A Texas family is reeling after a nine-year-old girl died attempting a viral “blackout challenge,” according to a report.
On February 3, JackLynn Blackwell choked herself to death. She was in her family’s backyard, and had just finished showing her grandmother a social media video of someone else trying the challenge.
“My mom told me that JackLynn had shown her a video before of a guy doing that with the cord, my mom told her, ‘Don’t you ever do that,'” JackLynn’s father, Curtis Blackwell, told CBS News.
He recalled the scene on the day his daughter died. He knew something was amiss the morning it happened because the backyard was unusually quiet.
“Then I saw her kind of around the corner that goes to the carport, saw her hair. I said, ‘JackLynn!’ I thought she was bending over playing ’cause she was always in that area playing, but she wasn’t playing,” he told the broadcaster.
Blackwell went outside to see what his daughter was doing and found her unconscious and with a cord wrapped around her neck
“I tried to do everything I could to save her. I got her off the cord. I tried to give her CPR until the first responders got there. It was the most terrifying, shocking thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.
He described the tragedy as “senseless.”
“It was just the three of us, three amigos, we did everything together,” he told CBS News. “Karaoke. She loved karaoke; she could do it all day.”
Her parents said JackLynn’s dream was to become a singer.
JackLynn’s parents are now warning families to keep their eyes open for similar dangerous, viral trends spread on apps like TikTok.
“It’s not a joke, it’s not a game, it’s life and death,” Blackwell said.
Videos of people choking themselves to achieve a feeling of euphoria have been circulating on social media for years. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has documented 80 instances of a child dying as a result of the blackout challenge.
“Most of the kids are like nine years old to 14 years old. A lot of kids her age, their brains aren’t fully developed, and they are very easily influenced,” Blackwell said.
He also thinks TikTok and other social media companies that provide a platform for viral trend videos should be held accountable when a child dies as a result.
“There’s too many of these kids lost for these companies not to be held accountable in my eyes,” he said.
