Hulu’s IMPACT x Nightline revisits the unsettling 2014 Slender Man stabbing, a case that gripped the nation and raised troubling questions about the influence of internet folklore on young minds. “Surviving Slender Man,” streaming Thursday, February 27, 2025, provides an update on this disturbing story, focusing on the aftermath and the recent developments in the lives of those involved.
The special recounts the chilling events of 2014 when two 12-year-old girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, lured their friend Payton Leutner into the woods and stabbed her multiple times. Their motive? To appease the fictional internet boogeyman, Slender Man. The case sparked widespread discussion about the impact of online culture, the nature of adolescent fantasy, and the complexities of the juvenile justice system.
IMPACT x Nightline goes beyond the initial headlines, offering fresh perspectives on the case through an exclusive interview with Morgan Geyser’s defense attorney, Anthony Cotton, conducted by Nightline co-anchor Juju Chang. Incorporating archival footage from ABC News’ 20/20, including David Muir’s 2019 conversation with survivor Payton Leutner (her only interview to date), the program provides a comprehensive overview of the case’s history and its lasting impact.
The special also features interviews with Leutner’s family, the mothers of Geyser and Weier, and various detectives, psychologists, and prosecutors involved in the case. With both Geyser and Weier having been found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect and subsequently committed to psychiatric institutions, the episode focuses on the latest developments in their cases, particularly Geyser’s recent petition for and granting of conditional release from Wisconsin’s Winnebago Mental Health Institute.
