The Most Horrifying Displays of Human Behavior From Past Black Fridays

Greed, frustration, and exhaustion all play a role in how people behave during major holiday sales. From fights to stampedes and robberies to hoarding, people do unimaginable things when there is a substantial holiday sale or a popular item that's selling out faster than expected. Explore 14 of the worst displays of human behavior from past Black Fridays. These real-life Black Friday events are in chronological order. (Also, read "The Curious History Behind the American Shopping Mall" before you head out shopping this season.)

This is the earliest example of upsetting human behavior from past Black Fridays. When Coleco released the Cabbage Patch Kids line of dolls, people became desperate to get their hands on them. There were reports of customers beating, fighting, and trampling each other to get a doll. A shopper in a Pennsylvania Zayre's Department Store suffered a broken leg and three broken ribs when she was trampled.

• Year: 1983
• Outcome: Increased production led to better supply and the craze faded out.

Any parent looking for a Tickle Me Elmo doll struggled for the 1996 holiday season. A Canadian Walmart only received 48 dolls for its Black Friday sale, which was problematic given its popularity. As workers walked through to add dolls to the Black Friday display, a crowd of 300 shoppers rushed them and trampled one employee. Some successful purchasers turned around and sold the toy for about 30 times the MSRP to desperate parents.

• Year: 1996
• Outcome: Like Cabbage Patch Kids, once the supply increased, the Elmo doll fizzled in popularity.

An elderly woman joined her daughters on a holiday shopping trip to BrandsMart USA in Sawgrass Mills shopping mall in Sunrise, Florida. They'd set their sights on the Black Friday electronics deals but ended up seeking medical care. When the mob outside crowded the entrance as the doors opened, she was pushed over and trampled. Dozens of others were pinned to walls as the horde advanced.

• Year: 2005
• Outcome: She escaped the crowd and received medical care while her daughters called the police.

The release of the talking Gremlin-like Furby doll in 1998 reached a critical point on Black Friday when a Florida Walmart had hundreds of shoppers fight over the toys they'd received. Like Tickle Me Elmo, Furbies started popping up online for far more than the MSRP. A year after the Black Friday crowds, the NSA banned the toys from several military establishments after determining them to be a threat to national security as a recording device.

• Year: 1998
• Outcome: Furbies at varying price ranges are still available today.

This is the worst example of horrific behavior from past Black Fridays. Over 200 shoppers trampled a Walmart maintenance worker as he opened the doors to the Long Island store. The 34-year-old was trampled to death. Another four shoppers were injured as the mob of 2,000 people outside the store pushed to be the first inside.

• Year: 2008
• Outcome: Walmart was fined $7,000 and paid the family and other victims $400,000.

A Target in Buffalo, New York, ended up calling an ambulance for a man caught up in a crowd of shoppers pushing their way into the store for the holiday sales. Once he was on the ground, the mob simply kept pushing onward, leaving him screaming.

• Year: 2010
• Outcome: Once his screams were heard, store officials rushed to help him and get the crowd under control.

The desire to get a Black Friday Xbox 360 deal led one woman to spray almost two dozen shoppers in a California Walmart. She was determined to get a game console for her family and assaulted 14 people. Another 10 people were exposed to the pepper spray as it spread through the air.

• Year: 2011
• Outcome: The Los Angeles District Attorney's office opted not to charge the woman with a felony after she turned herself in. Her case was referred to the Los Angeles City Attorney's office for misdemeanor charges.

Similar to the last story, an off-duty officer in North Carolina needed a way to keep eager shoppers under control. He decided to use pepper spray, which sent an asthmatic child to the ER. Another 19 people were injured in this event.

• Year: 2011
• Outcome: A man was arrested for causing a fight that led to the use of pepper spray.

In a West Virginia Target, a 61-year-old pharmacist was among shoppers looking for deals in Target. When he collapsed, many shoppers stepped over him and kept shopping. Some nurses who happened to be shopping helped him until paramedics arrived.

• Year: 2011
• Outcome: EMTs were unable to save him.

Four men robbed the Springfield Avenue Target in Union, New Jersey, on the busiest holiday shopping day of the year. While one man posed as a lookout and another waited in the getaway car, two others robbed the employees at gunpoint. They stole over $50,000 in Black Friday sales.

• Year: 2012
• Outcome: All four men went to prison for up to 13 years and were ordered to pay back the money they stole.

Two men got into a physical fight over a parking space in Claypool Hill, West Virginia. One man pulled out a knife as the other began punching him. He slashed his assaulter in the arm, exposing bone.

• Year: 2013
• Outcome: Both men were arrested.

The small talking toys that hatched from a plastic egg were insanely popular when they came out. Resellers purchased these toys and jacked up the price by as much as 10 times the MSRP. Some blame consumerism on the high resale price, while parents blame greedy resellers. It's a situation that a popular author labeled "Hatchimal-Gate" after she was caught reselling over 150 toys online and received death threats. Retailers also added limits on how many toys a seller could sell online, so she was unable to make that money back.

• Year: 2016
• Outcome: Hatchimals are still around today, with a line of small and large eggs, animals, and accessories.

Some might call this ingenious but to a family desperately trying to get their hands on a PS5, it was a frustrating show of greed. One man waited 36 hours to be first in line for one of four Xbox game consoles being sold on Black Friday. He purchased one and admitted he was planning to turn around and sell it to someone willing to pay him at least $300 more than the MSRP.

• Year: 2020
• Outcome: Unknown

Convicted felon Romeo Kevante Pride went into the Streets at Southpoint Mall intending to rob shoppers using a handgun. Another shopper pulled his gun and the men exchanged shots. Both Pride and two bystanders, including a child, were hit by ricocheting bullets.

• Year: 2021
• Outcome: Pride was sentenced to 110 months in prison and ordered to pay a $100 fine. The other shopper was charged with carrying a concealed weapon.