Pictured: The two US 12-year-olds obsessed with online ghost stories 'who lured classmate into woods and stabbed her 19 times' to prove 'Slender Man' myth was real

Authorities say the two girls lured another 12-year-old into the woods on Saturday after a sleepover



Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier had allegedly spent months planning to kill their friend, whose identity has still not been released



One girl said she was sorry and the other regrets the attack



The victim survived the attack after crawling out of the woods and waving down a cyclist



She is in stable condition, but was 'a millimeter from death' after a stab wound nearly cut a major artery



The two girls reportedly handed the knife back and forth because they couldn't decide who would stab their friend while the other held her down



Two 12-year-old girls who are accused of viciously stabbing a classmate 19 times have been identified for the first time publicly since telling police that they plotted for months to commit murder.

Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier face attempted murder charges after attacking their friend, saying that they did so because they wanted to join the cult of the 'Slender Man' after reading about him online.



The girls told investigators they believed the Slender Man was real and they wanted to prove it by slaughtering their friend after inviting her for a sleepover in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin.



The two suspects the knife back and forth between them before one girl held the victim down and the other stabbed her 19 times. It is not clear which one held the victim down and which had the knife.

One girl told detectives she regretted it and the other said she was sorry.



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Charged as adults: Morgan Geyser (left) and Anissa Weier (right), both 12, face 65 years in prison after admitting to police that they stabbed a friend, hoping to kill her so they could join the cult of the 'Slender Man'



The Slender Man is a prevalent internet myth that has been a viral sensation since it emerged online in 2009

Geyser and Weier told police they read about the fictional character on a website known as Creepypasta Wiki, where scary stories are submitted by users.



One of the suspects is understood to have told police a user must kill someone in order to climb into the Slender Man's realm.

When the victim escaped in the midst of the assault, her assailants grabbed her and pulled her into the woods and told her to lay down and be quiet, hoping she would bleed out and die, according to court documents.

'I thought, "dear god, this was really happening" -Suspect Anissa Weier told police about the moment she saw co-conspirator Morgan Geyser flash the knife she was holding in her waistband as they headed to the park to attempt to kill their friend



She eventually crawled out of the woods, covered in blood after being stabbed in the legs, arms and torso. A passing cyclist saw her and called police. The girl was taken to the hospital and is expected to live, despite being stabbed a dozen and a half times.

Surgeons say she was a 'millimeter from death' - one of the stab wounds nearly sliced open a major artery.



'It was weird that I didn't feel remorse,' one of the girls told detectives.



'The bad part of me wanted her to die, the good part of me wanted her to live,' the other girl said.



Both girls are charged as adults with attempted pre-meditated murder. If convicted, they face 65 years in prison and are being held on $500,000 bail each.

The criminal complaint spells out how the Geyser and Weier initially planned to put duct tape over their friend's mouth while she was sleeping and then stab her in the neck as she lay in bed, but then they thought that a bathroom would be a better scene for the crime because it would be easier to clean up after, according to CNN.



They opted against both of those theories, however, and chose to go for the attack during a game of hide and seek at a nearby park.



Just kids: The three girls- alleged killers Morgan Geyser (pictured with her lawyer), Anissa Weier, and the victim- were all 12 years old but Geyser and Weier are facing charges as adults

Horrific: One of the two suspected killers had a picture of her family with her when police found them because she didn't want to forget what they looked like (suspect Anissa Weier pictured)

Facing the charges: If convicted, they face 65 years in prison and are being held on $500,000 bail each





'As they left for the park ... (the victim) was walking in front of them and Geyser lifted up the left side of her white jacket and displayed the knife tucked in her waistband. Weier stated she gave Geyser a look with wide eyes and, when asked what that meant Weier stated, "I thought, dear god, this was really happening,"' the report states.



The girls were found walking near an interstate highway shortly after their victim was rescued. They had a backpack full of snacks and a five-inch knife.

They said they had planned to run away and join the Slender Man in his mansion in the woods outside of town. One girl even had a picture of her family with her. She said she packed it because she didn't want to forget what they looked like.



The Slender Man is a prevalent internet myth that has been a viral sensation since it emerged online in 2009. The paranormal creature stalks, abducts and traumatizes children for its own amusement. It can also supposedly control people and communicate telepathically.



The girls said they believed the 'Slender Man' was real after reading stories about him online on a site called CreepyPasta Wiki, where users can submit their own scary stories.

INTERNET MYTH OF SLENDER MAN

The Slender Man is a fictional character prevalent on the internet after originating as a meme in 2009.

The mythical creature is often depicted as an unnaturally tall, thin figure with a blank, featureless face, wearing a black suit.

The character is said to have long, tentacle-like arms, which can be extended to capture prey.

It is said to stalk, abduct and traumatize children and, depending on interpretations of the myth, can cause memory loss, insomnia and paranoia.

It is also said to be able to create distortions in photographs and teleport.

It is understood to have originated in a photoshop contest on the Something Awful Forums in 2009.

It then went viral with numerous works of fanart and short scary stories published online known as 'creepypasta'.

Every student at the middle school where the girls attend had recently been given iPads. Parents say officials promised to monitor the students' online activity, but never did.

'I recognize their young ages but it's still unbelievable,' Court Commissioner Thomas Pieper said during one of the girls' initial court appearances Monday.

Both girls appeared in court wearing shackles and jail jumpsuits. They were surrounded by sheriff's baliffs, who towered over them. Family members of one of the girls wept openly as reporters snapped photographs. The other girl's family sat stone-faced.

According to the criminal complaint, one of the girls told an investigator they began planning to kill their friend in December. The other girl told police they decided to kill her so they could become proxies of Slender Man, who would accept them and let them live with him in his mansion in the Nicolet National Forest.

The other girl said she sees Slender Man in her dreams. She said he watches her and can read her mind and teleport.

'It's extremely disturbing as a parent and as chief of police,' Waukesha Police Chief Russell Jack said at a news conference ahead of the court appearances Monday.

The girls invited their friend to a slumber party on Friday evening, the complaint said. They planned to kill her during the night so they wouldn't have to look into her eyes, one girl told police, and then run away.

Survivor: The 12-year-old girl was brutally stabbed 19 times by the two other girls who lured her into the woods. Pictured above being transported to the hospital where she was last reported in stable condition

Pre-meditated: The two suspects allegedly planned the 12-year-old girl's murder for months. Above, police survey the woods where the victim emerged