If you’ve spent any time in the Five Nights at Freddy’s fandom, you’ve heard the screams. Not just the jumpscares from Foxy or the mechanical screech of a power outage, but the actual, genuine screams of fans arguing over a date. Specifically, a date on a television screen. For years, a massive portion of the community insisted on the existence of the Bite of 84. It was a cornerstone theory. People built entire timelines around it. But here’s the thing: according to the established lore and Scott Cawthon’s own subtle (and not-so-subtle) nods, the "Bite of 84" doesn't actually exist.
It’s a ghost. A phantom memory.
The event everyone is actually thinking of is the Bite of 83. Yet, the search traffic for the "Bite of 84" remains huge. Why? Because the confusion is baked into the very DNA of how we consume internet mysteries. We saw a child's head get crushed in the jaws of a golden bear, and we desperately needed to know where it fit in the timeline.
The Origin of the 1984 Confusion
Let’s look at the facts. In Five Nights at Freddy's 4, we play as a crying child. We see the minigames. We see the older brother and his friends—wearing those creepy masks—carry the kid toward Fredbear. They’re laughing. It’s a prank. Then, the springlocks fail, or the jaw just snaps, and the child’s head is crushed.
When the game first dropped, everyone assumed this was the "Bite of '87" mentioned in the very first game. It made sense, right? We finally saw the event Phone Guy talked about! But then people started looking closer. They found a tiny, flickering Easter egg on a TV screen in one of the minigames that read: 1983.
This sent the community into a tailspin. If it wasn't '87, when was it? A huge segment of the player base, perhaps influenced by the way 1984 is burned into our collective cultural consciousness (thanks, George Orwell), or perhaps just misreading the low-res pixels, started calling it the Bite of 84.
It’s a classic Mandela Effect. You remember it being '84 because '84 feels "right" for a mid-80s tragedy. But the game says '83.
Fredbear, Spring Bonnie, and the Mechanics of a Tragedy
To understand why this mistake matters, you have to understand the technology of Fredbear’s Family Diner. These weren't just robots. They were "springlock suits."
🔗 Read more: How to Create My Own Dragon: From Sketchpad to Digital Reality
Basically, they were dual-purpose. A human could wear them, or they could perform on their own via animatronic parts. To let a human in, the mechanical bits were cranked back using springlocks. These things were notoriously unstable. A bit of moisture, a sudden movement, or—in the case of the Bite of 83—the physical pressure of a child’s head and their tears—could cause the locks to snap.
When Fredbear’s jaw closed, it wasn't a programmed "bite" command. It was a mechanical failure.
Many people who search for the Bite of 84 are looking for a specific culprit. They want to know if it was Freddy or Foxy. In reality, it was Fredbear. This distinction is vital because it separates the original diner era from the later Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza era. If the bite happened in '84, it would change the entire developmental timeline of Fazbear Entertainment. It would mean the transition to the new pizzerias happened much faster or much slower than the evidence suggests.
Why the Date Actually Matters for the Lore
Timeline is everything in FNAF. Honestly, it's the only thing.
If we assume a "Bite of 84" occurred, we have to explain why there is no mention of it in the legal records or the phone calls. We already have the Bite of 83 (the Fredbear incident) and the Bite of 87 (the Jeremy Fitzgerald/Mangle incident). Adding a third bite in 1984 would make the Fazbear franchise the most legally negligent corporation in human history.
Well, they already are. But three bites? That’s pushing it even for Scott Cawthon.
The "84" error usually stems from one of three places:
💡 You might also like: Why Titanfall 2 Pilot Helmets Are Still the Gold Standard for Sci-Fi Design
- Misinterpretation of the TV Easter Egg: Some early let's players thought the "3" looked like a "4" in the pixelated font.
- The "1984" Novelty: In the mid-2010s, there was a lot of crossover between internet horror and "dystopian" tropes. 1984 is a "sticky" year. It stays in the brain.
- Confusion with the Books: The Silver Eyes trilogy and the Fazbear Frights books mess with dates constantly. Some fans tried to bridge the gap by shifting the game dates by a year to match book descriptions.
Distinguishing Between the Bites
It's sorta simple when you lay it out, but it's also a mess.
The Bite of 83 involved Fredbear. The victim was the Crying Child (often theorized to be Evan Afton). This happened at Fredbear's Family Diner. This is what people mean when they say the Bite of 84.
The Bite of 87 involved a "Toy" animatronic (most likely Mangle). The victim was a security guard. This happened at the "New" Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The victim survived, albeit without a frontal lobe.
There is a huge difference in the stakes here. The '83 incident was the catalyst for William Afton’s entire downward spiral into madness and "Remnant" research. If you get the date wrong, the motivation for the entire series shifts. You can't have a 1984 bite if the diner was already closed by then due to the "Unfortunate Incident" mentioned in the training tapes.
The Cultural Impact of a "Fake" Date
It's fascinating how a mistake becomes "truth." You can find YouTube videos with millions of views titled "The Bite of 84 Explained." They aren't lying; they're just using the terminology that the community adopted during the peak of the confusion.
This happens in gaming a lot.
Think about the "Sheng Long" glitch in Street Fighter. It wasn't real, but the community talked about it so much that it eventually became part of the series' history. The Bite of 84 is the FNAF version of that. It’s a community-created landmark that doesn't actually exist on the official map.
📖 Related: Sex Fallout New Vegas: Why Obsidian’s Writing Still Outshines Modern RPGs
How to Correct Your Timeline
If you're writing a theory or trying to explain the lore to a friend, you've gotta use the right numbers. Using "84" will immediately get you flagged as a "casual" by the hardcore theorists on Reddit.
- Check the TV: In FNAF 4, the TV clearly shows "Fredbear and Friends 1983." This is the definitive proof.
- Watch the Nightmares: The Nightmare animatronics in FNAF 4 are symbols of the trauma from '83.
- The 1-9-8-7 Code: In the first game, typing 1-9-8-7 into the Custom Night screen triggers a Golden Freddy jumpscare. This was Scott’s way of saying "the '87 bite wasn't the one you think it was."
What Most People Get Wrong
People think the bite was an attack. It wasn't.
In every iteration of the "84" or "83" story, the animatronic isn't at fault. Fredbear was just doing his job—standing there with his mouth moving. It was the humans. It was the bullying. This is a recurring theme in the series: the robots are dangerous, but the people are worse.
If you're looking for the "Bite of 84" because you saw a specific clip of a fox animatronic biting a kid, you might be watching a fan-made animation. There are thousands of them. Some are so high-quality that people mistake them for game footage. This is especially true for the "SFM" (Source Filmmaker) community. They often take liberties with the dates to fit their own narratives.
Actionable Steps for Lore Accuracy
To truly master the history of this digital tragedy, you need to go beyond the surface level. Don't just take a YouTuber's word for it.
- Play the FNAF 4 Minigames: Pay close attention to the background details. Look at the toys in the girl's room. Look at the flowers. Everything is a clue.
- Read the Fazbear Frights "Step Closer": This book provides a lot of parallel context for the sibling rivalry that led to the bite. It doesn't use the name "Evan," but the parallels are impossible to ignore.
- Analyze the "Survival Logbook": This is where the name "Cassidy" and the hints about the Crying Child’s identity are hidden. It confirms much of the '83 timeline.
- Ignore the "1984" Search Results: If an article or video insists on the year 1984 without acknowledging it's a common mistake, it's likely outdated or factually incorrect. Stick to sources that recognize the distinction between the community-coined 84 and the canon 83.
The Bite of 83 remains the most pivotal moment in the Five Nights at Freddy's universe. It turned a family business into a graveyard. Whether you call it the Bite of 84 by mistake or the Bite of 83 by the book, the tragedy remains the same: a mechanical failure, a prank gone wrong, and a legacy of haunted pizza shops that would last for decades.