Slender Man Now Linked to 3 Violent Acts

Slender Man Now Linked to 3 Violent Acts

A fictional horror creature popularized by Internet memes is now linked to three violent crimes.

A week after two 12-year-old Wisconsin girls allegedly stabbed their friend 19 times to honor Slender Man, more real-life connections to the spooky character are emerging.

A man accused of killing two cops and a civilian before committing suicide with his wife in Las Vegas on Sunday often dressed up in costume as Slender Man, a neighbor told KTNV.

And a Cincinnati mom told WLWT she thinks her daughter may have been inspired by Slender Man when she attacked her with a knife in their kitchen, wearing a hood and white mask.

A key to Slender Man’s appeal may be that he is faceless and Andrew Peck, a University of Wisconsin lecturer who studies Slender Man and other folklore, likened the amorphous Slender Man to the villain of so many campfire horror stories – a man with a hook hand.

“It can really be what you want it to be,” said Peck. “You can personalize the character and make it your own. He can be a lot of things, that’s what I think makes it so successful. That he’s mysterious and unknowable.” Read more at ABCNews