The Bodies Were Mutilated Beyond Recognition

About

The Bodies Were Mutilated Beyond Recognition, or The Corpses Were Mutilated Beyond Recognition, is an image macro phrase used in shitposts, often attached to GIFs or images of people dancing or celebrating, contrasting the darkness of the phrase. The phrase first appeared in a December 2019 post to Reddit, becoming popularized over the course of 2020.

Origin

On December 19th, 2019, Redditor u/ExtensiveHeat posted a meme to /r/okbuddyretard^[1] consisting of a blurry still image from the "Hipcio Dance" YouTube^[2] under the text, "The Corpses Were Mutilated Beyond Recognition," garnering over 13,400 upvotes in a year and a half (shown below). The post was reshared to Instagram^[3] on December 28th, garnering over 19,000 likes in a comparable span of time.

Spread

Variations of the phrase became increasingly popular as a catchphrase over the course of 2020, often used in post titles and captions to describe the attached content. For example, on January 12th, 2020, Redditor u/Kroena used the title "the corpses were mutilated beyond recognition" in a post to /r/okaybuddyfortress,^[4] garnering over 1,500 upvotes in roughly a year (shown below).

The phrase also became popular in ironic shitposts and image macros on iFunny,^[5][6] further attaching it to bright imagery to contrast the dark sentiment (examples shown below from iFunny 2020).

On January 13th, 2021, Instagram^[7] user @ora.gif.v2 posted a GIF using the phrase, garnering over 5,400 views in five months (shown below). On January 22nd, Instagram^[8] user @grandmas.butt reposted the meme, garnering over 71,000 plays and 12,100 likes in a comparable span of time.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References