A Brief History Of Black Friday
Violence and Stampedes
Somewhere around the 2000s, Black Friday made the shift from “general pandemonium” into “yearly catalyst for violence,” thanks to stampeding crowds and frantic shoppers. There are lots of incidents on record that involve things like pepper spray and the shoving of the elderly (Wikipedia has a terrifying list an Buzzfeed has video, if you’re so inclined), but the worst and most tragic took place in 2008, when a 34-year-old Wal-Mart temp was trampled to death while opening the store to shoppers. Even after the incident, police had trouble actually getting to the man because people refused to interrupt their shopping in any way. Everything is terrible.