Quick note: every year, I get a bunch of fowarded emails warning me that Halloween is the dreaded “gang initiation night!” I’ve seen a bunch of variations on what exactly will happen, including:
- Gang members will be driving a silver SUV and have to kill 31 women
- Gang members have to injure 30-50 women to join
- Walmart is putting up signs warning customers to be careful in the parking lot, as The Bloods have ordered members to kill 34 women before the end of Halloween
- Gang members have to slash 30 women across the face to join the gang
Thing is, the whole story is bullshit, and has been EVERY YEAR it’s ever been passed around. Nothing has ever happened, and in fact, a New Jersey man was arrested in 2008 for spreading the rumors – so don’t do the same!
Snopes, as always, has the full story. I’m sure this urban legend will come back in full force this weekend, so PLEASE forward the Snopes link to counteract it. Stay safe, of course, but don’t believe all the spooky stories you hear.
-SCOUT
UPDATE!
A co-worker passed along another traditional Halloween bullshit email:
Several things to be aware of, gangs and thieves, are now plotting different ways to get a person to “STOP” their vehicle.
Uh oh.
“There is a gang initiation reported by the Police Department that gangs are placing a car seat by the road, with a Fake Baby in it, waiting for a woman, of course, to stop and check on the baby. Note that the location of this car seat will usually be beside a wooded or grassy (field) area, and the person – woman – will be dragged into the woods, beaten and raped, usually left for Dead.
Will these deviants stop at nothing??
“IF YOU ARE DRIVING AT NIGHT AND EGGS ARE THROWN AT YOUR WINDSHIELD”.
DO NOT TURN ON YOUR WIPERS AND DO NOT SPRAY ANY WATER ON IT BECAUSE EGGS MIXED WITH WATER BECOMES MILKY AND YOU’LL NOT BE ABLE TO SEE. YOU ARE THEN FORCED TO STOP BESIDE THE ROAD AND BECOME A VICTIM OF THIEVES. THIS IS A NEW TECHNIQUE USED BY GANGS. PLEASE INFORM YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES. THESE ARE DESPERATE TIMES AND THESE UNSAVORY INDIVIDUALS WILL TAKE DESPERATE MEASURES TO GET WHAT THEY WANT.
Not sure why they’d go to such elaborate methods of robbing a person, especially in such “desperate times.” Eggs cost money!
Please talk to ALL your loved ones about this, because it would be a tragedy for anyone to fall victim to this kind of crime. Please BE SAFE AND NEVER STOP YOUR VEHICLE
Of course, this is all bunk – get the full story on Snopes here.
Sorry but this is not true. I live in New York and last year many women were injured. Please refrain from telling people not to watch out because you never know what will happen!
Ha, I live in New York too! Neat!
Can we make it gang initiation night? It seems like the danger has gone out of Halloween. When my grandma was a kid, they used to throw pumpkins at the windows of the wealthy people in town — or so she said, but it was a great story and made me think: my grandmother’s BADASS!
Our children need these stories to tell their grandchildren! Not, on halloween I didn’t have a face mask, went around on a push-scooter with a helmet, at 4 pm, and collected healthy treats from my Park Slope neighbors. My god, our great children children will be bored to tears by this.
Here’s my plea to bring back the violence to Halloween!
Christopher you are an ASSHOLE !!! VIOLENCE & HALLOWEEN… get a grip !!!
Um…Christopher. That was the funniest thing I’ve read on the interwebz all day. Well done, sir!
My son works in Times Square. The police told him that he should wear a bullet proof vest on Halloween night if he could get one because of the traditional gang jumping in activities in Times Square. They were out in TRIPLE force tonight, with the intention of trying to get through one year without a single gang-related death in that area of NYC. I guess the police didn’t read your blog.
Last year someone was killed. We were there.
Just checked the NY Times archives and can’t find a single mention of a murder in Times Square on Halloween in the last few years, which by your account has been happening for decades. Man, if someone was murdered in Times Square on Halloween (or Christmas or New Years) that’d be front page news. Also, “If your son could get one” sounds like a really, really odd recommendation from the cops.
Anyway, here’s what I could find, from Police Commissioner Ray Kelly a year or two ago:
In a statement aired on NY1 News, police commissioner Ray Kelly said there was no evidence to substantiate any of it. “Halloween is the season of rumors. We know nothing specific about this threat. We’ve heard it because people were talking about what’s out there, on the Internet, but we have no specific information to indicate that there’s any validity to this rumor.”
And no one died that year. Huh.
Man this rumor has a dedicated following of people willing to post nonsense in comments sections. The sad part is there is a real danger that is going on unreported:
I have just received some very important intelligence. Tonight October 29 through October 31st, 2010 are supposed to be C.H.U.D. Initiation Nights. On these nights, new C.H.U.D.’s, or Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers are to be initiated and as part of their initiation they are supposed to lure unsuspecting victims, usually women, to the sewers and eat them. As of this minute, I am being told that they are to eat at least 30-35 women. In the law enforcement community we don’t take these warnings lightly.
There is strength in numbers! If you see or recognize any C.H.U.D’s in your area, please contact your local police department immediately and for God’s sake stay out of the sewers.
Born and raised in NYC, actually Sunnyside, Queens all my life, and I honestly have never heard this rumor, EVER! Oh, I always knew you’d either get an egg or some shaving cream (or Nair one year was the rumor) but “Bloods” in Manhattan? Wouldn’t the Latin Kings have something to say about that? Wow, the things you learn on this website!
The baby thing is unfortunately true. One of my friends mothers was driving along a country road when it became blocked by an old fashioned pram, without a kid in it. She moved it off the road and got back in the car. Less than a mile later she became aware of someone in the back seat.
I shall save you the more unsavory details.