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On May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States, two 12-year-old girls, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, lured their friend Payton Leutner into a forest and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to appease the fictional character Slender Man.

A supernatural meme created as part of a Photoshop contest by Something Awful forum user Eric Knudsen (screen name Victor Surge), Slender Man is a faceless, spindly specter who stalks children and whose myth has penetrated digital stories, web videos, and now real life. It even inspired a 2024 movie starring Joey King.