Slenderman, the creepypasta internet boogeyman, will forever live in infamy for inspiring a horrific crime that took place when two 12-year-old girls attempted to stab their friend to death as a sacrifice to the fictional character. However, while it’s a well-known true crime story that has inspired everything from documentaries, such as HBO’s Beware the Slenderman, to narrative films, including 2018’s horror flick Slender Man, there are a lot of misconceptions about the case that persist to this day.
Luckily, an in-depth non-fiction account of all that went down with the case has dispelled a lot of misunderstandings about the event. Having read Kathleen Hale’s Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls, here are 10 revelations from the book I found to be most shocking. For most of these, I hadn’t even heard about them until reading the book and the same may be true for you, too.
The same psychiatrist who assessed Jeffrey Dahmer also examined Morgan Geyser
Dr. Kenneth Robbins was hired by the lawyer of Morgan Geyser, one of the girls who conspired to kill her friend and the person who did the actual deed of stabbing Payton Leutner 19 times. The violent crime happened as another girl, Anissa Weier, Geyser’s co-defendant, egged her on. In order to determine whether Geyser was competent to stand trial, Robbins assessed her.
Geyser became his second most famous subject right behind a previous interview he did with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. According to the book, while Robbins surmised that Dahmer was, in fact, sane, and therefore culpable for his actions, he came to the opposite conclusion for the little girl who hallucinated a vision of Slenderman that told her to kill her own former best friend.
Payton Leutner survived the stabbing
Though it was misreported in some outlets, Geyser and Weier’s victim, Leutner, actually survived her horrific ordeal. She was, however, in critical condition immediately after the stabbing, which left 19 punctures in her body, required surgery due to internal organ injuries, and very nearly died. Years after the incident, she said she slept with a pair of broken scissors under her pillow “just in case.” In 2020, Leutner graduated from high school with an academic scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with plans to study medicine, a goal inspired by the traumatic events and remarkable recovery she endured. And yes, it really is true that she released Taylor Swift song covers with a kazoo on Soundcloud.
Morgan Geyser had undiagnosed childhood schizophrenia
From a very early age, Geyser experienced hallucinations to the point that she saw figures with names and definable features that talked to her. Over time, some of them were supernatural such as demons, and some of them she would come to know as her friends — others were hostile. Some of these hallucinations were even derived from works of fiction, such as Voldemort from the Harry Potter franchise, whom she nicknamed “Voldie,” and of course, Slenderman.
The two defendants were said to share the same delusion about Slenderman, known as a “folie à deux”
While Weier also suffered from mental illness, it was not full-blown schizophrenia like her friend Geyser. Instead, she experienced delusions about Slenderman through relating with Geyser. Together, they both obsessed about the character and creepypastas in general to the point that Weier started to believe in them for real. This phenomenon of a shared delusion is known as a folie à deux in psychology.
The officer investigating the stabbing consulted a demonologist at one point
Through Weier and Geyser’s confessions, after they got apprehended in their failed attempt to escape to Slender Mansion, their entire delusional plan unfurled. They wanted to sacrifice Leutner to appease Slenderman so that he would not kill off their entire families as a consequence. Detective Thomas Casey, the person who interrogated Geyser, apparently took their story of a demon’s wrath to heart since he ended up calling an individual who the New York Daily News dubbed as a “Satan-hunting cop” in the 1990s, Marcus Quinones, an ex-NYPD officer who found a second career as a demonologist.
Adults in Morgan Geyser’s life completely overlooked several red flags leading up to the stabbing
Even though Geyser shared her hallucinations with both her parents, such as Voldie, they brushed them off as being merely imaginary friends rather than a sign of a serious mental illness. In fact, according to an interview with Geyser, her father allegedly accused her of mentioning seeing demons in the mirror or hearing voices as a way of getting out of trouble, according to the book. Teachers at school similarly characterized Geyser as attention-seeking or quirky rather than suspecting something more troubling was going on.
During a sleepover one month before the stabbing, Geyser and Luetner once set the carpet of a closet in Luetner’s home on fire from meddling with a makeshift Molotov cocktail made out of nail polish remover in a jar in the middle of the night. In the morning, Luetner’s mother discovered the singed carpet that had been hastily put out by the two girls with a blanket overnight. However, she did not do anything to discipline the girls, who denied knowing anything about it, nor did she even notify Geyser’s parents.
On another occasion, Geyser brought a rubber mallet to school as a way of protecting herself against Slenderman. When the gardening tool fell out of her backpack, which was spotted by another student, the assistant principal suspended her for one day. However, the assistant principal failed to ask follow-up questions when Geyser told him she felt the need to defend herself (e.g. “From whom?”).
The defendants were tried as adults for the stabbing
The stabbing, which occurred in Waukesha, Wisconsin on May 31, 2014, was considered so heinous that both Geyser and Weier were tried as adults. However, an unintended consequence of this was that Geyser was denied anti-psychotic medication for a stint of time, despite recommendations to the contrary from psychologists due to her full-blown psychosis. The withholding of medication for psychosis is known by neuroscientists to cause irreparable harm to the individual in that state, such as a person’s IQ potentially dropping the longer they go without it, according to the book.
Both defendants were found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity
In the end, both Geyser and Weier were found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. However, while Weier was able to successfully petition for her release under supervision, Geyser has remained at Winnebago Mental Health Institute ever since.
The defendants were both on suicide watch at different points
Throughout their time at Washington County Jail at different periods, both Geyser and Weier were put on suicide watch for various incidents. However, neither one was successful and they’re both alive to this day.
Morgan Geyser’s father hid his schizophrenia from her
Morgan Geyser’s father, Matt Geyser, was her primary caretaker growing up. However, he had schizophrenia that he hid from his daughter and did not treat it with medication. Angie Geyser, Morgan’s mother, also knew about Matt’s illness. It got so bad that Matt covered up the mirrors in their home due to fearing his own reflection as he often saw Satan standing right behind him.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. A list of international crisis resources can be found here.
