Have you heard the one about the coffin on the beach?
That’s not the start of a dad joke. It’s actually about a social media post that went viral showing a legit casket sitting near the water’s edge in Galveston, Texas, and it raised a lot of questions.
Did it wash up on the beach? Did it fall off a truck? Was someone’s attempt at “burying a relative at sea” wildly misguided?
As it turns out, the coffin was luckily not currently being used for its intended purpose. The uninhabited burial box was placed there for promotional purposes.
According to Chron, the photo was posted by local tourist attraction CEO Craig Corbell. The franchises currently under his purview include Baywatch Dolphin Tours, Pirates! Legends of the Gulf Coast, and… Haunted Mayfield Manor, an attraction whose Facebook page touts it as “USA TODAY’s 3rd Spookiest Haunted House.”
Haunted Mayfield Manor
The post certainly garnered publicity. And sarcasm. Among the responses:
— “I hate it when my mom shows up at my beach parties.”
— “The only way I’ll get a vacation.”
— “All I see there is a finder’s keeper’s situation.
Anyone want to help me haul it up and repurpose it…I don’t care if it’s used.”
And of course, the timeless…
— “Somebody was dying to get to the beach.”
Whether or not an abandoned coffin on the beach translates to a spring break windfall remains to be seen, but in terms of generating social media responses and content for news sites, you can definitely label it a success.
