"What a mess! Oh, which was the bottom? Where is the top? Clean up! Clean up!""
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“But then there was the Bite of '87. Yeah. It's amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?”
— Phone Guy,Five Nights at Freddy's
The details of this attack and the identity of the animatronic responsible are currently unknown, but it allegedly caused the victim to lose the frontal lobe of their brain. The victim survived the attack.
The incident contributed to a loss in the company's reputation, which was one of the numerous incidents that resulted in a major drop in business going forward.
As a result of the incident, the animatronics were no longer allowed to wander around the building during the day; the management decided to limit their free-roaming mode to nighttime, so as to "prevent their servos from locking up", as stated by Phone Guy.
Similar Incidents
The Bite of '83
A similar incident, referred by fans as "The Bite of '83", was shown in Five Nights at Freddy's 4 during a cutscene after completing the Night 5.[1] The whole events in the game took place in 1983. The main protagonist of the minigame, a child who is being thrown a party at Fredbear's Family Diner, is being bullied by several older kids and his older brother who wanted to scare him. The gang gets the victim closer to Fredbear's stage and makes Fredbear "give the child a kiss" by shoving him into Fredbear's mouth. Whether by accident or not, the protagonist's head gets stuck in Fredbear's gnawing mouth. The machine's mouth then crunches shut on the victim's head.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place Bite
Another similar incident took place off-screen in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, according to one of the lawsuits. One lawsuit reports that the male child's head is bitten by the unidentified animatronic and suffered severe injuries, but his frontal lobe remained connected to his brain. Despite this, the doctors are unsure how long the frontal lobe will remain that way.
Theories and Speculations
"I was the first! I have seen everything!"
This section archives a lot of theories and speculation, which usually occurs from pre-release media, or just things that are still unknown, so please keep that in mind while reading. The page will continue to be updated with the most accurate information as more solid evidence is supplied.
Note the "Out of Order" sign.
Some fans have speculated that Foxy may have been the animatronic responsible for the Bite of '87. This is considered most likely by fans because he appears to be the most capable of doing so with his seemingly sharp and broken teeth.
In Foxy's dwelling place, Pirate Cove, there is a sign that reads "Sorry! Out of Order" and Foxy himself is in a state of disrepair, possibly suggesting that the attraction was shut down after the incident. Foxy's jaw also seems to hang loosely, as if it were damaged through excessive force. However, when entering the Office to attack the player in the first game, his jaw is always closed, then falls open. However, the jaw could have been closed due to Foxy's running (his jaw can be seen flapping).
The second game, however, seemingly rules out Foxy (as Withered Foxy specifically) as the attacker, as he and the other withered animatronics were most likely in Parts/Service when the bite took place. This can also be disproved by the fact that Foxy is still present in the first game - if he had caused the bite, then it would seem very odd for the owners of the company to keep him.
The handprints on Freddy's face, highlighted in green for clarity.
Still other fans speculate that Freddy Fazbear himself was responsible for the bite. On the posted rules in the East Hall in the original game, one of the rules listed states, "Don't touch Freddy." This rule may have been enacted after the bite; however it could be because Freddy is the main attraction, and so represents all the animatronics.
There are also two instances of faint handprints or hand-shaped impressions on Freddy's face, implying that someone may have been struggling against him in some way. However, these could also be Phone Guy's handprints, because as heard in the phone call from Night 4, Freddy's song plays when Phone Guy is attacked, leading some to believe that Phone Guy could have tried to defend himself from the animatronics. Also, when the bite occurred, Freddy most likely had another head, as in Five Nights at Freddy's 2, he possesses a different mask than the one which has handprints on it.
This was denied by the creator as it is a random texture and the handprints generated themselves.
Mangle attacks by opening its mouth wide to bite the player's head, where the frontal lobe is located, animated.
Another popular theory among fans is that Mangle was the cause of the bite, as its jumpscare involves it swinging from the ceiling of the Office with its jaws open, going straight for the player's head. Upon inspection, it seems that Mangle attacks the upper area of Jeremy's head, where the frontal lobe is located. This further strengthens the possibility that The Mangle administered the Bite of '87 in a similar fashion to its death screen.
Another big piece of evidence that Mangle was behind the bite is that it would have a reason to bite a child, as it is known that the animatronic is dismantled daily by the kids and that the staff eventually stopped repairing it, leaving it as a "take apart and put back together" attraction, which could have led it to either hate children (if such a thing is possible), see a child as a possible threat, or otherwise become unstable. This is questionable though since on the fourth night, Phone Guy states that "[the animatronics] interact with the kids just fine, but when they encounter an adult, they just...stare." However, since the actual victim of the bite is never specified, some believe that it wasn't a child at all, and if an adult had received the bite, then it would make sense for the animatronics to respond that way towards adults.
This can also be backed up by the fact that at the end of Night 6, all the toy animatronics (including Mangle) were scrapped due to apparent malfunctions. If Mangle was the culprit of the bite, it would make sense for the owners to scrap the toy animatronics, since the company may have feared that the other toy animatronics could experience similar malfunctions. If Withered Freddy or Withered Foxy (the other two most-likely culprits) had caused the bite, it wouldn't really make any sense for the company to have scrapped the toy animatronics.
It is also worth noting that Mangle was the only active suspect at the time of the bite, as the withered animatronics were presumably locked in Parts/Service room. If the withered animatronics managed to wander into the main show area and attack a customer or Fitzgerald, then that would've ensured their permanent retirement. This could leave Mangle as the only animatronic capable of producing the bite. Despite this, many fans still believe that the bite was somehow caused by a different animatronic, leaving the true culprit unknown and up to debate.
However, still others debate this, stating that Mangle's jaw is too big to damage just the frontal lobe of the victim.
Toy Chica's jumpscare in Ultimate Custom Night.
After Ultimate Custom Night some fans started to believe that Toy Chica did the Bite of '87 because of her voicelines: "Where's my beak? Lodged in your forehead of course." and "Let's go somewhere more private... so I can eat you."
Scott Cawthon once stated “In the FNaF 4 minigame, why would tiny Toy Chica be missing her beak?” It is possible that he was hinting at the bite.
Given that Toy Chica is a Toy animatronic, and that the Toy animatronics were later retired, it is possible that the Bite, if committed by Toy Chica, directly led to their decommission.
Some have suggested that, due to the small size of Toy Chica's beak, it is unlikely that she committed the Bite.
However, scale models from later games that depict Toy Chica in full 3D (specifically Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted) show that Toy Chica's beak is technically big enough to fit most of a human's head in her mouth.
Since the victim is stated to have survived without a frontal lobe, it is also likely that the size of the Bite would have been small enough to avoid fatally damaging the brain. Chica's "bite" would be ideal in this scenario.
Just like Mangle, Withered Foxy attacks in a similar fashion by opening his mouth as wide as possible as if he was going to bite the player's face, specifically where the frontal lobe is located, animated.
Withered Freddy and Withered Foxy also have merit on being the culprit.
Withered Freddy is believed by fans that he was the one responsible for the bite, considering how big his upper and lower jaw are and how his jaw is big enough for a whole human head to fit into it. However, this seems to be very unlikely as Withered Freddy was presumed to be in Parts/Service when the bite had happened. Also, if he was the one who committed the bite, this would have caused the victim to be killed, rather than surviving.
Withered Foxy, just like Mangle, is heavily believed to be one of the culprits as well. This is evidenced by how long his jaw is and his particular behavior in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. In Five Nights at Freddy's 2, when he's present in the hallway, he can be seen with his hook up as if he was going to dismember the guard's head off, also during his jumpscare, he gaps his mouth as wide as he can, as if he was trying to bite the guards head off. However, just like Withered Freddy's case, this theory seems to be debunked, considering the fact that he was presumably in Parts/Service when the bite occurred.
The victim of the bite is speculated to be Jeremy Fitzgerald, who was the night guard in the game before he got moved to day shift, and presumably where he suffered from the incident. This is also reinforced by the fact that the bite happened during daytime.
The Victim is likely a member of staff as the animatronics are said to interact with kids just fine but act aggressive towards staff.
Trivia
On the A.I. settings for the Night 7 in the first game, entering 1/9/8/7 will cause Golden Freddy's kill screen to appear and crash the game. This was added by Scott to halt rumors about entering 1/9/8/7 to acquire a supposed "secret ending" (a rumor originally started because of information about the Bite of '87 coming to light). This works for the Steam version of the game, the 1.1 version and onwards on Desura, and in the mobile version.
On April 27, 2015, during the fourth game's production, the numbers 8 and 7 could be seen within the code and info on Scott Cawthon's website, possibly hinting at the Bite of '87.
Some fans have even managed to translate this into coordinates, pointing to a Virginian pizzeria. This stirred up the fanbase to assume this was connected to the game series. This led to the pizzeria being heavily harassed by phone calls, but Scott responded with a Reddit post, dismissing it as a mere coincidence and discouraging fans from calling any phone numbers they may think are associated with the game. He has since removed the numbers from the site to prevent further harassment to the pizzeria.
YouTuber Markiplier shockingly wondered "Was that the Bite of '87?!" in his reaction to the Bite of '83 incident during the end of night minigame after Night 5 of Five Nights at Freddy's 4, initially believing the incident to be the Bite of '87. Markiplier's reaction has since become a notable Internet meme.
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