Suicide of Gleb Korablyov
Gleb Korablyov | |
|---|---|
| Глеб Кораблёв | |
 Korablyov during a still from live broadcast shortly before his suicide. | |
| Born | September 13, 2001 |
| Died | October 17, 2019 (aged 18) Moscow, Russia |
Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot wound to the head. |
Burial place | Kotlyakovskoye Cemetery |
| Education | Moscow Aviation Institute |
| Occupation | Student |
On October 17, 2019, Gleb Korablyov, an 18-year-old Russian student at Moscow Aviation Institute, took his own life during a live broadcast on the social network VKontakte by shooting himself with a Saiga-12 shotgun.[1]
A video recording of this broadcast went viral after it was posted under the title "1444" on the GORE YouTube channel that same day; it spread widely online as a shocking video and gained notoriety among Spanish-speaking users.[2] The video remained on the platform for several hours before moderators removed it.[3] This video spawned numerous internet memes and an urban legend on social media, primarily because it is believed to be associated with a curse: according to rumors, the video compels viewers to take their own lives within 24 hours.[3][4] Those who decide to watch it are given a special warning: if they watch the video, they will be cursed, which, it is claimed, can only be lifted by stating the date they watched it in the comments.[5]
Background
[edit]Gleb Vyacheslavovich Korablyov (Russian: Глеб Вячеславович Кораблёв) was born on September 13, 2001; he attended Lyceum No. 654 in Moscow, and after graduating from the lyceum, he enrolled at Moscow Aviation Institute.[6] He had an interest in stage acting, theater, and poetry.
Suicide and traction online
[edit]On October 17, 2019, Korablyov started a live stream on his VKontakte (VK) page. Sitting on a couch with a semi-automatic shotgun, Korablyov spent the final moments of the broadcast talking to the camera, eventually telling a friend named Nikita not to immediately notify his parents of his death. Immediately after, Korablyov muttered his final words: "Как там говорится? О, точно. Ня, пока!", which translates to "How does the saying go? Oh, exactly. Nya, bye!" It is known that the same phrase "ня.пока.", which translates to "nya.bye", was used in her pre-death post by Ussuriysk student Renata Kambolina, who took her own life in 2015 after posting a selfie with that exact caption. Her last photo and final post had indirectly sparked a wave of romanticisation of suicide. He may have deliberately and intentionally referenced her words, after which he shoots himself in the head with a carbine.[2][7][8]
Several sources claim that the original recording is 2 hours long,[9] though the widely circulated clip showed only his final words and the act of suicide itself.[5] It was reported that the video was originally uploaded to Facebook, downloaded from there, and then uploaded to YouTube. The video was posted under the title "1444" on the GORE YouTube channel and garnered over 151,000 views,[2][10] remaining on the platform for about 16 hours before moderators removed it and blocked the channel.[3] Several versions of the video were uploaded to other YouTube channels and social media platforms under various titles, many of which included "video 1444" or "1444" in one of the versions to bypass removal filters.[3] This avoids using words like "suicide" in the title or description, which prevented YouTube's moderators from detecting it immediately.[8] According to another explanation for the video's title in a now-deleted Reddit thread, it was claimed that the original metadata for the video on a little-known Russian gore website — where it first appeared — contained the timestamp 14:44 in the file name.[3]
On the same day, the video was posted on the Telegram channel and VK group "Bad News 18+." Later, other Russian Telegram channels also posted it.[10] On October 20, 2019, the video gained further traction thanks to discussions on social media. Rumors circulated among Spanish-speaking internet users that the video had allegedly been "cursed by its original creator on the dark web," and that "the curse could be lifted from the viewer only by leaving a comment on the video with the date it was viewed".[5]
Possible reasons for suicide
[edit]The exact reason for his actions is unknown. The most commonly cited unofficial explanation is depression or a serious heart condition, which, according to some reports, was incurable. Beginning on October 17, several threads were posted on the Russian imageboard "Dvach" seeking information about the deceased.
Aftermath
[edit]Urban legend and cursed status
[edit]
This video has spawned numerous internet memes and an urban legend on social media, primarily because it is believed to be associated with a curse.[4] According to rumors, the video compels viewers to take their own lives within 24 hours.[3] Those who decide to watch it are given a special warning: if they watch the video, they will be cursed, which, it is claimed, can only be lifted by stating the date they watched it in the comments.[5]
On October 20, 2019, the ReignBot channel, which focuses on online investigations, released a report on this video and its "cursed" status. As of October, 2026, the video had garnered over 1,5 million views. On the same day, October 20, 2019, Argentine YouTube commentator and musician Magnus Mefisto also created a video about this video; as of November, 2019, his video had over 8 million views.[2]
This viral phenomenon gained widespread attention in the Spanish-speaking segment of the internet and was covered by many YouTubers, including popular creators such as El Rincón de Giorgo[2] and DrossRotzank.[11] In his video, DrossRotzank summarized the information available at the time from forums and social media; according to him, the footage was filmed in Russia — a conclusion he drew based on the last words heard on the recording before the suicide, as well as the model of the weapon and the T-shirt worn by the individual.[4] His video did not contain scenes from the viral livestream recording, but was nonetheless blocked by YouTube.[12] Subsequently, DrossRotzank mocked and criticized the platform's owners in harsh terms, accusing YouTube of penalizing channels and removing videos for covered this story.[2][12]
Website Snopes.com investigated the claim that users who watched videos with dates that did not match the viewing date would die within 24 hours and found no confirmed deaths linked to the videos.[3] American folklorist Trevor Blank, who studies the cycles of digital culture, classified the 1444 curse as a "secondary attachment" — a narrative of a curse that arises around already traumatic content as a way for viewers to collectively process the shock.[3]
Don't Google
[edit]Since early December 2019, the video has been a popular topic for "Don't Google" posts on TikTok, in which users were encouraged to search for the livestream recording online. According to Google Trends, search queries for the terms "video 1444" and "1444" peaked on October 19–20, 2019. In December, these search queries saw a sharp increase in popularity due to the spread of "Don't Google" posts on TikTok.[2]
YouTube's response
[edit]After the video went viral, YouTube officially stated to several media outlets that the content violated the Community Guidelines regarding graphic violence and mutilation, and was therefore removed. The platform also imposed temporary restrictions on searches for "video 1444" — autocomplete and standard search became unavailable. Nevertheless, copies of the video continued to appear on Reddit, 4chan, VKontakte, and the imageboard Dvach, where content moderation is slower or nonexistent.[3]
This scenario mirrors earlier cases involving the removal of similar graphic material — the 2020 livestream of Ronnie McNutt's suicide and the 2007 "3 Guys 1 Hammer" video of a murder committed by the Dnepropetrovsk maniacs. Once a file has been copied across multiple platforms, its complete removal becomes virtually impossible; only the degree of searchability changes.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "«Это не шок-контент, это реальность»" ["This is not shock content, this is reality"]. takiedela.live (in Russian). Retrieved 2026-09-18.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Video 1444". Know Your Meme. 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "1444, the truth about the cursed video that has been removed from YouTube". Infinity Explorers. 2019-10-25. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
- 1 2 3 "'Video 1444': origen de la grabación, identidad del protagonista y otros creepypastas virales [VIDEO]". larepublica.pe (in Spanish). 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 1 2 3 4 Campbell, Nakeisha (2019-12-10). "What Is Video 1444? An Explanation of the Viral "Cursed" Video". Distractify. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
- ↑ "Quién es el joven del video 1444, prohibido en redes sociales". Vanguardia (in Mexican Spanish). 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
- ↑ "Video 1444: The viral video YouTube doesn't want you to see". gentside.co.uk. 2019-10-23. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
- 1 2 Araújo, Santi (2019-10-22). ""Vídeo maldito" o falso: por qué tanta gente está buscando y hablando del "vídeo 1444" en YouTube". Genbeta (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-09-08.
- ↑ Hernández, Camilo (2019-10-24). "¿Qué son y por qué no debe ver los videos '1444' y '1777'?". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-09-08.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 1 2 "What Is Video 1444 Of Gleb Korablyov As It Goes Viral On Twitter And TikTok". The SportsGrail. 2022-12-07. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
- ↑ "¿Ya viste el video 1444? Aquí te dejamos el terrorífico viral que fue censurado por poseer una 'maldición' [VIDEO]". larepublica.pe (in Spanish). 2019-10-20. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 1 2 "Dross insulta a YouTube porque le borraron su reseña del terrorífico video 1444 [VIDEO]". larepublica.pe (in Spanish). 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Further reading
[edit]- Srivastava, Ansh (2026-05-16). "1444, the truth about the cursed video that has been removed from YouTube". Infinity Explorers. Archived from the original on 2026-09-05.
- "¿Viste el video 1444? Descubre la historia del viral censurado que tiene una supuesta maldición". La República (in Spanish). 2019-10-20.
- Hernández, Camilo (2019-10-24). "¿Qué son y por qué no debe ver los videos '1444' y '1777'?". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2020-11-29.
External links
[edit]