All Shayla Wiggins wanted to do was find a water Pokémon. Instead, she discovered something way more disturbing.
As you may already know, Pokémon Go encourages players to go outside to find monsters “located” in the real world (it is an augmented reality game ). As originally reported by County 10, Wiggins, a Pokémon fan, went on a walk toward a river in Riverton, Wyoming this morning, hoping to find a critter from “a natural water resource.” As she got closer to the river, she noticed something was actually floating in the water. When she went in for a closer look, she realized it was a body.
“It was pretty shocking,” Wiggins said. “I didn’t really know what to do at first. But I called 911 right away and they came really quickly.”
Kotaku contacted the Fremont County Sherriff’s office, who confirmed that the authorities were investigating the death of an adult male “discovered by a local resident who was walking in the area” near a river. Additionally, Wiggins’ mother, Shawna, also confirmed to us that this incredible story was true.
“[Shayla] was upset at first [she is] better now!,” Shawna said.
Right now, the authorities are still trying to identify the body, though they note that “there is no evidence of foul play” as the death “appears to be accidental in nature.”
Damn. Many people joked that something like this would happen, and there were even fake news articles to this effect right after Go was released. Even so, Wiggins’ story is still shocking—and this is week one of Pokémon Go, people.
Kotaku cannot confirm whether or not Wiggins captured the water Pokémon she was originally looking for.
UPDATE 7:18 PM: Speaking to Kotaku, Shayla says that she did not capture the water Pokemon that she was after, because she stopped playing to call the police. “[The police] didn’t really know what [Pokemon Go] was. They’re were just like ‘okay,’” Shayla said. “I was like, extremely scared, I didn’t know what to do…I was shaking and crying,” Shayla said. While she feels better now, Shayla says that she hasn’t gotten a chance to play much more of Pokémon Go.