About
Tombstone Parodies refer to various images of gag names or epitaphs inscribed on gravestones that are often shared online, including both untouched photographs and photoshopped images.
Origin
The earliest known examples of humorous tombstone epitaph were highlighted on Colorado resident June Shaputis’ personal website Webpanda[1] in 1998 (shown below).
Spread
On October 3rd, 2006, The Magic Cafe Forums[2] member Marvello submitted a thread containing “funny Halloween tombstone names.” On July 19th, 2007, the pop culture blog Oddee[7] published a round-up of notable joke tombstone pictures. On March 2nd, 2008, the facts and trivia website Mental Floss[3] highlighted 10 photos of humorous celebrity tombstones (shown below).
On January 27th, 2010, the Internet humor site Holy Taco[6] published a compilation of 25 humorous tombstone photographs. On February 28th, 2011, Funny or Die[4] featured a slideshow titled “The Most Badass Tombstones Ever.” On September 19th, 2012, the Internet humor blog Mandatory[5] published a photo gallery of humorous tombstones. On July 29th, 2013, Redditor thumz submitted a photograph of a tombstone for the Red Power Ranger to the /r/pics[8] subreddit, where it gained over 3,200 votes (96% upvoted) prior to being archived.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
According to Google Trends, the search interest for “funny tombstone” seeks a spike around October every year, mainly due to its cultural association with the celebration of Halloween in the United States.
External References
[1]Webpanda – Funny Stones to Tickle Your Funny Bones
[2]The Magic Cafe – Funny Halloween Tombstone Names
[3]Mental Floss – 10 Celebrity Tombstones Worth a Laugh
[4]Funny or Die – The Most Badass Tombstones Ever
[5]Mandatory – A gallery of the funniest tombstones around
[6]Holy Taco – 25 Funny Tombstones
[7]Oddee- 12 Hilarious Tombstones
[8]Reddit – I went walking through an old graveyard yesterday