Police and schools in England have reportedly warned parents about videos on a dark character that their children may be watching without their knowledge.
"Huggy Wuggy" is a character in 2021 horror video game Poppy Playtime but the character has been starring in popular fan videos shared across TikTok and YouTube. The character appears to escape parents' attention, who assume nothing sinister from the name. One popular YouTube edit even features the character in a scene from children's TV show Peppa Pig.
@_m.o.n_a.n.i.m.e_ the way he crawls in vents 😳😳🧸🥶 #poppyplaytime #huggywuggy #scary #creepypasta #horrorgame #huggy #poppyplaytimechapter1 #creepy #huggywuggyedit
♬ Disaster - KSLV Noh
Poppy Playtime was created by MOB Games and is a horror survival game. Huggy Wuggy is one of the main villains and appears as a furry blue monster with razor sharp teeth.
According to police and schools alike, a concerning number of children of young ages have been watching videos featuring the character, including some pretty dark scenes.
A Dorset Police spokesperson told Dorset Live: "The blue bear-like character has long arms and rows of razor sharp teeth.
"Set in an abandoned toy factory, Huggy is a villain in the game who stalks the players from vents and unreachable places. Videos of the game are available to watch on YouTube, with other clips dedicated to Huggy in songs.
"One song includes the lyrics 'I could hug you here forever, till you breathe your last breath together.'"
Chris Conroy, Cyber Protection Officer for Dorset Police said: "There are videos people have made, songs people have made, and it's popping up all over YouTube and TikTok using this quite graphic imagery of this bear-like character with razor-sharp teeth. It's based around jump scares and things you certainly wouldn't want children exposed to."
Conroy added: "If you were to use even YouTube kids for example, it may slip through because there is nothing obviously sinister about the name of the video. It really comes down to paying attention to what your children are doing and making sure they are not just trusting YouTube Kids videos are safe because unfortunately with videos like this, things do slip through the cracks."
Police also said children are recreating scenes from the video game in the playground, hugging one another before whispering Huggy Wuggy's dark lines to each other.
Parents voiced concern after discovering their children had been watching the videos online without their knowing.
"All the children are talking about it and showing each other these videos, it's become a bit of a craze that is getting really popular," said one parent. "It's extremely concerning because this character is really sinister and frankly terrifying. It's almost becoming the online version of that Killer Clown craze."
Another added: "I believe it's accessible on Youtube and it's really frightening that this Huggy Wuggy has snuck in under my radar as a parent and infiltrated my child's mind without me even being aware. Now I feel really silly for not listening more intently to what my son was telling me and realizing the violence this character portrays.
"Kids want to play the games of Huggy Wuggy, they are talking about it in the playground. It's really frightening, as a lot of parents will be oblivious to this level of violence our children are being exposed to.
"We need help and awareness because it's scary how it goes under radar. I think I'm pretty conscious of what I let [my son] get exposed to but when it happens in conversations in the playground, I think parents and schools need to be more vigilant."
Update 04/05/22, 11:13 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a video.
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