Parents across Britain are being warned to stop their children watching terrifying TikTok videos of a creepy killer teddy bear named ‘Huggy Wuggy’.
The warning comes after Dorset police reported that Year 1 children had been seen acting out the razor-toothed bear’s actions in the school playground.
In the TikTok videos, the blue bear-like character sings about ‘hugging and killing’ and invites viewers to ‘take their last breath’.
It has been compared to the Killer Clown craze, which swept across the country a few years back.
Police have issued a warning to parents over a character called ‘Huggy Wuggy’ (pictured), who may appear to be friendly but sings about ‘hugging and killing’ in videos seen by children as young as six
The razor-toothed bear first appeared as a major antagonist in the 2021 horror video game Poppy Playtime
The ‘killer clown’ craze spread across the UK in 2016, where pranksters or criminals dressed as clowns try to scare innocent bystanders
Children are said to be traumatised by the TikTok videos, which started as a puzzle game that sees villain Huggy stalking players in a toy factory.
The puzzle game can also be found on YouTube as well as Roblox but has no age rating meaning content is unfiltered.
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 Tik Tok 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.
‘If you were to use even YouTube kids for example, it may slip through because there is nothing obviously sinister about the name of a video.’
A headteacher of a school said she has seen young children ‘hugging and whispering nasty things’ to each other and is encouraging parents to be vigilant about what their kids are watching (stock photo)
One chilling line says ‘I could hug you here forever, till you breathe your last breath together.’
It continues ‘My teeth sharp and ready, in my grasp, yeah they’re deadly.’
The blue bear also invites people to ‘lean in for a spine-breaking embrace’.
Mum-of-two Rhia Fearn said she at first thought the bear was harmless when her five-year-old son asked her about it due to the name.
The 35-year-old, from Etwall, Derbyshire, said ‘I was asking him questions about whether he was a goodie, and he was adamant “no he’s a baddie and he kills people”.
‘That was really contradictory for me because I thought “that can’t be right – he’s called Huggy Wuggy”.
‘He said children at school had been talking about it and one of his friends has been watching it.
‘He told me Huggy Wuggy kills everyone he meets and he’s not nice, he’s a baddie and he’s very mean.
‘I believe its 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.
‘It’s really frightening as a lot of parents will be oblivious to this level of violence our children are being exposed to.’
The character Momo (pictured) left young schoolchildren scared, when it went viral in 2019. The Momo challenge reported that children and adolescents were being enticed to perform a series of dangerous tasks by Momo
In 2019 a viral ‘Momo challenge’ led to Warnings that children were being encouraged to kill themselves or commit violent acts after receiving messages on messaging service WhatsApp from users with a profile picture of a distorted image of woman with bulging eyes.
Though charities like the Samaritans and the NSPCC dismissed the claims as a malicious hoax, saying that while there is no evidence that the Momo challenge has caused any harm itself.
Though the ensuing media hysteria could have put vulnerable people at risk by encouraging them to think of self-harm.
Justine Brown, headteacher at Deal Parochial Church of England Primary School in Walmer, Kent, has also warned parents to stay vigilant.
She said ‘We are seeing children recreating a game on the playground with hugging and whispering nasty things.
‘It is a very deceiving character, as hugs should be seen as something kind and loving, and because of its cute name, it can infiltrate firewalls and filters.
‘Please be vigilant about what your children are watching.’
Dorset Police said ‘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 are 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.’