk and I was like and that not like that really it's just him and his friend He is a burden his backpack and he just said what the hell do you do with your time? I was I'm like I'm a child like what are you talking about? What do you do with your time? It's banjo Kazooie with dad come on man What do you do with your time? Well, sorry, I should be at the mine right Yeah, what do you do with your time's crazy thing to say to a kid who's like What do you do with your time is such a fucking out takes you with your time The only game that my dad ever He would ever responded to when I was younger Was a he's like one of those gay guys that liked Harley isn't shit like loud bikes and stuff and I was playing Let's play road rash and he was like that bike is nice like yeah Play station one graphics. He was like fucking nice bike I'm like whipping a guy with a chain as we're racing down this road. 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He submitted a picture of a tall pale creature wearing a suit with tentacles to a Photoshop contest on the something awful forums. From there, internet users would take the haunted creature and begin to write stories and fake sightings. This cult classic grabbed both girls' attention and soon became their entire world. Creepypastas acted as the glue that held their friendship together, but tore others apart. Peyton and Morgan would occasionally hang out during which Morgan was more vocal about her visions. Peyton would play along, telling Morgan she saw them too. Open to rekindle their relationship, Morgan began to show Peyton some of the things she was reading online, assuming that her old friend would bond with her over them as she and Anissa did. However, Peyton was disturbed by what she was being shown and eventually told Morgan she didn't want to hang out anymore if they would only talk about creepypastas. Though Morgan was upset by this, she still valued their friendship and respected her wishes. As their friendship dwindled, Nissa grew closer to Morgan as the two consumed more content online. - Insane that Peyton's mentality was that sharp at that age. Hey, if you guys are only gonna talk about creepypastas, I don't think I should hang out anymore. I mean, we gotta tell that to some of our fans, dude, the ones they talking about. - When they're talking about it. - Yeah, it's subreddit and shit. - I mean, to be fair, it is our job. - I know, trust me, you're talking to, you're hearing this from a guy who it is his job. - Yeah. - You know what I mean? - I love the idea, Peyton, just being like, hey, so if you guys are just gonna be talking about Slender Man again for 12 hours, I don't really wanna hang out, because if it was me, I'd just be like, well, I guess this is a good as it gets. - This is the hot rope right here. - I guess this is pretty much my friends forever now. - I remember one time, so I showed my dad that, and there were times where I remember playing the goat man at a sleepover and a couple of the guys thought I was scary and stuff like that. - So you're saying when you're saying playing this, you're just talking about these are online ratings. - I'm just playing the videos, yeah. - Okay, yeah. - And I remember that guys, I remember one time, it was like a mixed party or something like that, like guys and girls. - And I remember, I've played Chef the Killer 'cause I thought it was scary. And I remember the girls being like, what is wrong with you? (laughs) - Which I was like, how strange for a guy or like a boy to pull out an iPad and play, the Chef the Killer Creepy Paws, two or eight people. Dude, a fucking, a young, no-haired Isaiah. Pulling out a gin-one iPad, I like to think that you're wearing the size of shirt and like the crucifixes just as big as your body or your neck, and you guys are like, you wanna hear a scary story? Lips fetish, shit, flapping around. I'm like, god damn dude, here's a towel, wipe your lips. I was like, I'm sorry, I just get excited for these stories. - I just remember that I just remember playing it and then someone being like, one of the girls being like, so is this scary. And I'm like, yeah, the picture's really scary when you think about the story with the picture, it's really creepy. (laughs) - You know what, though, I'll give you this. I'll give you a young yourself this. At least for the times you showed your dad and around friends, at least it was the reading. How many people do you think dry-read this shit to people? Probably so many. - That's rough. - That would be way worse. - That would be right there. - I'm sure there is a layer. - There is a layer. - Yeah. - I will say, you have to have at least a some layer of respect for yourself there. - Thanks, fan. Appreciate it. - To the girls more specifically, Morgan, the lives and actions described in these online stories began to influence how they thought and behaved in real life. By this point, the girls had been playing the Slender Man game and knew every little detail. Morgan's obsession with the character would begin to manifest in her diary. Across multiple pages, crawled in black ink, were drawings of Slender Man, along with three creations of pages from the game. Her drawings also contained more ghastly images. In addition to the Slender pictures, she often drew pictures of a girl, most likely representing herself in different scenarios. On one page, she drew a girl with cat ears and a tail line on the ground, her eyes closed. Floating above her was a skull and another young girl holding a scythe while looking at the viewer saying, I love killing people. So again, the stuff like the cat ears and the cat tail and stuff like that's indicative of just like, you know, that young culture around the time. But obviously, all of these things are playing into her fantasies. And if it wasn't for where the story goes, it would just be another cringe kid, right? Well, that's the thing is these are, once again, it's the online realms and forums that these kids are existing in and like the online community is where, you know, you are getting the more centric, like furry, different forums where people are like, oh, let me show you my art and people are able to express themselves. And I feel like that is just rubbing off and it's starting to formulate in just this kids. It's just, I mean, how they're fucking writing down their diary. Now, you know, it's just, it's just the online where they're, where they're hanging out, you know, but you're right. I mean, if it wasn't for this one thing, it would have just been a normal like kids experience online back in the day. Mm hmm. Yeah. At some point using black ink wasn't enough. Classmates and teachers reported Morgan, picked at a scab until a blood later using the blood to right die over and over again her diary. Okay. All right. Yeah. Normal kid experience. There we go. All right. All right. All right. Let's, I'm not going to, I'm not going to advocate for any scab pickers who are also using that scab blood to right die over and over again. I don't give a fuck where, I don't give a fuck what realms of the internet, you're, you're lurking the scab bit that that would, that's where you lose me. You lose me at the scabs. Okay. Yeah. Picking scabs, my god, you think she ate the scabs? Maybe, maybe she's like a paintbrush to draw on the paper. What kind of animal hair is that? She's like big. Huh? Back home, she was taking her dolls and trying to cult symbols on their abdomens, cutting off their heads and etching marks on their hands and thighs. Well, there you go. For many people, their diaries are gateway to their innermost thoughts and Morgan was no exception. In a way, marking these dolls and drawing inner diary served as a way for her to act out in silence. Her behavior and outburst at school and around her parents all is at a little more than disgusted annoyance, with little attention in her real life, Morgan would retreat into her drawings and imagination, places where she could make herself the focus of any world she created. Perhaps the most concerning drawing found was one depicting slender man. standing over a line of children talking directly to the viewer saying you're a strange child. It will be of my use. So now she is filling in the dialogue for her imagined for her apparition. So it's another layer into the delusion. In a time of desperation, her inner monologue spoke directly to her, comforting her with one of the few things that brought her joy. Eventually she began to experience those thoughts as something outside of her own mind, similar to her other visions. For years prior to even learning about Slender Man, Morgan claimed to have seen it entity called it. She described it as a misty shadowy figure that haunted her. It was only visible in the mirror. Anytime she appeared into the reflective glass, she would see it standing from afar and watching her. Because she had bonded with Anissa over creepypastas, she felt comfortable enough to describe her visions, knowing that her friend wouldn't think she was crazy. Morgan told Anissa she thought she was going insane seeing all these visions. But Anissa supported her by saying, "No, I think you're medium. I think that you straddle two worlds." But the first time in her entire life, someone genuinely validated her feelings. I was gonna say, the first time that someone's ever actually a, like, if someone's ever told you about the medical thing, like if you were schizophrenic Isaiah and people will told you, like, "Oh, your brain's out of whack." And people are continuously telling you these things or you should be on this medication. And maybe this is the first time ever that someone's ever been like, actually, you're not weird at all. You have a gift. And how, how are leaving with that, would that have been? Yeah. And that's also why it's so dangerous. Oh, of course. Yeah. Yeah. Because any, like, they'll grasp on to anyone that validates the things they're seeing. That's real. Also, it's terrifying that aside from her regular, like, Slender Man and stuff like that makes sense because she sees these things. So she imagines these things. But to have a new creature that appears as a shadowy figure that can only be seen in the mirror, like something are wrong. I mean, dude, quote unquote, man. I cannot, I cannot fathom, like schizophrenic, schizophrenic symptoms must be so fucking horrifying. It's gotta, I mean, it must feel, I mean, like, can you imagine that feeling? And it just, it feels like it's a part of this world. And then it just disappears. And like, everyone else is just like, Oh, no, it's not there. Yeah. I mean, that would, the mental toll that would take is, is, I mean, unbelievable. Yeah. I follow some people online who are schizophrenic. And they talk a lot about the, the condition. And some of the stuff they'll say, man, it is, it takes strings to, to live with, there's probably some viewers who listened to the show who were in a similar case. And I know I would assume the severity of it. But I see so many of these people talk about, you know, they'll be in their house and someone will walk in and they'll be speaking to them only to look at a camera mirror and realize that person's not there. Or like, they'll, they'll, one of them was talking about they have a dog. And if the dog doesn't address the person, then they know the person's not there. Hmm. That's interesting. Do you think that's like a metal? Like, do you think people use that as like a support animal? Yes. That way they can like, yeah, that's what he, that's what he was describing that the, he keeps the dog and takes it everywhere. That way, if someone comes up and speaks to him, he looks at the dog to see if the dog is looking at them. And if they're not, then it's just an imagination. Yeah. I mean, smart. Yeah. So these, so the pages that you're looking at, these are actually like just schizophrenic people talking about like, there's especially on just bring more like two, yeah, people who have schizophrenia who talk about what's like day to day, some are just auditory, some are visual and auditory. Some that will kind of describe what it's like or like a bunch of them will work hard while they know they're having a schizophrenic episode of be like, I can see someone they're standing right there. They're trying to get my attention, blah, blah. It's the amount of, I mean, that, that, that's one form of mental illness that's like, I think very misunderstood online, the amount of people that will look at like, like man, especially Instagram or something, there's just people having full on schizophrenic episodes and they upload stuff to Instagram, only for people to be like, what the fuck is going on? Or people just will like fuck with you in the comments and be like, it's real. Yeah, yeah, he's there. You got to watch out. I mean, like, it's a very, it's such a fucking crazy system. Well, it's like, there's different, there's a lot, schizophrenia is a very wide spectrum, but there's people who have like visual and auditory hallucinations. There's people who have hallucinations of reality. There's people have kind of breaks with it where they will have hallucinations about themselves or their person. And then there's like, it used to be schizophrenia was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia, but now they realize there's more of a distinction between paranoid type personalities and schizophrenia, but there are people who have paranoid type with schizophrenia where they're constantly worried of others or if something coming to get them and things like that, like it's such a very illness or so much, which I do sympathize with people like Morgan's parents. Who saw their child going through this and that's got to be tough to handle. But at some point, like, the father, it's like, yes, you can sympathize with he was in Morgan's same condition. And he has to put up with it. But at one point, you become the parent who's now responsible for the next generation. Yeah. I mean, you got, yeah. Yeah. And especially if you have firsthand experience with the two, you need to know, like, and assuming he was mentally sound enough to do things like hold down a job and raise a daughter and things like that, then I would assume he would be sound enough to know there's got to be parameters somewhere. But there's just a problem. The guy that said that he didn't want to take medication because he liked the demon he saw. So yeah, I mean, which is like, let's step back and just, you know, which is a dangerous mentality to bring a child into, of course. Yeah. It's time to put on your adult pants and actually be like, what's the best way to prop my daughter up for a, yeah, happy, more normalized future than what I had. Yeah. One point, the sympathy only goes so far, right? At one point, someone else is suffering because of it. And as this story ends, someone who really suffered because of it. So no shit. For the first time in her entire life, someone genuinely validated her feelings. Her whole life, she had been dismissed and ignored. Now she had someone who related to her on a deeper level and who she could truly confide in and trust. Her friendship with Anissa not only made her more confident, it began feeding into delusions that she was special. Slowly, she began to believe her visions were not a curse, but a gift. Not long after confiding Anissa about her visions, she began to believe that the figures she called it was actually Slender Man. The made up monster had now become so deeply ingrained in her life that it began infiltrating some of her earliest memories. While hanging out with Anissa, Morgan claimed that when she was 5, she saw Slender Man peeking out from the woods near her childhood home. Anissa, pined into the delusions, added that she had been seeing the fictional creature in the woods while riding home on the school bus. Because they had spent so much time online obsessing over the creepypasta, they knew all of his tells, all of his lore, and what it meant when you saw the Slender Man. Fear began to creep into the girl's minds as they continued telling each other what they believed they had seen. It wasn't just their own lives they were afraid for, but their families as well. On a cold winter day, both Morgan and Anissa were hanging out when Morgan came up with a plan to save their families by stating, "Hey, we should be proxies." Within the Slender Man lore, proxies are people who believe Slender Man is real and are subservient to him, either through direct possession or his influence. Proxies carry out tasks Slender Man cannot do on his own, such as destroying or leaving evidence, influencing victims, or even creating videos. In exchange for their work, some proxies are created protection by Slender Man himself, which is what Morgan hoped to achieve. Again, there's a delusion and then you fear the delusion, so you do things to prevent the delusion. Also, the thing about the proxies comes from mostly the OC stuff. I think I said incorrectly during the marble hornets that they were all proxies. While it's the same mechanism, the word proxy came later from other Slender Man lore stuff, but yeah, the idea that you can become his henchman, basically. Yeah, people just taking ideas from the fandom and making it their own and stuff. I still think that proxies, it may not be the correct word, but that's basically what that was. Same idea. But you know what's interesting, though, about that too, is Anissa basically going on and saying that she too has seen it. At this point, do you think Anissa is thinking that Morgan is not necessarily lying, but do you think that they're just taking the roleplay into this real world? Taking the roleplay into the real world right now, she also feels like she wants to participate in it as well. Or do you think that she's legitimately saying that she also has visions? You're talking about Anissa. Yeah, Anissa, because Morgan is saying that I don't think, no, I don't think Anissa's having visions. I think she's just a girl with a learning disability who's going along with what her friend says. Yeah. So her friend is basically like, also, by the way, I saw Slender Man and she's like, oh, yeah, me too. Yeah. Because she just wants they had that camaraderie together. Yeah. She has a friend for the first time. Right. Of course. At the time, Anissa didn't understand what that meant and asked, okay, how do we do that? To which Morgan responded, we have to kill Bella. Shock swapped over Anissa as she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Soon her shock returned to excitement. So she was still a little unsure. To get her to go along, Morgan began pressuring her by reminding her of Slender Man's power and that her family's lives were at stake. Anissa eventually agreed after being psychologically coerced and began to keep in with Morgan on how they would commit to crime. But fear was not the only motivator. Girls were also eager to meet Slender Man in real life and wanted to prove his existence. For almost a year, they had become engrossed in an online community that told stories about a creature living in the woods and haunting people's dreams. Believing Slender Man was real due to their supposed sightings, the girls thought that if they successfully carried out their plan to kill Peyton, he would allow them to live with him as proxies. They believed he resided in the woods of the Chiquamagon Nicolette National Forest, roughly 200 miles north of Okesha, and that reaching him would grant them a permanent place in his mansion. Most people on the creepypasta forms knew the stories were fake, but the girls took offense at those who said Slender Man was not real. They decided they needed to prove the people on the forms wrong to gain notoriety online and protect their families. That was another thing. There was this Slender Man mansion, kind of like OC thing where people would write themselves into the mansion and like Jeff the killer lived there and I list Jack and all the famous creepypastas. So it was like, oh, well, here's my character in Slender Man mansion, like the Jane the Killer kind of stuff. For a person for a person like Morgan, it's like having something where now you are having these episodes and you're seeing Slender Man actually visit you. It has now become where it has now became a thing where everything you're reading about it is real, right? Those lines would begin to blur when everything becomes a part of the delusion. Well, absolutely. Well, this one thing is visiting me every day, why is this not real? And then for people to joke around about it, now it's becoming a thing where you're like, what the fuck are you talking about? You don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. Though Vanessa was apprehensive at first, she later admitted to being excited about the prospect of killing someone for Slender Man. This was despite being fully aware they were going to actually go through with the murder of someone she knew. I'm surprised, but also kind of excited, because I want to prove 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 of sources online saying that they did see him. So I decided to go along, to tag along, to prove skeptics wrong. With their in-goals in mind, the girls began plotting how they would commit to crime months in advance. Still caring for their shared best friend, they wanted the killing to be painless and preferred that Peyton be a sleeper unconscious when it happened so they didn't have to look her in the eyes. The attack was set for Morgan's 12th birthday. June and by both Vanessa 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 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, 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, I'm wondering, well, a couple of 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 Slinterman picks up people trying to find him. So therefore that it was a, it's not from the games or anything like that. It's just, I mean, but there were hundreds of creepypasta stories, right? So it's just the idea of the media that were people probably wrote that like you had to sacrifice or something. Yeah. So someone wrote something about sacrificing a slender and that was enough for this to roll with. Um, does all the mainline stuff, he's just kind of like a figure that's a lurker stalker or something like that. But I mean, maybe someone did write a story where he said, you 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. Well, 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 just the level of delusion. Yeah, just the, just the, I mean, it's, it's just so horrifying. But people, the amount of people to the probably had these conversations and 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 possible actions and maybe it just never comes to fruition or the amount that do into 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. Don'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, under personal computer. As the day approached, thought of murder was no longer something out of reach and 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, packed, packed with granola bars, water bottles, and clothes and 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. She had packed her overnight bag with pajamas and her favorite American girl doll before her mother dropped her off at the gays her home. After all the guests arrived, the girls headed over to the local indoor skating rink. She had a great time before heading back to Morgan's house for the sleepover. As Juayam 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. Before 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 had strawberries and donas for breakfast and play dress up while messing around with silly putty. Peyton'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. This 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 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. Yeah. It's miserable. Having this conversation around Peyton while she's sleeping and 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, yeah, just keep around my head around that. You know, it's just unbelievable. Yeah, no joke. Before leaving the guys her 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 a nist of the knife on the way to the park while they walked with Peyton. Once they arrived at the destination, the girls played for a bit before Morgan and Vanessa led Peyton toward the public bathroom and persuaded her to go inside with him. 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. This Morgan looked around the concrete bathroom where the attack was supposed to happen, Panic began setting in. Seeing her accomplished rest, Anissa asked Peyton if she could step out for a little while so she could talk to Morgan privately. When Peyton was outside, Morgan handed the knife to Anissa and said, "I can't do this. I'm too scared you have to." This began to feel the pressure of the situation as well, Hector Friend impeded 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 was when Anissa initiated their plan and asked if Peyton could put herself to sleep. Peyton replied, "No, I'm not tired." Morgan then back into Anissa over and asked if she could knock Peyton out so they could get on with the murder. Anissa agreed and sat back down next to Peyton. And this is 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. Pat reacted defensively and pushing this as 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 Payton is maybe Bella was like her nickname or something. Yeah, maybe. In that case, who knows? Oh, God. My word. It's one of those, I mean, yeah, my God. Even in the moment being like, I can't do this and handing it off to someone else. 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. Yeah, it's so like the, again, there's something tragically pathetic about how bad they are at it. Like she kind of softly hits her head on the wall and Payton'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 a childness. The childness of it is very tragic. It's crazy to me that this situation, too, which don't belong. They're obviously so far gone. But it's like, there's still this, 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 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 do not have the confidence to kill Payton in the bathroom, so they moved on to their final plan, Lorraine Payton into the woods. Since they were already at the park, they asked Payton if she'd like to play a game of hide and seek. She agreed, and all three girls exited the bathroom and made their way towards the nearby tree line. Morgan and Nissa chose these nearby woods, hoping they could coax Payton deeper into the woods so they could commit the crime. As they walked deeper in, they told Payton to go hide and both Morgan and Nissa would seek. Nissa 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. As Payton 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 Nissa and began panicking as an unwillingness took over. Nissa said she had to reassure her friend once again, saying, "We're going to hands me the knife and say, I can't do it. You know where all the soft spots are. Ugh." Nissa hands Morgan and I began in 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. When Morgan was five feet away, Nissa yelled, "Now!" Morgan and Nissa 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 friends stared down at her and branched to 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 Payton'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. Payton's abdomen and chest would be punctured repeatedly with such force that it caused blood to splatter over both Morgan and Nissa's clothing, as well as the nearby trees. Payton screams of agony. "I hate you. I trusted you. I can't see." Echoed out into the air as Nissa stood by and watched, Agon on her best friend to continue the bloodbath. When all was said and done, Payton 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 slender man's mansion. Payton 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. Thank you then, it 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 and a desperate attempt to save herself. Ensure 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. The knife still dripping with blood was stashed and Morgan's bag as she began to dab Peyton's 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 crime, fits and panic. Girls would then make their way through the streets of Wakesha, eventually walking along Interstate 94 to Chiquamagon, Nicolette National Forest. It's fascinating how much it sounds like a kid who broke something in the house and their mom's going to find out soon, you know? Like this child is panic for something they've done wrong. 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. And then these random bouts of panic when you fear you're going to get in trouble. No, it's, I mean, the roller coaster of just, I mean, just think back to what was just right. I mean, it's the thing of stab her, she gets up, they run back, they pretend that they're going to help her or they probably think like, oh, God, okay, here. And then they pretend they're going to help her. They leave again. They're like having these like emotional fits with the crying. And then all of a sudden, then they start singing as if nothing's wrong. I mean, it's just like such a chaotic, it's a fucking chaotic storm that's happening right now. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's tragic. I mean, all of it's tragic. Obviously, the biggest tragedy falls with pain, of course. Man, just what a, what a sick world where a child can be exposed to an illness that makes her develop these solutions and hurt others. Man, that'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 person 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. Grass was warm as she continued to crawl, hoping to find help until she reached a bike trail running parallel to the woods. But then minutes, Greg Steinberg, who a cashier 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 dexterity. I mean, like to hold on that long. I mean, God, it's so fucking sick. I mean, I'm like, it's just such a fucking bad ass move. I'm like, God, I can't even imagine. First off, she gets up earlier, walks around trying to hold herself up, imagining stabbed 19 times and like even being able to utter a single word or move them 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 he got closer, I started to see a lot of blood. And the closer I got, the more blood I saw. Peyton was able to talk to the officer and identify Morgan Geyser as her attacker. Dan said that there was another girl with her whom she identified as a "ness of wire." A manhunt for the girls was launched as Wakesha police frantically searched the city for the young culprits. One of the first places official searched was the Geyser home, believing the girls had fled there and were hiding inside. At the time, Angie Geyser was vacuuming in the basement when her six year old son ran down the stairs, saying the police read 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. 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 faintedly asked what was going on. Officers then said that one of the girls was heard in an accident. This in Angie, spiraling. Police arrived at the Weir House around the same time and told Anissa's mother, Kristi, her daughter was missing. Believing her daughter had been kidnapped, Kristi made her way over to the Gays or Residents 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. Kristi quickly showed the message to the police, which read, "This is my final wish to those who care. Do not agree with 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, 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, Stacey's heart sank, wondering whether they were for her daughter or her husband. It would have been at work at the time. The worry she felt soon turned utter dread when police informed her that her daughter had been stabbed 19 times by her best friend, who was fighting for her life at the hospital. Stacey ran inside and called her husband frantically, saying, "Morgan's dad, 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 Stacey 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. Peyton'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 even imagine them. I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't fucking even fathom, dude. Yeah. And I won't, I won't even speculate on it. Me? I refuse. I can't imagine it. I can't imagine it. I can't imagine it. I'll tell you what I do. 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 or other classmates and stuff. I mean, you just think your daughter has a friend and then you find out, 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. Yeah. 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, for Slenderman. 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. It has like that level of fucking like memory too, it's unbelievable murdering someone for their V bucks. I mean, it's kind of like that right or no, it's not, I mean, I guess, I mean, I'm, I don't know. Oh, I can say, I think I can, all I can say is this is I, 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're getting stabbed 19 times. And then just having the sheer will powered 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 like you just straight up sent 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? And the helpful is always Google AI says, no, however, there was a case of a man shooting his steps on in 2024 over a dispute involving the nine year old playing the game against parental rules. And also, again, your 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 will first off, I don't trust the AI with my life. But I will say that I, I refused to believe that someone has not been shot and or stabbed 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 think that has to be a V of V bucks murder. Yes, people have been physically assaulted, robbed and violently targeted in real life over fortnight V bucks. You got to watch out there. There's a beautiful guy to make currency, multiple document cases of players meeting up in person to trade accounts or give V bucks, only to be robbed at gunpoint or be gone. 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, we can meet up a guy to do a V bucks transfer. There's got to be other ways, bro, there's got, there's got to be other ways. Man, I got a, okay, this is a topic for a later day, but I got to know about the V bucks. I got to know about the V bucks, it's just, it's just, it's just a future window video. I mean, it might be, well, minutes before her arrival, Peyton was ushered into a Kesha Memorial Hospital, or Trauma Surgeon Dr. Brian Huckstorff 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. He 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. Huckstorff 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, you're gonna be okay, it's, it's gonna be fine." As her little girl faintly lifted her hand out seeking comfort. The longer she stayed in the trauma room, the more the severity of her daughter's situation sank in. The nurse's next to her were counting out the stab wounds. "There's five in her arm, there's seven on her leg, okay I count 19, I got 19 as well." Hearing these words with somebody 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 David's Park, Wakesha Sheriff's department Lieutenant Paul Rincus saw the two girls walking along the Interstate after receiving a call of a possible sighting. When 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 Rincus 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 Rincus even more, prompting him to ask where it came from. Without hesitation, Morgan replied, "I was forced to stab my best friend to death." My God. Yeah, well I mean like, again, it's, she's delusional, she thinks that she's doing this to save her, you know. And it's just, it's, fuck, good God almighty. This was the exact moment all that was erased in Paul's mind, realizing she was the suspect. He read her, her Miranda writes and kindly asked if she'd be willing to talk to him about it. Oh, yeah, dude. Well, that checks enough boxes for me, I better call this thing. Yeah, dude. What? Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. No girls covered in blood walking to the interstate, color me curious. Do you have anything that could poke me? I had to get out to stab my friend friend out for, for a fictional, for a fictional tumbler character. Okay. Another box checked. He has a box that says stabs for everyone. Oh my God. Oh my God. He has a box that is labeled stab, I had to stab for him for fictional internet. It's as big as it's as big as Steve's notebook from Blue's Clues, and he's using a giant crayon. He's like, check marks. This is like the SpongeBob case from last week. Okay. But that was talented, and this is the internet. What he's like blue, he just has a dyed blue German shepherd in the back of his car, just barking viciously, brought them out. Yeah. I think it's a bit of a quinky, didn't he, isn't it, buddy? We just got her, you guys are going to sit back there with blue, don't put me back there with him. I'm thinking of this cop character going to different scenes and stuff like that. Like he got someone, someone took their own life and there's a note on the table and he's like, we just got a letter, wonder, I have a suspicion that this was the, this was the victim's note. It's like, yeah. All right, girl, what if you looked at it, you said, all right, girls, get in the battle bus. I think this is always worried with these things that I'm being disrespectful of the story. And my list is always that as long as I'm not, you know, discrediting the tragedy that happened or 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, I'm just trying to make, I mean, we are, I am not at, at all. I mean, light of the, what the girl went through, but just the idea of a cop walking up. Yeah. On two girls covered in blood on the interstate, and it's like, okay, well, we're looking for two girls. He's like, okay. That might be them. And they're, they are riddled with blood because like, just two kids, two girls covered in blood here. Nothing. Okay. Sorry. Can we meet you? I know you're covered in blood. You got, did you get any scrapes? No. Okay. Well, do you have anything to do with something where it's like, I don't know, I just a little silly, just go 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 writes and kindly asked if she'd be willing to talk to him about it. Once again, Morgan repeated that she had a sleep over at her house and she and Anissa were forced to stab Peyton. Ball'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, 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 Wakesha Police Department to be questioned further. Headlines would soon come out about the attack, causing an uproar in the little town of Wakesha as reports began flooding the town. Slenderman was now at the forefront of every TV as the entire world was being exposed to it. The creepypasta community came under fire for the attacks. With people believing the forum was solely responsible by corrupting the girls. The creator of Slenderman, Eric Nutson, publicly apologized and condemned the act. "I have deeply said by the tragedy of Wisconsin, 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 girl's actions. Placing blame solely on an interest in reading/writing about horror, paranormal myths, urban legends etc., for a tragedy would be off the mark. The really young kids, while they 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. I do think it's funny that they, I do think it's funny that they like go to the guy who created the slinner man image and they're like, "How do you feel?" Like, you know for sure that media was twisting it. Yeah. Exactly. To happen basically, I mean, 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. I remember when this was happening, it was all the news reports like, "Creepypasta's, is this the next school shooting more at 11, like just no understanding of what happened or why it happened and things." It was a mentally ill child who wasn't being regulated in a way they should have been and then acted on those, like, depraved ideas and delusions. But while the news can do, because they just minimize it, like I said, same as the video game conversation, what slinner man was popular in online circles, did this eventually skyrocket it into a mainstream? No one knew who slinner man was in the mainstream, like, even creepypasta's as well. Well, I mean, like, if you knew creepypasta's, you knew who slinner man was. Or no, no, sorry. What I meant was, did it also just like give more ice to also like creepypasta's and like, those kind of horror communities in general? Yeah. I remember coming home from school when this, or no, it was in the summer's writer of school, so I remember coming to the living room one day and I remember my mom being like, "Oh, whatever this is, you do, do, do, make sure you stay away from it." And I'm like, "What?" And she's like, "This slinner man thing, you don't, you don't know about that, right?" And I'm like, "All right. So we need context." You said, "I 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 and you're like, "Let's have fun, sis." I've been, I've been showing your body of 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, I've been showing girls that missed a creepypasta versions of this for a long time. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's just like, it's how the news is with the anything. Do you have a bunch of people sitting around with the table? Of course, they socialize it. Like, can you believe this? 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, 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. Oh, sure. Like, now it's like, change the lore of it in the public perception. In the public perception. I mean, it did really change the online scene. I don't think that much, most people kind of have like a reference 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 about her 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 Wilkeshah police station, the girls were questioned for hours on end. Morgan, 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 slender man 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 Payton already identified her as the main suspect. Morgan tried to portray herself as an innocent accomplice. With 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 friends 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. She 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 Payton, though she painted Morgan as the mastermind, and is admitted to pushing Payton 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 a documentary be where the slender man on HBO, but you can kind of get, they have a lot of the police interrogation room footage of this, and it's very haunting, very, very, very tough to watch. Yeah, yeah, it's a, I mean, I don't know, it's a, it's tragic situations like this and you want to be mad at someone, you know, but then it's like you, for me at least, I look at the, the perpetrators, it's like, gosh, they, like you have a mentally ill child and another one who was developmentally behind and stuff like that. It's like just what a horrible circumstance to lead, but yeah, I mean, just to lead this to happen, you know, two lost children that were able to brew in their fantasies for too long. Yeah, no one helps. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The questions kept coming one after the other is Anissa said and answered everyone. Slowly, she began to question everything about stabbing and her beliefs about slender man. Anissa told the officer that while out on the interstate, she had a nervous breakdown and lay down on the side of the road, more can begin to panic and call out to the woods. Sender, if you're listening, please, please help us. "Oh, God. This is when the wife of Panic would fully consume both girls as they slowly began to realize maybe Slenderman wasn't real. Oh, God. Not even halfway through the interview, she coily told the officer, "Forhand, 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. The tragic clarity there, my God, man. Yeah. Well, I mean, kids should have just never been exposed to this kind of thing. You know, the can handle it. In 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 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 innocent 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, kind of as to 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 can see a lot of people who will listen to this or, you know, see the documentary read about to do whatever and then 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 this is the absolute mental turmoil and they're like, "How just severely, mentally broken and destroyed this person's brain is, you know what I mean? Does it, does it condone what she did?" I'm just saying that like it's, it's not a justification. It's 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 under 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 creepypasta. Morgan'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 writing 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 kind of justification is the exact kind of thing I would probably say, right? 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 skits affront at 10 years? Like also, how off." I mean, there's just no other things to be like, "Let me let me ask you, I olden the new on stuff. Let me ask you this, Isaiah. If your, let's say, if your kid was like, I like what's obviously your, your kid's going to like horror stories and all that. I mean, that's just a given, right? She 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. You're like, that's weird, buddy. You're, I'm not going to, okay, you're fine. I'm going to shut my door. I'm going to shut your door and you get to have six hours alone time in your room. Now, the, if you went up to your kid's room and you saw like mutilated dolls and all that kind of stuff, like, yeah, what point are you, do you, I mean, do you send the kid down to like, "Hey, buddy, are you okay? What, what, what is this all about?" If they're like, yeah, if they're caught, I feel like if they pulled the heads off dolls now because I used to do that with action figures just because not in any murderous intent, I think I was just like, oh, how's the head work on the puppet thing. But if they were like carving symbols into their chest and stuff like that, I think that's the set down on the bed and have a long talk, you know, at least kind of stuff. I would probably, even if it was this person because also I'm going to be like, because even 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 I just take them off. I'm just curious. Yeah. I'm just curious how they work. I want to see how the blood works. Yeah. I would be, I would, I feel like at some point, at some point, this story has made me, or like this, the scenario where they basically like this crime has definitely made me be like, if you see something weird, you're just going to sit down and be like, you realize, buddy, that like, you know, this is make believe, right? Or like, you know, what's going on there? I don't think it necessarily just immediately means that like, I think that my child's going to murder someone. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's good to do a, a temperature check, right? It needs to be checked. Everyone's a while. I think yeah, because there's a layer between reading it and, you know, writing about how you have to kill someone to save your family. Like, right. Right. Right. Which I, you know, once again, who, I mean, who knows the amount of like inside she had? I mean, like, I'm just saying in general, there's a layer. I mean, parenting's hard. I, I completely sympathize with that. But there's got to be a stopgab. So there also has got to be signs. Right. Well, I mean, they said that there is a guy to be a psychologist and stuff like that and talked about demons, biting her. So also I want, even in the school, there's got to be something. I mean, I have the rubber mallet. The counselor turned, the counselor turning a blind eye. All of these things to wear. Even like, let's say not even the rubber mallet. There's got to be things of like things said, which is who is turning a blind eye and just be like, ah, kids, kids, kids. There had to be a bunch of people that could have done something drop the ball. I feel like situations like this are prevented a lot because at least one adult down the pipe was like, hey, should someone say something, do something, you know? 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, there were some kids at my school and 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. And the moment, he made that joke in school. And one of the kids went to a teacher and that teacher ripped him out of the hallway immediately. Like took him, like with the principal and they like searched his backpack and everything. And I don't think he had one, but there was a, I don't know all the details about it because, you know, it's good on everyone's past rumors around and stuff like that. Good on that teacher. But he got expelled for that. But there was, 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. Maybe 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 an attention to where I'm curious. Once again, all speculative hindsight 2020, right? I'm, I'm just talking because we're on a podcast and I get a talk. I bet you fucking anything Morgan said something, said, said something. I call it, well, I'm going to have to buy it in her and stuff like that. Ghost by it. But I'm even saying to the extent of being like going to have to make a sacrifice to slender man. Gonna have to do it. I bet you it was that casual. And people probably were like, what the, like, 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, 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? Explain. Yeah. Because if she's this far gone, she might be like, oh, why just, I mean, we have to, I have to make a sacrifice. Yeah. She might, it might mean that nonchalantly. You see that? That's what she did when she was being interrogated. And there's, 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 them. Yeah, well, I had to kill them. So I just killed them. Like it's, yeah, that's what I'm saying. If you, if you, if you go that, but if you, if you were able to get that far beforehand, with just a simple conversation of asking a kid, like how they're doing, what is it? You know, I just, how much of this could have been preventing once again, high-tech 2020, just saying. Yeah. And this is mother said, she never mentioned anything to me about her belief in slender man. Both fathers were supposedly oblivious to their daughter's beliefs. Yearly, however, months before the murder, Morgan's dad posted a picture on Instagram of a slender man drawing made by his daughter. Once the interrogations ended, there was little doubt the girls would face prison time. They were handcuffed and taken a jail to a way trial. I don't know about the Morgan's did thing, but do what? What do you, what do you, what do you know about them? What do you mean by the Morgan's saying? I don't know. How much Morgan's dad actually knew versus like, oh, my daughter drew a picture, right? You know, oh, 100%. I'm just saying, no. Well, let me just to be just to be devils or just to fucking be the devil on your shoulder a bit here. That's why that's your job on this podcast, but he really believed 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, I hate to keep bringing that up because now every time because because every time you're doing it in a way that it'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 like, and the dad's like, I got it, right? Mr. Balopatis. And it's like a giant polka dot man, and he's like, oh, I don't it. I don't it. Mr. Morgan's dead. So in my mind, that's where my mind is going, that this is a full on insane man, which I know it's not true, but the way you keep bringing it up, I just keep picturing this giant like polka dot man who's just like, yeah, we all have a crazy interest. Don't wait. Yeah, man, something like that. We can cut that if you don't, I mean, I thought it was funny, I thought it was funny. But the, I, 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 get a position to prevent it, because all that we get from this document is that he didn't take it when he was younger when, 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, they, I fully believe that they thought that it was a, a phase, right? But I, I'm hesitant, I'm, I'm hesitant to believe that she never once ever said, yes, that remains real. And they were like, mm-hmm, you know, and just did, you know, like, that's nice, whatever. I, I'm wondering if that ever popped up of the ideas of her, 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. I don't think I, this is my god, I don't think that she ever said something like that, 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? You know, like that kind of like, what do you, like what? Yeah. Cause then I, I'm, 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, this is a funny thing to do. Crazy, crazy pull. I'm not super. I'm not super, I'm not super stitious. I'm a little stitious. And that's what I was going to say. Okay. Thank you. It actually legitimately cut that because I wanted, I'm going to fucking kill myself with that actually. 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 slinner man's step, you know, during the literally, if you want to keep your job, if you fucking cut that or if you want to get a pay double, he has no pay double. Whatever hunters paying you. 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 end. I just did. With tips. I just did it. 50%. I can bribe whoever. You want it. You want Isaiah's tip? I said that. I'm really smile. Isaiah's going to give you the tip. If you leave that in, just, just 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. Payton 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 an innocent Morgan had been caught. I heard the first thing that I thought after I woke up was like, did they get them? Are they there? Are they in custody? Are they still out? Her father, knelt by her side in a surger 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 an innocent 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 longer she was in jail, with her mother describing her as "floorily psychotic." Initially, 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, 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 hospital. I imagine they would sneak in or something would happen. I could only imagine the rage that Peyton's parents would feel. I would be like, my heel, you're fucking temple, and I would do a fucking street fighter kick. I'd look like, I'd look like King from Tekken. That's what I would do. I want to, let's get a tally going of times. Hunter makes pop culture references in the midst of the child's 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 scurrying around the idea that I would find these children and I would fucking kill them as well. Right, right, right. Yeah. No, I get it. I think that'd be the way I would have a more palatable digestible version of that. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that would be an understandable, you know, anger for the parents to have in that moment because I mean, my gosh, your child's stab 19 times. What kind of parent wouldn't, you know, caretakers at the jail recorded Morgan talking to the figures that were not there on her cells, she continued to talk to slender band as well as several as Snape, Lord Voldemort and one of the teenage mutant Ninja Turtles unicorns like that. That's what that's for you, that sentence, a lot of lay in minds for you and that one, right? Probably right after the pop culture reference and you hit me with that. Yeah. Go ahead. Tell me. Like your comment. No, no, no, I said I wouldn't. I actually didn't. You never said you wouldn't. I said I wouldn't. I said I said I'm done. I said, I'm okay. All right. Unicorns allegedly filled her room as she pretended to be a cat and kept Ancest 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. Go ahead, Hunter. No, no, no. Well, I'm trying to find this is, this is, see, this is another problem with me and you're going to, you're going 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, now you're starting to act like a fucking nut in there. I don't know. Does it not feel a tad performative? I mean, am I wrong? No, am I not? 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. Like, think about this way. If you have a condition where you imagine people who aren't really there, right? Sure. And you're in public or you're, 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, you're just, you're saying 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 so much. Buffer not be the cop though, well, the buffer not be the cop being like, that this is not real. Well, there's not a cop setting there all day doing that with her. Well, sure. And also, there's also the fact that mental illness is tend to compound when exposed to things like stress and paranoia, the trauma of actually performing the act was probably also the opening of the floodgates. Yeah. And now she's in jail and she's a, she's a young girl who doesn't go to school anymore. It doesn't see people anymore. She's now locked in a room like all of those stressors, I'm, I'm reacting, I'm reacting emotionally and not, and not, you know, You know, I'm reacting emotionally, you know what I mean? - Yeah, yeah. - 'Cause 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 done it because she believes Selena made us real, that's where my mind went. So she must be sick. Angie and her husband even admitted that they knew their daughter liked basic empathy. We had been considered to show Morgan the movie Bambi because she was 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 would be devastated. She 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. - Hmm. Well, I think that's like that crazy response, is it? Well, Bambi, get the fuck out of there. - Well, more so, I mean the fact that, 'cause 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 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. - Yeah, I mean, well, yeah. All speculative, everything we're saying, take with the greatest fault. - 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'd be moved to a mental institute to receive proper care. After her 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. If I had any idea that she believed something I was real, we would've 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 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. After 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. Recyclological evaluation found that she suffered from Foley Adou, adopting a reafforcing Morgan's delusions as a form of escapism because the fantasy world felt safer and more appealing than reality. For years, Anissa's mother struggled to watch her little girl through the glass in the meeting room while she awaited trial. The visiting area, there's just 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. I can't kiss her. For three years, the girls were held in separate facilities and brought in and out of court rooms 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 an 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. We must guide 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, no 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. We try to kill somebody, that's an adult crime. That's why I think we talked about that in a previous episode where 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 the juvenile court anymore, it's an 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. Nissa 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. In 2017, Nissa 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 it 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 Nissa to 25 years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, with a 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. She 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 sentence he was over, Payton's family breed the sigh of relief knowing justice had been served. Years of waiting in anticipation were over with one hit of a gauble. 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. Only surviving by the grace of a good Samaritan passing by in the will to live. Thankfully, it wouldn't be long until things started to return to normal. Just six weeks after the attack, Payton 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, Payton'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. Even 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, period they might attack. She has friends, but initially, even with those friends, she kept them in Arne'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 friends' motives and wasn't surprised when she learned that the girls wanted to appease Linderman. After her 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. Most people were shocked to hear how forgiving Payton 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. It's saying it was her fault. She raised Morgan wrong. It wasn't Angie's fault. Morgan's gets a frenic. There's nothing she could have done to stop that or control that. It was not her fault. God damn, does this, does this woman, does this girl have angel wings? Good lord. What is, what a, what a swammy like my God. Yeah, well, I mean, it is a, it is a very inspiring level of, you know, forgiveness, forgiveness. Yeah, yeah, forgiveness and understanding at that age, after being that traumatized, clearly 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 un, 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. She was angry for a long time, especially at Morgan's parents, knowing that Morgan's dad had schizophrenia for a long time. I, although they were maybe just into Nile 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? Like she was a little, little thing about the ghost biting her. Yeah. Since she was a little Morgan had experienced weird visual phenomenon. Yeah, as a toddler, she would approach her parents to tell them that ghosts were talking about her. Oh, a psychologist would later reveal she had vivid dreams when she would change. Okay, so they didn't take her to get tested or something like that for a long time. The father had schizophrenia. And she said things that should have raised alarm, but were bypassed. Yeah, I see. Right. The gaisers and weir family endured widespread hate from random strangers nationwide. Their daughters had committed the unthinkable, and they had been ostracized from society. Even after Inissa 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. Once her friend Inissa was allowed to go home, Morgan began sending petitions to be released to a group home, which were rejected until a judge finally appealed her petition and agreed to send her to one. Wait. Morgan would be sent. Okay, Morgan started sending them after Inissa got released. I got it. Yeah. For months, Morgan's caretakers searched for a home that would take her, but nobody was willing. The 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 Lootner family home. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This stuff is so, I mean, this happens all the time when people get declared as like mentally and competent or well, 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, to kick a kick back out there. Yeah, it goes. No, this case is different. They're not just releasing her. They're putting her in a group home, which is a bit less stringent, but man, yeah, but still just eight. I mean, oh my God. I would fucking loose sleep over that. The next place they looked was in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where the presiding judge was optimistic stating, God, 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? I don't see the risk to the public. Also, I forgot to tell you I'm blind. Oh, I dare my best friend of her in my life. That's it. Yeah. I don't see why not. Yeah. However, a city attorney from Sun Prairie was quick to reject this transfer and had her moved 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. Look, I get it. But there's already a like mentally unwell criminal facility there. It's like, I sure, this one is, this one has a, you know, this one just has a renovation. So it's, it's, 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, I don't want my kid getting stabbed 19 times, maybe they're only there because they stole money to give to the homeless. Yeah, sure. Yeah. It's a building full of Robin Hoods. That's what happens in the criminal, insane building full of, I mean, whenever he'll just sleep in that. I misunderstood. Yeah. They're, they're all heroes and they're all right. I bet if you went in there, it'd be like the green mile, like a thousand times in a room. Yeah. Let John coffee go. It's like 1200 people were killed today. Morgan's attorney argue that the move is 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 and you'd never release people. But that sounds great. Can we do that? Exactly. So she's getting transferred to a home right instead of the, like it's still a facility. It's just not like a, it's still going to be a facility. But it's just way more. I don't think it's, it's definitely not, I mean, it's a group home, you know, it's a 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 pose an illinois's with 43 year old Chad Mecca whom she met at the group home. My 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 guy. Don't see the risk of that. She's 170 miles away from the fuckers house right there. We'd have a straight-up pig roast of the motherfucker that happened. Oh, boy. Not at the four weeks into her release, immediately, like comedic timing, kids outruns away. Now, after removing her monitor, she simply walked out the front door and I'm on a gray tailed bus that she even have to bring a window that she caught out with a pair of children's safety scissors and walked out the guy in front door. All right. You can be trusted. Off you go. From there, they walked through Chicago to a pay-spot station and rode 20 miles to Poseyn. 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 go go 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 had to go back to the original place and she obviously, "Wow." I mean, 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, 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 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, 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, she abused 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 attacked someone else." Thank God for the tips and the surveillance and thank God that there was another, another cop there with the giant blues clues notebook. Hey, do I think you are who you are? You think, "Wait, I'm just gonna go meet." You think what she said, that he just pulled out a comedically large phone and started to tie for it? Yeah, he had a giant old person phone, it looks like one of, it's just huge buttons. He's like, "Hold on a second, you have to tap through the numbers to get to the letters." That's a lot. Yeah. Yep. Oh, I got to go back now. Dang it. Actually, he's got big fingers. It's been 12 years since that fateful day, paying 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, Lunar said, "Mirror." 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, but now I do because of everything that I went through. I 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 back to. I'm telling you, that's true forgiveness. The world is going to be a better place with her in it, in 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 having, being able to have that optimism afterwards is a very, very blessed thing, a very 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 white still can. Preach! You never would have suspected that a 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 with those in the town of Ocasia forever. And that, my friends, as of recent, as of today, is the story of the slender man stabbing. It is the anniversary. I cannot believe it's been 12 years. I feel like it's insane. It's been that long now. 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 Nutsson is the final fantasy house. Yeah, 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, it's almost murder. It's just insane. 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 it's tragic, but I do love the optimists that came out of it. And man, thank God she lived in, in many instances, but gosh, unbelievable, it's amazing. It is a miracle she lived. And I'm glad she did, of course, and also all 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 is 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. 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. But 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 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. 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, you know, I mean, it could have happened anybody, but it happened to this girl. And then it just got, it got swept in with everything else. It's just such a wild, wild story. 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 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. I 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 will 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 was, it was very informative and just eye-opening. I mean, gut wrenching at times too. Yeah. So, thank you guys so much for listening to today's episode. We appreciate you. If you are listening on the audio platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcast and where 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, er, it's 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. Until next time, guys, stay creeped. I don't, I feel like this is too serious to have a funny, final line with. So, what he said, stay creeped or whatever, bye. [Music] (upbeat music)