TORONTO – An Ohio woman has come forward claiming her 13-year-old daughter stabbed her during a Slender Man-inspired attack.
The teen’s mother, who asked not to be identified, told Cincinnati news outlet WLWT News 5 that her daughter attacked her with a knife while wearing a mask.
“I came home one night from work and she was in the kitchen waiting for me. She was wearing a white mask, she had her hood up and her hands covered with her sleeves,” the woman told WLWT News 5.
The teen had become obsessed with the Slender Man – she had even created a world for the fictional Internet character in the game ‘Minecraft’.
READ MORE: Who is ‘Slender Man’ and why are people obsessed with him?
Slender Man is depicted as an unnaturally tall man with long, stretched-out limbs. He has no facial features and is often depicted as having an all-white face.
The character was created in 2009 as part of a photo-editing contest and quickly became a viral Internet sensation. Slender Man is now a popular character on “Creepypasta” forums – where users submit short horror stories.
The mother said she came forward with her story after hearing about the two 12-year-old Wisconsin girls who nearly stabbed their friend to death in order to “please” Slender Man.
The 13-year-old had previously been diagnosed with mental health issues, but had never shown signs of violence. According to her mother, both her artwork and writing was very dark and often referenced demons and insanity.
The teen is now in Hamilton County juvenile detention facing charges.
Her mother suffered cuts to her neck and face and a puncture wound on her back in the attack.
According to the WLWT News 5 report, sources say the girl has no recollection of the incident.
‘Creepypasta’ community defends fan fiction
In the wake of the Slender Man stabbing, some have called for popular creepypasta websites to be shut down to prevent teens from reading about characters like Slender Man.
But site moderators have released statements defending the community, clarifying that the works presented on their sites are purely fictional.
“Only a small minority of people (mostly newcomers) on the wiki (and the Internet) truly believe what they read here. And for most people, they will not attempt to replicate atrocities presented in some of the literature on the wiki. Something like this was bound to happen, considering the size of the Creepypasta community,” read a statement posted on the creepypasta wiki.
“All it takes is one person to do something insane and radical in the name of someone or something.”
Creepypasta.com, a site for user-created short horror stories, has created a campaign geared towards raising funds for the Wisconsin stabbing victim’s family and for families recovering from violent crimes.
The campaign called “Narrartors u-NIGHTed” will host a 24-hour YouTube stream on June 13 that will showcase narrators, authors and artists. All ad revenue generated by the live stream will be donated to the charity. Users can also donate online.
“This was a terrible tragedy and should not have happened. And while there are a myriad of factors beyond the urban legend of Slenderman that are attributed to this terrible incident, it is a duty to be vigilant and provide a respite for the victim and to assuage concerns about the concept of literary horror and urban myths on the Internet,” read a blog post on the website.
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