Book Review
Title: Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls by Kathleen Hale
Genre: Non-Fiction, Crime
Rating: 5 Stars
This book seems to be an in-depth look into the Slenderman stabbing which was a case where Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier stabbed their friend Payton Isabella Leutner claiming that the creepy pasta creature, Slenderman was responsible for their actions. This is a case I remember being reported at the time and I was so intrigued to learn more of specifics about the case since it wasn’t reported widely in the UK.
The first portion of the book looks at the childhoods of all three girls and how it sets up everything that is going to happen later. Looking first at Morgan, her father had schizophrenia and she inherited this, showing signs at a young age but these were ignored. She was a lonely child until she befriended Bella, a likeable young girl as she believed what Morgan said about the voices and things she saw. As the girls grew older they were extremely close until Anissa comes into the picture. Anissa was a lot like Morgan in the fact she wasn’t liked by many and immediately disliked Bella and bullied her.
Anissa and Morgan had a lot of common interests and it was Anissa who introduced Morgan to creepypastas. This is significant as it provided Morgan with undeniable proof that she wasn’t insane and that her reality was normal but they ignored the fact that these stories were fictional. Bella tries to keep her friendship with Morgan but as she doesn’t like the new interests, it becomes strained very early on. Now, Anissa and Morgan are convinced that Slenderman is real and they have to become his proxies in order to prevent themselves from being killed and they decide that Bella will be their sacrifice. It must be noted that Morgan and Anissa both blame the other for the idea to kill Bella but it was Anissa who introduces these concepts to Morgan so personally I’d agree that more blame lies with her.
As we follow the timeline leading up to the stabbing we can see that both Morgan and Anissa are both mentally disturbed but with Morgan we know what it wrong with her even though every adult around her ignored the signs. By the time the date arrived, it also happened to be Morgan’s birthday, we see the girls aren’t nearly as prepared for the reality of the attack as they thought they were. They do follow through in stabbing Bella 19 times before walking ten miles out of town before they are caught by the police. Bella came extremely close to death but she was able to be saved which both Morgan and Anissa expressed relief at.
As they give their initial interviews to the police both girls lay blame with the other unintentionally. Anissa claims it was Morgan’s idea but she did introduce her to the idea of Slenderman and if she hadn’t have done that then maybe the attack wouldn’t have happened at all, while Morgan claimed that a lot of the ideas came from Anissa and she was using it as a way to prove to herself that she wasn’t insane for what she was seeing and hearing. Both girls are taken into custody and processed but no one in the town has any idea how to handle a case of this nature especially one involving children. It is clear that both girls needed professional help for their issues but Anissa seems much more level headed than Morgan during the interview process and there might be something more going on as we move into part two of the book.
As the court case was beginning to gather some steam we see how badly both girls were treated by the judiciary system. Both Morgan and Anissa were going to tried as adults despite both being only 12 at the time of the attack and Anissa was bullied often in the prison system until she used her more forceful nature to make friends. Meanwhile, Morgan’s psychiatric issues got worse to the point where she was more detached from reality than she was present in it. Eventually she was declared unfit to stand trial and was sent to a mental facility. Here she was treated only to be declared competent and didn’t receive any medication during the time even though she was in desperate need of it.
After a while she was declared competent and returned to the prison system without any medication even though anyone who saw or visited her could see how badly her mental health was declining. There was also a lot of false claims being spread by the media but incorrectly referring to the event as the Slenderman Murder making people believe that they have killed Bella which wasn’t true as she was now spending time outside hospital and returning to school. Other media source also refused to acknowledge that Morgan and Anissa were the same age as Bella at the time of the attack further damaging their image in the court of public opinion which was putting pressure on the legal system.
The court cases for both girls was harrowing but both end up being committed to a mental facility. As time passed both girls in their own ways came to terms with what they had done and even Bella had come to terms with what they had done to her. Eventually Anissa was granted a conditional release because she had no underlying mental health condition unlike Morgan. Morgan was interesting as she still struggles with her schizophrenia but doesn’t want to apply for a conditional release at all.
The book comes to an end with Anissa being granted her conditional release in 2021, while Morgan cuts off contact with her family due to her new feelings on how they ignored the signs on her mental illness as a child even though her father had the same illness. She also managed to forgive Anissa for her role in her own illness and doesn’t seem to have any intention of leaving the facility. Having been sentenced to 40 years and her desire to stay confined, it makes me feel sorry for Morgan as by the time she will be released she will have no idea how to function in society and form normal, meaningful relationships. Overall, this was a heartbreaking read because when you understand the position and mental state of everyone involved, it was a ticking time bomb and Bella just happened to be in the firing line when it did. Both Anissa and Morgan should have received mental health support much earlier in life and those events could have been avoided altogether.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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