# Obese fall death picture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092 "2015-12-01T03:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/1 "2015-12-01T03:32:31Z")
Some years ago, a picture made the rounds depicting what was claimed to be an obese person who had fallen to their death, essentially transforming them into a bag of fat-filled skin. I recently remembered this and went to search for it; I found it, but the picture has been completely subsumed into the meme “why fat people shouldn’t bungee jump” (which I’m sure wasn’t the original reference). In fact I’m fairly certain we discussed it here but I couldn’t think of the right search parameters to find the thread. So my questions are: Do we in fact have a previous thread about this; and what’s the original source of the photo? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/2 "2015-12-01T03:47:07Z")
Can’t answer the first one, but ISTR it was some sort of “art” piece and not really a pancaked fat person. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/3 "2015-12-01T03:54:43Z")
[http://www.johnisaacs.net/works\_1997/works\_1997\_01.html](http://www.johnisaacs.net/works_1997/works_1997_01.html) ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/4 "2015-12-01T03:54:58Z")
Is this it? (NSFW) [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/422001427556782265/](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/422001427556782265/) In either case, the photo’s almost certainly fake. Suicide jumpers tend to burst open & splatter their intestines everywhere when they hit concrete, regardless of how fat they are. ETA: Aha, looks like **jz78817** found it first. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/5 "2015-12-01T05:42:54Z")
Well, in the real world, someone can fall a massive distance and look intact, though when the fire department tries to pick them up… they won’t be. Evelyn McHale is the classic example. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/6 "2015-12-01T14:55:32Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Can’t answer the first one, but ISTR it was some sort of “art” piece and not really a pancaked fat person. Ah, “The Matrix of Amnesia”. Thanks all! ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/7 "2015-12-01T19:45:39Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, in the real world, someone can fall a massive distance and look intact, though when the fire department tries to pick them up… they won’t be. Evelyn McHale is the classic example. This piqued my ghoulish curiosity, and so I googled but could find nothing specific about the intactness of her body. Some sites referred to the appearance of her body as “apparently intact” but have no details otherwise. Do you have a cite of gruesome awesomeness or awesome gruesomeness? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/8 "2015-12-01T20:15:58Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > This piqued my ghoulish curiosity, and so I googled but could find nothing specific about the intactness of her body. Some sites referred to the appearance of her body as “apparently intact” but have no details otherwise. Do you have a cite of gruesome awesomeness or awesome gruesomeness? Well, à Google of “Evelyn McHale liquefied” turns up multiple cites of someone’s contemporary comment, though the exact source is proving elusive. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/9 "2015-12-01T20:23:54Z")
I looked Evelyn McHale up on wikipedia, and was directed to a page about the Empire State Building. But it appears that yesterday an anonymous user edited the entire article to read: > [@](#): > > o ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/10 "2015-12-01T20:25:50Z")
BTW, > [@freckafree](#): > > This piqued my ghoulish curiosity, and so I googled but could find nothing specific about the intactness of her body. Some sites referred to the appearance of her body as “apparently intact” but have no details otherwise. Do you have a cite of gruesome awesomeness or awesome gruesomeness? The incident of her death is named “The Most Beautiful Suicide.” So I wouldn’t expect any images to be too gruesome. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/11 "2015-12-01T20:36:21Z")
A simple image search for Evelyn McHale turns up an iconic photo of her that appeared in Life magazine. At least what’s visible looks intact. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/12 "2015-12-02T06:21:00Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > [http://www.johnisaacs.net/works\_1997/works\_1997\_01.html](http://www.johnisaacs.net/works_1997/works_1997_01.html) That’s the first thing that came to my mind when I read the OP. I’ve tried to find this image for years. My when I was around 12, my father made this the desktop background on the family computer. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obese-fall-death-picture/739092/13 "2015-12-03T16:12:50Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > That’s the first thing that came to my mind when I read the OP. I’ve tried to find this image for years. My when I was around 12, my father made this the desktop background on the family computer. :eek::eek: Did he - or your whole family for that matter - just have a weird sense of humor?