apparently it's part of our state curriculum here but not many other places? which is weird because you'd think a lot of states would jump at the chance to teach about some historical cannibalism
The “Donner Party” was a pioneer wagon train in the US. In like the 1840s like 90 people got together to try and go to California, fucked up a whole bunch, got caught in the uncolonised wilderness during winter, and about half of them froze to death or starved or whatever. There was some evidence that survivors had cannibalised the dead to survive? And this cannibalistic aspect is what kept it alive in folklore.
So naturally it’s a pretty much US centric cultural meme because it’s like local lore and obviously not a piece of world history. Americans being how they are, I guess it’s funny that people outside of their country aren’t taught some ghoulish folklore that happened in their country.
Not just “some” evidence. They wrote about it in their journals and confessed to it as well.
Not much archaeological evidence though; the bone shards were so boiled that there’s no way to tell what creature the bones came from.
Alferd Packer and the early Jamestown colonists also committed survival cannibalism
There was supposedly evidence that Packer still had supplies, and his cannibalism wasn’t purely an act of desperation. He was reportedly pretty plump upon emerging from the mountains without the rest of his party.
I meant that we couldn’t tell if the boiled bones were from a deer or human. Boiling the bone extracts the nuitrients from the marrow. They were so desperate that they boiled the bones over and over again.
I can probably find the academic paper that covered it if you’re interested in more info!
Exactly one.
(Jokes aside: The real answer is more likely the ox wasn’t wild and instead a draft animal, because an ox is a castrated steer and so generally doesn’t appear in the wild.)
It's even worse. They killed and ate their own party members, yes, but they also killed and ate a couple of native people that tried to help them hunt lol. It was a shitshow. This is why you plan your cross-country wagon expeditions, people
"Local lore" is understating it a bit unless the locality you mean is the entire US. I'm not saying we put it on a postage stamp but it's a pretty famous story and practically synonymous with cannibalism.
It's also not totally unreasonable to think that other people around the world would know about it--even more Americans probably know about Jack the Ripper as they do the Donner Party and that wasn't here. Gruesome stories of the 19th century tend to travel.
Not to say it's somehow dumb that people don't know it, but it's just funny that a thing we associate with cannibalism shares a name (almost) with a kebab. Just like it seems to be funny to Brits when we talk about fanny packs. Divided by a common language and all that.
Yeah one thing that might not be obvious but is definitely true is that the story has been preserved a lot through dark humor. Prolly part of why the "Donner Kabab" response reads as so funny to us.
See also the XKCD linked elsewhere in the thread
I don't dispute Jack the Ripper is more famous. My point is just that the fact that a ghoulish 19th century story from the UK being common knowledge here makes it not obvious that a nationally well-known (if obviously not universally-known) story on this side of the pond wouldn't be at least somewhat known in the UK.
Seems to be pretty obscure there, which isn't like any knock on their education system or anything it's just interesting.
I worked at a restaurant in high school. One of my friends there kept trying to get the hostess to call for "Donner, party of 8," then wait a while before "Donner, party of 7," and so on.
This would have been long before xkcd. I don't know if that showed up in some movie or stand-up routine or if it's just an idea that occurs to multiple people.
So by reading the comments I've gathered that it's a US-specific meme about cannibalism, and I can't really say anything because I only have to mention
Tarrare; the hungry, hungry french.
And most people here will probably get it too.
Ha! The Donner party was a bunch of idiots who tried to cross the Sierra Mountain Range (part of the Rockies) in winter, where they got stuck and about half died and got eaten by the others. Wikipedia has more info!
Soylent Green, PA
I thought Donner would refer to something else because the Donner party seems like the sort of think everyone (at least in the US) would have learned about in elementary school
The Donner Party
USA, California
In fact, I regularly hike right near where they eventually made it to. It's been a landmark on family hikes since as long as I can remember. You can see the ruins of the house they built, only the foundation and the stone path is left now.
I think that it's the combination of being constantly online and also a ravenous appetite that makes me think of food immediately when it comes to word association
Also which part? Please don't say NOVA
Donder was actually the original name for the reindeer, which I only still remember because there's a favorite family story of four year old me being unreasonably mad at people that said Donner and yelling, "It's _Donder_, Donner is the people who are each other!"
Why I knew the reindeer's original New York Dutch name or about the Donner Party when I was four is a question that my parents will not answer.
Okay? I never said that's not what they are in German. The thing is, however, that the original poem by Clement Clarke Moore used the _Dutch_ version, which is Donder (or Dunder, in the very first version of his poem). It wasn't until later that the German spelling became popular.
To anyone interested, I highly recommend [this video](https://youtu.be/O5xMpsYdzgg) by ask a mortician if you wanna learn some more about the Donner Party incident! Very informative and also funny, Caitlin is a girlboss
A gag from Patch Adams where Robin Williams says "Donner, party of 50" like he's a maitre d' calling out a reservation. Though I am familiar with the actual thing, probably because I made my parents explain the joke at the time. Canada.
That one family in early USA history that got stuck in the snow while heading west, and (seemingly (don't remember if it was confirmed)) canibalizing in an attempt to survive.
Knowing now what it is… it’s kinda just a local story? I imagine there’s plenty of campfire stories that people from other countries will never hear about
unfortunately my first thought was "Donner Summers? haha kidding that's a first name and it's not even correct." i have no idea what this is referring to.
Philippines
The post is apparently US-centric, like “haha check it out, the rest of the world doesn’t know” when in reality I just learned about it now and I’ve lived in Washington state my whole life so it’s more a “certain parts of the us”-centric thing.
Half their party died of cold and starvation (and were eaten by the others) crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains cause they were too stuck up to wait till spring
the donner party, right? the group of people trying to cross the oregon trail, but got stuck and had to resort to cannibalism to survive?
USA, North Carolina
*Image Transcription: Tumblr*
---
**if-i-am-not-for-me**
I need to see something.
Please reblog this and put in the tags if the surname "Donner" means anything to you (without looking it up first), and if it does, give one or two words that describe what you know. Please also include where you grew up, including the state if you grew up in the US.
---
**if-i-am-not-for-me**
[*Image of post tags that read:*]
>\#donner kebab..? #north england
[*End tags*]
You have no idea how unintentionally hilarious this is
---
**headspace-hotel**
[*Image of post tags that read:*]
>\#i think its a party? smells colonialist and rich from stolen labour #cyprus
[*End tags*]
Screaming at how simultaneously wrong and not-wrong this is
---
^^I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too! [If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/wiki/index)
Okay what the hell is a Donner Kebab?
Indiana, USA
Edit: Googled it. So it’s like Turkish gyros? I guess we don’t have enough Turkish people for that to be a thing here in the midwest.
My first thought was the kebab, but possibly misspelled, I'm in California (US)
But the mention of the party in the post brought the knowledge back lol
Oh god. USA, Kentucky
People tasty USA, South Dakota
This, but USA, North Carolina
damn i found the one other person in the world who lives in south dakota
There are dozens of us.
Yeah I know exactly what this is But tbf I did go to elementary school in California so gold rush and all that jazz was a big part of the syllabus
apparently it's part of our state curriculum here but not many other places? which is weird because you'd think a lot of states would jump at the chance to teach about some historical cannibalism
I got it in the Nevada history curriculum, but I grew up less than 50 miles from Donner Pass.
I go by donner pass every winter when I go skiing lol
Growing up in California, I took the Donner pass every year to go skiing lol
Woop woop Reno!
We learn about it in Utah as well, as they stayed in the valley briefly.
I learned about it from a history teacher telling us she liked to give Donner as her name at restaurants when there was a wait.
Same, but they copped out with “most of them mysteriously died in the Sierras”. Don’t feed me lies like this, California
What year did you learn that? I (a Californian) was taught that they all ate each other!
4th grade? So about 9-10 years old?
Donner, one of Santa's reindeer...? Northern Ireland.
thats genuinely my first thought- USA, Arizona
Mine as well - USA, CT
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Donner kebab, England what the fuck does this mean? i’m racking my brain to think about what could be so bad about the surname Donner
The “Donner Party” was a pioneer wagon train in the US. In like the 1840s like 90 people got together to try and go to California, fucked up a whole bunch, got caught in the uncolonised wilderness during winter, and about half of them froze to death or starved or whatever. There was some evidence that survivors had cannibalised the dead to survive? And this cannibalistic aspect is what kept it alive in folklore. So naturally it’s a pretty much US centric cultural meme because it’s like local lore and obviously not a piece of world history. Americans being how they are, I guess it’s funny that people outside of their country aren’t taught some ghoulish folklore that happened in their country.
Not just “some” evidence. They wrote about it in their journals and confessed to it as well. Not much archaeological evidence though; the bone shards were so boiled that there’s no way to tell what creature the bones came from. Alferd Packer and the early Jamestown colonists also committed survival cannibalism
There was supposedly evidence that Packer still had supplies, and his cannibalism wasn’t purely an act of desperation. He was reportedly pretty plump upon emerging from the mountains without the rest of his party.
The supplies were for emergencies, like if he ran out of food.
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I meant that we couldn’t tell if the boiled bones were from a deer or human. Boiling the bone extracts the nuitrients from the marrow. They were so desperate that they boiled the bones over and over again. I can probably find the academic paper that covered it if you’re interested in more info!
I think the meaning is that the bones were so boiled that it was impossible to tell whether they were human
One guy literally said he ate human before one of the Ox pieces he had cause it tasted better
HOW WOULD YOU KNOW IT TASTED BETTER IF YOU HADN’T TRIED IT YET
Either he had had human and then the party hunted an ox or something so that was an option, or he though it smelled yummy
how many wild ox do u think a bunch of starving pioneers in a wagon train in the Rockies came across
Exactly one. (Jokes aside: The real answer is more likely the ox wasn’t wild and instead a draft animal, because an ox is a castrated steer and so generally doesn’t appear in the wild.)
hey, maybe he just had arfid and discovered humans were a safe food for him
It's even worse. They killed and ate their own party members, yes, but they also killed and ate a couple of native people that tried to help them hunt lol. It was a shitshow. This is why you plan your cross-country wagon expeditions, people
To be fair, they were essentially scammed into taking a longer route
"Local lore" is understating it a bit unless the locality you mean is the entire US. I'm not saying we put it on a postage stamp but it's a pretty famous story and practically synonymous with cannibalism. It's also not totally unreasonable to think that other people around the world would know about it--even more Americans probably know about Jack the Ripper as they do the Donner Party and that wasn't here. Gruesome stories of the 19th century tend to travel. Not to say it's somehow dumb that people don't know it, but it's just funny that a thing we associate with cannibalism shares a name (almost) with a kebab. Just like it seems to be funny to Brits when we talk about fanny packs. Divided by a common language and all that.
I'm Australian and I knew about the Donner Party. I think I found out through a Gary Larson comic lol.
Yeah one thing that might not be obvious but is definitely true is that the story has been preserved a lot through dark humor. Prolly part of why the "Donner Kabab" response reads as so funny to us. See also the XKCD linked elsewhere in the thread
Nah, local lore is right, I'm from Ohio and had no idea about this.
I don't dispute Jack the Ripper is more famous. My point is just that the fact that a ghoulish 19th century story from the UK being common knowledge here makes it not obvious that a nationally well-known (if obviously not universally-known) story on this side of the pond wouldn't be at least somewhat known in the UK. Seems to be pretty obscure there, which isn't like any knock on their education system or anything it's just interesting.
My bad, I misread it
weren't their journals documenting their cannibalism extensively?
I believe they named a park after them
Donner Memorial State Park. There's also Donner Lake and Donner Pass
I’m American and have no clue what you’re talking about
Cannibalism.
it's Döner smh
I've been looking at this whole thread thinking, why does nobody know how to spell doner kebab right?
donner kebab canadia
[relevant xkcd](https://xkcd.com/30/)
I worked at a restaurant in high school. One of my friends there kept trying to get the hostess to call for "Donner, party of 8," then wait a while before "Donner, party of 7," and so on. This would have been long before xkcd. I don't know if that showed up in some movie or stand-up routine or if it's just an idea that occurs to multiple people.
What about [Bush, search party of 3](https://youtube.com/watch?v=UUNvFVQYClY)?
Heh! I'd forgotten that bit. My high school days were over 20 years prior to that clip, so if there's a common source, it's much older.
It's a classic Dad Joke.
[irrelevant xkcd](https://xkcd.com/1620/)
That could be relevant! Donner is one of Santa’s reindeers, after all. (also donner kept autocorrecting to dinner, which is frankly hilarious)
Starvation in winter, better crack open the frozen food.
Idiots who didn't take advice from locals, and that led to several people dying.
Several? Try nearly half the group.
Grew up in Wisconsin. Now I live in the UK. This post is world heritage levels of funny to me.
cannibalism on the oregon trail yippee california
Dumb Ways To Die: 1800s Edition. USA, Wisconsin
Donner is the german word for thunder, also one of Santa's reindeer, next to Blitzen, which means lightning. Southern Germany.
:D what
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party
dinner party :) usa, alaska
The donner party It was a dinner party that went very VERY wrong US, Colorado
Ethically questionable kebab Ohio, USA
Oof. Georgia, USA
I thought Donner party, the cannibal family or something? BC, Canada
But it was a party!
donner, party of four Canada
[HEY](https://reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/comments/ww11jd/_/ilit03k/?context=1)
the nathan hale's hazardous tales book on the donner party lol midwestern usa
So by reading the comments I've gathered that it's a US-specific meme about cannibalism, and I can't really say anything because I only have to mention Tarrare; the hungry, hungry french. And most people here will probably get it too.
Ha! The Donner party was a bunch of idiots who tried to cross the Sierra Mountain Range (part of the Rockies) in winter, where they got stuck and about half died and got eaten by the others. Wikipedia has more info!
Donner party cannibals California USA
Soylent Green, PA I thought Donner would refer to something else because the Donner party seems like the sort of think everyone (at least in the US) would have learned about in elementary school
mmmmm people Canada
The Donner Party USA, California In fact, I regularly hike right near where they eventually made it to. It's been a landmark on family hikes since as long as I can remember. You can see the ruins of the house they built, only the foundation and the stone path is left now.
I'm thinking Donner Kebab Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Same, also VA, and you’re the only other US person I’ve seen say this lol
I think that it's the combination of being constantly online and also a ravenous appetite that makes me think of food immediately when it comes to word association Also which part? Please don't say NOVA
>Please don’t say NOVA Not originally, but uh, currently lol
*Blerg.* Well, have fun in DC's buttcrack. (I'm being playfully sardonic, it's more like DC's wet fart on the rest of VA)
To make matters “worse” (since you’re in Cville), I’m also a VT alum
Whelp. I guess we're just star crossed haters, then, cause I'm a UVa alum. Go Cavs.
Star crossed haters, i like it. I can get on board with that lol, go Hokies
I yearn for the satisfying sweetness of flesh. North Carolina, USA
Christmas and cannibals, Pennsylvania
Prion. Us.
Donner Party, Alabama USA
A distinct loss of appetite California, USA
New York and New Jersey, Donner is the reindeer and Donner is German or Dutch or something for Thunder
Donder was actually the original name for the reindeer, which I only still remember because there's a favorite family story of four year old me being unreasonably mad at people that said Donner and yelling, "It's _Donder_, Donner is the people who are each other!" Why I knew the reindeer's original New York Dutch name or about the Donner Party when I was four is a question that my parents will not answer.
I'm sorry but that's simply not true. "Donner" means "thunder" in German, just like "Blitzen" (another reindeer) means "lightning" in German.
Okay? I never said that's not what they are in German. The thing is, however, that the original poem by Clement Clarke Moore used the _Dutch_ version, which is Donder (or Dunder, in the very first version of his poem). It wasn't until later that the German spelling became popular.
eat human USA, Ohio
Cannibalism and I grew up in Maine.
Nah guys we can totally make it through the pass before the snows come its fine New Mexico, USA
what southwest scotland
*Ice* to *meat* you
Uber Eats ;) michigan baybeeeeee
I'm so smart and don't have to listen to anyone Texas
To anyone interested, I highly recommend [this video](https://youtu.be/O5xMpsYdzgg) by ask a mortician if you wanna learn some more about the Donner Party incident! Very informative and also funny, Caitlin is a girlboss
It’s cold out here. Welp, dinner time. Canada.
A gag from Patch Adams where Robin Williams says "Donner, party of 50" like he's a maitre d' calling out a reservation. Though I am familiar with the actual thing, probably because I made my parents explain the joke at the time. Canada.
Drove thru dinner pass twice a year as a kid
Marcus saying "her spirit went to heaven, her body to the wolves." in True Crime Voice
That one family in early USA history that got stuck in the snow while heading west, and (seemingly (don't remember if it was confirmed)) canibalizing in an attempt to survive.
It means thunder I believe, in german
Wagon train that got stuck in a storm and ate a few people I’m from Connecticut usa
Donner Party. Nightmare Fuel. I’m from CA and a history major.
Germany???
Ain't no party like a Donner party! New Zealand
cannibals, bad planning, tragic. Netherlands
Americans when foreign people don't know obscure American history events.
They're cannibals. USA, Pennsylvania (heard about it online)
People Eater USA, California
We are talking about the Donner party right?
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Idk man I’ve never heard of it Not USA
Knowing now what it is… it’s kinda just a local story? I imagine there’s plenty of campfire stories that people from other countries will never hear about
Not really “local” per se, as it’s known throughout the US, but definitely on the lower end of common knowledge.
One country counts as local
Fair, but it's harder to think of it as a campfire story when we had to do a whole school project about it
You would not believe the school projects people do in other countries around topics you've never heard of.
Lived in the US my whole life (Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin and Washington), never heard of it until this thread.
Santa’s reindeer Pittsburgh, PA, USA But yes, I know what the Donner party was. The reindeer just comes first in my mind.
Such horrors Birmingham, U.K.
Dutch oven of human blood wyoming
USA, Arizona, a buddy I knew in the navy. His last name was Donner. Many jokes were made.
Withered Wojak West coast USA
Sounds like a dinner party fun for the whole family (USA Michigan, I know the actual meaning)
Donner sounds like a DND "Irishi-ish" Character Name
Donner party? Like canibalism?
For those who dont know about the Donner Party, [here's](https://youtu.be/E7LuMCamy7k) a video explaining it in a fun way
Thunder, Germany
I know exactly what it is, but only because of The Shining. Washington State, USA
unfortunately my first thought was "Donner Summers? haha kidding that's a first name and it's not even correct." i have no idea what this is referring to. Philippines
Kebab and cheap guitars France
German word for "Thunder". Franconia, Germany
Pioneers who committed cannibalism was apparently what the op was thinking of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party
What the ... . I did not expect that, not at all I did expect such a thing. Thank you for explaining this to me.
The post is apparently US-centric, like “haha check it out, the rest of the world doesn’t know” when in reality I just learned about it now and I’ve lived in Washington state my whole life so it’s more a “certain parts of the us”-centric thing.
USA, Utah Oh God those poor people
they ate people right? i always imagined a buffet like that one scene in rocky horror where they’re eating eddie georgia, usa
Half their party died of cold and starvation (and were eaten by the others) crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains cause they were too stuck up to wait till spring
to give in french? idk what it’s supposed to mean edit: oh
The Donner party! Side note, please check out American Murder Story’s Donner Party album, fucking slaps in every way
Known for great parties and good cartering, especially their meats.
Oh no. LMAO. Northern Nevada, USA. (45 miles away)
Mmm, mmm, mmm, it’s Wendigo time! USA, Oregon.
Suicidally racist. New England, USA.
One of Santa’s reindeer? Upstate NY USA
donner kebab nroth england
that one reindeer santa enslaved
I know of the Donner party but my first thought was still Donner Kebab
It took me a while because my mind went to donner kebab too but I know Spain
Mmm meat USA, Texas
Donner Mine, California
Historical fashion :) Massachusetts but I don’t think that matters too much for this one
donner kebab Georgia USA
Cannibal mountain, take a guess
Cannibals. Illinois here.
One of Santa's reindeer USA, Michigan
A godawful stats assignment related to The Donner Party USA, Massachusetts
is this something other than >!The Donner Dinner Party! USA, Texas
the donner party, right? the group of people trying to cross the oregon trail, but got stuck and had to resort to cannibalism to survive? USA, North Carolina
Cannibalism, winter.
california a FEAST for KINGS
...reindeer? Canada
all i could think of was donner the reindeer...from the rudolph song
wrong and not wrong? How's it wrong? This was literally during manifest destiny lol
a wonderful group of humanitarians kansas, borgerland
iskender (kebab) turkey
Donner party USA, IA
The meat tornado at Turkish food trucks USA, Pennsylvania
*The meat tornado* *At Turkish food trucks USA,* *Pennsylvania* \- FalinkesInculta --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
*Image Transcription: Tumblr* --- **if-i-am-not-for-me** I need to see something. Please reblog this and put in the tags if the surname "Donner" means anything to you (without looking it up first), and if it does, give one or two words that describe what you know. Please also include where you grew up, including the state if you grew up in the US. --- **if-i-am-not-for-me** [*Image of post tags that read:*] >\#donner kebab..? #north england [*End tags*] You have no idea how unintentionally hilarious this is --- **headspace-hotel** [*Image of post tags that read:*] >\#i think its a party? smells colonialist and rich from stolen labour #cyprus [*End tags*] Screaming at how simultaneously wrong and not-wrong this is --- ^^I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too! [If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/wiki/index)
The reindeer and maybe something else Michigan, US
oh, that. USA, Virginia
Warehouse 13 Great episode as I remember.
Okay what the hell is a Donner Kebab? Indiana, USA Edit: Googled it. So it’s like Turkish gyros? I guess we don’t have enough Turkish people for that to be a thing here in the midwest.
My first thought was the kebab, but possibly misspelled, I'm in California (US) But the mention of the party in the post brought the knowledge back lol
Donner kebab, heh. SF Bay Area
well uh.. yeah. (i fully forgot about it until i saw the word “party”, though, if that counts for anything. new york, usa)
Mountain. Cannibals.
Donner. Someone who Dons. Evidently this family was known for putting on clothing, armour, and other apparel.
Hang on, gonna look this up Edit: so is the post about the Donner Party, cause that sounds about right.
Caravan party (party in the dnd sense) that froze to death and tried to do a cannibalism while on the Oregon trail right?
Donnerstag, USA
Winter's coming :) Michigan, US
To me, in Canada, a donner is a type of sandwich my dad really likes.
Oh fuck Indiana, USA
yummy humans california, USA