God I can't imagine how the guy who created Slenderman feels when he found out that his story drove someone to kill a child. It's not his fault, like parents should be watching what their children are doing on the internet not just for things like this but for the fact that there are predators online and children are very impressionable and easier to groom for those predators. But if I created Slenderman and this happened I'd be devastated.
I think they already had some sort of mental issue from the start. But yeah people should teach kids how to watch out for groomers and harassers, Kinda like how you would in real life
They probably feel some amount of guilt for this, but honestly if not for Slenderman these kids probably would've found some other excuse to try to kill someone given their mental state.
I have noticed zoomers will get actually visibly upset and shaken when you tell them Creepypasta isn’t real. I’m not sure why. I recently had an argument with some kid over that stupid rugrats one and he swore up and down it’s real, and any suggestion otherwise made him angry. I had to take my young cousin aside one day as well and inform him that not only is Slenderman not real, but also herobrine isn’t either and his Minecraft game is not haunted. He was upset about this.
I remember being an edgy 12 year old who wanted to be a proxy to slenderman. I remember hearing this story and it shocking the whole creepy pasta community and so many people my age were pissed because a lot of parents cracked down on this and didn't want their kids to turn out like this. They were all talking about how mad they were about how these girls couldn't separate fiction from reality and they suffered the consequences for a crime they didn't commit. Honestly though, looking back at my infatuation with these scary stories, I cringe a lot cause admittedly a lot of kids my age thought this type of edgy behavior was cool. Who's to say that if their parents didn't ban them from it that they wouldn't have followed in their footsteps.
I personally feel like it's perfectly fine to have an edgy phase as long as no one actually gets hurt. The majority of the horror/creepypasta community would never actually hurt someone. I used to be obsessed with creepypasta (especially Jeff the Killer) but I knew it wasn't real and that I wouldn't date/encourage an actual serial killer. I don't know if banning kids from creepypasta entirely is necessarily the answer. Instead maybe sit down and talk and make sure they understand what is and isn't real. And probably monitor which creepypasta they are reading/listening to cause some of them are definitely too mature for kids
@pie1o1morris46 I was VERY happy when parents started cracking down on it after this case. I'm only about 2 years younger than the girls in this case & was being severely bullied for *not* engaging in any Creepypasta media, and being afraid of it. My bullies would even shout that they were gonna sacrifice me to Slenderman during recess. There's a REASON we keep horror away from kids.
At 12 you should be old enough to know better. You are lucky you aren’t my kid. Why can’t you just listen to heavy metal and watch horror movies like everyone else? Why does everything with your generation have to be some kind of strange cult?
These girls were so cunning and evil at 12 years old, the way they basically premeditated it and had her birthday as a set date!! Edit: I'm now at the part of the vid where its said that Morgan is schizophrenic and was actually seeing slenderman. So ofc she would have this fear. It explains her behaviour but doesn't justify it obviously
@@uuzjr5354 I'm not buying that she was hallucinating slenderman. I believe this was used to redeem her. She did premeditated unaliving. Schizophrenia at her age is profoundly rare. She clearly had no remorse or empathy. Guarantee she will be found to have psychopathy once she reaches age 18+.
@@e_i_e_i_bro good point, perhaps it was used by her defense team to redeem her but the psychologists or psychiatrist who did the assessment on her can't lie about the result, right? It is believed that if a parent has schizophrenia then their child is 10% more likely to have it, but ur right that it's rare for a 12 yr old to be diagnosed w it
As a childhood schizophrenic, I can understand how Morgan feels (though of course I've never hurt anyone). I was about 7-10 when the big creepypasta era was going on, and I 1000% believed that they were real, because I would see and hear them. I know it's hard to understand. I'm just so sad that she never got help for her illness. I also understand how easy it is to have other children be roped into your delusions. This truly is a heart-breaking case.
@@avm6414 Her mom did do something about it. She’d noticed signs from her well before the attack, and was trying to find a mental health professional that would assess her. All of them said she was too young to exhibit clear signs, despite not actually doing a thorough assessment. The worst part is, all of the child psychologists they visited were in contact with each other. They all witnessed the very same evaluation results which would normally warrant a diagnosis in adults… yet they still decided not to give an early diagnosis. She did the only thing she had the power to do. She went through the proper channels. The mental health system failed Morgan. In turn, they also failed Payton. Not much can be found on Anissa, aside from the fact she was medication for her mental health. It’s quite possible it wasn’t the proper fit and she, being a child, wouldn’t outright know that. Or, she’d just started taking it and it hadn’t fully regulated her behavior/mental state. Either way, the signs were there. Both sets of parents tried their best. It can’t really be their fault if the people they’re literally paying to make sure their children get help don’t properly fulfill their duties.
As someone who experiences hallucinations and delusions and had them about things like slenderman in the past I'm glad you mentioned how mental illness played a role in what happened. I think you did a great job covering this case and I hope you're doing well /g
I think this showcases the importance of watching out for warning signs in kids and checking if these things are serious. I've never had hallucinations myself, but I could imagine even just being aware of the condition could help you differentiate reality from hallucinations. And obviously therapy or even medication.
I remember being in the creepypasta fandom back in middle school when this story came out. It absolutely shocked me that people thought he was real and took it to that level to become a proxy, im glad you coved this case though and you did it well!
I am from Wisconsin, and no one truly understands how IMPACTFUL this stabbing was for the entire state. It truly haunts a lot of our minds. It is devastating. So thankful you covered this case. So many have forgotten about it. And forget how much the internet influences kid's minds.
I will never forget because I lived a 90 second walk from where she was found.. The parents in the neighborhood were running around panicked looking for their children not knowing if they were the victim. It was scary!
I'm from WI, not far from the mental health institute where the girls were ordered to serve their sentence. My family knows Payton's family, that poor girl was so traumatized and has had multiple surgeries over the years. It breaks my heart.
Usually stabbing someone 19 times is out of anger/resent, but it seems like the girls were really just inexperienced (like they didn’t know what they were doing but wanted to make sure they killed Peyton) and frantic. Thank god Peyton survived
INEXPERIENCED 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 bro i dont think thats the word you were going for because when you say inexperienced it makes it sound like they SHOULD have stabbed people before to know how to stab someone to death
but they literally stabbed her out of anger, they weren't doing it in self defense, they thought out this whole plan which shows that they were aware of what they were doing, so the last thing i would call them is scared. payton was the one who was scared, the other two were just plain evil.
@@pinkflufflyunicorns32 i agree, those girls clearly are evil and have some mental issues. i believe i meant scared as like frantic (?)/ and just wanted to kill her. they didn’t know the exact way to do this, so they stabbed her so many to ensure they had actually murdered her rather than out of the fact that they hated her.
I have full belief that Morgan was suffering from very early signs of schizophrenia (which her dad had) and was taken advantage of. Due to her mom not getting her the help she needed, Morgan was steadily getting worse and worse. I honestly feel bad for her and hope she can get the treatment to help her.
@@elijahlivingston9477 There are exceptions to everything. I remember watching stories about a 7 years old kid with a very very severe case of schizophrenia.
We were frightened by Freddy and Jason and VHS horror movies (It was actually vile and sick , alot of gore and guts to be entertainment.).when we were teens .I think that slenderman is a version of Jack skellington or that figure from the anime Death note .People forget that paganism is very real and they could be resurrecting or manifesting real myths
if there’s ever a case i recommend deep diving into, it’s this one. the interrogation tapes, all the details and nuance about the girls and the illnesses that may have led them to do what they did, and how they made the two either innocent or guilty, it’s so heartbreaking and I can easily spend hours looking into it. (HIGHLY recommend watching explore with us’ video, “what it’s like to interrogate a schizophrenic child”)
One of my best friends loves looking into the Columbine case... like... all the time. I'm kinda scared ngl but she is very anti-gun so I know she's not gonna do anything... weird though
i love that channel! the criminal psychology, 'abnormal' psychology, & in depth analysis of the justice system explanations by licensed professionals are so educational.
It makes me sad to hear that mental illness can be so overlooked, when it already has been in the family did no one suspected that the kid would suffer the same, until she was so frightened that she was willing to kill her best friend ?
i know i’m a bit late, but i read a comment somewhere that said that morgan’s mom tried to intervene and get her daughter help bc she suspected something but the “professionals” denied anything was up bc they deemed her to be “too young”. again though, that’s just what i read from a comment
I mean it wasn't until later that girls got diagnosed with ADHD or ADD because they had different symptoms than the boys. Mental health is taken more seriously now but not nearly as much as it should be.
Poor Payton, I wish her love and light. Paranoia and anxiety are not nice to live with, for sure she'll be on some meds for the rest of her life. She didn't deserve this, she deserved to live a happy normal life.
those parents should've monitored their behaviour more when it was becoming obsessive. It's a miracle Payton survived, I can't imagine what she'd have gone through. She probably has trust issues after that.
this story genuinely shocked the creepypasta community to hell n back when it first came out from what i remember, n to be honest i never understood why morgan's parents never did anything to monitor their daughter's behaviour more. like i understand being into creepypastas n horror stories n spooky stuff (my 12 year old self did the same) but they should've at least sat down with her to talk about her obsession with slenderman or taken her to see a therapist or something .. like maybe things would've turned out differently, in my opinion at least.
Right? Her mother knew Morgan's father suffered from schizophrenia, and schizophrenia is often hereditary. I can only assume she was blinded by hoping that Morgan wouldn't suffer like her father had but man....did it never occur to her that her daughter could be having similar issues?
@@nostradoomus Copied from another comment -- Her mom did do something about it. She’d noticed signs from her well before the attack, and was trying to find a mental health professional that would assess her. All of them said she was too young to exhibit clear signs, despite not actually doing a thorough assessment. The worst part is, all of the child psychologists they visited were in contact with each other. They all witnessed the very same evaluation results which would normally warrant a diagnosis in adults… yet they still decided not to give an early diagnosis. She did the only thing she had the power to do. She went through the proper channels. The mental health system failed Morgan. In turn, they also failed Payton. Not much can be found on Anissa, aside from the fact she was medication for her mental health. It’s quite possible it wasn’t the proper fit and she, being a child, wouldn’t outright know that. Or, she’d just started taking it and it hadn’t fully regulated her behavior/mental state. Either way, the signs were there. Both sets of parents tried their best. It can’t really be their fault if the people they’re literally paying to make sure their children get help don’t properly fulfill their duties.
@@rnieIIe_lr Oh wow and I was blaming Morgan's mother when it was the mental health system. This is even sadder than I thought it was. My heart just breaks for this girl. All three, really. But it really breaks for Morgan whose mother had tried to get her help but no one was giving any to her. This poor child was neglected for sure by the mental health system.
yeah i remember as a young creepypasta fan my parents banned me from reading creepypastas and watching or playing anything creepypasta related. i even got in trouble for drawing them. even out of that state it still heavily affected a lot of young internet users
Yes! Like as a member of the creepypasta fandom, it’s important to realize what’s fake and not. I understand she has schizophrenia but something should have been done to help her distinguish what was fake or not.
Young kids are so bizarrely good at convincing each other of things. My little sister got fully convinced that Slender Man was real by her friend when she was like nine, and told me her friend had met him and everything, she was so sure about it I almost believed it too even though I knew it was just a Creepypasta (I was twelve)
Hi Eleanor. Please look into Faith Hedgepeth’s murder case. It got solved only recently. Her murder was accidentally caught on a pocket dial voicemail.
The call was not her being murdered- the call actually happened earlier in the night and caught a fight or tiff happening at a bar between Faith and her friend, the murder itself happened later in the night by a relative stranger who broke in, and was not caught on audio
@@maddieb.4282 the audio expert working on it was certain it happened during the murder. you can hear her scream “how could you do this to me rosie” and she was apparently violated during this call as well and you could hear one of the guys say that he was about to violate her
The pocket dial was time stamped much earlier than the murder took place. The person arrested was not Rosie or associated with Rosie. We will have to wait for trial for more information but looks like that call was most likely something else.
I remember when this happened, I was deep into the creepypasta fandom. A group of creepypasta narrators did a big charity livestream where the money went towards Payton's hospital bills.
I like the way you presented this case w empathy & understanding. A lot of times people will paint crimes like this as a case of an “evil child” , someone that cannot be helped. This is not true. These girls clearly had severe issues and especially Morgan were very scared. Very glad Peyton survived and I hope they are all doing better today.
This was my first true crime case I ever properly looked into years ago, and it gets more interesting and terrifying every time I hear it. i dont know how those kids had the guts to even try something like that, especially on their own friend
They were tried as adults because of the severity of the crime, if it wasnt premeditated or possibly less amount of stab wounds they may have been tried as children
I cannot be the only one who legitemately thought Slenderman was just a game. I had no idea about the background or image contest or all the other things. When I was 14 or 15, I was in Year Nine (basically halfway through 'High School' in Australia) and the game 'Slenderman' was so, SO popular amongst my peers. I'm sure I once had a go on my friend's phone and I got so focused on finding those dang letters -- (I think that was like the main quest of the game -- aside from the whole goal of just not being consumed/eaten/taken/got by Slenderman) -- so yeah, I while I was getting this letter, those black tentacles wrap around me and I can't move and it's all like !!GAME OVER!! When I say I screamed out-loud up in the school gym that day, I mean I frickin screamed. It echoed. A teacher yelled at me, my friend and his friend. We ducked behind the seats and crawled commando-style to the back of the stands and hid in the hairdressing classroom (that was at the back of the gym for some reason) until everyone left. This is honestly the only time a literal mobile game spooked me. As in, A MOBILE GAME, duuude, like ust a thing to play on your phone; not a PC or console version. But I dunno, the art, audio, story, vibe all combined just hit me. Hence why (I think, at least) this game was so damn popular throughout my school and town. I cannot even imagine being told he was real/believing such a thing. But f*Ck. This truly is NEEEEEXT level.
this case happened in my county and has always terrified me. i live in basically the same community as these girls. a forensic psychologist from this case is coming to talk to my ap psych class soon, which is very cool. i have always been interested in this case.
i’ve had a trio friend group for 6 years and somehow we never really have that jealousy thing. i am really grateful for that honestly because it can develop into resentment
As a teen born in Wisconsin, this is one of the most terrifying cases I've ever heard of. You barely ever hear about stuff like this, especially in my state, and it feels so unreal that literal children are capable of doing such horrible crimes.
i mean, it actually happens a lot. we have two of the most famous murderers- ed gein and jeffrey dahmer. then we have these girls and steven avery. there are multiple i know of from my town alone. in the 90s, tom monfils was found dead and presumed murdered. there was a teacher here who was murdered and featured on one of the true crime shows i used to watch, though i can't find her name right now. i have friends who knew a guy (jacob cayer) who killed his ex and her mother. most recently there was taylor schabusiness. i have never really realized before just how much has happened in my town, but this is just off the top of my head and i know there are more around the state. i wouldn't say i hear about it all the time, but i wouldn't say i barely hear about it either.
I remember being heavily involved in the creepypasta fandom when this case happened, and it was such an intense shock. The thought that someone could believe these characters really existed never occurred to me! It’s relieving to know that Peyton did survive, but I can’t image the hurt and trauma she experienced and most likely still experiences. Part of me does feel pity for Morgan and Anissa too - it’s clear they had some kind of mental illness, and horror content on the internet does something to children. I know it left a lasting affect on me, even if I do look at my past interests with fondness. I think what happened is a good reminder to monitor what kind of media kids consume. I don’t think letting them find interest and comfort in scary things is necessarily bad, but it’s important to help teach them the separation between fiction and reality and keep them away from certain things until they’re at an age where they can fully understand them
I remember when this case came out, me and my best friend were in the creepypasta fandom at the time. We were both so horrified that it actually pushed us to distance from the fandom and move on to other things
I am the same age as her when she was attacked and i am honestly proud that she managed to get up and try and find help and im glad that the cyclist was there when they were i hope peyton is doing well now she is a brave person
This one really has me torn. Because for Morgan it really was life or death. You hear all the time about humans having to do terrible things in order to survive, and in those cases there really is no one to blame. For Morgan the threat was REAL and Fast Approaching. On the other hand the trauma of being betrayed like that by your best friend and the physical consequences of being stabbed truly make a victim of that poor girl.
Agreed, i really don't think anyone is served by locking children up for decades. She needed psychiatric help, not punishment for something that she did out of delusions.
@@motherthorns I´m not defending her at all. But she seemed super anxious before and even said she expected to feel remorse that she didn't in the end. I think it was too much psychologically to the point that her brain numbed her reactions. I don't think any of this justifies what she did though.
As someone who has grown up in the creepypasta fandom, this case was absolutely shocking to me when it came out. I roleplayed creepypasta stuff a LOT as a child and even believed in some of the stories myself, but the fact this happened opened my eyes. I'm still very much in the fandom all these years later but after this case it will never be the same.
as someone who spends a lot of her time on the internet and loves scary stories and true crime, its honestly terrifying to see what kind of effect this can have on kids. saying this as a child as well, its always good to somewhat restrict/monitor your kids internet usage.
My parents were the ones that called the police on the two girls cause we were driving back from one of my dance recitals. We saw them walking on the side of the highway and we had heard the news about two teenagers on the loose and their descriptions and I can’t explain how shocked we were when we realized it was them. This story is one to truly not forget thank you for talking about it!!
I genuinely blame this case for the creepypasta community blowing up the way it did. It's depressing how people took this case. I was heavily in the community at this point, and the girls and I are close in age. I was just about to turn 13 myself. People didn't look at the community the same, we either got clowned on for being "cringe" or treated like we were the devil himself. It was bizarre. The majority of us understood it wasn't real, but we were being treated like we were exactly like Morgan and Anissa. My heart goes out to all of them. None of their lives will ever be the same. I think the two girls that tried to kill Peyton were severely mentally ill, and I genuinely believe that there is more to the story than either of them has shared. I think there's a different reason for them trying to kill Peyton that day, and I don't think we'll ever know unless they decide to share someday. And ofc, Peyton's life will never be the same because of the trauma. I cannot imagine how their parents feel, let alone how Peyton herself feels about this.
I agree. I was young myself when this happened, and it was quite the wake up call. Unfortunately it became a pipeline for more bad things. One crime becomes popular and then it attracts several more and then it spirals out of control. I hope Peyton has managed to escape that hole, I can't imagine how it would be to survive something like that, have it blow up, and then have everyone talk about it constantly and be known as "one of slender's victims"
@@sadisticebolabird2511 yeah. The copycat crimes were genuinely heartbreaking to watch. So many lives were altered because idiots wanted to be infamous like Morgan and Anissa. Sometimes I wonder if the media made the right call giving their names like they did, or if all three of them should've stayed anonymous. That said, I sincerely hope Peyton's doing well. It's a little weird that some people almost talk about her like she passed that day, I guess you could put it. Sure, they use present tense and such, but nearly nobody ever talks about her beyond what was probably her worst moment of the worst day of her life. She's so much more than a victim. She deserves so much better than what life has given to her.
I was in the community around about this time, i was 10-11 ish. It was absolutely wild how many more people there were after this case it was absolutely insane. That was what scared me away from creepypasta communities honestly.
i think it’s weird to assume that there was “another reason”- the reason for them wanting to murder their friend is pretty well explained, in my opinion so don’t try to make it even more sinister than it already is
I appreciate how respectful elanore is because I hear other people take the side of the killers and butchering the names of the victims and it really makes you question the broken mortality of some of these people who can start laughing while talking about a child or person who was brutally Murdered
Being from the area this occurred, around the same age as these girls, having a similar friendship dynamic with two others, and being into internet horror was…an experience for sure back then. I truly hope the victim is getting the help she would obviously need after all of this. I think I actually remember suggesting this case awhile back for you to look into, and I’m glad to see it be covered
I remember when this happened. I was a kid when it went down. I was a hard-core creepypasta fan and that incident basically triggered my internet awareness. I started getting really picky with what pasta fans I talked to and stopped listening to podcasts about horror
When Eleanor mentioned the trio friend groups it just took me back. I was in a trio friend group and I was the one who was left out. Also damn, people will just go insane for something that means basically nothing (cough Randy Stair cough)
I can’t say how many times I’ve heard this story, yet it stool shocks me every time. There a TH-camr that went into the psychology behind this all and there interviews. This case is really intresting in general
@@veronica.gv. I believe it was the Explore With Us TH-cam page. The title has something to do with interrogating a schizophrenic child. It's a long and interesting video going through the interrogations EDIT: "What it's like to interrogate a schizophrenic child" by EXPLORE WITH US. 2.5hrs long
I remember going through a whole obsessed with Slender Man phase growing up I had drawings and posters of him on my wall and everything even dressed up as him for Halloween multiple times. Though I'm glad to say I never stabbed one of my friends for him. I played his games almost religiously and did as much research on him as I could and absolutely loved that long fan made film of him I still occasionally watch it to this day
In middle school my friends were huge fans of the creepasta world..it always freaked me out, when I heard about this case it broke my heart :,( It brings tears to my eyes how sweet this young girl is..so unfair, praying for Payton and her family 💕
Coming from someone who LOVED creepypasta as a kid, I was genuinely shocked people believed it. Like I was 10-12 when I got into it and knew it was a story.
wow, i thought i knew this case but not even 5 minutes in there's SO many details i never heard about. this is why i love eleanor's content, there's so much research put into it and it really shows
This is one of the cases that really hits home for me, I remember learning about slenderman when I was 10 or 11 and it really does seem real when your that old, but that doesn’t justify what they did. It’s one of the cases that I find really interesting still to this day.
When i was around 9-10 I started watching "criminal minds" on tv with my grandma and I got hooked up with mysteries and murders. Basically horror. Till this day I still love horror things.
This was the case that got me into true crime and all that in the first place, and I've heard and read about it countless times- However I love Eleanor's storytelling and the way she talks about each case.
One of the main reasons why kids can be tried as adults is because is they’re in the right state of mind and can understand that they’re actions have consequences, like adults, then they’re gonna be treated like an adult. Kids killing people changes things drastically so it’s fair that they got tried as adults
This reminds me a lot of the case of the three girls where 2 of them killed the third. I can’t remember their names but I know you’ve covered it. They led their friend into the woods and stabbed her viciously and then tweeted about it. This one is just as heartbreaking but I’m so glad she was okay.
I lived a 90 second walk from where the cyclist found her when this happened. All the parents were freaking out looking for their children not knowing who the victim was. Parents sobbed loudly upon finding their children as helicopters flew around looking for the girls. It was really scary. My son was 4 and we walked over to Davids park almost every day!
I know it seems weird from an outside perspective, but the thing with Morgan 'dancing' in the interview room alone has never really struck me as strange? Might just be because I tend to move around a lot without thinking about it, but it seems more like a nervous energy outlet/self-soothing technique than anything else to me.
the dancing is a sign of schizophrenia, people are not present at all when psychotic and it’s considered erratic behavior. also in the interview they admitted to going to find slenderman in the forest
I used to be into creepy pasta too when i was 9-10 years old too, but seeing people take it to a whole different thing, developing an obsession and truly believing it, also committing a crime at such young age is so terrifying.
Hi Eleanor, I don't usually recommend cases but I find this one very interesting. The case of Brazilian actress Daniela Perez who was killed in 1992, HBO MAX made a documentary about the case with very good interviews, the case has a frustrating end but Daniela's mother wanted to make the documentary to help remember what really happened . I make myself available if you need help if you decide to research.
@JustLostMyCarKeys In damages, I agree and I know that this is traumatic for them but we seem to only have heard one side of the story because the parents of the stabbers talk about it and if Peyton ever feels ready, it would be nice to hear her side because the narrative feels incomplete. I feel Like the parents aren’t lying but there’s something that hasn’t been mentioned. I can understand why she’s chosen to distance herself from this kind of attention because she nearly died because of these psychos. Psychologically, you don’t recover from that. So I understand why we’ve never heard from her or her family
They 100% were trying to find the mansion. In the notebook, where they written about they were gonna bring cheesecake to Masky and Hoodie, which is something made up in creepypasta fandom.
As someone who lives very close to where this happened in my junior year it really fucked a lot of us up. I personally have a lot of issues now making friends because we all realized we couldnt trust anyone. We all stopped going to events for a couple months because we didnt know how to cope. I became friends with a student who transferred from their school and he would refuse to talk about it. All he would say was that everyone in the school knew something was off about the girls. It will probably always have an effect on us because we started thinking about if our friends could turn on us and do this. It is one thing to think about but another when it could be an actual reality.
Your channel was recommended in my criminology class and I’ve already been a long time fan so I was so happy!! Eleanor you’re now part of my education how cool is that? 😂😂
I really believe if morgans mom would have been honest with morgan from the start about her father being schizophrenic and actually testing morgan when she started showing signs, none of this would have happened..
Eleanor, I have been a longtime subscriber and your videos have gotten me through chores, exams, workouts and they always make my day a little bit better. A 16 year old girl, named Nika Shakarami, was brutally murdered and so many unthinkable things were done to her. Please tell her story. She’s not the only one. Your platform and voice matters and Iranian women, including Nika, deserve their story to be told.
I had read bits about this case but didn't know a lot about it but from what Eleanor said about how Morgan was acting in the interview rooms with the dancing and stuff she definitely needs help. To struggle at such a young age to have any emotions or feel regretful of what she'd done is seriously concerning. I hope she's getting the help she needs xxxxx
The thing is, Slender Man isn't the first "scary story about children." Fairy tales have long since been about/for children and pretty horrific. Things like Hansel and Gretel, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Red Riding Hood, etc, were all frightening tales about monsters eating children. Slender man is just a reimagined version of old tales that talked about sacrificing to old gods and monsters. It's honestly a wonder that more kids don't try to sacrifice other kids to the witch in the woods or something equally horrific, given how many "children's tales" are horribly scary.
I'm forever angry they did this and all the students I went to school with told the principle and teachers they were afraid of me so I had my bag searched almost every few months since the incident because I wrote fanfics and was a very prominent person in the creepypasta community. After those events, I left and never will return even in my adulthood because of the trauma those two girls caused indirectly to ME and other kids it probably happened to. The fact one girl was released/will be released is also baffling, I want an actual apology from her not just to her victim but also to the people like me who were severely effected by the case and profiled for liking horror.
Like imagine going to your hometown and everyone sees you or pegs you as "the girl who had her bag searched everyday in middle school" when in 8th grade nobody could tell they (the creepypasta stories) were fake. All of the students who told, also were obsessed with creepypasta until the incident. They then bullied me and called ME crazy when I never once hurt anyone, I was always getting told to off myself or whatever the case may be. Those two girls don't deserve to be released, not when the case affected literally everyone in the creepypasta community as well as nearly ruin one innocent girl's life.
this is a perfect description of the events that happened amazing job as always! i was actually coming home from a dance recital when my friends parents called my parents about it, upon doing this they passed by two kids walking on the highway and my parents have already heard what they looked like from the news so they fed the information to my friends parents and the description matched. they called the police immediately and the original report said police found them but it was really them haha
This case honestly baffles me I have watched so many videos about it to find out more details and I really loved that Eleanor went into detail and took the time to fully explain it. This might sound odd but I would love to be able to interview these girls (Morgan,Anissa,Peyton) to get there sides and there “povs?” On what happened.
i just saw this case on explore with us and while i found it super interesting to watch a professional analysis of the actual interviews, i enjoy your storytelling so much as always - you explain the cases so well and respectfully and you give us a full perspective of the situation!! 🤲👑
I was in the creepypasta fandom back in the day and holy shit I was very surprised when I found out about this case. I was terrified that these girls genuinely believed these scary stories but at the same time these girls were mentally ill and I hope they're doing better after the psychiatric help they got
When this happened, I was around 14 years old. My mother heard this story on the news and was so scared that my friends could possibly do this to me. I think this case was well covered and done respectfully. I really hope both girls are getting help and that Payton is recovering and getting the support she needs
Why has Pokémon been going so hard lately? Love the shirt, love the channel. Your storytelling and charm makes me watch videos of cases I've heard before and hate revisiting. Plus the care and respect you bring into these videos is so appreciated!
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Hi
Hi!!! Tysm for the new video! Looking amazing (as always) 🔪🩸🖤
new video 🎉
Love you eleanor❤
Looking gorgeous 😘
how she survived is beyond comprehension. Thank god she’s alive
because the stab wound were not deep enough that’s only why
@@ayybibi I know that but still, she was covered in them and still managed to walk to help
@@lmprettywhenicrycrawled *
@@FatalDyZr yeah even that’s not comprehensible to me I struggle to crawl with cramps never mind stab wounds 😭 she’s so strong bless her
@@ayybibiIt’s possible she would have died if they had been any deeper.
When you know the case thoroughly but want to hear Eleanor tell it ☺️
Yes!! It is literally my favourite case, it's soooo fascinating
Fr
Factssss
Took the words right from my brain 😹
same
God I can't imagine how the guy who created Slenderman feels when he found out that his story drove someone to kill a child. It's not his fault, like parents should be watching what their children are doing on the internet not just for things like this but for the fact that there are predators online and children are very impressionable and easier to groom for those predators. But if I created Slenderman and this happened I'd be devastated.
I think they already had some sort of mental issue from the start. But yeah people should teach kids how to watch out for groomers and harassers, Kinda like how you would in real life
Yeah the creator knows about the case. He stated that he was “deeply saddened”
Well technically no one was killed. Peyton thankfully survived the attack.
They probably feel some amount of guilt for this, but honestly if not for Slenderman these kids probably would've found some other excuse to try to kill someone given their mental state.
I have noticed zoomers will get actually visibly upset and shaken when you tell them Creepypasta isn’t real. I’m not sure why. I recently had an argument with some kid over that stupid rugrats one and he swore up and down it’s real, and any suggestion otherwise made him angry. I had to take my young cousin aside one day as well and inform him that not only is Slenderman not real, but also herobrine isn’t either and his Minecraft game is not haunted. He was upset about this.
I can’t even begin think how traumatised Peyton must still be today…
I remember being an edgy 12 year old who wanted to be a proxy to slenderman. I remember hearing this story and it shocking the whole creepy pasta community and so many people my age were pissed because a lot of parents cracked down on this and didn't want their kids to turn out like this. They were all talking about how mad they were about how these girls couldn't separate fiction from reality and they suffered the consequences for a crime they didn't commit.
Honestly though, looking back at my infatuation with these scary stories, I cringe a lot cause admittedly a lot of kids my age thought this type of edgy behavior was cool. Who's to say that if their parents didn't ban them from it that they wouldn't have followed in their footsteps.
I personally feel like it's perfectly fine to have an edgy phase as long as no one actually gets hurt. The majority of the horror/creepypasta community would never actually hurt someone. I used to be obsessed with creepypasta (especially Jeff the Killer) but I knew it wasn't real and that I wouldn't date/encourage an actual serial killer. I don't know if banning kids from creepypasta entirely is necessarily the answer. Instead maybe sit down and talk and make sure they understand what is and isn't real. And probably monitor which creepypasta they are reading/listening to cause some of them are definitely too mature for kids
@pie1o1morris46 I was VERY happy when parents started cracking down on it after this case. I'm only about 2 years younger than the girls in this case & was being severely bullied for *not* engaging in any Creepypasta media, and being afraid of it. My bullies would even shout that they were gonna sacrifice me to Slenderman during recess. There's a REASON we keep horror away from kids.
At 12 you should be old enough to know better. You are lucky you aren’t my kid.
Why can’t you just listen to heavy metal and watch horror movies like everyone else? Why does everything with your generation have to be some kind of strange cult?
@@pie1o1morris46Creepypasta in general is cringe.
@@onettaviator5396what’s wrong with your generation? When I was younger people would just call you gay.
I always found it so creepy how calm and chilled out morgan was in the interview room
These girls were so cunning and evil at 12 years old, the way they basically premeditated it and had her birthday as a set date!!
Edit: I'm now at the part of the vid where its said that Morgan is schizophrenic and was actually seeing slenderman. So ofc she would have this fear. It explains her behaviour but doesn't justify it obviously
Gave me chills
@@uuzjr5354 I'm not buying that she was hallucinating slenderman. I believe this was used to redeem her. She did premeditated unaliving. Schizophrenia at her age is profoundly rare. She clearly had no remorse or empathy. Guarantee she will be found to have psychopathy once she reaches age 18+.
@@e_i_e_i_bro good point, perhaps it was used by her defense team to redeem her but the psychologists or psychiatrist who did the assessment on her can't lie about the result, right? It is believed that if a parent has schizophrenia then their child is 10% more likely to have it, but ur right that it's rare for a 12 yr old to be diagnosed w it
@@e_i_e_i_bro she's 20 now
I'm genuinely so happy the girl survived; it's rare in these types of stories.
not to mention the 3 other victims of the copycat cases
As a childhood schizophrenic, I can understand how Morgan feels (though of course I've never hurt anyone). I was about 7-10 when the big creepypasta era was going on, and I 1000% believed that they were real, because I would see and hear them. I know it's hard to understand. I'm just so sad that she never got help for her illness. I also understand how easy it is to have other children be roped into your delusions. This truly is a heart-breaking case.
Its even more upsetting knowing that her father had it and her mom knew but didnt do anything about it..
hope your doing okay tho
@@avm6414 Her mom did do something about it. She’d noticed signs from her well before the attack, and was trying to find a mental health professional that would assess her. All of them said she was too young to exhibit clear signs, despite not actually doing a thorough assessment. The worst part is, all of the child psychologists they visited were in contact with each other. They all witnessed the very same evaluation results which would normally warrant a diagnosis in adults… yet they still decided not to give an early diagnosis. She did the only thing she had the power to do. She went through the proper channels. The mental health system failed Morgan. In turn, they also failed Payton.
Not much can be found on Anissa, aside from the fact she was medication for her mental health. It’s quite possible it wasn’t the proper fit and she, being a child, wouldn’t outright know that. Or, she’d just started taking it and it hadn’t fully regulated her behavior/mental state.
Either way, the signs were there. Both sets of parents tried their best. It can’t really be their fault if the people they’re literally paying to make sure their children get help don’t properly fulfill their duties.
Thank you for your insight! 🥺
Oh yeah she was demented so murder is totally okay
it is such an unfortunate case. :(
As someone who experiences hallucinations and delusions and had them about things like slenderman in the past I'm glad you mentioned how mental illness played a role in what happened. I think you did a great job covering this case and I hope you're doing well /g
I think this showcases the importance of watching out for warning signs in kids and checking if these things are serious. I've never had hallucinations myself, but I could imagine even just being aware of the condition could help you differentiate reality from hallucinations. And obviously therapy or even medication.
Morgan said recently she wasn't having them and that she was faking her symptoms.
@@redshed2020 she'd been hallucinating and hearing voices in her head since she was 3 going on 4. How is that possible to fake?
The fact that I fr wanted slenderman to take me as a kid is even more insane now that I listened to this
SAME
Nah because growing up I was convinced I would work for Jeff the Killer or some shit- I genuinely thought they were real 💀
@@xX_p13rc3.th3.k3l_Xx WORK for him!?!? 😭😭 LMFAOOOO
@@her7450LOL
Hell, I used to have a sick infatuation of watching gameplay videos of those slender man games. Boy do I regret watching that crap nowadays!
I remember being in the creepypasta fandom back in middle school when this story came out. It absolutely shocked me that people thought he was real and took it to that level to become a proxy, im glad you coved this case though and you did it well!
I was 5 but this case is the reason that my mom got mad at me when I started liking creepy pastas at age 8/9
He is real.
@@Dietcocklover I agree with your mom
@@Error_-ct2vp I do too cuz I was a really impressionable kid
@@user.0704 no he isn’t lol.
I am from Wisconsin, and no one truly understands how IMPACTFUL this stabbing was for the entire state. It truly haunts a lot of our minds. It is devastating. So thankful you covered this case. So many have forgotten about it. And forget how much the internet influences kid's minds.
I will never forget because I lived a 90 second walk from where she was found.. The parents in the neighborhood were running around panicked looking for their children not knowing if they were the victim. It was scary!
I'm from west Aliis WI, I remember this case like it was yesterday.. so sad 😔
From wisconsin too!
I'm from WI, not far from the mental health institute where the girls were ordered to serve their sentence. My family knows Payton's family, that poor girl was so traumatized and has had multiple surgeries over the years. It breaks my heart.
No one understands.... except everyone else who lives there?
Usually stabbing someone 19 times is out of anger/resent, but it seems like the girls were really just inexperienced (like they didn’t know what they were doing but wanted to make sure they killed Peyton) and frantic. Thank god Peyton survived
INEXPERIENCED 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 bro i dont think thats the word you were going for because when you say inexperienced it makes it sound like they SHOULD have stabbed people before to know how to stab someone to death
@@hahano.1350 LMAOAOOA I LITERALLY DID NOT KNOW THE WORD
but they literally stabbed her out of anger, they weren't doing it in self defense, they thought out this whole plan which shows that they were aware of what they were doing, so the last thing i would call them is scared. payton was the one who was scared, the other two were just plain evil.
50 Cent: I was shot 9 times and survived
Peyton: pssh those are rookie numbers kid
@@pinkflufflyunicorns32 i agree, those girls clearly are evil and have some mental issues. i believe i meant scared as like frantic (?)/ and just wanted to kill her. they didn’t know the exact way to do this, so they stabbed her so many to ensure they had actually murdered her rather than out of the fact that they hated her.
I have full belief that Morgan was suffering from very early signs of schizophrenia (which her dad had) and was taken advantage of. Due to her mom not getting her the help she needed, Morgan was steadily getting worse and worse. I honestly feel bad for her and hope she can get the treatment to help her.
But doesn’t schizophrenia appear in early adulthood, not during childhood. Right?
@@elijahlivingston9477 There are exceptions to everything. I remember watching stories about a 7 years old kid with a very very severe case of schizophrenia.
@@elijahlivingston9477EOS. Early Onset Schitzophrenia, it happens more than you would think.
@@elijahlivingston9477i think it normally appears during late teenage years but it can appear earlier too
I’m surprised you didn’t mention that after the stabbing, the creepypasta site held a go fund me for Payton and her family.
oh wow, i didn't even know that! as awful as this case is, it's kind of refreshing to see kindness coming out of it in some way
As a kid who used to be terrified of slenderman to the point i had night terrors of him, this story always stood out to me... Real scary stuff
same i was terrified of him in 6th grade😭 but now i love horror movies lmfao
I’m not a kid but I’m still scared of slenderman haha very creepy!
i went to therapy because of it😭😭😭
how are yall scared? just a question.
We were frightened by Freddy and Jason and VHS horror movies (It was actually vile and sick , alot of gore and guts to be entertainment.).when we were teens .I think that slenderman is a version of Jack skellington or that figure from the anime Death note .People forget that paganism is very real and they could be resurrecting or manifesting real myths
if there’s ever a case i recommend deep diving into, it’s this one. the interrogation tapes, all the details and nuance about the girls and the illnesses that may have led them to do what they did, and how they made the two either innocent or guilty, it’s so heartbreaking and I can easily spend hours looking into it.
(HIGHLY recommend watching explore with us’ video, “what it’s like to interrogate a schizophrenic child”)
One of my best friends loves looking into the Columbine case... like... all the time. I'm kinda scared ngl but she is very anti-gun so I know she's not gonna do anything... weird though
I love that channel
That's how I know this case
i love that channel! the criminal psychology, 'abnormal' psychology, & in depth analysis of the justice system explanations by licensed professionals are so educational.
It’s honestly sad that they believed this so much and how scared they were.
It makes me sad to hear that mental illness can be so overlooked, when it already has been in the family did no one suspected that the kid would suffer the same, until she was so frightened that she was willing to kill her best friend ?
i know i’m a bit late, but i read a comment somewhere that said that morgan’s mom tried to intervene and get her daughter help bc she suspected something but the “professionals” denied anything was up bc they deemed her to be “too young”. again though, that’s just what i read from a comment
I mean it wasn't until later that girls got diagnosed with ADHD or ADD because they had different symptoms than the boys. Mental health is taken more seriously now but not nearly as much as it should be.
Poor Payton, I wish her love and light. Paranoia and anxiety are not nice to live with, for sure she'll be on some meds for the rest of her life. She didn't deserve this, she deserved to live a happy normal life.
those parents should've monitored their behaviour more when it was becoming obsessive. It's a miracle Payton survived, I can't imagine what she'd have gone through. She probably has trust issues after that.
this story genuinely shocked the creepypasta community to hell n back when it first came out from what i remember, n to be honest i never understood why morgan's parents never did anything to monitor their daughter's behaviour more. like i understand being into creepypastas n horror stories n spooky stuff (my 12 year old self did the same) but they should've at least sat down with her to talk about her obsession with slenderman or taken her to see a therapist or something .. like maybe things would've turned out differently, in my opinion at least.
Right? Her mother knew Morgan's father suffered from schizophrenia, and schizophrenia is often hereditary. I can only assume she was blinded by hoping that Morgan wouldn't suffer like her father had but man....did it never occur to her that her daughter could be having similar issues?
@@nostradoomus Copied from another comment -- Her mom did do something about it. She’d noticed signs from her well before the attack, and was trying to find a mental health professional that would assess her. All of them said she was too young to exhibit clear signs, despite not actually doing a thorough assessment. The worst part is, all of the child psychologists they visited were in contact with each other. They all witnessed the very same evaluation results which would normally warrant a diagnosis in adults… yet they still decided not to give an early diagnosis. She did the only thing she had the power to do. She went through the proper channels. The mental health system failed Morgan. In turn, they also failed Payton.
Not much can be found on Anissa, aside from the fact she was medication for her mental health. It’s quite possible it wasn’t the proper fit and she, being a child, wouldn’t outright know that. Or, she’d just started taking it and it hadn’t fully regulated her behavior/mental state.
Either way, the signs were there. Both sets of parents tried their best. It can’t really be their fault if the people they’re literally paying to make sure their children get help don’t properly fulfill their duties.
@@rnieIIe_lr Oh wow and I was blaming Morgan's mother when it was the mental health system. This is even sadder than I thought it was. My heart just breaks for this girl. All three, really. But it really breaks for Morgan whose mother had tried to get her help but no one was giving any to her. This poor child was neglected for sure by the mental health system.
yeah i remember as a young creepypasta fan my parents banned me from reading creepypastas and watching or playing anything creepypasta related. i even got in trouble for drawing them. even out of that state it still heavily affected a lot of young internet users
Yes! Like as a member of the creepypasta fandom, it’s important to realize what’s fake and not. I understand she has schizophrenia but something should have been done to help her distinguish what was fake or not.
Young kids are so bizarrely good at convincing each other of things. My little sister got fully convinced that Slender Man was real by her friend when she was like nine, and told me her friend had met him and everything, she was so sure about it I almost believed it too even though I knew it was just a Creepypasta (I was twelve)
Hi Eleanor. Please look into Faith Hedgepeth’s murder case. It got solved only recently. Her murder was accidentally caught on a pocket dial voicemail.
that sounds interesting
it sounds super interesting!!
The call was not her being murdered- the call actually happened earlier in the night and caught a fight or tiff happening at a bar between Faith and her friend, the murder itself happened later in the night by a relative stranger who broke in, and was not caught on audio
@@maddieb.4282 the audio expert working on it was certain it happened during the murder. you can hear her scream “how could you do this to me rosie” and she was apparently violated during this call as well and you could hear one of the guys say that he was about to violate her
The pocket dial was time stamped much earlier than the murder took place. The person arrested was not Rosie or associated with Rosie. We will have to wait for trial for more information but looks like that call was most likely something else.
I remember when this happened, I was deep into the creepypasta fandom. A group of creepypasta narrators did a big charity livestream where the money went towards Payton's hospital bills.
is it archived somewhere? I am very curious to see it.
I like the way you presented this case w empathy & understanding. A lot of times people will paint crimes like this as a case of an “evil child” , someone that cannot be helped. This is not true. These girls clearly had severe issues and especially Morgan were very scared. Very glad Peyton survived and I hope they are all doing better today.
when I tell you I searched for Eleanor covering this case literally YESTERDAY... my prayers were answered
This was my first true crime case I ever properly looked into years ago, and it gets more interesting and terrifying every time I hear it. i dont know how those kids had the guts to even try something like that, especially on their own friend
They were tried as adults because of the severity of the crime, if it wasnt premeditated or possibly less amount of stab wounds they may have been tried as children
I cannot be the only one who legitemately thought Slenderman was just a game. I had no idea about the background or image contest or all the other things.
When I was 14 or 15, I was in Year Nine (basically halfway through 'High School' in Australia) and the game 'Slenderman' was so, SO popular amongst my peers.
I'm sure I once had a go on my friend's phone and I got so focused on finding those dang letters -- (I think that was like the main quest of the game -- aside from the whole goal of just not being consumed/eaten/taken/got by Slenderman) -- so yeah, I while I was getting this letter, those black tentacles wrap around me and I can't move and it's all like !!GAME OVER!! When I say I screamed out-loud up in the school gym that day, I mean I frickin screamed. It echoed. A teacher yelled at me, my friend and his friend. We ducked behind the seats and crawled commando-style to the back of the stands and hid in the hairdressing classroom (that was at the back of the gym for some reason) until everyone left.
This is honestly the only time a literal mobile game spooked me. As in, A MOBILE GAME, duuude, like ust a thing to play on your phone; not a PC or console version. But I dunno, the art, audio, story, vibe all combined just hit me. Hence why (I think, at least) this game was so damn popular throughout my school and town.
I cannot even imagine being told he was real/believing such a thing.
But f*Ck. This truly is NEEEEEXT level.
this case happened in my county and has always terrified me. i live in basically the same community as these girls. a forensic psychologist from this case is coming to talk to my ap psych class soon, which is very cool. i have always been interested in this case.
i’ve had a trio friend group for 6 years and somehow we never really have that jealousy
thing. i am really grateful for that honestly because it can develop into resentment
As a teen born in Wisconsin, this is one of the most terrifying cases I've ever heard of. You barely ever hear about stuff like this, especially in my state, and it feels so unreal that literal children are capable of doing such horrible crimes.
Ikr I’m from a small town about 15mins from where the forest is, it terrified me way too close for comfort
i mean, it actually happens a lot. we have two of the most famous murderers- ed gein and jeffrey dahmer. then we have these girls and steven avery. there are multiple i know of from my town alone. in the 90s, tom monfils was found dead and presumed murdered. there was a teacher here who was murdered and featured on one of the true crime shows i used to watch, though i can't find her name right now. i have friends who knew a guy (jacob cayer) who killed his ex and her mother. most recently there was taylor schabusiness. i have never really realized before just how much has happened in my town, but this is just off the top of my head and i know there are more around the state. i wouldn't say i hear about it all the time, but i wouldn't say i barely hear about it either.
we literally have some of the most infamous killers like ed gein and jeffrey dahmer
You would be surprised when you hear about serial killer who are minors. The youngest is 3 years old.
yes i live in waukesha county and this has terrified me since it happened
I remember being heavily involved in the creepypasta fandom when this case happened, and it was such an intense shock. The thought that someone could believe these characters really existed never occurred to me! It’s relieving to know that Peyton did survive, but I can’t image the hurt and trauma she experienced and most likely still experiences. Part of me does feel pity for Morgan and Anissa too - it’s clear they had some kind of mental illness, and horror content on the internet does something to children. I know it left a lasting affect on me, even if I do look at my past interests with fondness.
I think what happened is a good reminder to monitor what kind of media kids consume. I don’t think letting them find interest and comfort in scary things is necessarily bad, but it’s important to help teach them the separation between fiction and reality and keep them away from certain things until they’re at an age where they can fully understand them
I remember when this case came out, me and my best friend were in the creepypasta fandom at the time. We were both so horrified that it actually pushed us to distance from the fandom and move on to other things
I am the same age as her when she was attacked and i am honestly proud that she managed to get up and try and find help and im glad that the cyclist was there when they were i hope peyton is doing well now she is a brave person
I’m so glad Eleanor did this case!! I’ve been obsessed with it since 2020
SAME ITS SUCH AN INTERESTING CASE
SAMEE
THIS BUT BFORE 2020
Same!
Same!!
i love the way eleanor tells each case, she's so respectful and never fails to make me want to watch more of her videos!
your way of walking us through these cases is honestly the best and you're always so respectful too!!
This one really has me torn. Because for Morgan it really was life or death. You hear all the time about humans having to do terrible things in order to survive, and in those cases there really is no one to blame. For Morgan the threat was REAL and Fast Approaching. On the other hand the trauma of being betrayed like that by your best friend and the physical consequences of being stabbed truly make a victim of that poor girl.
Agreed, i really don't think anyone is served by locking children up for decades. She needed psychiatric help, not punishment for something that she did out of delusions.
Payton was the one who was stabbed
@@lilbae7177 yeah, pretty sure M.R. meant that for Morgan it was either commit murder or be murdered.
No remorse though, that's not a girl who needed to do what she had to to survive.
@@motherthorns I´m not defending her at all. But she seemed super anxious before and even said she expected to feel remorse that she didn't in the end. I think it was too much psychologically to the point that her brain numbed her reactions. I don't think any of this justifies what she did though.
As someone who has grown up in the creepypasta fandom, this case was absolutely shocking to me when it came out. I roleplayed creepypasta stuff a LOT as a child and even believed in some of the stories myself, but the fact this happened opened my eyes. I'm still very much in the fandom all these years later but after this case it will never be the same.
You can tell how much I adore Eleanor by the fact I've heard the case over and over and still learned more of this case than I did before
fr, i read and watched everything about this case years ago but i still learnt so much more than i did on just this video alone
i love seeing the interviews and seeing the kids say it themselves vs how eleanor tells the story. idk why i love hearing cases i already know
This case definitely runs deeply for a ton of people. As always, Eleanor is amazing ✌🏼
as someone who spends a lot of her time on the internet and loves scary stories and true crime, its honestly terrifying to see what kind of effect this can have on kids. saying this as a child as well, its always good to somewhat restrict/monitor your kids internet usage.
What more can you ask for, a beautiful presenter, a mind numbing crime, and an urban legend. They can't get any better than this
My parents were the ones that called the police on the two girls cause we were driving back from one of my dance recitals. We saw them walking on the side of the highway and we had heard the news about two teenagers on the loose and their descriptions and I can’t explain how shocked we were when we realized it was them. This story is one to truly not forget thank you for talking about it!!
I genuinely blame this case for the creepypasta community blowing up the way it did. It's depressing how people took this case. I was heavily in the community at this point, and the girls and I are close in age. I was just about to turn 13 myself. People didn't look at the community the same, we either got clowned on for being "cringe" or treated like we were the devil himself. It was bizarre. The majority of us understood it wasn't real, but we were being treated like we were exactly like Morgan and Anissa.
My heart goes out to all of them. None of their lives will ever be the same. I think the two girls that tried to kill Peyton were severely mentally ill, and I genuinely believe that there is more to the story than either of them has shared. I think there's a different reason for them trying to kill Peyton that day, and I don't think we'll ever know unless they decide to share someday. And ofc, Peyton's life will never be the same because of the trauma. I cannot imagine how their parents feel, let alone how Peyton herself feels about this.
I agree. I was young myself when this happened, and it was quite the wake up call. Unfortunately it became a pipeline for more bad things. One crime becomes popular and then it attracts several more and then it spirals out of control. I hope Peyton has managed to escape that hole, I can't imagine how it would be to survive something like that, have it blow up, and then have everyone talk about it constantly and be known as "one of slender's victims"
@@sadisticebolabird2511 yeah. The copycat crimes were genuinely heartbreaking to watch. So many lives were altered because idiots wanted to be infamous like Morgan and Anissa. Sometimes I wonder if the media made the right call giving their names like they did, or if all three of them should've stayed anonymous.
That said, I sincerely hope Peyton's doing well. It's a little weird that some people almost talk about her like she passed that day, I guess you could put it. Sure, they use present tense and such, but nearly nobody ever talks about her beyond what was probably her worst moment of the worst day of her life.
She's so much more than a victim. She deserves so much better than what life has given to her.
I was in the community around about this time, i was 10-11 ish. It was absolutely wild how many more people there were after this case it was absolutely insane. That was what scared me away from creepypasta communities honestly.
Eleanor neale
i think it’s weird to assume that there was “another reason”- the reason for them wanting to murder their friend is pretty well explained, in my opinion so don’t try to make it even more sinister than it already is
Then: obsessed with creepypasta
Now: obsessed with true crime
Eleanor’s story telling skills are unmatched ❤️
Same!
I still love both. True crime is my more recent obsession but i still absolutely adore creepy pasta it's so fun to hear urban legends
same but i still love creepypastas 💝💝
I remember seeing Slenderman art everywhere until this horrible attempted murder took place. I’m just glad Payton’s ok and happy.
I appreciate how respectful elanore is because I hear other people take the side of the killers and butchering the names of the victims and it really makes you question the broken mortality of some of these people who can start laughing while talking about a child or person who was brutally Murdered
so glad Eleanor covered this case! i’ve always found this case so interesting since first hearing it YEARS ago
this case has always scared me so much . so glad you finally covered it !
Being from the area this occurred, around the same age as these girls, having a similar friendship dynamic with two others, and being into internet horror was…an experience for sure back then. I truly hope the victim is getting the help she would obviously need after all of this. I think I actually remember suggesting this case awhile back for you to look into, and I’m glad to see it be covered
This along with Mary Vincent are the two cases I am so amazed with the strength the victims showed and their amazing will to survive.
I remember when this happened. I was a kid when it went down. I was a hard-core creepypasta fan and that incident basically triggered my internet awareness. I started getting really picky with what pasta fans I talked to and stopped listening to podcasts about horror
When Eleanor mentioned the trio friend groups it just took me back. I was in a trio friend group and I was the one who was left out.
Also damn, people will just go insane for something that means basically nothing (cough Randy Stair cough)
I can’t say how many times I’ve heard this story, yet it stool shocks me every time. There a TH-camr that went into the psychology behind this all and there interviews. This case is really intresting in general
What TH-camr?
@@veronica.gv. here is the link th-cam.com/video/0eVTk_2zcaA/w-d-xo.html the TH-camr is called EXPLORE WITH US
@@veronica.gv. I believe it was the Explore With Us TH-cam page. The title has something to do with interrogating a schizophrenic child. It's a long and interesting video going through the interrogations
EDIT: "What it's like to interrogate a schizophrenic child" by EXPLORE WITH US. 2.5hrs long
Been waiting for you to cover this case for years. Such a horrific incident by such young offenders. I hope you are doing well Eleanor!
Payton and her family are so so fortunate that she survived the 19 stab wounds
I remember going through a whole obsessed with Slender Man phase growing up I had drawings and posters of him on my wall and everything even dressed up as him for Halloween multiple times. Though I'm glad to say I never stabbed one of my friends for him. I played his games almost religiously and did as much research on him as I could and absolutely loved that long fan made film of him I still occasionally watch it to this day
In middle school my friends were huge fans of the creepasta world..it always freaked me out, when I heard about this case it broke my heart :,( It brings tears to my eyes how sweet this young girl is..so unfair, praying for Payton and her family 💕
Finally a video that explains the whole story!
I’ve watched all the news reports but it never made sense to me, but now this case does
I love how she tells story’s so respectfully ❤
Coming from someone who LOVED creepypasta as a kid, I was genuinely shocked people believed it. Like I was 10-12 when I got into it and knew it was a story.
wow, i thought i knew this case but not even 5 minutes in there's SO many details i never heard about. this is why i love eleanor's content, there's so much research put into it and it really shows
This is one of the cases that really hits home for me, I remember learning about slenderman when I was 10 or 11 and it really does seem real when your that old, but that doesn’t justify what they did. It’s one of the cases that I find really interesting still to this day.
When i was around 9-10 I started watching "criminal minds" on tv with my grandma and I got hooked up with mysteries and murders. Basically horror. Till this day I still love horror things.
this case haunts me all the time the thought that a people can believe these things and do this gives me the chills
This was the case that got me into true crime and all that in the first place, and I've heard and read about it countless times- However I love Eleanor's storytelling and the way she talks about each case.
One of the main reasons why kids can be tried as adults is because is they’re in the right state of mind and can understand that they’re actions have consequences, like adults, then they’re gonna be treated like an adult. Kids killing people changes things drastically so it’s fair that they got tried as adults
This reminds me a lot of the case of the three girls where 2 of them killed the third. I can’t remember their names but I know you’ve covered it. They led their friend into the woods and stabbed her viciously and then tweeted about it. This one is just as heartbreaking but I’m so glad she was okay.
The murder of Skylar Neece
Oh yeah, that was one of my favourite cases but really terrifying.
Murder of Skylar Neese committed by Sheila Eddy & Rachael Shoaf
I lived a 90 second walk from where the cyclist found her when this happened. All the parents were freaking out looking for their children not knowing who the victim was. Parents sobbed loudly upon finding their children as helicopters flew around looking for the girls. It was really scary. My son was 4 and we walked over to Davids park almost every day!
That must have been so scary I’m glad you and your son are ok
I know it seems weird from an outside perspective, but the thing with Morgan 'dancing' in the interview room alone has never really struck me as strange? Might just be because I tend to move around a lot without thinking about it, but it seems more like a nervous energy outlet/self-soothing technique than anything else to me.
Agreed. If nervous, chances are I'd somethong similar.
I feel as if she was trying to be "edgy" in a way. The interview only confirms it.
the dancing is a sign of schizophrenia, people are not present at all when psychotic and it’s considered erratic behavior. also in the interview they admitted to going to find slenderman in the forest
I used to be into creepy pasta too when i was 9-10 years old too, but seeing people take it to a whole different thing, developing an obsession and truly believing it, also committing a crime at such young age is so terrifying.
Hi Eleanor, I don't usually recommend cases but I find this one very interesting. The case of Brazilian actress Daniela Perez who was killed in 1992, HBO MAX made a documentary about the case with very good interviews, the case has a frustrating end but Daniela's mother wanted to make the documentary to help remember what really happened . I make myself available if you need help if you decide to research.
I think Peyton and her parents are owed a million apologies
@JustLostMyCarKeys In damages, I agree and I know that this is traumatic for them but we seem to only have heard one side of the story because the parents of the stabbers talk about it and if Peyton ever feels ready, it would be nice to hear her side because the narrative feels incomplete. I feel Like the parents aren’t lying but there’s something that hasn’t been mentioned. I can understand why she’s chosen to distance herself from this kind of attention because she nearly died because of these psychos. Psychologically, you don’t recover from that. So I understand why we’ve never heard from her or her family
I have read about this case years ago and I have completely forgotten about it until now,Thank you for bringing attention to this case
They 100% were trying to find the mansion. In the notebook, where they written about they were gonna bring cheesecake to Masky and Hoodie, which is something made up in creepypasta fandom.
As someone who lives very close to where this happened in my junior year it really fucked a lot of us up. I personally have a lot of issues now making friends because we all realized we couldnt trust anyone. We all stopped going to events for a couple months because we didnt know how to cope. I became friends with a student who transferred from their school and he would refuse to talk about it. All he would say was that everyone in the school knew something was off about the girls. It will probably always have an effect on us because we started thinking about if our friends could turn on us and do this. It is one thing to think about but another when it could be an actual reality.
Your channel was recommended in my criminology class and I’ve already been a long time fan so I was so happy!! Eleanor you’re now part of my education how cool is that? 😂😂
I really believe if morgans mom would have been honest with morgan from the start about her father being schizophrenic and actually testing morgan when she started showing signs, none of this would have happened..
Eleanor, I have been a longtime subscriber and your videos have gotten me through chores, exams, workouts and they always make my day a little bit better. A 16 year old girl, named Nika Shakarami, was brutally murdered and so many unthinkable things were done to her. Please tell her story. She’s not the only one. Your platform and voice matters and Iranian women, including Nika, deserve their story to be told.
I remember when this happened. We didn’t live all too far away, it was crazy to hear about it.
I had read bits about this case but didn't know a lot about it but from what Eleanor said about how Morgan was acting in the interview rooms with the dancing and stuff she definitely needs help. To struggle at such a young age to have any emotions or feel regretful of what she'd done is seriously concerning. I hope she's getting the help she needs xxxxx
This is my favorite case ever, I already knew exactly what case it was by the thumbnail and the title! I'm excited to hear your take on it!
I hear that although Payton is still struggling, she is doing a lot better physically and mentally today.
The thing is, Slender Man isn't the first "scary story about children." Fairy tales have long since been about/for children and pretty horrific. Things like Hansel and Gretel, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Red Riding Hood, etc, were all frightening tales about monsters eating children. Slender man is just a reimagined version of old tales that talked about sacrificing to old gods and monsters. It's honestly a wonder that more kids don't try to sacrifice other kids to the witch in the woods or something equally horrific, given how many "children's tales" are horribly scary.
I'm forever angry they did this and all the students I went to school with told the principle and teachers they were afraid of me so I had my bag searched almost every few months since the incident because I wrote fanfics and was a very prominent person in the creepypasta community. After those events, I left and never will return even in my adulthood because of the trauma those two girls caused indirectly to ME and other kids it probably happened to. The fact one girl was released/will be released is also baffling, I want an actual apology from her not just to her victim but also to the people like me who were severely effected by the case and profiled for liking horror.
Like imagine going to your hometown and everyone sees you or pegs you as "the girl who had her bag searched everyday in middle school" when in 8th grade nobody could tell they (the creepypasta stories) were fake. All of the students who told, also were obsessed with creepypasta until the incident. They then bullied me and called ME crazy when I never once hurt anyone, I was always getting told to off myself or whatever the case may be.
Those two girls don't deserve to be released, not when the case affected literally everyone in the creepypasta community as well as nearly ruin one innocent girl's life.
this is a perfect description of the events that happened amazing job as always! i was actually coming home from a dance recital when my friends parents called my parents about it, upon doing this they passed by two kids walking on the highway and my parents have already heard what they looked like from the news so they fed the information to my friends parents and the description matched. they called the police immediately and the original report said police found them but it was really them haha
This case honestly baffles me I have watched so many videos about it to find out more details and I really loved that Eleanor went into detail and took the time to fully explain it. This might sound odd but I would love to be able to interview these girls (Morgan,Anissa,Peyton) to get there sides and there “povs?” On what happened.
Theres a FEW documentaries about it. Peyton actually told her story on 20/20
i just saw this case on explore with us and while i found it super interesting to watch a professional analysis of the actual interviews, i enjoy your storytelling so much as always - you explain the cases so well and respectfully and you give us a full perspective of the situation!! 🤲👑
I was in the creepypasta fandom back in the day and holy shit I was very surprised when I found out about this case. I was terrified that these girls genuinely believed these scary stories but at the same time these girls were mentally ill and I hope they're doing better after the psychiatric help they got
Eleanor and Danielle Kirsty are so respectful to the victims. We love that. 💕
When this happened, I was around 14 years old. My mother heard this story on the news and was so scared that my friends could possibly do this to me. I think this case was well covered and done respectfully. I really hope both girls are getting help and that Payton is recovering and getting the support she needs
such a terrifying case. really just shows how easily people can be manipulated
"people" lol they are 12 years old. children are easily manipulated. that is common sense
@@Kushufy it’s just scary to see how gullible children are
@@benoitsaprincess i mean, they both had mental illness, morgan literally saw slender man
@@Kushufy you're not a person when ure 12?
@@eil4m. no, you are at 18
Love your story-telling ability Eleanor! This case has always been so creepy to me.
Why has Pokémon been going so hard lately? Love the shirt, love the channel. Your storytelling and charm makes me watch videos of cases I've heard before and hate revisiting. Plus the care and respect you bring into these videos is so appreciated!
Please do a video on the Turpin siblings, their story is so tragic