In this week’s episode, Sarah unpacks the infamous Waukesha, Wisconsin Slender Man stabbing—a case where internet horror, childhood delusion, and the absolute chaos of being 12 all merged into one of the most bizarre true crime stories of the last decade.

We break down the origins of Slender Man, how he crawled out of the “spooky noodles” world of creepypasta, and why two middle-schoolers genuinely believed they had to sacrifice their friend and then walk 300 miles to the Nicolet National Forest to live with him. For the record, the only people on Earth who want to walk 300 miles are The Proclaimers.

This episode also dives into the impossible task of trying to protect kids from the endless parade of creepy images and viral monsters online. Instead of bubble-wrapping them, we talk about the real solution: helping kids tell the difference between real vs. fake, scary-but-fun vs. scary-and-dangerous, and reassuring them that liking spooky stuff is totally normal. (Sarah has been reading Stephen King since age 10 and somehow watched Cujo at age 3, so clearly some of us turned out mostly fine… mostly.)

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and consider subscribing to the show. You can find us on social media @twistedandmysterious and email us at twistedandmysteriouspodcast@gmail.com.