Reports claiming that a man, armed with a chainsaw, killed seven guests at a Los Angeles haunted house is nothing but a halloween hoax.
The story stated that the video, which accompanies it, shows a man killing seven people with a chainsaw in a haunted LA house. However, the video does not show any such thing, except a man wielding a chainsaw. However, hundreds watched the clip, after being fooled by the reports.
The 'news' had created quite a buzz on social media, and the video went viral.
However, it has now emerged that the story was fake and was only an attempt to gain traction. With Halloween 2014 falling on 31 October, the story attempts to cash in on the craze for movies such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and also the fad for visiting haunted houses.
The story even pinned the blame on a Hispanic male - Luis Ortega, 26. It also carried an eyewitness account, which stated:
"I've been to this haunted house before, actually last year. They had people throughout the haunted house with fake chainsaws. So when I saw it, I got scared, but never thought it was real until he attacked the first victim."
The hoax was started by Daily Buzz Live, which carries a disclaimer, stating that the stories on the website are for "entertainment purposes only", and that while some stories may be "inspired by real news events", they are "complete fiction".
Though the chainsaw massacre story - involving the killing of the seven guests in the haunted house - is a complete lie, the video circulating on the web is real. The clip used in the story was taken from an August 2011 incident, involving a drunk 24-year-old man named Dean Dinnen at a pub in England.
"A 24-year-old man has been jailed for three years after pleading guilty to attacking customers in a Hull pub with a chainsaw. Dean Dinnen launched the assault at the Endyke public house, north Hull in August 2011, after being thrown out for smoking on the premises," a BBC report had stated back then.
Meanwhile, many took to Twitter to express their opinion on the chainsaw massacre incident.
@JenaBasile expressed her disbelief over the incident, stating: "7 people were killed in a Texas chainsaw massacre themed haunted house in Cali, because a random guy went in there with a chainsaw WTF."
@ShottaDook noted in a matter of fact tone: "So a man goes into a Texas Chainsaw Massacre themed haunted house... and chainsaw massacre'd 7 people."
@mberasing stood out with her post: "there is a guy in tennessee that is doing a chainsaw massacre haunted house but actually killing the people such a good idea."
