Suicide Game Copycats

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Suicide Game Copycats

Postby elfismiles » Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:26 am


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUHQpbv3KjI

Blue Whale (game)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Blue Whale Game (Russian: Синий кит, Siniy kit) also "Blue Whale Challenge", is an Internet "game" that was claimed to exist in several countries. The game allegedly consists of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators during a 50-day period, with the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide.[1][2] The term "Blue Whale" comes from the phenomenon of beached whales, which is likened to suicide.

Blue Whale began in Russia in 2013 with "F57", one of the names of the so-called "death group" of the VKontakte social network,[3] and caused its first believed case of suicide in 2015.[4][5] Philipp Budeikin, a former psychology student who was expelled from his university, claimed that he invented the game. Budeikin stated that his purpose was to "clean" the society by pushing to suicide those he deemed as having no value.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

In Russia in 2016, Blue Whale came into broader use among teenagers after a journalist brought attention to it through an article that linked many unrelated suicide victims to the Blue Whale, creating a wave of moral panic in Russia.[13] Later, Budeikin was arrested and plead guilty to "inciting at least 16 teenage girls to commit suicide", leading to Russian suicide prevention legislation and renewed world-wide concern over the Blue Whale phenomenon.[11] This sometimes led to false alarms and imitators, like in Italy, or hoaxes concerning the spread of its use to new countries, such as in Bulgaria. But it has also been linked to other rising self-harm trends, such as "human embroidery" in China.[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Whale_(game)


Ghoulish online game urges young people to end their lives
By claudia lauer, associated press
DALLAS — Jul 11, 2017, 7:03 PM ET

The family of a Texas teen who hanged himself says their son was involved in a ghoulish online game that calls on participants to complete a series of tasks before taking their own lives, and some schools are warning parents about the so-called Blue Whale Challenge.

Jorge Gonzalez told San Antonio television station WOAI ( http://bit.ly/2ufDDhG ) that he wanted to caution others after his son, Isaiah, was found hanging in his bedroom closet Saturday in the family's home with his cellphone propped up on a shoe to record his death.

A report on the boy's death from the San Antonio Police Department does not mention the challenge. But Gonzalez' family said in the days after the teen died, they pieced together from his social media and communication with friends that he had participated in the game.

His sister, Alexis, told the TV station that a person behind the challenge had gathered personal information from Isaiah and had threatened to harm the family.

The police department did not return a message left by The Associated Press asking whether authorities were investigating the game as a factor in the case. Many parents and other authorities are skeptical that the game actually exists, citing a lack of suicides directly attributed to it.

Agent Michelle Lee of the FBI's San Antonio office said the agency is not assisting in the investigation, but urged parents to monitor their children's online activities.

"It's a reminder of one of the many dangers and vulnerabilities that children face using various social media and apps online every day," Lee said. "Parents must remain vigilant and monitor their child's usage of the internet."

Gonzalez is the second parent this week to tell news outlets about a child who died by suicide allegedly as a result of the game. A Georgia woman spoke Monday to CNN about her 16-year-old daughter killing herself as part of the challenge but asked that their names not be used.

Educators, law enforcement officers and parents across the country have reported rumors about the challenge for months. But until this week, there had been no allegations in the United States about a death directly linked to the game. Suicides in Russia, Brazil and a half dozen other countries were reportedly linked to the challenge in cases that usually involved teenagers or young adults.

Notes have been posted on school district social media pages and sent home to parents in school districts across the country, including Vacaville, California; Baldwin County, Alabama; Warwick, Rhode Island; and Denver.

In Connecticut, Danbury Public Schools Superintendent Sal Pascarella sent a short note to parents around May after administrators from the district's 19 schools started hearing about the challenge from kids as young as elementary schoolers.

"The elementary school principals started hearing their kids talk about this thing. Then the secondary principals started mentioning the same thing," he said. "We discovered on our school network content about the challenge had been looked at on YouTube. ... I decided I would rather err on the side of information with parents."

Parents allege that teens reach out to game administrators called curators through various social media platforms. Those curators lead the players through 50 days of challenges including watching scary movie clips, cutting symbols into their arms and legs and taking pictures of themselves in dangerous positions such as on the edge of a roof or on train tracks.

The participants are allegedly required to take pictures of their challenges being completed and share them before being directed to end their lives on the 50th day. A search of related hashtags on Instagram shows users posting pictures of scars and cuts or memes that depict suicide, and a similar Twitter search shows users reaching out for curators to lead them through the game.

Instagram warns that some images tagged under some of the related phrases could be harmful and directs users to mental health resources. Twitter assesses reports of self-harm or suicide and also directs users to mental health or suicide-prevention resources.

The Center for Missing and Exploited Children is aware of the challenge and encourages parents to report it and similar activity to the center's cyber tip line even if they feel like they do not have enough information to go to police, said Eliza Harrell, the group's director of education and outreach.

Harrell said she had not heard about the use of threats and intimidation, but said it was particularly concerning.

"That really adds another level to this," she said. "We do not tend to address specific apps or games when we give advice to parents."

When parents talk to their children, "the underlying conversation needs to be about dealing with strangers online and putting themselves in a position of trust," she added. "It's an issue that a child is listening to someone anonymously and doing what they are told by a stranger to do."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ghou ... s-48578345



Police nab sick mess of a human behind the ‘Blue Whale’ suicide game
By News.com.au / June 12, 2017 | 12:55pm
http://nypost.com/2017/06/12/police-nab ... cide-game/

‘Blue Whale’ suicide game linked to 130 deaths
Police believe Veronika Volkova, 16, fell to her death on Sunday after being manipulated by sinister social media group.
May 1, 20175:23pm
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-l ... 81a511714c

Moscow postman arrested over links to sick 'Blue Whale' suicide game
Yahoo7 on June 13, 2017, 4:45 pm
WARNING: This article deals with suicide and could be triggering for some readers.
VIDEO Postman arrested after police link to 'Blue Whale' suicide game. Source: News 360
https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/35944087/mo ... ame/#page1


The Deer Hunter and Suicides - Snopes.com
www.snopes.com/movies/films/deerhunter.asp
Aug 16, 2007 - Did the film 'The Deer Hunter' spark a rash of Russian Roulette suicides?

Image

The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the ...
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1416505547
Loren Coleman - 2004 - ‎Social Science
ford Courant–AP said that Robin Koontz, 26, of Ohioville, Pennsylvania, killed himself while discussing The Deer Hunter with friends and imitating the Russian ...

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Call 1-800-273-8255
Available 24 hours everyday


National Suicide Hotline - Free and confidential
www.CrisisTextLine.org


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-BtquTKw78
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Re: Suicide Game Copycats

Postby brekin » Wed Jul 12, 2017 1:43 pm

Some earlier variants for those interested.

Goethe's first novel Sorrows of Young Werther influenced a rash of suicides. So much so that victims would often put the book in their jackets to be found. I think he went on to write a preface warning readers against trying to take their own lives.

Cultural impact
See also: Werther effect

The Sorrows of Young Werther turned Goethe, previously an unknown author, into a celebrated one almost overnight. Napoleon Bonaparte considered it one of the great works of European literature, having written a Goethe-inspired soliloquy in his youth and carried Werther with him on his campaigning to Egypt. It also started the phenomenon known as the "Werther Fever", which caused young men throughout Europe to dress in the clothing style described for Werther in the novel.[6][7] Items of merchandising such as prints, decorated Meissen porcelain and even a perfume were produced.[8]

The book reputedly also led to some of the first known examples of copycat suicide. This aspect of "Werther Fever" was watched with concern by the authorities – both the novel and the Werther clothing style were banned in Leipzig in 1775; the novel was also banned in Denmark and Italy.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorro ... ng_Werther

The play Spring Awakening (the template probably for 13 Reasons Why) also influenced a number of young suicides. But at that point it might have been just commenting on a trend already in effect from the above, The Werther Effect, which was already taking place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Awakening_(play)
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Postby Burnt Hill » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:55 pm

Linkin Park star Chester Bennington found dead on birthday of late friend Chris Cornell of Audioslave

The Linkin Park frontman had paid tribute to Audioslave and Soundgarden star Chris when he had died in May

Image

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/linkin-park-star-chester-bennington-10840565
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Re: Suicide Game Copycats

Postby elfismiles » Wed Nov 08, 2017 11:23 am

Per my original post ... I've been wanting to investigate this alleged Russian online suicide game known as BLUE WHALE CHALLENGE.

Haven't really had time but ... it reared its head again in my path:

Teen knifed teacher to death, uploaded a selfie with the corpse, then killed himself with a saw
Andrey Emelyannikov uploaded pictures of himself with his teacher's corpse.
Sergey Danilov had recently threatened to expel the teenager.
By Josh Robbins, Updated November 2, 2017 17:23 GMT

Some reports have suggested that Emelyannikov was playing a social media game called 'Blue Whale', in which vulnerable young people are ordered to carry out dangerous, even suicidal tasks, under the instruction of strangers online.


http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/teen-knifed-te ... aw-1645638


Link in that article leads to this previous ...


48-hour challenge: Children going missing on purpose in sick Facebook game terrifying parents
"This is a competition and it's sick. The anxiety it left our family in is unspeakable."
By Jordan Bhatt, Updated October 17, 2017 15:03 BST
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/48-hour-challe ... ts-1643472


ETA...

What is the Blue Whale game? Online suicide 'challenge' hits Britain's schools
UK schools and police warn parents over horrifying social media challenge linked to teenage suicide.
By Staff Reporter
Updated July 13, 2017 12:37 BST
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/what-blue-whal ... uk-1618911
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