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{{trope}}
[[Image:Mel Blanc 4-15-05.JPG|thumb|right|[[Mel Blanc]]: [[That's All, Folks!]]]]
The "one parting joke" as a gravestone epitaph is an obscure tradition which has been going on, largely [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|under the radar]], since at least the eighteenth or nineteenth century. There are many printed books of these, some dating back as far as [[The Sixties]]:
* Grave Humor by Alonzo C. Hall. Charlotte, N.C., McNally of Charlotte, 1961.
* Over Their Dead Bodies by Thomas C. Mann and Janet Greene. Brattleboro, Vt., Stephen Greene Press, 1962.
* Last Laughs: Funny Tombstone Quotes and Famous Last Words, Kathleen E. Miller, Sterling Publishing Company 2006.
* I Told You I Was Sick: A Grave Book of Curious Epitaphs by Nigel Rees. 288 pages. Cassell (1 Nov 2005).
 
These also appear occasionally in fictional works. ''[[Fallout 2]]'' appears to have taken and incorporated a list of amusing gravestone inscriptions which has been circulating, unattributed, online for(with atminor leastvariation) a decade and a half and likelyfor longerdecades. It is unclear whether allSome of these inscriptions are real, or whether these lists were created merely as a jokebook-style compilation, but they'vemany clearlyof beenthe aroundepitaphs farare longer than the video game:real.
 
Some examples:
 
{{quote|Here lies the body of our Anna
Line 21 ⟶ 29:
|epitaph of Ann Mann, London UK, Dec. 8, 1767}}
 
{{quote|“Captain Thomas Coffin.
Died 1842. Age 50 years.
Here lies▼
He’s done a-catching cod.
And gone to meet his God.”
|epitaph of a Rhode Island fisherman}}
 
▲{{quote|Here lies
Ezekial Aikle
Age 102
The Good Die Young.
|epitaph of Ezekial Aikle in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia}}
 
{{quote|To the Memory of Abraham Beaulieu
Born 15 September 1822
Accidentally shot 4th April 1844
As a mark of affection from his brother.
|epitaph in aLa GeorgiaPointe, cemeteryWisconsin}}▼
 
{{quote|Gone, but not forgiven.
|epitaph of an adulterous husband in Atlanta}}
 
{{quote|Here underneath this little stone
Line 35 ⟶ 57:
this world will never see again
|epitaph on a lone grave in a New England forest}}
 
{{quote|Jedediah Goodwin.
Auctioneer.
Born 1828.
Going! Going! Gone! 1876.
|epitaph on an auctioneer’s tombstone}}
 
{{quote|G. Winch, the brewer, lies buried here.
In life he was both hale and stout.
Death brought him to his bitter bier.
Now in heaven he hops about.
|a brewer's epitaph}}
 
{{quote|John E. Goembel. 1867-1946.
The defense rests.
|an attorney’s epitaph}}
 
{{quote|Stranger tread this ground with gravity
Dentist Brown is filling his last cavity
|a dentist's epitaph}}
 
{{quote|Molly though pleasant in her day
Line 41 ⟶ 83:
Sent to her grave and soon forgott'n
|epitaph of Mary "Molly" Fowler, Milford Cemetery, Connecticut}}
 
{{quote|Professor S. B. McCracken
School is out.
Teacher has gone home.
|epitaph of an Elkhart, Indiana instructor}}
 
{{quote|Sacred to the memory of
Line 59 ⟶ 106:
Four slugs from a .44
No Les No More.
|epitaph of an 1880s Naco, Arizona Wells Fargo wild west station agent in Boot Hill Cemetery, Tombstone AZ}}
 
{{quote|Underneath this pile of stones
Line 76 ⟶ 123:
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.
|epitaph on [[wikipedia:John Strange (English politician)|a lawyer's grave]] in England}}▼
It's no business
Of yours.
▲|epitaph on a lawyer's grave in England}}
 
{{quote|Here lies the body
Line 90 ⟶ 135:
Dig 4 feet deep
And thou wilt find a Penny.
|epitaph of John Penny's in Wimborne, England}}
 
{{quote|She always said her feet were killing her
Line 120 ⟶ 165:
Pease shelled out and went to God.
|epitaph from the 1880's in Nantucket, Massachusetts }}
 
{{quote|Gone Underground For Good.
|on a coal miner's grave}}
 
{{quote|Ellen Shannon, Who was fatally burned
Line 138 ⟶ 186:
But slow on the draw.
|epitaph in a Silver City, Nevada cemetery}}
 
{{quote|I would rather be here than in Texas.
|gravestone in Colorado Springs, Colorado.}}
 
{{quote|She lived with her husband fifty years
Line 147 ⟶ 198:
Now she's at rest
And so am I.
|unknown, another version ends "Now she has peace/And so do I"}}
 
{{quote|Here Lies Mary Smith
Silent At Last
|unknown}}
 
{{quote|Rebecca Freeland, 1741.
She drank good ale,
good punch and wine,
and lived to the age of 99.
|epitaph in a New Jersey cemetery}}
 
{{quote|Owen Moore
Line 155 ⟶ 216:
|epitaph in Battersea, London UK}}
 
{{quote|Here lies the body of Margaret Bent,
{{quote|
She kicked up her heels and away she went.
I was somebody.▼
|epitaph in Winterborn Steepleton Cemetery, Dorsetshire, England}}
 
▲{{quote|I was somebody.
Who, is no business
Of yours.
|an anonymous gravesite in Stowe, Vermont}}
 
{{quote|He got a fish-bone in his throat
and then he sang an angel note.
|an epitaph in Schenectady, New York}}
 
{{quote|Remember man, as you walk by,
As you are now, so once was I,
As I am now, so shall you be,
Remember this and follow me.
|epitaph from an English cemetery, also spotted in Atlanta. Various sermons mention a reply "To follow you I’ll not consent, Until I know which way you went."}}
 
{{quote|Hooray my brave boys
Let's rejoice at his fall.
For if he had lived
He would have buried us all.
|epitaph on a grave digger's own tombstone}}
 
{{quote|Here lies an Atheist
Line 167 ⟶ 247:
 
{{quote|I told you I was sick!
|Spike Milligan's epitaph<ref>Irish inscription: "Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite". Many variants spotted on multiple graves in Florida, Georgia and elsewhere.</ref>}}
▲|epitaph in a Georgia cemetery}}
 
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