President Obama was mixing with regular folk in downtown Denver yesterday when a well-wisher greeted him wearing a horse head mask. Initially taken aback, the president ended up shaking hands with the guy as his security detail watched nervously, ready to jump into action at the slightest provocation.
It wasn’t the only notable interaction on the day—another man in the crowd offered Obama marijuana, which he politely declined—but it heralds the return of the good, ol’ horse head meme.
Sneak attack! A friendly half-horse, half-man greets President Obama on the streets of Denver.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Its journey to meme status is said to have begun after a man wearing a horse head attacked teenage girls in the animated version of anime comic, Full Metal Panic! Seattle-based novelty manufacturer Archie McPhee & Co. released its horse head masks around the same time, and they soon began to proliferate around the globe. Japanese Anonymous members quickly adopted horse heads as their mask of choice, the equivalent of the Guy Fawkes ones worn in the U.S.
The meme works best when they are jarring, cropping up in what should be mundane situations: on Google Street View, on a man jogging behind a television reporter covering Hurricane Sandy or on a guy shaking hands with the president of the United States.
But like a particularly virulent case of herpes, the meme lies dormant for long periods and flares up from time to time. So here are some of the greatest appearances in horse head history—before the next one, that is:
Google
Uploaded By: Luke James
IMGDEX
Neon Mag
Pinterest/Manimal
Uploaded By: poopy pants
Funnyjunk.com
Metro.pr
The post The Whole Horse Head Thing Just Won’t Die appeared first on Vocativ.