A 28-year-old man has died after injecting silicone into his testicles.
Jack Chapman, who went by the name ‘Pup Tank’, was involved in a ‘cult’ scene in Seattle, fronted by a man named Dylan Hafertepen. Hafertepen was known as the ‘master’ of the group, while his followers were known as ‘pups’.
The pups would cater to the master’s needs by performing submissive acts to win Haftertepen’s affection, and one of the group leader’s requirements was for his followers to have engorged scrotums.
Chapman died last month after injecting the liquid in an attempt to meet Haftertepen’s requirements.
His mother appeared on The Project alongside Hafertepen, where she confronted the man and blamed him for her son’s premature death.
She showed the leader a picture of her son before he joined and described his strange relationship to the group, saying:
It was like some sort of clan, family, like a cult. And to prove their devotion to him they had to change their bodies.
That’s my son, that’s my Jack. This is my son, not what you turned him into. Not what you wanted him to be. Bigger, bigger, bigger.
What sort of person injects into their friggen balls to please you? What sort of person does that?
She continued:
Someone who feels so badly about themselves, someone who was vulnerable, who just wanted your love, at any cost. And it cost him his life.
You are the one responsible for Jack’s death. If he never met you, he would still be alive and he’d be home with me.
Ms. Chapman emotionally argued with the group master as she explained she didn’t even know her son was battling for his life, while Hafertepen claimed her son hadn’t wanted her to know about his health issues unless ‘absolutely necessary’.
She said:
I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye, he was in the hospital for about a week, and nobody thought a mother might want to know?
Don’t you think it was necessary when he was on a ventilator in an induced coma?
I didn’t know he was in hospital, I didn’t know he was in an induced coma, I never got to hold him, I never got to hug him. I never got to say goodbye.
Hafertepen often posted pictures of his ‘pups’ on his since-deleted Instagram page, and Ms. Chapman told the master she’d seen a video of him taking a collar from around her son’s neck.
She argued:
I’ve heard of the abuse at your hand, I saw the video of him taking that collar off his neck.
You want to claim to love him, you abused him.
The leader flew from the US to Australia to deliver Chapman’s ashes to his family, but Ms. Chapman said he was not welcome at her son’s funeral and kicked him out of her house, telling him she hated him.
According to The Stranger, Chapman was just one of many ‘pups’ part of Hafertepen’s ‘polyamorous, self-made family’, which also included Hafertepen’s husband ‘Big Pup’.
A donation request for the Lifelong AIDS Alliance was set up on Facebook in accordance with Chapman’s wishes.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.