America’s biggest day of shopping—Black Friday—is back again, bringing great deals to all those who can withstand the long lines, frenzied crowds, and pre-dawn wake-up calls. (I’m personally more of a Cyber Monday guy, can you tell?) This holiday is nuts—people have been murdered and even trampled to death. If you need any more examples of how Black Friday can turn into a total nightmare that exposes the very worst in all of us, I took a deep dive into our databases and pulled the nine weirdest Black Friday horror stories I could find:

1. At a Walmart in Los Angeles, a throng of shoppers scrambled to get their hands on an XBox 360. But one woman used an unorthodox tactic to get there first: a can of pepper spray. "Somehow, she was trying to use [the pepper spray] to gain an upper hand," said an LAPD lieutenant who responded at the scene, where over twenty people were hurt.

2. When you promise big deals and discounts for Black Friday, you’d better be prepared to deliver. A Hollister store in SoHo learned that the hard way, after advertising massive sales and a midnight opening and then... not opening. Impatient shoppers broke in and looted the place, stealing armfuls of clothing.

3. This anecdote is one of the wildest. At a Kohl’s in Romeoville, Illinois, a police officer chased a shoplifter to his getaway car, but when the car sped off, the officer’s arm got stuck in the door. The thieves dragged him through the parking lot, until another officer on the scene managed to stop the chase. The officer survived, and the thieves were apprehended. Unaffected by the scene, “several shoppers approaching Kohl's walked to the edge of the police tape without breaking stride,” in a stunning yet completely predictable display of greed triumphing over common sense.

4. If you’re pulling a shift on Black Friday, it’s not just your customers you need to worry about – it’s your co-workers. A Costco employee was slashed by a fellow staffer with a box cutter in Nanuet before anyone was even let into the store.

5. Wal-Mart tends to be the epicenter of Black Friday fighting, and in 2013 a Rialto store was host to not one, not two, but three separate fights. A police officer who responded to an outside dispute between two men in line ended up with a broken wrist; apparently, one of the men was “kicking another man in the head when he was down on the ground.”

6. Tragically, a man with a heart condition in West Virginia collapsed at a Target and died when fellow shoppers ignored and even stepped over him as they raced for merchandise.

7. In a standout case of rotten ethics, a Salvation Army kettle was stolen on Black Friday in 2013, outside of the Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. However, according to this report, a store manager did donate $100 after the kettle was stolen. Black Friday redemption is possible!

8. In a line to buy video games at a Connecticut Wal-Mart, police said a man “confront[ed]” a father who was helping his 11-year-old son off the ground. Then he allegedly punched someone else who tried to help the boy and his father. Police said they asked him to stop fighting, but he ignored them. So they tased him. Lesson learned: don’t get into fights at Wal-Mart.

9. Good luck protecting your merchandise from someone taking it in the store. A grandfather in a store outside of Phoenix wanted to protect a video game he was buying for his grandson from a horde of fellow customers, so he stuffed it into his waistband. He was promptly accused of shoplifting and beaten by police.

There you have it, folks: if you plan to shop on Black Friday, please stay safe, be a good samaritan, and try not to get caught up in the frenzy. And if you need more convincing, you can search for more Black Friday stories in our databases.