The “World’s Most Dangerous Toys” thread (World's most dangerous toys - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board) got me thinking about stupid stuff I did in my youth, and the stupidest thing I could recall was the pass out game. Has anyone else done this? Here was our foolproof method (lots of non-essentials I imagine):
1)Squat down and lace your fingers behind your head.
Rapidly inhale and exhale to a thirty count (hyperventilate).
Stand up quickly, drawing one large breath and hold it.
Still holding your breath, cross your arms tightly across your chest.
A second person picks you up off of the ground from behind, squeezing your crossed arms.
Welcome to La La Land
The second person releases their hug as soon as you exhale (signaling that you’ve lost consciousness) and carefully lays you on the ground.
We’d be out for five to ten seconds. During that time we’d experience dreams that felt hours long. No matter what, we’d always wake up disoriented - wondering how we got here, or why so many people were in our bedrooms (even if this took place elsewhere). More than once, a kid wet himself while out. This began a new step where we required a pre-voiding of the bladder.
It was doubtlessly stupid, and I’m sure it killed brain cells - but I’ve always been surprised at how few even knew about this - let alone attempted it. Like I said, this was a foolproof method. As long as the subject held his breath, his brain would flip that pass out switch in a matter of seconds. Anyone else have this experience?
We did this for a few months in middle school. Then one kid did it in class and got busted and then the school got all paranoid and sent a memo home to the parents to keep an eye out for this “new dangerous method of getting high”.
During that time we also snorted sugar like it was coke.
It came to school in that vague untraceable pre-internet way that urban legends used to spread. There was very likely a “kid-zero” who brought the knowledge to school from somewhere, but no one knew who he was.
Edited to add: a lot of us had taken a CPR course by this point in our lives, and we made sure at least one person in the group knew how to perform it just in case the subject didn’t start breathing. Yes, it was stupid in the first place, but thankfully we never needed CPR, and the unconsciousness lasted only 5 to 10 seconds.
We used to do this in middle school, too. Then one day we did it to a kid who went into a seizure while passed out, just as the principal came walking around the corner. We never did it again after that.
We did a similar thing. They were called ‘Wallbangers’.
We bend over, hyperventilate, stand up with our body against the wall, and a friend would use both hands to push on the carotid arteries until you pass out.
The kids in my 7th grade class would do this. There would be kids passing out all over the hallways. It only went on for a few weeks, from what I remember. That was the year for a whole lot of experimentation, come to think of it.
Hey, I did that with some friends at a week-long party once. Was that bad? Should we not have done that?
No, seriously – have their been situations where permanent damage has been suffered as a result of these “wallbangers?”
We didn’t have a name for it, though, and we did them a little differently. One person would hyperventilate until almost passed out (no bending or squatting) then draw a big breath and hold it while up against a wall, where a friend would then place both hands on the other person’s chest and push for about 10 seconds, and it was lights out for about the same.
Maybe I was a little luckier to come out of my teens alive than I thought…
I first heard of this a couple of years ago. Evidently some kids havedied doing this kind of thing. Although the kids in the linked articles were outright choking each other into unconsiousness, I would think the more elaborate method described in the OP could do the trick too.
When I was a kid we would use butyl or amyl nitrate. I can’t remember which, but the local head shop sold it. About the same as huffing paint, although I never had that pleasure.
We learned how to do it at summer camp. The fact that people had died from it was well known (I don’t know if it was accurate, but it was widely talked about) and made it more popular because it was more dangerous.
Seems like the deaths have come from using a strangulation method. I think the relatively safe# method here was that it was based on holding your breath. Your second really just gives you a squeeze, and there was never a point were you couldn’t breathe if you didn’t want to.
We did this in junior high, until we somehow came to the conclusion that we were killing brain cells.
Just a few months ago, my brother (age 50) was on top of some playground equipment he was installing, and stood up too fast. He passed out then had a siezure. That was kind of a scary moment for the whole family.
We did it somewhat differently- you gave someone an “elevator”, which is where you put a joint in your mouth backward and blow smoke into the other person’s mouth as they inhaled, as they stood up from a crouching position, and then pushed on their chest until they passed out. Ah, good times.
I’ve never heard that anyone has died from it, though I suppose it’s possible somehow, but it’s not really the same as “the choking game”, which is where someone chokes you until you pass out, or you choke yourself with a belt or something if you’re alone. The latter, choking yourself while alone, has killed quite a few teenagers over the last few years, because they can pass out before taking the belt off, and has become something of a catch phrase in my house. When my teenaged boys leave the house, I often remind them not to play the choking game. It’s a joke, but I’m serious- that would be a horrible way to lose a child.
I’ve played the choking game with a friend of mine when I was definitely old enough to know better. It was a neat feeling, but then I realized that I didn’t really want to die and quit doing it. There was no intricate method like in the OP, basically we would just lock an arm around the other person’s neck from behind until their knees collapsed. Fuck, we were stupid.
Couple of months ago a neighbor’s 10 year old daughter was playing the choking game by herself with a rope. Apparently it didn’t untangle right when she passed out. I’m told she hung there for about 10 minutes before she was found.
Last summer she was a cheerful little snot. Now she’s a lump in a wheelchair. She’s not dead - not exactly…
Her dad is a mess. Every time she twitches a finger, he trumpets it as a sign of her impending recovery. All I can do is randomly nod in agreement. I sure hope he doesn’t step off a bridge when he can’t lie to himself anymore.