On the surface, she’s like many other young women posting photos to social media. She loves coffee. She takes shots of her daily outfit. She playfully poses under the covers. She posts embarrassing old pictures. Really, she leads a fairly typical life. Or at least she would, if she were … well, alive.
She is Skellie, and she is literally just a plastic novelty skeleton. But she is also the star of OMGLiterallyDead, an Instagram account that has skyrocketed in popularity over the past few months. Currently over 250,000 followers keep up with Skellie’s daily exploits.
The character is the brainchild of Dana Herlihey, a social media manager from Toronto.
“The concept came on a whim,” Herlihey said in an interview with Toledo Free Press. “A plastic, poseable skeleton arrived at work one day as a gag Halloween decoration. My coworkers took to it, posing it in each other’s chairs.
“One day I took a photo of the skeleton drinking from a Starbucks cup. The next day, I dressed it in my cardigan and toque. I found the voice for Skellie came to me naturally when doing this, so I made an Instagram account dedicated to this skeleton. It all kind of snowballed from there.”
“Snowballed” is one way to put it. “Avalanched” is another. Only about six months have passed since that first Starbucks photo was posted, and Skellie has blossomed into a full-fledged Internet phenomenon.
“I was walking home from work one day thinking of all these hilarious ideas for the skeleton. I realized that I was becoming pretty passionate about the little hobby project I had going and that there must be potential in that.”
The process for taking a Skellie photo (a “skelfie”) can be as simple or as complicated as you might imagine, Herlihey said. She now has four skeletons to work with (she’s going to buy her fifth shortly) and many of the best concepts come to her on a whim.
“Photo ideas can come up quite naturally. I’m watching ‘Friends’ on Netflix all day, well, why not Skellie? I’ll pose her, take a quick photo, and write a caption on the spot.”
Other posts take planning.
“Skellie can be a bit fickle to pose sometimes, so the real behind-the-scenes secret is that sometimes her arm is tied, or someone is crouching on the floor holding her legs,” she said.
In addition to Instagram, Skellie now has accounts on Twitter and Facebook, and a website (www.omgliterally dead.com) complete with online store. The pair are headed back to New York for the April 20 Shorty Awards, where OMGLiterallyDead is nominated for Best Instagram Account.
“Mindy Kaling is our competition, so win or lose, I’m really honored and excited about the show,” Herlihey said.
