We’re back with another edition of Urban Legend: Fact or Fiction. In this chapter, we are going to find out if gangs use flashing car headlights in their initiations. So buckle up and enjoy this decades-long ride.
The Story
“please dont flash your headlights at any car with no headlights on,” reads the email your great aunt sent with far too many RE:s in the subject line. “Police officers is working with the DARE program and has issued this warning! if you are driving after dark and see a on-coming car with no headlights on, “do not flash your headlights at them” this is a common “Bloods” gang member “initiation game”. the new gang member, under initiation, drives along with no headlights on and the 1st car to flash their headlights at them is now his “target.” he is now required to turn around and chase that car, then shoot and kill individual in the vehicle in order to complete his initiation requirements. police departments across the nation are being warned. the gang’s intent is to have “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 1st auto that does a “courtesy” flash. please forward to all loved ones!”
[Writer’s note: I’d like to apologize to our lovely editors. The grammatical errors here needed to stay intact for the full 1990s email forward effect. The above was gathered by Snopes in 2010.]
Variants
Variants of this warning have supposedly been issued by countless police departments via email since the early 1990s. However, the Lights Out urban legend took root in the early 1980s spreading by word of mouth and sometimes faxes. Originally it was attributed to The Hells Angels biker gang, but this morphed into inner-city gangs by the 1990s.
Very little changes about the core details of this story. It’s always a person looking to join a gang that drives around with their lights off. And it’s always them chasing down the first person who flashes their headlights, a common courtesy among motorists, or at least until this legend started circulating.
The only major alterations here are which gang is involved and what police department issued the alert. While Bloods are a favorite, this warning has circulated about “Los Sangre” (which translates to “The Bloods” but the phrasing implies a different gang), Mara Salvatrucha, and Mara 18 (MS-18). This warning started in America but hopped over to Mexico, and became pervasive in both areas.
Some variants add details about these initiations being committed during a major event. Or “Blood Weekend” which sounds like the gang equivalent to fraternities’ hell week where new members are accepted en masse via the headlight method. But the ritual itself is unaltered, it’s always driving around with your headlights off and killing the first car that flashes you theirs.
We’ll get to the ever-changing police departments in a bit later.
Themes
It’s safe to say most people fear gang violence. Even those living several hundred miles from the nearest one have probably heard the horror stories. For those living in areas with violent gangs, this fear only intensifies. And we think it’s even safer to say most people don’t want to be shot to death.
This one is as straightforward as it seems since it’s not hard for the general public to imagine people whom they perceive as bloodthirsty criminals to be out there committing murder. Whether that belief is founded in fact or not.
Pop Culture
The biggest pop culture reference to this comes from the 1998 film “Urban Legend.” First mentioned by Sasha (Tara Reid) in the library as her reason for not warning anyone about anything while driving. Unfortunately, the second reference is impossible to discuss without spoiling the ending so WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD.
At the climax of the film Brenda (Rebecca Gayheart) is revealed to be the killer. Her motivation is to avenge the death of her high school sweetheart who was killed in a car accident. An accident caused by Natalie (Alicia Witt) and Michelle (Natasha Gregson Wagner) reenacting the Lights Out gang initiation. Their car chasing him panicked Brenda’s boyfriend so much that he accidentally crashed. Now, she holds the pair responsible for his death and decides to take Natalie’s kidney as penance. You know, along with all the murders before that.
Is it Real?
There was a claim that this happened to a Wisconsin man in October 2007. He was allegedly beaten up by three men when he pulled over because the car behind him kept flashing its lights. (Kind of like a hybrid with The Killer In The Backseat urban legend). According to his neighbors, he was beaten up elsewhere and decided to attach this fictitious story to explain the injuries. Police debunked his claim and he was charged with filing a false report.
Kelly Freed
The slaying of Kelly Freed by Adrian Guttierez and Carlos Ojeda in 1992 is the only case that we could find that resembles this tale. Freed was in her car with four friends following a double date in Stockton, CA. While headed southbound on Pacific Avenue, a car driven by Ojeda with Guttierez as a passenger pulled up behind them. Someone in Freed’s car noticed that their vehicle had its lights off despite being dark out. So they did what many drivers would have done, when the cars were side by side the passenger motioned at Ojeda that his headlights were off. For some reason, the pair took this as a sign of disrespect and chased the other car down into the parking lot of Mervyn’s department store.
Gutierrez then leaned out the window and fired a single shot from his M-11. The bullet hit Freed in the back, piercing her heart and exiting out of her chest. What happened to Freed is indisputably tragic, but it’s not a basis for this legend. There is no indication that Ojeda and Guttierez were intentionally driving with their headlights off, they didn’t wait for a car to flash them, and they weren’t joining a gang. Sadly, cases of out-of-control road rage aren’t uncommon and that seems to be what Freeds murder was. A misunderstanding that went horribly awry.
D.A.R.E. & Cops
The Lights Out urban legend often references being sent in partnership with Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.). However, the organization knows nothing about this. “This is ‘an old time scam’ and has no validity whatsoever,” Richard Mahan, D.A.R.E.’s Chief Operating Officer told Reuters via email. “Neither I nor my six regional directors and vice president of regional operations, each of whom is a retired law enforcement officer, has ever heard of a D.A.R.E. officer issuing such a warning to his/her classes or to members of their community.”
According to the National Gang Center; “…there were few, if any, recorded incidents of such behavior.” Several police departments have debunked claims that this warning was sent from them. Some versions are even credited to people who had never worked for these departments, so it couldn’t have come from them.
So dear reader this one is:
See you next month for another thrilling installment of Urban Legend: Fact or Fiction.
Print Sources Used:
- Genge, N.E. “On The Road.” Urban Legends: The As-Complete-As-One-Could-Be Guide to Modern Myths , Three Rivers Press, 2000, pp. 123.
- Brunvand, J. H. “Lights Out!” Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, W. W. Norton and Company, 2001, pp. 241-242.
- Brunvand, J. H. “Lights Out!” Too Good to be True: The colossal book of urban legends, W. W. Norton and Company, 2014, pp. 393-395.
- Brunvand, J. H. “Light Out!” Be Afraid Be Very Afraid, W. W. Norton and Company, 2004, pp. 196-198.
