Woman hunting virtual Pokemon Go characters finds real body in river

A 19-year-old woman in Wyoming stumbled across a body in a river while playing the new Pokemon Go smartphone game.

The augmented reality game uses players’ locations and landmarks, and superimposes the virtual characters so the players search for them in the real world.

Players must go to the locations to “catch” them.

Shayla Wiggens told CNN Money she was searching for a water Pokemon on Friday, so she walked to the Big Wind River, which flows near her home in Riverton.

Wiggens was intently staring at her phone’s GPS as she searched, so she didn’t immediately notice the man’s body lying face-down in the river.

“I cried and started shaking and called 911 right away,” she told the New York Daily News.

Undersherrif Ryan Lee told Wyoming TV station KCWY that police believe the death was accidental and that the man may have drowned.

Wiggins said the scary experience won’t end her hunt.

“I might go get a water pokemon. I’m going to try,” she told KCWY.

“Pokemon Go” quickly became the top grossing app in the iPhone app store just days after its Wednesday release in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

But the game has also inadvertently led players into some bad situations.

On Sunday, Quartz reported that thieves apparently used the game to lure victims to a remote area and rob them.

The police department in O’Fallon, Missouri, reported on its Facebook page that four suspects in the robbery were arrested and are suspected of multiple armed robberies.

“If you use this app (or other similar type apps) or have children that do we ask you to please use caution when alerting strangers of your future location,” police said in the Facebook post.

Players already have reported wiping out in a variety of ways as they wander the real world — eyes glued to their smartphone screens — in search of digital monsters.

Ankle injuries, mishaps with revolving doors and walking into trees have been among the painful results.

Kyrie Tompkins, a 22-year-old freelance web designer, fell on the sidewalk and twisted her ankle while wandering in downtown Waterville, Maine, on Thursday night.

“It vibrated to let me know there was something nearby and I looked up and just fell in a hole,” she says. Her parents had to drive her and her fiancé home.

This story was originally published July 10, 2016 at 10:22 AM with the headline "Woman hunting virtual Pokemon Go characters finds real body in river."