Another Internet Myth Busted

Thanks to the internet we now all know that we haven’t actually been on the moon yet, George W Bush is the greatest president to have ever lived and the Numa Numa guy is the most popular guy on earth. Oh, and Hitler loves playing on his Xbox 360.

Like the two middle aged ginger guys on the Discovery Channel, the internet is a great resource to refute (or start!) rumours and bust myths. Recently we came across a very touching story about a 20 year old German guy who was diagnosed with leukaemia – he was going to die within a year. Due to his disease he decided to live his last year on earth on the edge and took up train surfing as a hobby. He posted his exploits on the internet.

Shortly after he shot to fame on Youtube he died. Or did he?

In true Ethan Hunt style he created a device which helped him cling onto trains at high speeds. He quickly built a following online and got a reputation as the guy who surfed on a ICE high speed German train, which can go as fast as 330 km/h.

Exilome, a Youtube user who must have been both impressed and saddened, created the above video. Over 3 million people watched it, and I’d hazard a guess that some of them shed a few tears as they watched this impressive tribute to an internet legend. Numerous reactions came in showing their respect for the deceased train surfer.

But, to surprise of many of his fans, he was interviewed for German television. The man who they thought to be dead was alive and well. And on German television. According to some of the comments he decided to pretend he died short after his heroics on the train, hoping others wouldn’t follow in his footsteps as train surfers.

Conclusion: Don’t believe everything you see, hear or read on the internet. Unless it’s posted on Viralblog.