# Man found dead inside a dinosaur statue **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 24, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834 "2021-05-24T20:17:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/21 "2021-05-25T05:32:38Z")
@SCAdian Happy Birthday! @kenobi_65 Happy anniversary! I wonder if the position he was in caused him to suffocate rather quickly. You would think a tourist attraction should draw, you know, tourists often enough for there to be someone to hear him yell or pound on the statue. Lesson #2587 - Only crawl inside _popular_ tourist attractions. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/22 "2021-05-25T08:21:43Z")
It doesn’t say if he got stuck in the front leg or the back leg. This makes a difference. Because if it was the front, this becomes a humerus incident. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/23 "2021-05-25T08:37:35Z")
Imagine walking past this thing and hearing a phone ring. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/24 "2021-05-25T11:38:57Z")
That phone ringing may well be how he was found. The other alternative is they found him when the smell got bad enough. You can imagine the doltish tourists standing there thinking > Wow! … This is a realistic display; they even included the smell of rotting prey! Not knowing stegosaurs are believed to have been herbivores. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > … let’em go…because man, they’re gone!” I had thought to post exactly that quote this morning. But I like your version better than what I’d have done. Well done Good Sir! I suppose it’d be fun to come up with a thread of cites to “Funny / tragic ways folks have killed themselves trying to rescue their cellphone”. It has to happen a lot more often than we notice. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/25 "2021-05-25T11:51:08Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The other alternative is they found him when the smell got bad enough. [From USA Today:](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/05/24/man-found-dead-inside-stegosaurus-dinosaur-statue-spain/7416450002/) > The 39-year-old man was found inside a papier-mâché stegosaurus statue after police said a father and son noticed a smell coming from it. The father saw the body through a crack in the stegosaurus’ hollow leg and alerted the authorities. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/26 "2021-05-25T11:59:40Z")
“A spokesperson for the regional police force [told the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/24/missing-man-found-dead-inside-spanish-dinosaur-statue) they believe it was an accidental death and no violence was suspected.” Good thing it wasn’t a rogue stegosaurus that ate the guy, or they’d have had to kill it. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/27 "2021-05-25T17:49:46Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > I wonder if the position he was in caused him to suffocate rather quickly. You would think a tourist attraction should draw, you know, tourists often enough for there to be someone to hear him yell or pound on the statue I was wondering that, as well. I can’t imagine being (:: shudder :: ) trapped inside of a statue in a public place without making as much _noise_ as I possibly could. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/28 "2021-05-25T17:58:57Z")
In the horror movie remake of _Night at the Museum_ the statutes come to life at night and eat people. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/29 "2021-05-25T18:00:54Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > I was wondering that, as well. I can’t imagine being (:: shudder :: ) trapped inside of a statue in a public place without making as much _noise_ as I possibly could. - Maybe the natural sound of a stegosaurus resembles muffled human screams. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/30 "2021-05-25T18:05:27Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > I was wondering that, as well. I can’t imagine being (:: shudder :: ) trapped inside of a statue in a public place without making as much _noise_ as I possibly could. If he was face down inside one of the legs, he may have suffocated fairly quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/31 "2021-05-25T18:07:56Z")
“Can you hear me now?” … … … “Aw, shit.” ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/32 "2021-05-25T18:21:20Z")
I can imagine somebody stuffing the guy into the statue and leaving him there. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/33 "2021-05-25T18:47:38Z")
See video, apparently a trap door at the bottom–unless this cut out during body retrieval? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/oN0Q6oaJO_0/hqdefault.jpg "Man dies trapped inside a dinosaur statue in Barcelona") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN0Q6oaJO_0) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/34 "2021-05-25T19:01:02Z")
Have any of the articles mentioned how long he was missing? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/35 "2021-05-25T19:28:46Z")
A couple days. His family just reported him missing a few hours before he was found. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/36 "2021-05-25T19:39:43Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > See video, apparently a trap door at the bottom–unless this cut out during body retrieval? From the video, the trapdoor in the belly is a neat square cut, that looks like it was always there, and presumably his point of ingress. But there’s also a rough hole that they appear to have cut out of the REAR leg to remove the body, and the flowers are placed next to the rear leg. So how did the camera fall into the rear leg? Was the statue sufficiently lifelike that they included _another_ orifice (other than the mouth) into which he inserted the phone to take a picture? ETA: They could make this a much more interesting tourist attraction by offering reenactments of the tragedy with tours of the interior. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/37 "2021-05-25T20:44:09Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > So how did the camera fall into the rear leg? Was the statue sufficiently lifelike that they included _another_ orifice (other than the mouth) into which he inserted the phone to take a picture? It’s hard to tell in that video but it looks like the lower jaw is missing also. However, neither of the two holes there look large enough for a person to enter. I also think we can discard the taking a picture in the mouth theory as the mouth seems too high off the ground, unless the lower jaw was really long. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/38 "2021-05-25T20:56:40Z")
So I’m now thinking the dropping of the phone probably occurred _after_ he climbed in. He saw the trapdoor and climbed in to look around, then got his phone out to take a picture or to use the flashlight, and dropped it. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/39 "2021-05-25T21:05:15Z")
Yes. It’s also possible, given how tall those legs are, that when he slid down headfirst he mortally injured himself striking bottom. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834/40 "2021-05-25T21:56:48Z")
From the video, the frame of the statue is metal, so he could not kick through papier mache. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-found-dead-inside-a-dinosaur-statue/942834.md?page=3)