Prosecutors are saying that two twelve-year-old girls from Waukesha, Wisconsin stabbed their friend nearly to death as a way to "please a mythological creature they learned about online." Both girls have been charged with first-degree attempted homicide and will stand trial as adults.

According to a criminal complaint, the two friends invited the third over for a slumber party on Friday night, where they were planning on stabbing her. They put it off for the next day, when they all played a hide-and-seek game in a wooded park. "One girl told the other to 'go ballistic, go crazy,' according to the complaint."

Via the Associated Press, this was all done to please a character called Slender Man:

One of the girls told a detective they were trying to become "proxies" of Slender Man, a mythological demon-like character they learned about on creepypasta.wikia.com, a website about horror stories and legends. They planned to run away to the demon's forest mansion after the slaying, the complaint said.

The victim was stabbed 19 times and left in the woods by the two suspects. She was able to crawl to the side of the road where a bicyclist found her and called the police. She is currently in stable condition.

One of the suspects told investigators that she sees Slender Man in her dreams and that "he watches her and can read her mind and teleport."

If convicted, both girls could face up to 60 years in prison. Bail for both girls has been set at $500,000 each.

UPDATE [June 3, 12:28pm]: Creepypasta Wiki, the page where the girls learned about Slender Man, has made a statement on their site regarding the attempted murder. Site administrator Sloshedtrain writes,

"This wiki does not endorse or advocate for the killing, worship, and otherwise replication of rituals of fictional works." It goes on to say, in capital letters:

ALL WORKS PRESENTED ON THIS WIKI AND OTHER SITES (INCLUDING SLENDERMAN, JEFF THE KILLER, BEN, SONIC.EXE, ETC) ARE FICTIONAL STORIES AND CHARACTERS.

[Image via AP]