Slender Man Stabbing

jdluvr06

kbsmom1 said:

I saw on a site where both said of parents had an unnatural interest in the occult/ strange..... Have lots of pictures of skulls/ blood/ weird stuff on their Instagram pages........ Handles were " I love evil"!!! They encouraged their daughters interest in this and were proud of her drawings of Slenderman. So I would think these girls marinated in some strange home life!!! Know your kids friends/ parents.... Also wondering why one of the girls teacher did not notice her screen saver was Slenderman on her school issued lap top.....

I take extreme offense to this. My mom is really into the occult and my sister and I grew up around it. Also I'm a huge horror movie fan and I currently have Dracula as my screen saver. Do you think I need to monitored for homicidal tendencies now? It is these kinds of stereotypes that cause witch hunts and force people to hide their interest for fear of being ostrizised by society. It is fucking ridiculous.

ladyamanuet

When I was a kid I wrote horror stories.  I wrote one called "Hanger Head" (I was in 3rd grade... not the best at clever names) about a monster that hides in closets and eats children's limbs.  To parents it just looks like a hanger, but kids can see the whole monster.  The first part of the story was a mother staring at the blood stained carpet of her son's room, weeping, because she had found her son dead the morning before - his limbs missing but clearly ripped off.  My dad read it over my shoulder.  Because my parents were ACTIVE in my life, he knew it was just a story and didn't rush me off to counseling. He just said "Um, LadyAm sweetie, I think this **might** be a bit much for other 3rd graders."  I am certainly not a murderer because my dad let me write these stories.  Stephen King is a multimillionaire for a reason - horror is popular. Twilight is a sad perversion of the occult - but it is still vampires.  You telling me those hundreds of thousands of people obsessed with it should all be watched more closely because they like it?

My parents always supported my imagination, even if it was "bizarre" - but they were active enough in my life and interests to know that all of my interests were healthy curiosity and not obsessive.  I have to believe that these girls showed other tendencies that their parents should have seen. 

Did the parents not see the signs because they were not present enough in their daughters' lives? Or did they see the signs and were in denial of what they meant?  Either way, the parents aren't to blame because they write things like "I love evil" (which ok, is a LITTLE strange, even for someone like me who embraces horror, terror, occult, etc - hell my senior thesis was on the Gothic in English/American literature) - they would be partially to blame even if they only posted things about sunshine, rainbows, and kittens.  They are at least partially to blame for not seeing the signs. 

Now, if their daughters ARE in fact sociopaths, they would be very good at hiding the signs, so the parents truly might not have seen them. But I have to believe if they were as active in their daughters' lives as mine were, they would have felt SOMETHING off. 

Don't get me wrong - the girls are to blame for their actions and need to be punished. I am not trying to take away for personal accountability here - I am not trying to pass this off on their parents. I just think this might have been avoided if the parents recognized the signs and got them into treatment. 

Senecaf

I was into some weird stuff at 12. More like out of body experiences and after life stuff. I was into tarot and auras. Kids go through things and have untersts. Horror is one of those ibterets. That alone does not make a murderer.

I feel most terrible for that poor girl that was stabbed. She was having a sleepover with her best friends. They went skating, played hide and seek probably stayed up acting like 12 year olds, all the while it turns out they were planning to kill her. How would you even live again? How would you rebuild your life to ever trust anyone? I really hope she is able to live a normal happy life. My heart aches for her and her family. As a mother you try to protect your children from bad guys. Those bad guys are not her best friends that you probably know well.

blabla89

Thank God that this little girl survived. This makes me absolutely heartsick. Several years ago a little girl in my hometown was murdered by her teenage neighbor, who confessed that she "just wanted to know what it felt like" to kill someone. She also showed the police that she had dug a second grave, like she was going to kill another person.

The scariest part was that the murderer was just some kid - my brother went to school with her - and no one would have suspected that it was coming. I'm literally starting to cry at my desk just typing about it so I'm going to stop now. I just really hate this so much. I don't even know what else to say.

ETF: spelling

sarahufl

ladyamanuet said:

When I was a kid I wrote horror stories.  I wrote one called "Hanger Head" (I was in 3rd grade... not the best at clever names) about a monster that hides in closets and eats children's limbs.  To parents it just looks like a hanger, but kids can see the whole monster.  The first part of the story was a mother staring at the blood stained carpet of her son's room, weeping, because she had found her son dead the morning before - his limbs missing but clearly ripped off.  My dad read it over my shoulder.  Because my parents were ACTIVE in my life, he knew it was just a story and didn't rush me off to counseling. He just said "Um, LadyAm sweetie, I think this **might** be a bit much for other 3rd graders."  I am certainly not a murderer because my dad let me write these stories.  Stephen King is a multimillionaire for a reason - horror is popular. Twilight is a sad perversion of the occult - but it is still vampires.  You telling me those hundreds of thousands of people obsessed with it should all be watched more closely because they like it?

My parents always supported my imagination, even if it was "bizarre" - but they were active enough in my life and interests to know that all of my interests were healthy curiosity and not obsessive.  I have to believe that these girls showed other tendencies that their parents should have seen. 

Did the parents not see the signs because they were not present enough in their daughters' lives? Or did they see the signs and were in denial of what they meant?  Either way, the parents aren't to blame because they write things like "I love evil" (which ok, is a LITTLE strange, even for someone like me who embraces horror, terror, occult, etc - hell my senior thesis was on the Gothic in English/American literature) - they would be partially to blame even if they only posted things about sunshine, rainbows, and kittens.  They are at least partially to blame for not seeing the signs. 

Now, if their daughters ARE in fact sociopaths, they would be very good at hiding the signs, so the parents truly might not have seen them. But I have to believe if they were as active in their daughters' lives as mine were, they would have felt SOMETHING off. 

Don't get me wrong - the girls are to blame for their actions and need to be punished. I am not trying to take away for personal accountability here - I am not trying to pass this off on their parents. I just think this might have been avoided if the parents recognized the signs and got them into treatment. 

ladyamanuet- you clearly had very good parents

ladyamanuet

@sarahufl I absolutely did =D Got me the Goosebumps club membership for Christmas one year - I was so excited when I got that little coffin box!  Most parents would be like "what it comes in a coffin? No that's weird" But my folks were completely supportive.  It's just what I like to read.  I still read horror and terror and murder mysteries and thrillers.... They were just so happy I was reading instead of wasting away in front of the TV, they didn't mind that it wasn't The Babysitters Club (though I did read those too) 

GuitarSlayer

I think the problem is that the parents weren't aware of the Slenderman/Creepypasta fascination.  It's one thing when a parent is aware of the child's interests, knows what they are, and either supports or redirects, depending on the parents' discretion.  I like first person shooters.  Parents steered me toward the historical, WW2 ones at 13 rather than letting me have Doom/Quake/Resident Evil. 

Are parents squares and overprotect sometimes? Yes, but at least they are aware of these interests and confront them.  It's another when the parents are oblivious and the kids have no guiding hand to steer them out of crazy. If the parents of these girls are shocked about what their girls were viewing, then they weren't paying attention.  I'm not saying to read their diary, but most kids aren't bright enough to "clear browser history."  Stepping foot into a room and seeing a disturbing poster or a "Death Note" book?  Might want to ask about that.

VulgarGirl

ladyamanuet said:

@sarahufl I absolutely did =D Got me the Goosebumps club membership for Christmas one year - I was so excited when I got that little coffin box!  Most parents would be like "what it comes in a coffin? No that's weird" But my folks were completely supportive.  It's just what I like to read.  I still read horror and terror and murder mysteries and thrillers.... They were just so happy I was reading instead of wasting away in front of the TV, they didn't mind that it wasn't The Babysitters Club (though I did read those too) 

When I was like 10-ish I wanted a coffin purse really badly, so my step-mom helped me make one because we could not figure out where to buy one at (this was '96, amazon was not a thing). I had so much fun making that damn thing and I carried it everywhere. Your Goosebumps coffin box would've been very helpful in making it. I loved Goosebumps, and also Lois Duncan books. Ok...I still own some Lois Duncan books and totally read them. 

My parents where the same way. I was reading. They didn't care what I was reading, I was reading. Ok, if I were reading the Anarchist Cookbook they'd get worried. But Killing Mr. Griffin didn't really bug them. And the Babysitter's Club was also awesome. I kind of wanted to be Claudia and date Kristy.

ladyamanuet

MagicInk said:

ladyamanuet said:

@sarahufl I absolutely did =D Got me the Goosebumps club membership for Christmas one year - I was so excited when I got that little coffin box!  Most parents would be like "what it comes in a coffin? No that's weird" But my folks were completely supportive.  It's just what I like to read.  I still read horror and terror and murder mysteries and thrillers.... They were just so happy I was reading instead of wasting away in front of the TV, they didn't mind that it wasn't The Babysitters Club (though I did read those too) 

When I was like 10-ish I wanted a coffin purse really badly, so my step-mom helped me make one because we could not figure out where to buy one at (this was '96, amazon was not a thing). I had so much fun making that damn thing and I carried it everywhere. Your Goosebumps coffin box would've been very helpful in making it. I loved Goosebumps, and also Lois Duncan books. Ok...I still own some Lois Duncan books and totally read them. 

My parents where the same way. I was reading. They didn't care what I was reading, I was reading. Ok, if I were reading the Anarchist Cookbook they'd get worried. But Killing Mr. Griffin didn't really bug them. And the Babysitter's Club was also awesome. I kind of wanted to be Claudia and date Kristy.

Exactly.  I was reading age appropriate horror.  Mostly.  I started reading very young, and was pretty mature, so while the books might not have been age appropriate for others my age, they were for me.  But, again, it is something my parents monitored. But they let me have my skulls and my skeleton key chain and my other "weird" shit. 

@MagicInk it sounds like I would have made you my best friend growing up

sarahufl

I was never really into any of that stuff- mostly Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew. But my parents did an excellent job with promoting good habits and watching out for bad ones. They were very much involved in our lives without being crappy about it. I got into a little bit of petty trouble when I was in middle school and my parents did a great job punishing but not being overbearing. I think it can be tough to strike a good balance, but you have to figure it out.

tcnoble

I think the sad/scary thing is that we just have to realize there are people in the world that are fucked up. There aren't always clear signs, there's not always a reason, some people are just mentally ill. Like I said, it's a very sad circumstance for all involved, but in no way do I think it should cast a dark shadow and stereotype over all people who have an interest in horror, etc. Most people are capable of holding unique interests without being murderers. Blah the whole thing just makes me feel so ill because these are KIDS. Ugh.