Living in The Water

"If everybody knows that is Slenderman, then 

I think that's sufficient to define it 

as A Replicator. 

Genetic viruses spread from 

body to body. And so... 

A MeMe that has great spreadability 

deserves to be called 

A Virus of The Mind."

-- Richard Dawkins

[first lines] 

Elliot, Age 9: 

You've heard about sex...

Beverly, Age 9: 

Sure I have.

Elliot, Age 9: 

Well I've discovered 

why sex is.

Beverly, Age 9: 

You have? 

Fantastic.

Elliot, Age 9: 

It's because humans don't 

live underwater.

Beverly, Age 9: 

I don't get it.

Elliot, Age 9: 

Well, fish don't need sex because 

they just lay the eggs and fertilise 

them in the water. 

Humans can't do that

because they don't Live 

in The Water. 

They have to - internalise the water. 

Therefore we have sex.

Beverly, Age 9: 

So you mean humans wouldn’t 

have sex if they lived 

in the water?

Elliot, Age 9: 

Well they'd have a kind of sex. 

The kind where you wouldn't 

have to touch each other.

Beverly, Age 9: 

I like that idea. Have you heard 

of SCUBA diving? It's just new.

Elliot, Age 9: 

Self Contained Underwater 

Breathing Apparatus.

Beverly, Age 9: 

Exactly.

Elliot, Age 9: [noticing girl on porch] 

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Beverly, Age 9: 

Yeah, you ask her.

Elliot, Age 9: 

Raffaella, will you have sex with us 

in our bathtub? It's An Experiment.

Raffaella: 

Are you kidding? 

Fuck off you freaks.

I'm telling My Father you talk dirty. 

Besides, I know for a fact 

you don't even know 

what ‘fuck’ is.

[retreats into her house] 

Elliot, Age 9: [walking away] 

They're so different from Us.

And all because we don't 

live underwater.

The Source Wall

Dan Aykroyd interview with Bill Murphy re John Belushi afterlife communi...

Danny :

All subjects are open 

Really?

Danny :

Look, absolutely wide open 

Alright, well let me ask you — do you feel that John has been 

able to communicate in any way from The Afterlife do you —

Danny :

I have great story —  Isaac Taggart. 

Dr. Isaac Taggart, the brilliant designer of House of Blues 

we have thirteen of them around the country 

now it's owned by LiveNation, 

if you ever been to a House of Blues 

Foundation Room,  you know — 

We got one in Cleveland, we got him we got one in New Orleans we got —

They’re beautiful venues and Isaac Taggart designed them, 

and after John died he did a meditation with his — the woman 

he worked with Phyllis Crystal who was an amazing seer 

and gifted clairvoyant they went into a deep trance and 

Belushi appeared stepping between — he was had one foot 

in one side of a windowsill,  and one of another 

and he was… he couldn't move through, 

he couldn't pick up and he said 

“I need to speak to my Nana, 

I need to see my Nana —”

Now, how would Taggart know that that's what Belushi 

called his grandmother, you know? 

So he said “The NDC is done”,  I said “That's what 

he used to call his grandmother.”

So, Isaac said “Well, can I do an intervention with Phyllis and — 

Trying to help him cross?”  and I said “Please do.”and he did 

and there's been nothing from John since —

Al Franken went to bungalow number three, 

where John died had spent the night there, 

and he said that John sat on the bed next to him and 

 appeared to him vividly for at least two minutes 

yeah — that's riveting it that was prior to 

Isaac's enabling the crossover, shortly —

that was a couple of weeks after his death 

that Al Franken rented the bungalow….

and I meant Isaac I mean through oh good good 

Michael yeah Michael Murphy sure yeah yeah took me to Isaac's house mm-hmm and Isaac's wife and Maureen yes Maureen Starkey yes married to Ringo yes I know 

Isaac used to say “Here's Maureen Starkey, 

she was married to Ringo, 

she's my greatest piece of 

rock & roll memorabilia!”

that's ringo starr's arene was awesome she was a quiet place she loved that she loved all his friends as she loved us all even though we're the blue the boys distracted from the marriage very gracious I mean wonderful three it was just being such the hostess so great Bob we were there but but aiesec such a spiritual person I just — the Zen about him, being in his presence….

What he did with the House of Blues with him and this is something that Michael believe he mentioned this to me and you can confirm it that there are urns from four corners of the earth that were embedded in the walls of the House of Blues 

and, maybe —  I don't…. I mean that was 

Danny :

Well we took dirt from The Crossroads — and 

every House of Blues under the stage, has dirt from 

The Highway 49 & 61 crossroads which is the region, 

was supposed to be where Robert Johnson sold his soul 

to the devil to acquire better vocal & guitar skills 

and then get hit records and he did — 

that's the great crossroads legends, so — 

we do have the dirt there, but maybe —

 I may have, like, you know — because 

he would…. you know our wall there 

had all the religious symbols, 

you know to coexist together you know 

Unity & Diversity was Our Motto 

and hidden rooms which I didn't know they were there, 

in person  that were in the Foundation Room and then they had the wall there's nobody decorated that mean wall would actually open up there'd be yet another small little, private room 

and so I was with your rooms to pray in yeah I miss a club in LA it was beautiful me too me too now there's just an aluminium and glass tower going in there that song like anywhere and so this is a full-time construction zone no matter where you live in Los Angeles it seems traffic here are you kidding me - Wow what's going on I can take 20 minutes rather they're now an hour employee I know it's a did you try to ask the question sir yes sir go ahead shout it out yeah let me let me bring the mic over there 

Ghostbusters theme park hello thank you just to start personal thank you because my wife and I met at the old house it was in West Hollywood so so thanks for everything locations up and running yeah you know we've seen some of the footage of international theme park attractions based on ghostbusters just wondering if do you know if there's any plans for anything in the u.s. Legion 

there's a company called Void and they've got a great thing that doors yeah and it goes out into like you know shopping malls and public event spaces and basically you walk in they kit you out with pack and thrower and trap or not to trap in the back of the thrower they put you in the into environment and you you know you use the equipment to neutralise spirits and entities and at one point they get you where you're just you know thirty five floors up above Manhattan with no railing they're looking down and they're coming out at you out of the sky it's really a really powerful exciting what would you call like a gallery game and that I mean ice is very impressive and I think said you know that's kind of stuck you look for also we've got the Activision video game that we're gonna a remaster we remastered that that that's coming out and that was almost like the third movie they told a great story in there and you know I really was pleased with the images of that if you play that on a big screen in a nice home theater it's quite impressive there's a team from Japan that are working on audio-visual kind of a reality VR experience with goggles and you know and for our technology you know so but as far as a big theme park wrong I didn't know I think the boy thing is the closest to to what's going on up there in that world yes I'm wearing the world I don't tell you right now come down there put over the speeding you come by court with another good project I'll get the duck country Herefords into you oh yeah they're good a little bit a little sharp mustard on there you can stay all night I got a bedroom Boise all weekend you all all week all month bring your family I know I got a good honest face you'll be all right yeah anybody yeah do with all those characters live inside of you they're asleep most of the night we have a gentleman that traveled a long ways too you must ask you a question yes sir 

Hello again — I was just wondering in 

Ghostbusters, we actually catch ghosts 

and hold them in a storage facility; 

now, did you ever think about 

how to actually destroy a ghost…?

Danny :

We didn't want to destroy them we wanted to hold them and 

we wanted to eventually figure out technology to send them across 

back where they belong but you know, so many resist going back, 

they don't want to go back, that's why there are ghosts 

they just don't want to go back — loop ghosts, 

loop hauntings, they just want to stay there 

So our idea was,  “Okay we can contain them 

and at some point get to the point 

in The Science where we could 

send them back across —”

get a question which one was that well which which incident was that oh you mean oh yes you mean no yeah yeah no no they think they like me there I think I think so Egon you know you wrote a screenplay for Ghostbusters book ghostbusters health and I would like to ask you is there any possibility that it will be sent into a book or a comic book the Ghostbusters help them oh it's a wonderful script yeah it's a good script I think we're gonna get Jason's movie may we have an animated idea we want to do and then the three cool idea for you know and another animated show pretty cool idea I have ghostbusters hi where they all meet the three of them meet Franklin's dance and Spengler and then you know hell-bent I could see once all those get made oh I could see it being a film because it introduces a whole new kind of concept in the story and it would buckle it would tie into to the to the past without depending too much on it yeah but it would make a good comic puncture you know a great video game there's some really neat equipment in that and that story really neat like what now you got any curious what time Oh like you know inter plane or interceptor you know you just get in here yeah you go from Manhattan you flick a switch and you're in men help them okay like melts in the universe man help them you know Alec Baldwin as the devil Dan yeah normal question for you so we believe in extraterrestrials we believe in spirits right well I do okay I said we exclusive okay so what's your thoughts on cryptids things like Mothman Bigfoot monster well duck Meldrum at the University of South Dakota he's a paleontologist he has a pretty compelling evidence that Bigfoot Sasquatch is a real thing he's got footprints he's got spore he's a you know a doctor paleontology so I've seen some convincing evidence there there was a her name was Rhys cap real Rhys and she was on a camping trip up north in a Winnebago up in Washington State I think it was and a sasquatch attacked their camper and she has footage of it you know and she's told me that story a couple of times I always ask her about it you know and again she still gets a chill and she thinks about it Mothman Brienne each story there they made a movie with Richard Gere about it yeah and let's see well there's you know then Yeti you know still stories about yet either Jersey Devil Chupacabra is you know there's a reason they're out there at the very least it's entertaining yes sir well the evil ray is in ghostbusters do the evil ray is there I don't know if there's any more of evil ray but it's in there okay okay well in the movie they they cut it down to the right you know they banded it properly that that movie moves along really well and I was evil there yes Gilda Radner do you think she would have been a good Ghostbuster oh anything absolutely no she wouldn't wonderful she could have been great as Janine the secretary right but we had Annie Potts, yes lady there are so many Oneliners amazing one-liners it was part of at least in our house everyday killer just curious but if you have a favorite line from one or two two might be my favorite 

[Music] I think all of Marie's dialogue just is you know the speech about the cast dogs and you know and uh you know the the speech in City Hall you know is the passion there this was fantastic he was great yeah yes yeah sure go ahead yeah well I The Banshee wanted to get out of New York City and also you know there are other countries where are there ghosts lots of them there I felt like that we could do we could do a beautiful beautiful location there and I'd meet a kind of an Banshee like entity that comes from legend that would be quite frightening earlier was The Slenderman mentioned forms and I was wondering what your take on because my wife and I have a theory on this what something in pop culture like the Slenderman or the rape it's being popularized now do or manifest in terms of like the manna the Fedora the sort of reoccurring physical theme a cultural mind form well Slenderman certainly came to life in the attack that those two girls perpetrated on their friend now Thunder man seems to me be just a digital phenomenon the fedora guy is like he's not from the internet right so we hope that Slenderman remains in the domain of the digital you know what Slenderman does arise around her I was ready to swing anything but you know what Slenderman shows that if God can kind of and cross over into the physical realm through I'm actually into the perfect prettiest behavior of humankind which is what happened there yeah yeah it's infectious um 2016 use the idea of ley lines and I Lily Dale know that Lily Dale existed ley lines what do you think about the idea that that is a path let's need to look at those old maps in Europe and see where they pass through and then you look and you see this X and there's a tower or a castle or something a hand jar of something that's been built there and and why that structure there well because it's the cross of a ley lines yeah I think the whole planet has that kind of energy running through it yeah good question because we we have we have just over four minutes left do you have something else on your schedule well we've got a sign running shoes we have photos we got lots of stuff here this afternoon honest no no I do you identify yourself as a urologist no I don't say that you don't I don't I I have an interest in it I think a you apologist really is someone who like Stanton Friedman that we just lost God yes what a wonderful guy who's the expert on Roswell someone who makes their life that who takes it on as a real profession MUFON has the Star team programs Star team investigator programs so you have to go through take an exam and learn how to question people and untreated up T's sensitively and so there's a course you have to take so until I qualify and I'm not gonna call myself youth ologist but they certainly have an interest in it and I believe I've seen for them yes what's that in what I would get the Dominion sparkplug kitty kind of like mr. Stay Puft but a kitty sparks fishnet stockings was actually a brand symbol and she could do a lot of harm because she's electric now over in the corner there yes siree I yeah very interesting afternoon yes yes we were about to interview Steven Greer we'd interviewed I'm sorry we didn't you demon Greer of the morning we were about to interview Steven Bassett you know the disclosure guy and and they called from Syfy network and said the show's canceled the day of that UFO stuff and then then yeah the disappearing blackboard you know one minute it was there and then the next the mall second once I was there the Mustang was gone so there was something happening that day you know I don't know but we can't be silenced you know and now look what's going on with the Navy and these f-18 footages come on yeah yes I have a young man who wants to ask something well I Bonus don't know you're from Vancouver that's a different party and Ottawa oh well like makes me feel at home parties that's like the Canadian mmm but without a job 

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] we don't have enough Americans up there come and visit us please please back to the future yeah you know like yeah we we have a lot of equipment but now we've got this ghost and we don't have anything you that you have so they license maybe men in black hey that's so me that's just something Wow why don't you write it can we have one last question let me just run over here real quick excuse me out of all of the tech in Ghostbusters I've looked into it I couldn't find a definitive answer what the the resistor your resistor on the side there yeah that's just absorb extra like that's a resistor as you would find in a car to kind of compensate for like over voltage so it kind of protects you from little shocks and stuff yeah and you know what the tubes for and here's the bonus question 

hey Dan great family thank you sir 

what are your thoughts on the Mandela effect and has it affected you personally which doe the Mandela effect about how we're not in the right universe uh you know with the way the world is today I don't know that any of us is in the right you remember but as you know there are I would stop millions of universes parallel universes and we're just lucky I think to live in one where we get to inhabit the planet earth the most beautiful blue sphere in the multiverse and you know sometimes we're in the right place sometimes we're in the wrong place but there's nothing we can do about it some meditate be mindful and make this universe that we're stuck in a better one amen [Applause] Dan

ANISSA

So this is the yearbook from Anissa's fifth grade year. And this is what Anissa wrote. It says, "You're like a second dad to me." So that was really sweet. It's kind of tough looking back on it, 'cause if she felt that strong, you know, just... maybe I could have done something else. 

Anissa was definitely one of the biggest outliers I've had just because she had no solid connections with other 4th and 5th-graders. 

Anissa would definitely cry once every couple weeks, I would want to say. Mostly about... kids being mean to her at school. 

She wouldn't be able to contain herself in front of the whole class, and sometimes she would just cry. So other kids were aware of her... emotions, and being upset. 

And there's times she would come in from lunch/recess and cry about not having friends. 

I've guessed that Anissa made a connection with Morgan and was happy that they both were into Slenderman, was happy that she made a new friend, shared a connection, shared interest, and it may have spiraled out of control from there. 

SLENDER

" You couldn't set up a better system to fail, in terms of "No one at school likes you, but here's this open-ended monster who will embrace you." 

The worst time to be socially isolated is the time when your brain and body are begging for camaraderie, for kinship, which is adolescence. 

It's the hardest time to be alone. I think in the absence of social contact, the Internet can sometimes serve as a peer in a way, or a peer group. Those two girls in a tight-knit group of eight friends, I don't think this would've happened, because they wouldn't have only been talking to each other and they wouldn't have been relying so heavily on information from the Internet. "

Slenderman is the modern-day boogeyman. 

Because it's faceless, because it's quiet, because it doesn't speak words, it's open to a lot of interpretation and open to a lot of possibilities and to a lot of projection. 

It varies from person to person as to what Slenderman actually is. 

He's the creature that lives in my closet. 

He's the guy in the windowless white van. 

The faceless stranger who kidnaps kids. 

It encapsulates, symbolically, a lot of these other kind of societal fears that we've had for ages and ages and kind of conveniently wraps them up and makes it really malleable. Because, really, Slenderman can be whomever you want him to be. We can empirically look back and find out where Slenderman was created. It was created in 2009 by Eric Knudsen under the screen name "Victor Surge" as part of a Photoshop contest to try to create something that looked real that really wasn't. Urban legends on the Internet has been a thing for decades. There was already a base audience that was ready for a globalized project to kind of build a myth. It actually began with the games that spun off from Slenderman. It's so heavily Page 12/51

visually oriented that it's replicable without really having to understand too much cultural context. And from there, it spread to every available platform and medium on the web. Tumblr... DeviantArt... YouTube... and also the 4chan's Paranormal Board. All of these websites have a really strong affinity with fan art in general. "Slender is coming"? YouTube was the international hub for non-English speakers to kind of break their way into the myth. Creepypasta is this generic term for horror stories that gets copied then pasted because it's good. As it spreads, people start tweaking some parts of the story or pick up where they left off. These are stories that branched out of the main canon of Slenderman. "Oh, should I travel through the woods," "Or should I not wishing I would?" "For above me lurks within the trees" "No one could hear my deathly screams" "The palest man, the blackest suit" Page 13/51

"Bigger than the tallest brute" "Six black arms will grab you up" "Or stalk you till you just give up" "He'll leave your body not to eat But to staple your corpse upon a tree." "Fear the man, the Slenderman For he can do what no one can." Slenderman kind of represents an opportunity to see where people are nervous about certain things and what excites them and what brings them together, because it changes. It changes based on who's telling the story. Often in the adult world we forget how much it sucks to be a kid. Slenderman can also be seen as a guardian angel. Slenderman is the Grim Reaper but with a heart. These pictures are not so much him showing up on the playground to snatch kids away, but to rescue them. Stories like this can be a powerful aphrodisiac for... for somebody who is lonely or is troubled, or is trying to find their way in the world. Slenderman has this entire community of people online who are feeding into the narrative and creating their own versions of it. It's constantly... Page 14/51

it's exponentially growing. That's the definition of a good meme. In human culture, if it's copied from one brain to another, that's a meme. Hi, my name is Valerie, and I've decided to do the Ice Bucket Challenge. I'm doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I'm here to join the people bringing attention to Lou Gehrig's disease. It can be an idea. It can be a tune. It can be a style of dancing. Tired? What do you think he's doing? - Planking. - Oh, you know? - Yeah, I do. - Yes! I am from the Internet. The Internet provides a very, very fast, efficient, universal, worldwide medium for memes to spread. That'll never catch on. No doubt. 

 

"There may be some Memes that spread like a very rapid epidemic and then die away. 

But others may have strong persistence. 

 

People are captivated by Slenderman and wish to pass on images or to modify images of him. 

This horrifying story of two girls who thought that it was their duty to Slenderman to go and kill someone. 

 

Well, that's what I call Power. 

That's very Substantial Power, very Horrific Power."

 

-Prof. Richard Dawkins, Atheist.

 

"One of the things that just absolutely staggers me about these stories—especially the story of Cain and Abel, which I hope to get to— is that it’s so short. It’s like 10, 11 lines. 

There’s nothing to it at all, and I’ve found that it’s essentially inexhaustible in its capacity to reveal meaning. I don’t exactly know what to make of that. I think it has something to do with this intense process of condensation across a very long period of time. That’s the simplest explanation. The information in there is so densely packed, and it’s not that easy to come up with a fully compelling explanation for that. One of the things that you can be virtually certain about is that everything about the archaic Biblical stories that was memorable was remembered.

This is kinda like Richard Dawkins’ idea of Memes. 

I often thought that Richard Dawkins, if he was a little bit more mystically inclined, would have become Carl Jung. 

Their theories are unbelievable similar. 

 

The idea of Meme and the idea of archetype of the collective unconscious are very, very similar ideas. 

 

The Jungian idea’s far more profound, in my estimation — well, and it just is. 

 

He thought it through so much better. 

 

Dawkins tended to think of Meme as a sort of like a mind-worm that would infest the mind, and maybe multiple minds. 

But I don't think he ever really took the idea with the seriousness it deserved. 

 

I did hear him, actually, make a joke with Sam Harris, the last time they talked, about the fact that there was some possibility that the production of Memes — say, religious memes — could alter evolutionary history. 

 

They both avoided that topic instantly. 

They had a big laugh about it, and then decided they weren't going down that road. 

 

That was quite interesting, to me."

- Prof. Jordan Peterson, Prophet

Unconsciously, Slenderman stems from a tradition that... that goes way, way back. 

To a great extent, the Brothers Grimm collected tales that deal with what I would call universal human struggles that we continue to have today. 

I think that's one of the reasons why people are responding to this tale, and they're telling their own versions, their own horror stories about what is happening in The World today. 

Slenderman is a tale about a character, a strange weird character, who may feed upon children. 

It made me think of a legend that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected called "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." 

Many years ago a town was being devastated by rats... in the gutters... on the streets... in the cellars. 

The Pied Piper comes out of nowhere. 

And he's a very odd, strange-looking person, but he has a flute or some type of pipe that he plays. 

The man said, 

"If you want me to get rid of the rats, you must pay me." 

So they said, 

"Yes, as much as you want if you can get rid of the rats." 

The Piper began blowing on the pipe. 

The Rats began following. 

The Piper had all The Rats jump into The River. 

But The Mayor and The Councilmen cheat him. 

And the Piper said, 

“You know, there are other tunes I can pipe, 

and ways that I can repay you, 

in a way that you will never forget." 

So The Piper took his pipe to his lips again and he began piping. 

The people froze, but the children followed him. 

There was an opening, a sudden opening in The Mountain. 

And all the children headed toward this opening. 

And as the last one entered, the mountain closed, and the Piper went inside as well. 

Depending on the times and the person who is telling their version of "The Pied Piper," he can be many different things. 

So he is a very mysterious figure. 

We don't know whether he's evil or good. 

We don't know whether he's going to do anything to these children. 

The children never return. 

Nobody ever hears about them.

But the Pied Piper does live on.

MORGAN

 

Hi, Morgan. Hi, Morgan. 

 

Morgan was a Surprise. 

And I didn't know how to feel about it at first... 

But I knew that I loved her.

 

Yay! 

 

And she changed our lives drastically and for The Better. Morgan's always been quirky, and she's always marched to The Beat of Her Own Drum. 

 

Even from... from little on... she didn't care what people think about her, which I think is a wonderful trait, especially for... for a girl. 

 

Girls are usually so... so self-conscious and concerned about... about what others think of them, and Morgan was never like that. 

 

You know, she just... 

She always just did her own thing, and if people didn't like it, well, that was Their Problem. 

 

Kitties and puppies aren't wild animals.

 

No, that's right.

They're not. They're pets. 

 

I had a camera in her face for a good portion of her childhood, so I think she got sick of it sometimes. 

 

She got a real miniature baby grand piano for Christmas one year. 

 

And she would sit there for quite a long time, just making up sweet little songs. 

 

And we tried to capture as many of them as we could on video, but usually as soon as she realized that we were paying attention or recording her, she would stop. 

 

They'll stay stray forever — 

 

One thing about Morgan that always struck us... as a little... odd was that she... 

 

She didn't react the way that you would expect her to react... like at the movies. 

 

Like, if something bad happened to the main character, she... she wouldn't have Empathy for them. 

 

Bambi, come here! 

Look. New spring grass. 

 

I remember watching "Bambi" with her for the first time. 

 

We were so worried to watch it with her, because we thought she was gonna be so upset when... when The Mother died. 

 

Bambi, quick! The thicket! 

Faster! Faster, Bambi! 

Don't look back! 

Keep running! Keep running! 

 

But The Mother died, and Morgan just said, 

“Run Bambi, run! 

Get out of there, save yourself!” 

 

You know? 

And she wasn't sad about it. 

 

We made it! 

We made it, Mother! 

We... Mother...?

 

 And I could think of... 

A lot of other examples along those lines where she hasn't reacted in the way that we would expect a Little Girl to react. 

 

We were aware that Morgan was interested in Slenderman. 

She would show us some of the characters and some of the stories. 

 

While I wasn't thrilled about her interest, I didn't really see the harm in it either. 

 

We never thought for a moment that she... 

She could possibly believe that it was Real. 

 

When I was Morgan's age, I... 

 

I remember biking home from the library with Stephen King's "It." 

You know, so I liked that sort of thing too when I was her age, and I think most kids her age do like scary stories and horror movies and... 

Scary stories on the Internet, you know? 

 

So, that's all that we... that's all that we thought that it was. 

 

I just can't imagine her... 

I can't imagine her coming up with that plan on her own. 

 

What, ultimately, was Morgan diagnosed with? The final diagnosis, both in the psychological report and in my report are schizophrenia, unspecified, 295.90... oppositional defiant disorder, 313.81... and bronchial asthma, mild, intermittent, J45.2. What is schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is one of the most serious and one of the most studied mental illnesses of human beings. Approximately 1% of the population succumbs to schizophrenia. It is a psychotic illness. It's through a combination of genetic predisposition and then stress placed on the person to begin manifesting symptoms. Patients lose track of reality in a number of ways. One would be hallucinations. One could hear voices, one could see visions one could feel things crawling on them. Delusions, on the other hand, don't have to do with sensing something, they have to do with a thought. So, for example, believing that Slenderman is real is a delusion. Saying that you saw Slenderman is a visual hallucination. Is the pile getting bigger? Ha! Jumping in the leaves. And that's one of my favorites. I raked up a bunch of leaves in the back yard and... she came flying in. Nice action shot. Yeah, it's hard for us to imagine that she was having problems. It's hard to process. None of us... saw this coming. Morgan recalls having hallucinations as early as three. She remembers... seeing ghosts at night, as young as three, that would bite her and pull her hair. But from what I understand, for the most part they were friendly, too. She even said that she... she tried to tell us about it once, and that we just told her to go back to bed, but I don't have any recollection of that. And really, how often do your children tell you at bedtime that 

they're seeing something or hearing something when they're that age?

 

"A monster's in my closet," or "something's under my bed," you know, just because they don't want to go to bed.

 

It's hard because I haven't been able to discuss these things with Morgan, because she's been incarcerated for the entire time that I've...

I've known... that she's... that she's had these symptoms.

 

 

"She expressed the ability to see and hear things that other people are not able to hear or see.

Things like unicorns.

She at one point digressed into fairly rambling discussion about a student in her class being a pegasus.

 

When I saw her last week, a few days before, Snape had come to visit her and kept her up until 3: by Morgan's report."

 

Snape?

 

“Snape."

 

Who is that?

 

"A "Harry Potter" character."

 

"She also will say not just that she's heard things,

but that since as early as three, she's had some sensory-perceptual distortions.

 

She might see a person

change slightly or see colors.

 

She doesn’t have much concern about whether she gets a long prison sentence, because, wherever she is, she will use Vulcan mind control to make herself feel, to make herself believe whatever she likes.

 

And so, even under very stressful circumstances, she doesn't feel the stress because of this...

what she described to be Vulcan mind control.

 

How about her... her cell?

 

I would consider her cell disorganized.

She has papers scattered about the floor.

 

Have you ever suggested picking them up?

 

Yes, I have. And she stated that she liked the papers there because they made it feel less empty.

 

And she is in the room alone?

 

Correct.

 

She said, "Seeing my friends, none of these things are dangerous. These friends can't disappear. They're important to me."

 

Was she referring to real world friends or fictional friends?

 

Fictional, I believe.

 

She's not allowed to hug her family or touch them?

 

Not in our facility.

 

Right.

 

She made clear that her primary concern was with her relationship with Slenderman, 

and she felt like if she says the wrong thing, if she somehow upsets Slenderman, not only hers but her family's lives could be in danger. With childhood schizophrenia, almost everyone develops, eventually, negative symptoms and cognitive symptoms. What's unique about Morgan's circumstance is that a severe course is so predictable. Well, we knew her diagnosis before we went to meet them at the hospital. We had a conference call with two of the doctors, so we were... we were prepared. And the reason that we all went up there, actually, was so that we could tell Morgan what her diagnosis was. And we thought that it would be helpful for her to know that her father also... had the same mental illness, because we had never told her previously that Matt had schizophrenia. We were very worried about the way that she might react to learning that she has schizophrenia because Morgan... Morgan's a very smart girl, and she's been reading... Which makes me think that she knew. Yeah. I think when they told her, she was probably like... Not surprised..."Well, that's what I would've guessed... if I had to diagnose myself."

 

What I think is that Morgan knows that other people don't see her hallucinations, but they're still very real to her.

Like, in her head they are real, and they're there with her. They're there.

But I think that she knows that other people don't see them. Otherwise, why would she make an attempt to...

 

Cover it up.

 

Mm-hmm.

...hide them from us, exactly.

It's because she doesn't want to lose them.

She's afraid they would be taken from her.

 

"This is the doll house, or the components for a doll house, that Morgan made while she was housed at Washington County Juvenile Detention Center. And she just put so much... detail into it, it's amazing. She's not allowed to have scissors, so all of these... all of these tiny little pieces she ripped by hand. This is a television, and these are some of her little cartoon characters that she likes to draw.

 

This actually, I think, is a character that's modeled after Spock. When I watched her do a couple of the dolls Page 39/51

and the... and the clothing, and she said what was surprising is how few times she had to start over. Like, she was able to just be meticulous about... Here's some food. I think this is salad and a piece of pizza. A salad and a piece of pizza. Here's a little laptop computer. See there's even detail on the screen. Look at the cute little heart on the front of the computer. This looks like it's another TV. Oh, and there's... how appropriate. There's a courtroom drama playing in the background. When I ask her what she wants to watch on TV that night... it's one of the things I usually ask her when I talk to her on the phone... she'll say that it depends on whose turn it is to decide. And she's in a cell by herself, so she's the only person there. I do a lot of stuff with running numbers in my head. I do... I try to put up static, almost, is how I describe it. I wish that I could talk to her about... like, I have... right now, there's like patterns of light and geometric shapes that's, like, always racing. Like always, like right now. Pshew, pshew, pshew, pshew, pshew, pshew. I always wanted to know if she sees that stuff, too. Everything seems normal to me, because it's... it's my everything. 

 

This is how I've always seen things.

So, it doesn't seem weird to me that like,

"Oh that's not how you see street lights?"

or

"Oh, that's weird."

I don't know if that was everyone that had like a weird little visual... thing going on...

like the glaring demon, devil.

Like that you're like,

"Okay, this is clearly not real."

 

But it doesn't matter. Like, I've had where... like you... you can see it and you know it's not real...

but it totally doesn't matter, because you're still terrified of it.

 

Like, I know that there's...

I know The Devil's not in the backseat,

but The Devil is in the backseat.

You know?

 

Yeah, sometimes you know it's not real,

but it still smells, tastes, and looks real, so it's real."

 

Could you just describe, in general terms, what you found in the bedroom when you went through it?

 

There were... numerous... notebooks

and pieces of paper with drawings and writings

pertaining to the Slenderman character.

 

Where was all this stuff located?

 

All in Morgan's bedroom.

 

When you ask Morgan...

"What if Slenderman doesn't exist?"

 

She can't tolerate that.

She becomes somewhat oppositional, and says

She Knows it's True,

and it can't be Proven Untrue,

so it's True.

 

Did Morgan use the words

"It had to be done?"

 

Yes.

 

Did you tell her to say that?

 

I did not.

 

She's volunteering this to you?

 

Correct.

 

That seems like an unusual thing to say. It does. Did you ask her what she meant by that? I did. And did you have to ask her multiple times? I did. Okay, after you asked her multiple times what she meant by "It had to be done," what did she offer you or what did she say? She told me that the man ordered it. Yes, I did. She held up three fingers. Like three? Three. What did that... did you try to understand what that meant? I asked her if that meant three years ago, and she said, "No, at age three." She believed that she communicated telepathically with Slenderman, and that... once the communication began, that she had to do 

 

what it was that Slenderman demanded. And if she didn't do what was demanded, her family wouldn't be safe? She wouldn't be safe, her family wouldn't be safe. Dr. Robbins, was Morgan's entry into this particular crime because of her psychosis? I believe so. It bears saying that schizophrenia, in and of itself, is not a dangerous illness. There are many 35-year-olds who have schizophrenia who don't have to be incarcerated, who can be managed in a community. However, there's a second part to that. When your delusion... when your fixed delusion tells you to kill people... and when your... insight doesn't allow you to seek treatment, then schizophrenia becomes dangerous. It is a dangerous illness untreated... and hence... we're here. You are just so lost in your illness that no one knew about... and then for people just to hate her like that, just hate you... "I hate that little girl. I hope she burns." Like, having people call my house and tell me, "You're going to burn in hell and so is your daughter." People don't understand that... she loves Bella. We love Bella... so much, and she still talks about her like they're friends. Oh my god. She loves her like I love her. And like, for people to talk about her the way they do, it's like... Morgan loved Bella. She's... like, how sick are you that you would do that to your best friend? Because you're afraid of something happening, or because you want something happen. You want to become something... because your illness dictated that this is something you need to be. Just blows me away... that people are like that. It just makes me sad. I wish people knew. The regular ones are just the regular cat treats that you're used to. Just to say, "I love you, kitty." Cat Snacks are only 2.99 at your local grocery store. Thank you. Detective, did you have a chance to watch that compilation? I saw the compilation. And would you agree that that's you present in that room with Morgan Geyser?

Those were... pieces of the interview that was me and Morgan together.

 

Did you tell Morgan she could have parents available to talk to before you interrogated her?

 

I did not tell her that, because that wasn't an option.

 

You weren't going to let her parents be present?

 

Correct.

 

Or let her even have a phone call to talk to them?

 

Um, we did not offer her a phone call.

 

At some point were you provided with Anissa's phone?

 

Yes, I was.

 

Did you have a chance to look at any of the messages on that phone?

 

Yes, I did. It says, 

"This is my final wish to those who care..." 

 

Mm-hmm.

Where did you locate the suspects? 

 

They were located right by I-94 in Waukesha County. 

 

Did you notice anything about Anissa's emotional state when you had contact with her? 

 

She said she was scared,

and I asked what was she scared of? 

 

And do you recall what she said to you? 

 

She made mention that if she told me, I would think that she was crazy,

and I told her that I didn't think anybody was crazy. 

 

Okay. 

 

Can you ask the question again please? 

 

One of the first communications before any of the search requests

was found on Anissa's phone that was provided by her parents, correct? 

 

Correct. 

 

It was basically a goodbye letter.

Correct? 

 

Yes.

 

And basically indicated that people should remember who she was, not grieve for her... 

and that she wouldn't do them harm. 

 

Correct.

 

Nothing further,

Your Honor.

 

Aiden?

 

Wrap it up, chief. we got places to go. All right? We have to run over to the school for a mandatory meeting about iPads... setting up their iPad... and using their iPad, and... the disadvantages they'll be at if they're not allowed to use their iPad. You know? I don't think anybody can really, you know, begrudge me for thinking the way I do about... a bunch of fifth graders getting iPads. You know, based on what this family has been through. At the same token... you know, I don't want to hinder his learning. I guess I just need to... get over my own reservations about it. 

 

And about the iPads. 

If I'd had my way, he wouldn't have one.

 

You have a child that is... incarcerated, for lack of a better term...

but your other life still has to go on,

so you still have to be able to support your other children

with the activities that they're in,

and you do your best to support your children

that you can't have access to and have to explain to Anissa that,

"Well, I might not be able to come up on Tuesday,

because Aiden has a pack meeting.

I have to be there for that."

 

I've had conversations with my oldest son. I was out in the backyard. He comes outside, he says to me, "What's wrong?" That's when I told him... it's just stressful as hell...

trying to keep everything as balanced as it can possibly be.

You never get a day off... and it wears on you.

It just really wears the shit outta ya.

 

Because you have to do so much more...

to try to keep everybody in a positive place, including yourself. 

 

It's... It's mentally... and emotionally and physically just draining.

 

I knew it was always a risk, simply because of genetics

that one of our children might develop schizophrenia. 

 

I never thought something like this would happen.

 

Matt is so... He's so high functioning and he's so... stable.

I just know that he's developed an awareness of What's Real and What's Not.

And I think, for Morgan, those lines are still pretty blurry... but it's all still very real to her.

 

In general, Morgan's just becoming more and more lost and involved in

This World of Imaginary Friends that she has.

 

The best possible situation would be that she ends up in an environment where she can receive treatment for her schizophrenia, and that would be a psychiatric facility. Not prison. She can't go to prison. 

 

I think it's kind of cruel of the courts to have a law where you can take two girls who are not troublemakers prior... 

And they did not try to hide what they did. 

 

They did not lie about what they did. 

They were very truthful for it. 

 

And it's like they're being punished extra because of it. 

 

Well, let's hope the judge is gonna have some good news.

Some very good news.