Did The Slenderman Legend Influences Two 12 Year Old Girls To Commit Murder?

The Slenderman is an internet legend. Originally a meme created Eric Knudsen in 2009, Slenderman has more in common with Grumpy Cat than The Boogeyman. And yet this internet legend has become so pervasive that it's being cited as the cause of two 12 year old girls trying to stab their friend to death.

Who is the Slenderman? This is from his Wikipedia page:

The Slenderman is depicted as resembling a thin, unnaturally tall man with a blank and usually featureless face, wearing a black suit. The Slender Man is commonly said to stalk, abduct, or traumatize people, particularly children.

So it's a tall, creepy looking thing that primarily haunts kids. Maybe this thing really is the Boogeyman?

On Saturday, May 31, police say, The Slenderman played a role in the attempted murder of a 12-year-old girl in suburban Milwaukee by two female classmates who stabbed her 19 times. According to police, the girls said the attack was meant to impress the fictitious bogeyman.

They were trying to impress The Slenderman? An Internet Meme? I'm sorry, but it seems like these two girls have completely lost their grasp om reality. They are both going to be tried as adults.

Is this not the scariest, most ghoulish thing you've ever read? I have the overwhelming desire to never let my son Jack out of the house by himself ever again. Who's to say that some nut job wouldn't attack Jack because he read about Freddy Kruger, or Jason...?