magic-cat
02-29-2008, 01:52 PM
This thread is for anyone here who may have someone in their life between the ages of approximately 10 and 17, as a warning, as a plea to pay attention to what they're doing, as perhaps a chance to stop them from their own stupidity.
A 13-year old girl hung herself in her closet here in our town on Monday night. It was accidental.
She was playing with self-asphyxiation, or "THE CHOKING GAME", getting a head-rush from cutting off blood to the brain almost to the point of unconsciousness; apparently you're supposed to be able to slip yourself out of the noose just before its too late, or have a friend do it for you. No friend was there and... she didn't make the cut off point. She is dead.
She was gorgeous. Tiny, beautiful, graceful, gentle little thing named Sarah Beck. She looked like a dark-haired Dakota Fanning, and I was only vaguely familiar with her from times I'd volunteered at the middle school a few years ago. You don't forget a face like that.
Her mother discovered her around 11:30 at night, and it was too late.
According to authorities, all of her friends have been interviewed at school, and it seems that a number of them knew she had been doing this occasionally. Some of them even confessed to trying it themselves sometimes. Presumably, the idea has also been passed around on MySpace... which is very likely where the local kids in our fairly isolated community got the idea in the first place.
I don't know where kids get the ideas they do, but it's a big world, and the internet has opened us all up to some really stupid stunts that might never have occurred to us if we hadn't explored far beyond our front doors.
Please watch your children, your nieces, your nephews. 82 kids died from this little trick last year alone. Apparently no one knew what was going on.
Warning Signs:
* Suspicious marks on the side of the neck, sometimes hidden by means of a turtleneck, a scarf or a permanently turned-up collar.
* Changes in personality, such as overly aggressive or agitated.
* Any kind of strap, a rope or a belt lying about near the child without any reason -- questions about such objects are often eluded.
* Headaches, sometimes excrutiatingly bad ones, loss of concentration, a flushed face.
* Bloodshot eyes or any other noticeable signs of stress to the eyes.
* A thud in the bedroom or against a wall -- meaning a fall in cases of solitary practices.
* Any questions about the effects, sensations or dangers of strangulations.
"Choking Game" aliases: blackout, fainting game, space monkey, dream game, suffocation roulette, pass-out game, flat-liner, California Choke, space cowboy, airplaning and purple dragon.
For details on the "choking game", go to
http://www.deadlygameschildrenplay.com
Please, please don't let this happen to someone you love.
A 13-year old girl hung herself in her closet here in our town on Monday night. It was accidental.
She was playing with self-asphyxiation, or "THE CHOKING GAME", getting a head-rush from cutting off blood to the brain almost to the point of unconsciousness; apparently you're supposed to be able to slip yourself out of the noose just before its too late, or have a friend do it for you. No friend was there and... she didn't make the cut off point. She is dead.
She was gorgeous. Tiny, beautiful, graceful, gentle little thing named Sarah Beck. She looked like a dark-haired Dakota Fanning, and I was only vaguely familiar with her from times I'd volunteered at the middle school a few years ago. You don't forget a face like that.
Her mother discovered her around 11:30 at night, and it was too late.
According to authorities, all of her friends have been interviewed at school, and it seems that a number of them knew she had been doing this occasionally. Some of them even confessed to trying it themselves sometimes. Presumably, the idea has also been passed around on MySpace... which is very likely where the local kids in our fairly isolated community got the idea in the first place.
I don't know where kids get the ideas they do, but it's a big world, and the internet has opened us all up to some really stupid stunts that might never have occurred to us if we hadn't explored far beyond our front doors.
Please watch your children, your nieces, your nephews. 82 kids died from this little trick last year alone. Apparently no one knew what was going on.
Warning Signs:
* Suspicious marks on the side of the neck, sometimes hidden by means of a turtleneck, a scarf or a permanently turned-up collar.
* Changes in personality, such as overly aggressive or agitated.
* Any kind of strap, a rope or a belt lying about near the child without any reason -- questions about such objects are often eluded.
* Headaches, sometimes excrutiatingly bad ones, loss of concentration, a flushed face.
* Bloodshot eyes or any other noticeable signs of stress to the eyes.
* A thud in the bedroom or against a wall -- meaning a fall in cases of solitary practices.
* Any questions about the effects, sensations or dangers of strangulations.
"Choking Game" aliases: blackout, fainting game, space monkey, dream game, suffocation roulette, pass-out game, flat-liner, California Choke, space cowboy, airplaning and purple dragon.
For details on the "choking game", go to
http://www.deadlygameschildrenplay.com
Please, please don't let this happen to someone you love.