2014
Two twelve year olds, Morgan and Anissa were found covered in blood after walking to the other side of town. In a park. 4.9 miles away, their best friend Payton lay on the grass, 19 stab wounds to her body.
"I didn't want to do this. I was afraid of what would happen if I didn't. Anissa said we had to, or he would kill our families"
"He's a tall faceless man who preys on children"
- Morgan
"We were playing hide and seek in the trees to distract her. Morgan jumped on top of her and started to stab her repeatedly and thats when I turned around"
- Anissa
"We led her there and tricked her. People who trust you become very vulnerable. I said I'm sorry this had to happen"
- Morgan
You might be asking, who is this man who forced these young, innocent girls to turn on their best friend? Who would threaten a child's family in order to coerce them into murder?
The answer is not as simple as a murderous man.
This tall, faceless man, is actually a fictional character. Slenderman.
Slenderman.
In 2009, Slenderman was born. With inhumanly long arms and legs, an eerily featureless face and often depicted wearing a suit to 'fit in with humans', Slenderman was created simply for a photoshop contest. The creator was inspired by works of that of HP Lovecraft and Stephen King.
This contest was to photoshop creepy and surreal creatures into real life images, and to make them look as realistic as possible.
Soon these images went viral, with games and YouTube series being based around this children-preying character.
Proxies
"Did you think you actually had to kill someone to do it?"
"Yeah" - Anissa.
Proxies are humans or 'entities' who are under the influence of Slenderman and acts upon his wants and needs. Proxies are unaware of their actions, as their memories are suppressed by Slenderman and his influence can alter their personalities to become sadistic or completely emotionless.
Both Anissa and Morgan believed that to become Slenderman's Proxies', and to protect their families, they had to sacrifice their friend.
To Become Proxies
Originally, the two girls had planned to kill Payton the night before during their sleep over. However, they then decided the next morning to convince her to go to the park with them, and then lure her into the trees.
Payton was stabbed 19 times in the legs, arms and torso with a five-inch-long blade and consequently suffered two wounds to major organs, with one wound missing a major artery of her heart by less than a millimetre.
Anissa and Payton then told her that they were going to get help, but this was not their plan.
The two girls were found, covered in blood, after walking 4.9 miles across town.
Payton, by a miracle, survived this attack. After she was left to bleed to death amongst the trees, she managed to crawl to a nearby road, where she was found by a passerby. She left hospital 7 days after the attack.
Slenderman's influence
Anissa and Morgan are not the only cases of the unbelievable influence of this fictional character.
A 14 year old girl, Lily Hartwell set her home on fire as her mum and brother slept inside. It was discovered that she wrote regularly about Slenderman in her diary and that she had to kill her mum and brother for him.
Another girl, aged 13, who's identity was protected, tried to stab her mother with a kitchen knife. During the attack, she wore a white mask, mimicking the image of Slenderman. Her mother reported that she was 'obsessed' with the character, even creating an online world on Minecraft for him.
Huggy Wuggy
From first glance, and with a name so innocent, this character seems very child friendly.
However once you look at Huggy Wuggy a little closer, its vicious teeth and cruel smile will show you another side.
Despite its song about hugging people being very catchy, its lyrics such as "until you breathe your last breath" has been causing safety issues across schools and communities.
A 3 year old boy attempted to jump out of a window after watching his older siblings playing Huggy Wuggy on Roblox, believing he would survive like the character does.
One school sent a letter to parents stating:
"we are noticing students playing schoolyard games where they hug each other very hard until the other person cant breathe and/or say inappropriate things in someones ear".
The MOMO Challenge
The MOMO Challenge is a viral phenomenon which you may already be aware of.
MOMO, a bug eyed girl with mated hair and bird like claws, began to circulate the internet across the world, created by a Japanese company that makes horror film props and special effects.
The Challenge
Those who texted MOMO's number were instructed to complete a series of strange and increasingly dangerous tasks. They start pretty innocent, such as watching a horror movie late at night, then as time goes on, ending will a call for kids to self harm or even take their own life.
Victims
There has been many reports of MOMO disturbing children across the globe and being influenced to do out of character and harmful acts.
A 5 year old boy told his mother that he believed that MOMO was going to kill them both, and she found marks on his neck which she believed was as a result of MOMO's influence.
Pearl Woods told the news that her 12 year old with autism started to ask about suicide and knife outlets. She had found her daughter watching videos of MOMO and was concerned with the disturbing appearance of them. Her daughter then left the kitchen stove on, with no light coming in, believing that her daughter could have caused her house to explode.
Why Are Children So Influenced By These?
Children can very often be vulnerable and easily manipulated by things which they have seen online. There has been debates around the use of violent video games and whether or not this makes children more violent in their normal day-to-day lives.
However, when studying these cases, there appears to be a theme of mental health in which have made these children more vulnerable.
After the 'Slenderman stabbing', Morgan was diagnosed with schizophrenia, believed to have been genetically passed down by her father. The defence in her case was that due to her mental health, she was vulnerable and easily influenced by the stories of Slenderman, and genuinely believed that Slenderman would kill her and her family if she did not do what she believed he wanted them to do.
The 13 year old girl who attempted to stab her mother was also reported to have 'long-standing mental health problems'.
As we learn from Pearl, her daughter who left the stove on attempting to set fire to her home, was diagnosed with Autism. Pearl herself, in an interview, commented on how creators of such videos/characters need to be more aware of the damaging effects they can have on children with mental health issues and learning disabilities, as it can leave them to be very vulnerable to its influence.
Therefore, it is important for social media platforms, such as Youtube and TikTok to closely monitor trends such as these in order to protect younger viewers from dangerous content.