Disaster Girl

I have previously never revealed on this blog that I am an utterly unapologetic internet meme-whore on social networking sites. One meme I encountered some time ago and immediately fell in love with is Disaster Girl. The real-life story of her is surprising and just about as funny as the memes are that have found genesis from an impromptu sidewise glance from a little girl observing a real fire. No, she and the residential fire are not Photoshopped together. When she appears with that same wicked glance with a different background it is courtesy Photoshop and people with too much time on their creative hands. The first image below is the original photograph that North Carolinian Dave Roth shot of his daughter Zoe at a house fire in 2004. Following it are some of the evolutions of the image into internet meme hall-of-fame renown by various anonymous bored contributors over recent years. Initially the Disaster girl memes were of the original image with some sort of dialogue humorously attributed to the girl in that situation. Later, some wags got even more clever and started Photoshopping her into various historic and even prehistoric disasters.

This one is a private joke with my mom... although any PK would get it.

Note: this is Archduke Ferdinand whose assassination sparked World War One.

I believe that is the carnage of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Famous Vietnam War image... and she was there apparently.

Most of us remember this Photoshopped image after 911 purporting to show a tourist getting photographed atop the World Trade Center as American Airlines Flight 11 approaches behind him. Disaster Girl was there, too.

2011 Japanese tsunami.

The Miracle on the Hudson

Random forest fire

Random tornado damage

Random winter storm damage

Random sink hole

Random rioting.