Have you ever thought it would be a good idea to pour scalding hot water on top of one of your friends? No? Okay.
How about drinking boiling water from a straw? No? Okay.
Yeah, neither of those sound all that appealing, but it’s not stopping members of Generation Z (kids born in the mid-90s or later) from taking part in the insanely dangerous Hot Water Challenge in recent months.
And you thought Millennials were bad…
Kyland Clark Image Source
The Hot Water Challenge first came to prominence in 2017 when teenagers on Twitter began to challenge their friends to pour hot water on their sleeping friends or to willingly drink boiling water from a straw… both with disastrous results.
To drive home that point, let’s look at the story of 15-year-old Kyland Clark of Indianapolis, IN who is still healing after being on the receiving end of the Hot Water Challenge.
In a recent segment on Fox 59 in Indianapolis, Clark told a reporter that he and a friend were looking up the challenge on YouTube when they decided to prank each other. Later that night, his friend decided it would be a good idea to pour hot water on Clark while he was sleeping
“And then I looked down at my chest. My skin just fell off my chest, and then I looked in the mirror and I had skin falling off here and, on my face,” Clark said in the newscast.
The act, which started as a joke, ended up being anything but after Clark had to be rushed to the hospital to be treated for second-degree burns on his back, chest, and face.
As ridiculous as it sounds, Clark isn’t the first youngster to be treated after taking part in the Hot Water Challenge.
Jamoneisha Merritt Image Source
The devastating effects of the Hot Water Challenge date back to at least 2016 when a 10-year-old from North Carolina was admitted to the hospital after he and his step-brother attempted the challenge they saw on Twitter.
Shortly after the incident, the boy’s mother and stepdad told CBS 17 that they were horrified when they learned what happened to the young boy.
“When we got to the hospital and I actually seen it, I thought the poor boy had been through a war,” said Jimmy Daugherty, the boy’s stepfather.
Just a year later in August 2017, an 11-year-old girl in the Bronx suffered second-degree burns after she was warned to not fall asleep at a slumber party.
“Her and her friend got into an argument and she told her if she goes to sleep they were going to do something to her,” the victim’s cousin told NBC New York.
Later on that night, the friend filled a cup with boiling water, walked up to the sleeping 11-year-old, and emptied the cup on her face and back.
Like the previous stories, this one ended with similar results – severe burns and a trip to the hospital. The final story, however, ended with more permanent results.
Ki’ari Pope Image Source
The most upsetting case in the Hot Water Challenge saga involved an 8-year-old girl in Florida, who died in July 2017 after drinking boiling water on a dare a few months prior.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Ki’ari Pope died just four months after her cousin dared her to drink the boiling water, resulting in severe burns to her mouth and throat which left her “medically compromised.”
Pope was rushed to the hospital after she told her mother’s partner that she could not breathe, and moments later she was left unconscious and unresponsive. An ambulance later transported the 8-year-old to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead early the next day.