--- title: Louisville 'Purge' Fails to Materialize as Cops Investigate Rumors description: In the horror movie, anyone can commit crimes without ramifications for 12 hours canonical: https://time.com/3125551/louisville-purge-ky-social-media-flier/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-16T16:29:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:42:23.852Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Louisville 'Purge' Fails to Materialize as Cops Investigate Rumors og:description: In the horror movie, anyone can commit crimes without ramifications for 12 hours og:url: https://time.com/3125551/louisville-purge-ky-social-media-flier/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Louisville 'Purge' Fails to Materialize as Cops Investigate Rumors twitter:description: In the horror movie, anyone can commit crimes without ramifications for 12 hours twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Louisville 'Purge' Fails to Materialize by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 16, 2014 4:29 PM CUT by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 16, 2014 4:29 PM CUT Police in Louisville, Ky. are investigating a teenager accused of starting a “Purge” rumor in the city, a copycat of the eponymous movie in which everyone in the country is allowed to commit any crime for 12 hours with impunity. A [flier circulated on social media](https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/louisvillepurge?source=feed%5Ftext&story%5Fid=10152669498378447 "undefined") proposed a “purge” in Louisville this weekend, but city police said they did not see a higher crime rate on Friday. A higher rate of anonymous tips was reported, but police said locals went about their business as usual despite the threats of violence. The flier drew the attention of the FBI, local police departments and Jefferson County Public Schools, and some high school football games were reportedly canceled. Police officials announced law enforcement was keeping vigilant, but didn’t specify what tactics it was employing, WKYT reports. The extra caution came after [flash mobs](http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2014/03/24/louisville-police-downtown-mob-incidents-saturday/6826259/ "undefined") were linked to at least 17 assaults and robberies in the city in the spring. “Due to circumstances that have trended nationally in regards to flash mob violence, in light of what occurred this past spring here, we realize that these things can occur in an instance,” said Louisville Police Sgt. Phil Russell. The police said they had already planned to increase patrols this weekend due to a state fair. _The Purge_, which was released in June 2013, posits a futuristic America where all crime is made legal for 12 hours every year to “purge” the population of illegal behavior. So far it has spawned nothing more threatening than a [sequel](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2975578/ "undefined"), released in July. \[[_WKYT_](http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/Louisville-police-respond-to-purge-fliers-271405911.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3125551/louisville-purge-ky-social-media-flier/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3125551/louisville-purge-ky-social-media-flier/"},"headline":"Louisville 'Purge' Fails to Materialize","datePublished":"2014-08-16T16:29:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:42:23.852Z","description":"Cops investigating teenager over rumors which spread on social media","url":"https://time.com/3125551/louisville-purge-ky-social-media-flier/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3125551/louisville-purge-ky-social-media-flier/","name":"Louisville 'Purge' Fails to Materialize"}}]}] ```