5 Insane Pokémon Go Stories That You Won’t Believe

Pokémon Go has been out for little more than a week, but it has already reignited a craze that we haven’t seen in twenty years. You might have heard about it already, but for those who haven't, the augmented reality game uses GPS tracking and overlays gameplay onto your surroundings, turning your neighborhood into a digital ecosystem and you into a Pokémon trainer. The game has had much more appeal than even developer Niantic could have ever expected, sending droves of people into the streets, forests and streams looking for their very own super powered animals to collect, raise and battle. With so many people out and about, it’s no wonder there’s been so much talk about Pokémon Go, and since this world of ours is a little crazy, most of the stories have been a bit insane, too. Some have been hoaxes, some may still prove to be, but there’s still plenty of weird tales out there. Criminals, drones, cheating boyfriends; there are a lot of hurdles on the road to becoming the very best...like no one ever was. So, without further ado, here are the five craziest stories so far. 1) Player Uses Drone To Catch Pokémon From The Air We have to give Nintendo and Niantic props for creating a product that forces fans to get off their couches, but we always knew that some ingenious gamer would find a way to circumvent all that pesky exercise. We just didn’t realize it would be so soon. The aptly named Perchbird, a Tumblr user and Pokémon trainer, posted a picture online of his clever setup captioned “im a cheater.” By linking his cellphone to his laptop with the program AirDroid, and firmly securing it to his drone with duct tape, Perchbird was free to soar through the sky and rain Pokéballs down on the unsuspecting critters. While he kept his contraption in his backyard, he stated that with a solid signal his drone can patrol up to 1,500 feet away from him in any direction. That’s a considerable advantage over the other would be Pokémon Masters out there, and it’s one that seems difficult to counteract. Thankfully, it’s doubtful this particular exploit will become commonplace since most gamers are more than happy to take to the streets and forests while they hunt for Pokémon. And why wouldn’t they? The draw of the game is that it makes your world the game map, and lets you play the role of the wandering trainer. To try to skip that part seems to be missing the point a bit. But, we saw that coming. We never underestimate the ingenuity of lazy gamers. 2) Unfaithful Boyfriend Caught By Pokédex Nintendo’s phenomenally popular RPG is a pretty harmless series despite being about dog fighting and animal cruelty, so it goes without saying that infidelity has no place in the land of Pikachu and Charizard. And for those who would tempt fate, like one NYC resident, it seems Pokémon Go has measures in place to expose would-be cheaters. Eric Scribner reported to the New York Post that his girlfriend discovered incriminating evidence within the game that proved that he was being unfaithful to her. While looking through his haul of Pokémon, she found out that he had been spending some time at his ex’s place. Mr. Scribner apparently couldn’t help himself but to try to expand his collection on his way back from his illicit rendezvous, unknowingly recording his own confession. Oops. For those of you panicking right now, every Pokémon stored in your inventory has its own character sheet. This lists, among other handy statistics, the date on which your new pocket monster was captured and a fairly accurate map that shows where it was found. It’s a nice way of keeping track of where different species may roam, and apparently, keeping tabs on your significant other. The moral of the story is, of course, don’t cheat. But if you do plan on doing something sneaky and terrible, just leave your Pokémon out of it. There’s a time and a place to try and catch ‘em all. 3) Pokémon Trainer Discovers Dead Body It’s still early, but Pokémon Go players are already making some unfortunate discoveries out in the wild. Shayla Wiggins, a 19 year old Wyoming woman, was out scouring her neighborhood for the elusive creatures, but came across a dead body instead. Wiggins told reporters, "I woke up this morning, and I wanted to go get a water Pokémon, so I just got up and went for my little walk, a walk to catch Pokémon.” In a heartbreaking turn of events, Higgins found the body of an unidentified man face down in the river. Police have ruled the death a possible drowning with no evidence of foul play. It’s unfortunate that such a tragedy should tarnish the release of such an massive, fun game, but considering just how many more people are outside, walking down ignored pathways and neglected riverbanks, it was inevitable. Any new technologies that open up the world to greater numbers of people, like Google Maps for example, often lead to grizzly findings like this. We hope that the experience hasn’t turned Ms. Higgins off from the game as a whole. There’s a lot of beautiful things out there to see, and Pokémon Go is a great excuse to take a look. 4) Armed Robbers Have Ambushed Players At PokéStops When a Pokémon trainer runs out of supplies, there’s only one place to go - the nearest PokéStop. These virtual sites are set up in real world locations, and periodically drop loot, like Pokéballs, medicine and even Pokémon eggs. They’re a necessary step on the path to becoming a master, and because of that, they attract a lot of foot traffic. So, of course, some nefarious villains have been using that to their advantage. We mean that literally. Real world criminals in O’Fallon, Missouri have exploited these PokéStops as traps for unfortunate collectors. By co-ordinating their attacks to secluded stops, such as those in isolated parking lots, armed men have been able to ambush players and rob them of their belongings at gunpoint. It would have been a very clever scheme too, except that by using the PokéStops, the gunman were literally mapping out where they were likely to strike next. O’Fallon Police have since arrested three very shortsighted young men in connection to as many as nine Pokémon Go related robberies and they’ve all been charged with various felonies. Considering how inept Team Rocket and the other Pokémon villains are, it shouldn’t be surprising that the augmented reality version of the game created it’s own equally stupid group of bad guys. Then again, it is a dangerous world out there. Maybe getting off the couch and out of the house isn’t such a good idea after all. 5) The Westboro Baptist Church Has Become A Battleground There are a lot of utterly bizarre places for Pokémon gyms out there where the game’s usual audience just should not go. Adult clubs, mausoleums, even the White House are just a few examples of sites where trainers can meet and battle with each other. But perhaps the oddest of all is the Westboro Baptist Church, which is now the center of an all out Pokébrawl. The Westboro Baptist Church, notorious for its hateful protests and inflammatory commentary against the gay community, was apparently noteworthy enough to have its own Pokémon Go gym. Naturally, upon discovering this, an LGBTQ ally took control of it using a Clefairy named “LoveIsLove.” It was a simple, harmless means of protest that any reasonable person would have assumed to have gone unnoticed by the congregation. But the Westboro Baptist Church is a bit savvier than we might have believed and caught on right away. They immediately went to Twitter to call on their allies to defend their church, and, in a move as confusing as it was funny, nabbed their own Pokémon, Jigglypuff, to win back their gym. We now have opposing political groups fighting with Pokémon. It’s such a bizarre and hilarious incident that perfectly illustrates just how quickly this game is spreading throughout our culture, and a reminder that sometimes real life can play out like a Saturday Night Live skit.