Yesterday, news broke of two 12-year old Wisconsin girls luring their classmate in the woods and stabbing her 19 times. The heinous act, leaving the victim within inches of her life, was fueled by the belief that internet meme character “Slender Man” (a tall, slender ghost with no face) would reveal himself.
It’s common knowledge that adolescents are impressionable and often vulnerable to negative influences from their peers. The internet certainly doesn’t help by opening a virtual door to the type of content young eyes aren’t meant to see. But what can be said when games, created and perpetuated by the Internet, take a horrifying turn?
Unfortunately, this is not the first time a popular yet dangerous internet game has caused death or serious injury among adolescents. Take a look at six gruesome games that started out on the internet but had tragic results for the teens who played them.
Image Credit: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The Knockout Game
The popular internet-fueled Knockout Game became a widespread problem in urban areas late last year. Three New Jersey teenagers were charged in the September 10, 2013 death of Ralph Eric Santiago. Santiago was followed by the three teens while walking 3rd street in Hoboken, NJ when one of the youths randomly punched Santiago’s head, as per the rules of the game. Santiago, 46, then collapsed on the fence, sustaining injuries that ultimately killed him.
Image credit: The Grio
The Choking Game
Erik Robinson from Santa Monica died for thrills while playing the “choking game,” On April 20, 2010, the pre-teen had been playing the game in which a rope was wrapped around his neck and tied to a device in order to cut off the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain. The idea was to produce a light-headed high, but sadly Erik, 12, was asphyxiated. No one else was home at the time of the incident.
Image credit: NBC LA
ABC Scratching Game
In April of 2007, a 14-year-old girl from St. George Utah was playing the ABC Scratching game, where the objective is to see how many letters of the alphabet the player can withstand being carved into their skin. A scratch on the girl’s hand caused a necrotizing fasciitis infection, causing her to undergo seven surgeries to remove tissue in her left arm infected with the flesh-eating bacteria. She narrowly escaped having the arm amputated.
Nek Nomination
Jonny Byrne, a 19-year-old from Dublin, Ireland, died completing his “Nek Nomination” dare. Jonny downed three different types of liquor and then jumped into a swollen river on the Irish countryside where he drowned. His body was found the next day. NekNomination is a hig risk drinking game in which kids are nominated by their peers to take a YouTube video of themselves downing — or “necking” — strong drinks under bizarre or dangerous circumstances before challenging others to top them.
Image credit: Newstalk
Trunking
Trunking, much like name suggests, is a popular game among teens where passengers are challenged to ride in the trunk of a car. 15-year-old Glendora, California teens Scott Allen Atchison and Christopher Snyder got into the trunk of a car carrying five other kids on May 4, 2005. The driver, 17-year-old San Dimas crashed the car on Route 66. Scott and Christopher were ejected from the trunk into oncoming traffic and killed. Manslaughter charges were filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office against the driver.
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