Outline
Threatening chain letter claims that a dead teenager will kill the recipient if he or she does not forward or repost the message.
A note for younger readers
This message is just a silly story that people have sent around for a long time. Everything it says in the message is a lie designed to scare you for no reason. Don’t worry, absolutely nothing whatsoever will happen to you if you don’t repost or share this message. I know because, doing this work, I have received hundreds of these emails and, even though I have never sent even one of them on, nothing has ever happened to me.
Examples
(January 2006)
THIS IS NO JOKE………. SOMETHING GOOD WILL HAPPEN TO U TONIGHT AT 10:22 IF YOU SEND THIS TO 15 PPL. SOMEONE WILL CALL U OR TALK TO U ONLINE AND SAY I LOVE U. DON’T FORWARD… COPY AND PASTE………
THIS IS NOT A JOKE
Detailed Analysis
This very nasty chain letter is targeted squarely at children and adolescents. Versions of the message have circulated for years, mainly via email. However, a new social media variant of the message is currently causing fear and alarm among younger Facebook users.
Of course, there is no truth in the ridiculous notion that a dead person will appear in the recipient’s bedroom if he or she does not forward or repost the message.
Please do not send this nonsense onward if you receive it. Even if you think sending it on is harmless or funny, remember that it may find its way to the inbox or News Feed of an impressionable child. The themes of horror and violence that characterize this message could be quite distressing for children and even some adults.
In fact, similar scare chains have circulated in various forms for decades. Such scary stories have long been at the core of many folk tales and urban legends. More “adult” versions of the tales tend to warn breathlessly of disguised killers or narrow escapes from a terrible fate.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
