Eric Harris's DOOM II WADs (partially found video game mods; 1996-1998)

This article has been tagged as NSFL due to its disturbing subject matter/visuals.

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Screenshot of "REALDETH.WAD", one of Eric Harris's lost custom DOOM II levels.

Status: Partially Found

The Columbine High School shooting occurred on 20 April 1999, perpetrated by Columbine senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and resulting in the deaths of 15 people (including the shooters) with several more injured. Before the massacre occurred, Harris was an avid player of the first-person-shooter video game DOOM II and was known to create custom levels for the game which were packaged in its default "WAD" file format. Most of Harris' WADs were designed for the Deathmatch gamemode in which multiple players battle against one another, although a few were made as singleplayer level packs. The majority of these are now lost as Harris' America Online webpage was taken down shortly after the shooting and only about half of his WADs known to exist were downloaded by internet users for preservation's sake beforehand. Very little is known about these aside from their titles with only three screenshots of the lost WADs being preserved.

Alleged Columbine High School level

Notes from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold during the development of their DOOM II level pack "TIER"

According to page 7043 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 11,000-page Columbine Report, Eric Harris was quoted by witness David Proctor as saying that "he had designed a level in Doom that was Columbine High School" in early 1999, leading some to believe that Harris and Klebold had "practiced" their mass murder in the game. No other concrete information concerning this supposed morbid level has ever emerged, leading to much speculation. The lost "REALDOOM.WAD", a multi-level patch for "realdeth.WAD" which Harris would only give out if requested by email, has been rumored to be the WAD in question since at least as early as 2002 and is even sometimes stated to be the fabled Columbine map as a matter of fact. This is incredibly unlikely as "REALDOOM" is mentioned in the text file for "BRICKS.WAD" which bears a modification date of 1 March 1996 while Harris and Klebold are believed to have begun plotting the shooting about two years after that time. The same can be said of "UACLabs.WAD" which remains publicly available and whose level design is believed by some to vaguely resemble the school building, although "UAC Labs" also has a 1996 modification date. Another potential candidate comes in the form of "TIER.WAD", a level pack Harris developed throughout the summer of 1998 of which he wrote "Lots of the rooms and secrets in this place come directly from my imagination, so you are basically running around in my own world. ... a person could write a freaking book on all of the symbolism and double meanings used in these levels," albeit this is only conjecture and, as with "REALDOOM", there is no direct evidence of a Columbine-based map being part of "TIER". However, a possible resemblance to the school's second floor by a hand-drawn map of Klebold's made while collaborating with Harris on "TIER" (seen on the bottom-left of the image to the right) has been noted, perhaps lending some credence to the theory.

List

Filename	Title	Date	Notes	Status
realdeth.WAD	N/A	Pre-1 March 1996	Unknown aside from title and screenshot	Lost
REALDOOM.WAD	REALDOOM	Pre-1 March 1996	Level pack	Lost
bricks.WAD	DEATHMATCH IN BRICKS!	Modified 1 March 1996, uploaded 22 July 1996	Deathmatch map	Found
hockey.WAD	Hockey.wad	Modified 13 June 1996, uploaded 22 July 1996	Deathmatch map	Found
fightme.WAD	Mortal Kombat Doom!	Modified 16 July 1996, uploaded 22 July 1996	Deathmatch map	Found
Killer.WAD	KILLER	Modified 19 July 1996, uploaded 22 July 1996	Deathmatch map	Found
outdoors.WAD	OUTDOORS	Uploaded 22 July 1996	Deathmatch map, original metadata and readme lost	Found
station.WAD	Station	Modified, uploaded 25 July 1996	Deathmatch map	Found
UACLabs.WAD	U.A.C. Labs	Modified 1 September 1996	Level pack	Found
assault.WAD	N/A	Pre-26 November 1996	Unknown aside from title	Lost
techout.WAD	Techout	Pre-26 November 1996	Deathmatch map (based on screenshot)	Lost
thrasher.WAD	Thrasher	Pre-26 November 1996	Singleplayer map or level pack (based on screenshot)	Lost
truechamp.WAD	N/A	Pre-April 1998	Mentioned in Harris' yearbook note to Dylan	Lost
whiskey.WAD	N/A	Pre-April 1998	Mentioned in Harris' yearbook note to Dylan. May not have been created by Harris.	Lost
TIER.WAD	TIER	Developed June–September 1988	Level pack. Development described in Harris' journal entries. A hoax version of "TIER" resembling the "Techout" screenshot has circulated on some DOOM fansites.	Lost

See Also

• Doom (lost FMV scenes and original work of 3DO port of first-person shooter game; 1994-1995)
• Doom (lost prototype of Sega Saturn port of first-person shooter; 1996-1997)
• Doom (lost reference photographs for first-person shooter game cover art; 1993)
• Doom (partially found production materials of cancelled first-person shooter game film adaptations; 1994-1999)
• Doom and Doom 2 (partially lost original sound files of first-person shooter series audio; 1993-1994)
• Doom 4 (lost build of cancelled sequel based on "Doom" first-person shooter series; 2007-2014)
• Doom Absolution (lost build of cancelled Nintendo 64 sequel to "Doom 64"; 1997)
• Doom "Episode 5" (lost build of cancelled expansion to first-person shooter; 1995)