They later said they had believed Slender Man to be real, and had wanted to demonstrate their loyalty to him so they could become his "proxies", live in his mansion, prove his existence, and prevent him from harming their families. They believed that the only way to do this would be to kill someone,[6] after which they would become servants of the Slender Man and live in his mansion, which they thought was located in Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest. Geyser explained during police interviews that she had seen and heard hallucinations of ghosts since the age of three, and was certain that "Slender" had demanded she kill her best friend to save the lives of her own family.[9]