Don't Flash Your Headlights, Beware of Gang Initiation Ritual - Hoax

Story:

Police officers working with the DARE program has issued this warning: If you are driving after dark and see an on-coming car with no headlights on, DO NOT FLASH YOUR LIGHTS AT THEM! This is a common Bloods gang member “initiation game” that goes like this:

The new gang member under initiation drives along with no headlights, and the first car to flash their headlights at him is now his “target”. He is now required to turn around and chase that car, then shoot and kill every individual in the vehicle in order to complete his initiation requirements.

Police Depts across the nation are being warned that September 23rd and 24th is the “blood” initiation weekend. Their intent is to have all the new bloods nationwide drive around on Friday and Saturday nights with their headlights off. In order to be accepted into the gang, they have to shoot and kill all individuals in the first auto that does a courtesy flash to warn them that their lights are off. Make sure you share this information with all the drivers in your family!

Please Forward this message to all your friends and family members to inform them about this initiation ritual. You can save someone’s life if you heed to this warning.

Picture about Don't Flash Your Headlights, Beware of Gang Initiation Ritual — Don’t Flash Your Headlights, Beware of Gang Initiation Ritual

Analysis:

The message warns car drivers at night not to flash their headlights over on-coming car with no headlights on. This they say will initiate a gang blood ritual which makes the gang members in the other car to chase and target the driver in order to shoot and kill everyone inside the car. Fortunately, this is not a fact.

These warning messages have been circulating in various versions for many years now. The messages appear to have begun in 1993, when similar warnings circulated via email and fax, but they might have originated from earlier stories relating to motorcycle gangs who do get into criminal activities in various ways. According to a Deseret News article in 1993, this rumor started when a citizen sent another citizen a fax as a prank. This scary warning of gang initiation ritual became so popular that it became the main theme of the 1998 film “Urban Legend”.

As far as the present version of the rumor is concerned, the message comes in the form of a letter supposedly from Chubb (shown in image section below), a company providing security and fire protection services. Again, this is just a hoax creation, to which the company responded saying they have nothing to do with it, and that their name was attached to the hoax 4 years back. Even police officials of various countries called these gang initiation blood ritual messages as hoax.

So the bottom line is that there is no documented evidence to prove that such gang initiation rituals exist, where criminals kill car drivers at night simply because they flash lights over an on-coming car. It is wise to be cautious with strangers at night, but spreading rumors like this can only create fear and alarm among people. The message is a typical urban myth and need not be shared.