# Where did the "hanging from lamp posts" meme originate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936 "2011-10-27T02:42:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/1 "2011-10-27T02:42:03Z")
Googling around I see a few sporadic references of one or two unfortunate people being hanged from a lamp post during the French Revolution. I also see stories that the SS or local Nazi partisan groups in Berlin would use lamp posts as makeshift gallows to discourage desertion and defeatism in the final days before the Soviets moved in. But I don’t see any historical references to a mob rising up in revolution, pulling bankers or lawmakers out of their offices and stringing them up on lamp posts along the main thoroughfare. But it seems to have become a metaphor or meme or something in online conversations in the recent economic downturn. So was there any historical or fictional source for this idea? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/2 "2011-10-27T03:42:13Z")
It was referenced in the draft riots of the Civil War, as well. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/3 "2011-10-27T03:49:07Z")
gangs of new york, but it was a racist thing. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/4 "2011-10-27T04:46:24Z")
It was featured in the chorus to one version of [Ah, ça ira!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ah!_%C3%A7a_ira), one of the songs of revolutionary France: Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates à la lanterne! Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates on les pendra! Si on n’ les pend pas On les rompra Si on n’ les rompt pas On les brûlera. Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates à la lanterne! Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira les aristocrates on les pendra! Ah! It’ll be fine, It’ll be fine, It’ll be fine aristocrats to the lamp-post Ah! It’ll be fine, It’ll be fine, It’ll be fine the aristocrats, we’ll hang them! If we don’t hang them We’ll break them If we don’t break them We’ll burn them Ah! It’ll be fine, It’ll be fine, It’ll be fine aristocrats to the lamp-post Ah! It’ll be fine, It’ll be fine, It’ll be fine the aristocrats, we’ll hang them! ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/5 "2011-10-27T05:18:23Z")
That’s very interesting, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/6 "2011-10-27T05:35:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira > les aristocrates à la lanterne! Incidentally, “La Lanterne” is also the name of a [hunting lodge](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Lanterne) in Versailles used by the prime ministers of France. I seem to remember an anecdote where somebody wishing to see the PM during a crisis was told that “monsieur le Premier Ministre est à La Lanterne.” “Oh, I had no idea the situation was that bad already!” I couldn’t find any reference to it online, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tammi\_Terrell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Tammi\_Terrell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tammi_Terrell)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/7 "2011-10-27T09:55:25Z")
You mentioned finding references to “one or two unfortunate people” who met their ends in this manner during the Revolution. I suspect that the “hanging from lamp posts” meme likely originated with the execution of Joseph Foullon de Doué, Controller-General of Finances. > **[Joseph Foullon de Doué](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Foullon_de_Dou%C3%A9)** > > Joseph-François Foullon de Doué (25 June 1715 – 22 July 1789) was a French politician and a Controller-General of Finances under Louis XVI. A deeply unpopular figure, he has the ignominious distinction of being the first recorded person to have been lynched à la lanterne. > Born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, Foullon served as Intendant-General of the Armies during the Seven Years' War, and as Intendant of the Army and Navy under Marshal de Belle-Isle. In 1771 he was appointed Intendant of Finances.... If Foullon’s hanging and subsequent beheading did not drive the creation of a metaphor that persists today, it certainly must’ve contributed to its inherent imagery. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/8 "2011-10-27T13:08:57Z")
IIRC, during the London apprentice boy’s riots in the 1590’s, it was customary to hang looters at the scene of the crime. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/9 "2011-10-27T13:19:04Z")
Wasn’t Mssolini and his GF (Claretta Petacci) killed and hng from a lamppost? Seems to be a popular fate for unpopular ex-dictators. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/10 "2011-10-27T13:39:21Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Wasn’t Mssolini and his GF (Claretta Petacci) killed and hng from a lamppost? > Seems to be a popular fate for unpopular ex-dictators. That particular example was upside down on meathooks. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/11 "2011-10-27T13:49:27Z")
If it was one of my posts that sparked the OP, I got it from _Tale of Two Cities_. Well, that and the fact that I teach the French Revolution, so I know about de Doué. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/12 "2011-10-27T23:22:55Z")
People were, obviously, first hung from tree limbs. Later, scaffolds. Mass executions would create a shortage of both inside a city, ergo streetlamps would be pressed into service. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/13 "2011-10-28T00:05:06Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > People were, obviously, first hung from tree limbs. > Later, scaffolds. > Mass executions would create a shortage of both inside a city, ergo streetlamps would be pressed into service. I was thinking of the specific theme or meme or whatever of a popular uprising storming the offices of the elite, carrying them outside and stringing them up specifically from lamp posts. As opposed, say, to shooting them or throwing them out of windows. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-hanging-from-lamp-posts-meme-originate/600936/14 "2011-10-28T04:25:34Z")
I was thinking Mussolini but a quick google revealed he was hung from a gas station, not a lamppost. Lampposts I definitely associate with lynchings such as of African Americans during the US Civil War draft riots.