# Skull Trumpet Skull Trumpet, also known as Doot Doot or Jazz Skull, is a two-second animated GIF of a bony hand holding a horn to a grinning skull, created by artist Cathy Jarboe in 1999 for her personal Halloween graphics site. The clip sat quietly online for over a decade before YouTube uploads in 2011 turned it into a Tumblr and Reddit favorite, spawning years of low-effort covers, remixes, and the onomatopoeia 'doot doot' that became shorthand for internet Halloween itself. ## Origin Cathy Jarboe made the GIF sometime in 1999 for Eternal Nights, her personal collection of animated Halloween graphics hosted at cjarboe.com[4]. The site offered free-to-download witch, ghost, and skeleton animations for other webmasters to embed on seasonal pages, with a request that visitors save the files locally rather than hotlink them[4]. For years the sprite floated around obscure Geocities-era Halloween sites, and many assumed it came from Microsoft's 1995 title 3D Movie Maker, since the low-poly look matched that program's asset library[3]. That attribution held until December 22, 2023, when YouTuber Jeffiot posted 'no one knows who created skull trumpet (until now),' a long-form investigation that tracked the file back to Jarboe herself[1]. The video pulled in more than 500,000 views in its first week[3]. - **Platform:** cjarboe.com (1999) / YouTube (viral spread 2011) - **Creator:** Cathy Jarboe - **Date:** 1999 ## Overview The original file, called jazzskull.gif, is barely more than a loop: the skull turns toward the viewer, the horn's bell wobbles twice, and the animation resets[3]. Fans latched onto exactly that brevity, treating the clip as a punchline that lands before you can process it[2]. The two toots at the end became the sound 'doot doot,' which posters typed at each other on Tumblr and Reddit as a stand-in for the video[3]. Remix culture grew fast around the sprite. YouTubers uploaded orchestral covers, heavy metal renditions, and live piano and clarinet performances of the two-note tune[2]. Image macros pasted the skeleton over unrelated scenes, and Photoshop edits gave the character new outfits, especially in October. The Reddit community that formed in 2014 spun 'doot' into a full aesthetic of goofy skeletons and lo-fi spookiness[2]. ## How to Use The two-second GIF is typically posted on its own around Halloween, dropped into a Slack or Discord reply, or overlaid onto other footage so the two-note trumpet lands on a punchline. 'Doot doot' works as a text-only shorthand when the video isn't handy, and image macro versions often paste the skull into unrelated scenes or dress it in seasonal outfits[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Skull Trumpet? Skull Trumpet, also known as Doot Doot or Jazz Skull, is a short animated GIF of a skeleton playing two notes on a trumpet, created by artist Cathy Jarboe in 1999[1]. ### Where did Skull Trumpet come from? The original file, jazzskull.gif, was uploaded to Cathy Jarboe's personal site cjarboe.com in 1999 as part of her Eternal Nights Halloween graphics collection[4]. YouTuber Jeffiot confirmed her authorship in a 2023 investigation video[1]. ### What does Skull Trumpet mean? 'Doot doot' is the onomatopoeia for the two trumpet notes at the end of the clip, and fans use it as a stand-in for the meme or as a general Halloween noise[5]. ### How do you use Skull Trumpet? The GIF is typically posted around October as a Halloween reaction or overlaid on other footage for a punchline, and the text 'doot doot' works as a shorthand when the video isn't handy[3]. ### Is Skull Trumpet still popular? Gawker documented its unusual longevity as early as 2014, and the meme still returns every Halloween season on Reddit, Tumblr, and YouTube[2]. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYcHOEjGzPA]() 2. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150217012152/https://gawker.com/in-praise-of-skull-trumpet-the-internets-spookiest-mem-1651958175]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/skull-trumpet-doot-doot]() 4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110923171910/http://www.cjarboe.com/]() 5. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170716200216/https://preoprix.tumblr.com/post/85470704881/this-was-suppose-to-be-a-serious-fanart-but-all-i]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/skull-trumpet-doot-doot Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library