The Slender Man Internet meme has gained a lot of popularity this year, but for plenty of unfortunate and incredibly terrifying reasons. This week, we added another terrible reason to the list when 14-year-old Lily Marie Hartwell set fire to her home while her family members were still inside sleeping. Though the meme isn't considered the teen's inspiration for the arson, the police report states that she had an interest in the websites associated with the character, including "Creepy Pasta" and "Soul Eater."
Back in June, Slender Man was blamed as the inspiration for two 12-year-old girls when they lured a classmate out to a local park and stabbed her 19 times. The victim is fine now, but you can read more about this story HERE!
Soon after the incident in June, another stabbing was blamed of Slender Man after the fact. Read more on that story HERE!
According to reports, Lily sent her mother a text messages while the police searched for the young girl after she fled the arson scene.
"Mom [I'm] so sorry I [don't] know why I did it," she texted. "Did any of [you] get hurt [?]"
After setting her home on fire with her mother and 9-year-old brother still inside, police say Lily walked to a nearby park and brought "clothes, bottled water, cookies, knives, lighters and flashlights." She slept in a public bathroom.
Apparently, Lily had been upset about her mother disciplining her that night, read some forums on the Slender Man websites, became upset about bullying in general and then soaked a towel in rum and bleach then set it on fire in the garage.
Police don't think Lily was directly inspired by the websites to start the fire, though.
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