![Teen Plays Pokémon GO Outside, Finds Dead Body [UPDATED]](https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/09/mxcnmggr43i9stihffnj.png?quality=75&w=640&h=360&crop=1)
All Shayla Wiggins wanted to do was find a water Pokémon. Instead, she discovered something way more disturbing.
As you may already know, Pokémon GO encourages players to go outside to find monsters “located” in the real world (it is an augmented reality game). As originally reported by County 10, Wiggins, a Pokémon fan, went on a walk toward a river in Riverton, Wyoming this morning, hoping to find a critter from a “a natural water resource”. As she got closer to the river, she noticed something was actually floating in the water. When she went in for a closer look, she realised it was a body.
“It was pretty shocking,” Wiggins said. “I didn’t really know what to do at first. But I called 911 right away and they came really quickly.”
Kotaku contacted the Fremont County Sherriff’s office, who confirmed that the authorities were investigating the death of an adult male “discovered by a local resident who was walking in the area” near a river. Additionally, Wiggin’s mother, Shawna, who also confirmed to us that this incredible story was true.
“[Shayla] was upset at first [she is] better now!” Shawna said.
Right now, the authorities are still trying to identify the body, though they note that “there is no evidence of foul play” as the death “appears to be accidental in nature”.
Damn. Many people joked that something like this would happen, and there were even fake news articles to this effect right after GO was released. Even so, Wiggin’s story is still shocking — and this is week one of Pokémon GO, people.
Kotaku cannot confirm whether or not Wiggins captured the water Pokémon she was originally looking for.
UPDATE 9:18AM: Speaking to Kotaku, Shayla says that she did not capture the water Pokemon that she was after, because she stopped playing to call the police. “[The police] didn’t really know what [Pokémon GO] was. They’re were just like ‘okay’,” Shayla said. “I was like, extremely scared, I didn’t know what to do… I was shaking and crying,” Shayla said. While she feels better now, Shayla says that she hasn’t gotten a chance to play much more of Pokémon GO.
Comments
10 responses to “Teen Plays Pokémon GO Outside, Finds Dead Body [UPDATED]”
Still waiting for the first person to crash a car while playing Pokemon Go story.
You wish is my Command – http://www.cartelpress.com/pokemon-go-major-highway-accident-man-stops-middle-highway-catch-pikachu/
That story is confirmed to be fake, the picture of the car accident is actually 2 years old, the website releases fake news reports to generate ad revenue
Or you could fact check it: http://www.snopes.com/man-stops-to-catch-pikachu/
Thank you for enlightening me 🙂
I found a dead body once, happened to be in a hurry to get home to continue a game that had been on pause for a couple of days (Cause save didn’t exist 30 years ago) it was the great escape. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PvsMY5YlEic
I find it funny to imagine her talking to a video games website about her experience.
“Yeah, the body… right, but did you catch the pokemon?”
Let’s face it, we are all thinking it at the back of our minds 😛
It’s actually pretty poor taste. It’s bad enough when MSM jump on witnesses, but for a gaming site to exploit the girl’s trauma as well is pretty reprehensible.
Regardless if she was able to answer the question happily with a smile and a flick of her hair, she’s suffered a trauma, and it may very well not hit her for a couple of days.
She’ll live, mate.