This essay is a record of the history of, and various unfortunate events and incidents related to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a series of family-oriented restaurants featuring games and a cast of animatronic mascots. Over the last forty years, multiple children and employees have been either seriously injured or murdered; in the latter’s case, each victim was never found. Though Fazbear Entertainment, the company that owns the chain, is the name known to the general public, the very first incident had taken place at a smaller location called Fredbear’s Family Diner, which was subsequently sold and rebranded as the aforementioned company.

Fredbear’s Family Diner was a semi-successful family eatery, established in the early 1970s. During its time of operation, it became the heart of the town in which it resided, and attracted people of all ages with its charm and family-friendly fun. Its mascot was the eponymous Fredbear, an animatronic of rudimentary design. He was programmed to deliver cupcakes to children on a set path, a groundbreaking technological feat at the time. This technology, coupled with the quality of service, made Fredbear’s Family Diner a truly magical place for both its young and adult audiences. Unfortunately, that favor took a severe hit just a few months after it opened, when a young child was murdered outside the building. It is believed that he had taken a wrong turn and found himself outside, and hours later was found dead from his wounds. There was not enough evidence at the scene to suspect anybody of this crime.

After the murder, one of the attractions, a puppet, began moving in ways its supporting beams were not programmed to do. Employees passed this off as a simple coincidence, citing that they had not even paid attention to the “normal” movements anyway, and were unfit to judge whether it was defective or not. One month later, the restaurant abruptly closed down due to negative publicity, and the rights to the name and characters were sold discreetly. A few years went by with no news, and by fall of 1976, a new company, Fazbear Entertainment, had emerged with news of its new pizzeria, set to open in the coming year.

The grand opening of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in 1977 was not-so-grand, but it slowly began to pick up steam as word was spread of its charm, and within months, it had spawned at least one sister location. It initially introduced two characters: Freddy Fazbear (successor to Fredbear) and Bonnie the Bunny. The suits used for these characters were multi-purpose. When set in animatronic mode, they were fitted with an endoskeleton and held on with inward-protruding parts that collapsed around it. This restricted the characters to a set path. When in suit mode, the employees could take turns wearing it, allowing more freedom for performance. However, this method was also rather dangerous as the mechanisms that held the suit onto the animatronic were pulled outward via hand crank and fastened onto the exterior by spring locks. This arrangement was considerably unstable and, ultimately, these suits proved fatal to two employees at another location, and were discontinued soon afterward, having been replaced by suits exclusively for use by employees. The spring suits were then kept in storage rooms built into each establishment, invisible to animatronics and not laid out on floor plans.

In the next year, development took place on more advanced animatronics. The summer after the spring suit incident, brand new animatronics were unveiled at the main pizzeria, and the others were shut down. Freddy and Bonnie returned, and new characters Chica the Chicken, and Foxy the Pirate Fox were introduced. Together, they formed a band that performed for the children, as the first fully-autonomous animatronic robots released to the public. There is still speculation today as to how these robots were developed, but the general consensus is that Fazbear Entertainment was owned by someone with a lot of money, and therefore, a hand in anything they could possibly want, including robotics research and development.

A short time into the new animatronics’ tenure, employees present after-hours reported strange sightings to the manager, including silhouettes of the two of the characters, Freddy and Bonnie, and a thin figure with a white face, which matched the description of the puppet that had not been seen or mentioned since Fredbear’s was in business. Strange noises were also reported, though these could easily have been attributed to the existing animatronics, who were set to a roaming mode at night in order to keep their servo motors from locking up. Over the next year, the pizzeria, despite these anomalous appearances, was held in high regard among the frequent customers and media.

On June 26, 1979, security surveillance captured footage of a man dressed in an oddly-colored Bonnie costume, luring two children into one of the security camera’s blind spots. Shortly afterward, the same man, sans mask, was recorded leaving the building without them. On the morning of June 27, this footage was analyzed by the local police department and the perpetrator was seemingly identified. Upon the suspect’s arrest, the police and company staff checked the safe room, only to find it completely empty. In the coming weeks, up to five children were linked to this event, rather than just the two that were captured in the camera’s feed. The children were then presumed dead, and the bodies were never found.

Prompted by the recent murder, company policy made it absolutely mandatory that at least one security employee must be present throughout the night in order to prevent such an event from happening again. In addition to the infrequent, yet continuing, reports of silhouettes via security feed, employees began to notice that the animatronics had begun acting differently at night. Weird activities included entering the halls near the security office, opening doors they didn’t usually open, and staring into the cameras. Over time, the animatronics became more aggressive, and some even tried to force entry into the office. This behavior coincided with daytime reports of a foul stench coming from the animatronics, which worsened over time according to many, culminating in customer complaints about traces of what appeared to be blood and mucus beginning to show on the eyes and mouths of each suit.

The local health department’s threats to shut the establishment down were key in Fazbear Entertainment’s efforts to clean up the place, starting with their animatronics. In the coming years, complaints drastically decreased and public relations generally found themselves more positive. Unfortunately, Freddy’s would never reach the heights of local fame it once held, and in the winter of 1983, after years of financial strife, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza closed its doors. No buyers had willed themselves to purchase a name connected to six missing children, and Fazbear Entertainment fell off the face of the earth.

Nearly three years passed with no mention of Fazbear Entertainment. After the pizzeria shut down, it was as if it had never existed; but in the fall of 1986, it was announced that Fazbear Entertainment had been bought by a wealthy family and plans for a new Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza were already in the works. Prior to the construction and opening of the new restaurant, the owners attempted to recover the animatronics from the last location and retrofit them with new parts. They were partially successful, but the faint odor and worn look were too much of an inconvenience. After the decision to use them for spare parts, propositions were made for new designs, featuring state-of-the-art facial recognition software and more vibrant colors, as well as a harder, more protective shell. From that point forward, those models were referred to as “toy” models. In addition to the returning cast of Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, a brand new character, a humanoid child named BB, was introduced. This restaurant would also see the return of the Puppet, who had not been in action since the days of Fredbear’s Family Diner.

The grand reopening of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in October of 1987 was an event nearly unrivaled in attendance by any previous local happening in the last decade. Kids packed the restaurant every day, and it was booked for birthdays so often that the staff just opted to leave the decorations out indefinitely. An early decision of note is one regarding one of the new animatronics, Toy Foxy. When it was introduced as a replacement for its scarier predecessor, it was given a more feminine, fun design and put in the Kids’ Cove. However, the toddlers would often dismantle it, leaving the staff to repair it every day after closing. After the first week, it became too tedious and, according to employee reports, they made it a “take-apart-and-put-back-together attraction.” Afterward, the staff would refer to it as the Mangle. The old animatronics from the previous location were stored in another room, yet left active at night in order to keep their parts from deteriorating from inactivity. Their odd behavior continued, but was much less severe and therefore not considered a threat.

For weeks, the new and improved Freddy’s would prosper. Financially, it was doing perfectly well, and the reviews it received were almost guaranteed to be positive. The kids loved everything about the place. It had all these things going for it, but everything changed in November. Around the first week of the month, strange reports were filed involving a suspicious figure loitering on the restaurant’s property, and some even report it as having entered the building. According to an anonymous, former employee, at the end of that week, a night guard requested to be moved to the day shift due to the new animatronics beginning to act differently. The next week’s night shifts were taken over by a new recruit, and on the 11th, the local police began investigating the building. Over the course of the week, even day shift employees reported almost hostile behavior toward the staff from the toy animatronics, which further motivated the police to investigate. On the 13th, the staff and police noticed that an extra suit in a hidden safe room had been messed with. This lead the police to believe the perpetrator had been an employee operating from inside the pizzeria, who had intentionally caused the animatronics to malfunction. Later that day, the daytime guard was fired from his position and replaced by the recently-hired night guard. In light of these recent events, the restaurant was set to close for a short time following the next day.

On November 14th, the restaurant’s final day of operation, it was booked for a birthday party. The animatronics had been acting up more than usual, so the new daytime guard was ordered to stay close to them and ensure the safety of the children. Reports regarding this event are scarce, but at some point the guard entered the Kids’ Cove. Upon entry, the Mangle, hanging from beams on the ceiling, had swung downward with an open mouth. The animatronic’s sharp teeth deeply penetrated the top of the guard’s skull, resulting in full separation of his frontal lobe. Paramedics arrived minutes later, and were luckily able to keep him alive. This incident, referred to by press as the Bite of ’87, sealed the fate of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The restaurant closed down, the toy animatronics were discarded, and Fazbear Entertainment disappeared for five more years.

Throughout the first quarter of 1993, some local outlets reported that yet another Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza was to debut later in the year. Unlike the previous two, this location was described as relatively small in size, and in order to save money, they were restricted to a much smaller budget. This arrangement meant that business would have to slow in order to be comfortable, but given the amount of tragedy that Fazbear Entertainment’s name was associated with, it doesn’t seem hard to imagine a decrease in the number of would-be patrons at that point.

According to a former employee of the then-new establishment, it was decided that if Freddy’s would ever open again after the Bite, the animatronics must not be able to wander freely during the day as they did before. This was precautionary, and would decrease the likelihood of another incident. The Fazbear Band (Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica) occupied the Show Stage area, while Foxy was located in Pirate’s Cove, on the other side of the room. The new location was opened that summer, and for the first few weeks, the restaurant struggled to pick up an audience. Fortunately, things started looking up once word started to spread about the improved animatronics and real emphasis on safety. Another precaution worth mentioning was the addition of safety doors to the security office. When inactive, they were held open by counterweights; when active, they were pulled down by powerful electromagnets. It was an expensive touch, but it guaranteed the safety of nighttime security.

In the coming season, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza reached its business equilibrium. Patrons came and went at a comfortable pace, and in the eyes of the general public, it was considered just as great as its first iteration. The restaurant even had its own TV advertisements, something neither of the previous versions of the restaurant had been given. In that time, there had been a few minor revisions to the restaurant’s rules. One such revision, the most notable by far, happened when one child refused to go to the restroom, instead defecating on the floor. Thankfully, the restaurant was near closing time and not many people were present to witness it. After that, a new rule, “don’t poop on the floor,” was added.

In an unrelated incident, the Foxy character encountered some technical problems. The details are almost nonexistent, but it’s been said that some kids were a little too close to him and somehow caused him to malfunction slightly. Again, no record exists of what actually happened, but the resulting damage included severe tears to his exterior and a broken jaw motor. This caused staff to close Pirate Cove indefinitely for the safety of the kids.

Around mid-October, one employee claimed to have seen a thin, black figure on the show stage after closing time. According to him, it was gone after just a few seconds. Almost immediately afterward, after-hours staff and night security began to report odd behavior from the animatronics. Their accounts matched the reports of the employees from the first version of the restaurant almost identically. It was around this time that the head of security put in a request to move to the day shift, prompting the restaurant to hire a new night guard. After a few weeks, a replacement was found and the night guard was set to move to day shift at the end of the first week of November.

Thursday, however, was the last time anybody ever saw the guard alive. For the first few days after he disappeared, it was just assumed that he had taken his leave early. When he failed to show up for work the next week, nobody knew where he was, which was odd considering he was a veteran of Fazbear Entertainment’s employment, having served at each iteration of the restaurant since its inception 13 years earlier. His replacement, a new guy, played back some recordings made by his predecessor night by night. When he reached the tape for the 7th, the Thursday of the disappearance, loud banging and the music box arrangement of Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre that was programmed into Freddy’s vocal function were heard over the final message, in which he heavily implied that the animatronics were trying to kill him. He then asked if the new guard could check the suits backstage, and the recording was cut off by an odd electronic noise. Unable to check the suits at night, he finished his week as the police continued their investigation, and oddly enough, showed up for two nights of overtime work.

On the morning of the 15th, the new guard was fired from his job after accusations of him tampering with the animatronics, something he was encouraged to do by the last guard. Later that day, the spare animatronic suits in the backstage room were checked, and the body of the missing guard was found, having been there for over a week. The restaurant was immediately cleared out as police investigated his death, but no matter how hard they tried, the only things they could find were the body and the guard’s own handprint on Freddy’s face. With suicide ruled out and no evidence pointing to a human suspect, the police were given no choice but to close Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, citing that the animatronics were too dangerous for children. The restaurant never saw the light of day again. Fazbear Entertainment’s name was left in infamy, its casualties capped at seven dead and one severely injured.

For decades, the events I’ve described have been little more than a story. The last kids to experience the fun and food from Freddy’s have long since grown up, myself having been born just over two years after its final closure. For the sake of this essay, I wish I had been able to witness it even once, so I may have the slightest idea of how beautiful, yet demented the place was. The children of today only know a fraction of what stories those my age were told, regardless of how truthful they happened to be, yet nobody born after 1990 will ever have witnessed the place for themselves. At least, that’s what I thought before this week.

Shortly prior to beginning to write this very essay, I received information regarding an amusement park’s attempt to bring back the Fazbear name. Set to open in the coming month, it has been named Fazbear’s Fright: The Horror Attraction. Capitalizing on the dark history of Fazbear Entertainment, it will be a walk-through show, a haunted house of sorts. The creators claim to have obtained relics and props, some authentic, from various sources. When this attraction opens, I will surely be there to witness the beautiful disaster.

The history of Fazbear Entertainment is a long, dark one full of tragedy. Their questionable business practices and irrefutably dangerous animatronics absolutely jeopardized people day by day, children and adults alike. The name has spanned five decades, and with it, brought tales of sadness and lost family. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is that Fazbear Entertainment was born. From the ashes of Fredbear’s Family Diner, it rose to its peak, and yet refuses to die even today, its name long gone but its spirit lingering. Only time will tell if this legend will live for eternity, or if it will return to the ashes that birthed it.





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Five Nights at Freddy's and all characters are the property of Scott Cawthon.

