Crushed Pompeii Skeleton

About

Crushed Pompeii Skeleton refers to an uncovered skeleton from an archaeological dig in Pompeii, the site where Mt. Vesuvius famously erupted in 79 A.D. and froze much of the town in volcanic rock. The skeleton appears to have escaped the initial eruption but died after being crushed with a falling rock. The unfortunate circumstances surrounding the skeleton's death led to jokes on social media.

Origin

On May 29th, 2018, Facebook page Pompeii – Parco Archeologico^[1] posted the photo of the crushed skeleton (shown below). CNN^[2] reported on the finding that day.

Spread

After the discovery, CNN tweeted their article,^[3] causing Twitter users to joke about the death as comically bad luck. Twitter user @jpbrammer compared the situation to a Looney Tunes Wile E. Coyote sketch, gaining over 280 retweets and 1,800 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @willmenaker joked that the skeleton was the origin of Da Share Zone, a popular Weird Twitter account that shares primarily WordArt Image Macros and presents itself as a skeleton (shown below, right).

Some Twitter users turned the image into an object labeling meme. For example, user @darth posted a joke that gained over 1,400 retweets and 6,000 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @Glinner posted a joke referencing the Roseanne Cancellation that had taken place that day, gaining over 160 retweets and 1,200 likes (shown below, right). Jokes were covered by The Daily Dot^[4] and IFLScience.^[5]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References