Smurf Hysteria

[Ptarmigan]

It started with a local report of a gang called The Smurfs, made up of teenagers who committed petty crimes in January of 1983. Then it became a hysteria to a point that kids would not go to school. I wonder if anyone here would remember it?

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=9555

http://books.google.com/books?id=MO-TWKwyE...1&ct=result

Edited July 13, 2008 by Ptarmigan

[sheeats]

...spreaded?

The only thing I remember about Smurfs from 1983 is that I had a full set of Smurfs sheets and pillowcases, and refused to go to summer camp without them.

[Ptarmigan]

...spreaded?

The only thing I remember about Smurfs from 1983 is that I had a full set of Smurfs sheets and pillowcases, and refused to go to summer camp without them.

Must of been just confined to a few middle schools at most.

[jetbeetle]

I went to Park View in Pasadena and spent part of my 8th grade at Stovall in Houston and I remember the whole thing. People were actually scared about going to school because this gang was supposed to show up and kill kids and teachers. A friend of mine brought a knife and hid it in his bike in case the Smurfs tried to grab him while he made his escape. It's pretty funny now.

[andyzipp]

I went to junior high at St. Ambrose School, on Mangum. The Smurfs were supposedly coming from Scarborough HS "any day" to "get us".

My parents made me go to school anyway.

[jetbeetle]

I remember the rumors as to WHY they wanted to off everyone were all over the place -- one was that their leader Papa Smurf was killed and they wanted revenge against the community

[MidtownCoog]

It started with a local report of a gang called The Smurfs, made up of teenagers who committed petty crimes in January of 1983. Then it became a hysteria to a point that kids would not go to school. I wonder if anyone here would remember it?

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=9555

http://books.google.com/books?id=MO-TWKwyE...1&ct=result

Forgotten, but remembered...

Good one! I was in 7th grade. One day they were supposed to show up.

Our Smurfs were black. Can't remember what school they were going to come from, but it was somewhere off Almeda.

[cowboybud]

Yes! I was in high school at the time (Aldine), but I remember the rumors.

[Poppahop]

I heard the Smurfs were from Willowridge

[Vertigo58]

If they got stabbed or shot did they ooze out blue blood?

Is this what they looked like?

OR THIS?

Edited July 14, 2008 by Vertigo58

[memebag]

I call BS. There's no way middle school students beleived Smurfs were real.

[gonzo1976]

I remember hearing about this on the last day of kindergarten or first grade. Definitely 1983. I went to Carmichael Elem. in Aldine district.

[Vertigo58]

Just when you thought you heard everything!

Houston Press says it happened. Hairballs indeed!

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...fs_attacked.php

[Ptarmigan]

Just when you thought you heard everything!

Houston Press says it happened. Hairballs indeed!

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...fs_attacked.php

I just read the article and they mention about this hysteria in Wikipedia, by citing the article you linked.

[Talbot]

lmao, wow! Who would have ever thought.

[MadMax]

Absolutely! I went to elementary school in SBISD in 1983, and I can tell you we talked about the Smurf Gang quite a bit. As I remember it, the rumor was that they were waiting for kids to go to the bathroom alone to kill them. Yikes.

Was this really only limited to Houston? I assumed this was like a common, goofy urban legend.

[Ptarmigan]

Absolutely! I went to elementary school in SBISD in 1983, and I can tell you we talked about the Smurf Gang quite a bit. As I remember it, the rumor was that they were waiting for kids to go to the bathroom alone to kill them. Yikes.

Was this really only limited to Houston? I assumed this was like a common, goofy urban legend.

From what I have read, it was confined to Houston area only.

[Anjie0301]

Omg, I remember this crap !

I went to Cullen Middle School from '84-'87 and I was standing outside waiting for my dad to pick me up after school. I heard some kids yelling about the Smurf Gang! lmao. I wasn't the least bit frightened because it was just so silly sounding.

My school even sent a letter home to the parents about it.....to which my mom laughed as well.

From what I remember, the Smurf Gang was either from another middle school or something. God I feel old now.

[macksfischer]

I went to Arnold Jr. High in 1983 and remember the hysteria hitting the CyFair community then too. My parents still made me go to school, despite the rumor that some gang called The Smurfs was going to decapitate kids at any given school. I know it sounds silly now...but today our reality is that kids really do kill kids in schools....they don't have to call themselves "smurfs" or be affiliated with any gang to do it either. Sick. And sad.

[IronTiger]

I call BS. There's no way middle school students beleived Smurfs were real.

Yeah, my opinions (or the truth) are that they actually didn't believe they were real, there was just a gang named the Smurfs which made everything the more ridiculous.

If you choke a smurf, what color does it turn?

[CHiPs]

It started with a local report of a gang called The Smurfs, made up of teenagers who committed petty crimes in January of 1983. Then it became a hysteria to a point that kids would not go to school. I wonder if anyone here would remember it?

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=9555

http://books.google.com/books?id=MO-TWKwyE...1&ct=result

I remember. I may have been in the 6th grade at Jackson Middle School when I heard these rumors. I'd admit I was a bit nervous, but still went to school.

Edited August 15, 2008 by CHiPs

[goastros]

The rumor definitely made it to my school. I went to Galena Park Middle School and High School. I don't think we ever knew where they were coming from, just that they were going to kill us all.

[pdmalek]

The rumor definitely made it to my school. I went to Galena Park Middle School and High School. I don't think we ever knew where they were coming from, just that they were going to kill us all.

I was in 9th grade Deady Junior School at the time and do remember hearing about it but I don't recall anyone not come to school....

[MidtownCoog]

I was in 9th grade Deady Junior School at the time and do remember hearing about it but I don't recall anyone not come to school....

How funny. I went to Thompson Intermediate (PISD) and our Smurfs were supposed to come from Deady!

[KristinDaugherty]

I was at Dulles in Sugar Land 1983-86, and don't recall this.

But a gang that wants to be perceived as tough enough to kill, calling itself the Smurfs? Come ON!

[jmancuso]

holy crap, i remember that. was in the third grade at field elementary in the heights. people were really petrified then.

[djrage]

holy crap, i remember that. was in the third grade at field elementary in the heights. people were really petrified then.

I remember this also when I went Hartman Middle School in 83. The threat at my school was if you were spotted by one of them wearing anything blue, you'd get beat up.

One time there was a claim that one of the Smurfs called in a bomb threat and the school had to be evacuated.

Edited September 25, 2008 by djrage

[Ptarmigan]

I was at Dulles in Sugar Land 1983-86, and don't recall this.

But a gang that wants to be perceived as tough enough to kill, calling itself the Smurfs? Come ON!

It mostly affected elementary and middle schools in the Spring of 1983. Some people I know do not remember it all, while others do and called it the "mother of all rumors". It was largely forgotten because that same year Hurricane Alicia came crashing in.

[ClubQBall]

I grew up in Ft. Bend County and went to both Mo. City Jr. High and Willowridge High School during the heyday of the so-called Smurf "gangwar". 1981-1984 (Mo. City Jr. High) and 1984-1988 (Willowridge)

Yes, the Smurfs were out of Willowridge; matter of fact, I had several childhood friends back then that were part of the Smurfs. However, all the hysteria and hype was just exactly that - hysteria and hype. Yeah, it was a gang; no doubt about that, but the Smurfs weren't the killers all the rumors made them out to be.

They were a bunch of 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 year old juvenile delinquent committing petty crimes across southwest Houston, primarily in the Fort Bend school district and part of southwest HISD (Madison, etc.) I think the furthest north that the Smurfs ventured was in the Meyerland area and then back across to 3rd, 4th, and 5th Wards back down to Almeda Rd and 288.

The older crew that the Smurfs patterened themselves after (the blue color) was Fort Bend's own chapter of the notorious L.A. gang, The Crips. Crack, prostitution, petty thievery, and gang violence were just starting to become prevalent out in Ft. Bend right about the time I started Willowridge as a freshman, so naturally these knuckleheads wanted to act like bad-a**es and imitate one of the most notrious gangs in the U.S.

The Smurfs dissolved right around 1986 - 1987; I was in between my sophomore and junior years and I can remember hearing the main principle at Willowridge (the late Ed Glover) talking about the gang having been disbanded by the Ft. Bend Sheriff's Department.

Needless hype and hysteria over a bunch of ignorant juvenile delinquents.

[GBryant]

I can confirm that the rumor lived on until at least 1989. That year, I was a seventh grader at Holub Middle School in Alief and remember hearing tales of an ultra-violent gang in the area that called themselves the Smurfs. I thought it was a stupid name, but I didn't question the necessity of my being deathly afraid of them.