Texas family says teen killed himself in macabre Blue Whale online challenge thats alarming schoo

[jpak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/11/texas-family-says-teen-killed-himself-in-macabre-blue-whale-online-challenge-thats-alarming-schools/?utm_term=.df342b45caff

Fifteen-year-old Isaiah Gonzalez was a soon-to-be sophomore who just joined the ROTC program at his high school. But on Saturday, Gonzalez’s father, Jorge, stepped into his son’s bedroom in their San Antonio home. Isaiah was dead, hanging from the closet, an apparent suicide. Next to his body was a cellphone propped up on a shoe, broadcasting the suicide, according to KSAT.

If the teenager’s sudden suicide wasn’t tragic enough, the Gonzalez family quickly learned Isaiah’s end was possibly tied to a macabre online spectacle known as the Blue Whale Challenge.

Essentially a dangerous personal obstacle course of 50 daily tasks that include everything from watching horror films to self-mutilation, the game is rumored to be behind unexpected deaths across the globe. But because the challenge plays out on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, the reality is hard to prove. In fact, due to the extreme premise alone, some says it’s just an Internet hoax invented to frighten parents and other adults.

Isaiah Gonzalez’s family says their son was definitely involved in Blue Whale and was sending friends pictures of the completed tasks. “It talks about satanic stuff and stuff like that and my son was never into that,” Jorge told WOAI. “They blew it off like it was a joke and if one of them would have said something, one of them would have called us, he would have been alive,” his sister Scarlett Cantu-Gonzales said.

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[jberryhill]

1. "the reality is hard to prove"

This one needs a better trend than general "social media" to grow legs.

Throw in fidget spinners somehow, and you'll have something bigger than exploding hoverboards.

Just keep the kids away from the Mickey Mouse blotter acid.

[Blue_Tires]

2. If you're going to kill yourself, why not just do it?

Why go though 50 humiliating/painful challenges first especially at the behest of some random internet dweeb??

[ProudLib72]

3. Good God, everything evil comes from Russia!

Krokodil, the heroine substitute that kills you within a few months.
Collusion, that kills your country within a few months.
Blue Whale, the social media challenge that kills you within two months.

[mountain grammy]

4. So sad. My heart goes out to his family

[Solly Mack]

5. There was a "Criminal Minds" episode like this.

A killer was encouraging kids to "play" a dangerous hanging game and broadcast it online. He was also a first responder, in the show. Part of his illness and MO for killing.

The deaths all looked like suicide.

The kids most open to be influenced by peer pressure were usually the victims.

There are people sick enough in the world to do something like that - start a game in the age of social media fame that targets the vulnerable, and get the idea from TV shows or the news.