History Main / ChalkOutline

* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperheroes'' has this in the Second Season where Timber Wolf is going through a ClearMyName scenario (accompanied by Chameleon Boy and Phantom Girl), when they arrive at the crime scene on Heisenberg-7, a chalk outline of his father's body is seen on the stage.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Blood}} II: The Chosen'', the first level of the third chapter has one corner taped off and an outline of the upper half of a body, and one of its severed head. The cops responsible didn't even care to clean up the bloodstain that "connects" both outlines.

[[caption-width-right:350:"Murder?" "I'd say that's a safe bet."]]

* The ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' games, being crime-and-punishment {{adventure game}}s, use this occasionally. It's parodied several times, too. For example, one body falls out of a safe, and an outline is drawn across the safe boundary. Your companion is convinced that he died when the safe door crushed him.

* Occasionally, when a baseball outfielder crashes spectacularly into a wall (but isn’t seriously hurt), his teammates will mark the spot with a chalk or tape outline as a prank.

* Guest rapper J-Black talked about [[MushroomSamba being so high]] when he meets his demise that he bodily ascends (or [[SelfInflictedHell descends]]) into the afterlife on {{Music/Eminem}}'s 2002 track "Hellbound": One day we all gon' die/ But when I die, I'ma be so high/That I'ma get up and walk, leaving the concrete bare/ With the chalk outline still there"

[[SubvertedTrope Subversions]] and parodies are now the mainstay of this trope with all manner of strange visual gags involving confusingly shaped outlines, outlines in strange or impossible places or, quite popular, a corpse that has been shattered or dismembered having every part outlined individually. Nevertheless [[UndeadHorseTrope it does still turn up played straight]] whenever there is a desire not to show bodies, either for plot reasons or because of the intended air time of the program.

* Played with in ''Manga/HidamariSketch''. [[DitzyGenius Miyako]] drew a chalk outline of Hiro at where she passed out, despite Sae's objection over taste. Sae ended up ''envying'' Miyako though, as Miyako drew the outline in the style of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Modigliani Amedeo Modigliani.]]

** In another, he suggests that a good way to keep solicitors away from your door is to draw a chalk outline on your driveway, and scatter religious pamphlets about it.

* Bobby Gnucci in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherWelcomeBackFrank'' leaves an amorphous splat shaped outline on 5th and 33rd after Comicbook/ThePunisher uses the Empire State Building to make high-altitude street pizza.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': The police made an outline of Uncle Ben at the Parker's house.

* A ''Mannequin on the Moon'' panel from September 2022 show two cops guarding a chalk outline on the sidewalk when his wife--who's also a chalk outline--shows up screaming.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': In a blink-and-you-miss-it gag, there is a chalk outline on the floor of the Snuggly Duckling (the BadGuyBar) with an axe still imbedded in the planks at the location of the head.

* ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'' features a chalk outline for a death which hasn't even occurred yet. Moreover, it's a RailingKill and the shot villain misses the outline. And then scoots over onto it before dying.

* When a bit character in ''Film/SpyHard'' gets shot, he falls down onto a pre-drawn outline, but has to readjust himself to fit properly.

* The 2009 HeroicBloodshed film, ''Vengeance'', opens with Sophie's entire family getting killed by triads, her husband shot and collapsing against a wall and her sons gettin blown away while hiding inside a closet. When Costello, Sophie's vengeful ex-hitman father, tries to avenge his daughter, son-in-law and grandsons, he investigates Sophie's residence, complete with outlines of her husband's since-removed corpse drawn along the wall as well as two child-sized outlines in the closet.

* Justified in ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheToxicSpellDump'', a ''{{Magitek}}'' novel set on a parallel Earth, because the chalk is a mystical substance that's intended to preserve the integrity of psychic evidence. Likewise, crime-scene tape is enchanted to ward off tamperers or the curious from the site of an investigation.

** First, they can and do draw outlines on the river Ankh; second, never let Nobby be the one to draw the outline as tobacco pipes, flowers and backgrounds detract from the gravity of the crime scene.

* ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. Literature/JamesBond is somewhat shocked over an incident where Japanese police insisted in drawing outlines around the victims of a road accident, and complaining when the victims moved.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' used this for some very [[BlackComedy dark humour]] in "The Deadly Assassin", where a Time Lord corpse is marked out with an outline that is basically useless, because his [[ImpracticallyFancyOutfit Gallifreyan robes and collar]] completely obscured whatever position he'd been in.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Mentioned but not seen, when Martin Crane recounts he and his wife Hester met over a chalk outline (he was a cop, she was working as a forensic psychologist). Apparently they'd commemorate this every year with ginger-bread men... made in the shape of the outline.

* ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'': [[TheRival Ryu]] is seen looking over a crime seen filled with these in the opening sequence -- though, they seem to be using lengths of rope instead of chalk.

* In the "Cola Myths" segment of ''Series/MythBusters'', this is referenced when they're testing cola's ability to clean up blood (OK, but not that spectacular), including mention that chalk outlines are not used in the real world as they are in fiction.
* ''Series/MyWifeAndKids'' . In the "moving on out" sitcom, Junior has his own flat in a run-down town . A chalk outline is visible on the pavement and Kadie (too little to understand) wants to have someone draw her outline with chalk too.

* Referenced in ''Series/RedDwarf'': Lister says he used to be fat as a kid, but started losing weight after his similarly fat grandmother was killed by a truck, "...and the chalk outline guy had to go back to the car for a second piece of chalk. I thought, 'I don't want to end up like that -- a double-chalker!'"

** Although it's never actually shown, one NPC in Pocket D does remark, "Oh, the chalk lines? Yeah, Back Alley Brawler had a few too many one night." It should be noted that Back Alley Brawler is a hero and that the entire zone is supposed to be a non-combat area, even watched over by an, in-universe, virtual god of the realm. Take that for what you will.

* ''Gangsters'': Whenever you kill somebody, their bodies become chalk outline.

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', a bandit steals your coins in the prologue, and you can track him to his house to take them back. In the English version the bandit's house is full of random garbage, bugs, and squalor. In the Japanese version, there's a an outline of a Toad on the floor surrounded by dried blood. [[DarkerAndEdgier Did I mention this was a Mario game?]]

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In a season 4 arc, a perp out for revenge for the death of his brother when they were kids invokes this by leaving a child-size outline as one of a series of clues to his motivation and identity.

This is not to say that the police never draw around a body in RealLife. In reality, police procedure almost ''never'' requires a chalk outline -- chalk is impractical, prone to weather-related erosion, and contaminates the crime scene with a foreign substance, which hampers an investigations or criminal proceedings at a later date. Not to mention that an outline wouldn't show anything useful about the body that a cursory visual examination wouldn't reveal. Therefore it is usually reserved for victims who are not dead and require immediate medical attention in places where contamination is less of a concern, most often road traffic incidents. Even if contamination is a concern, the police might note the location of the head with a cross or dot of chalk if they have to move the victims immediately.

This is not to say that the police never draw around a body in RealLife. In reality, police procedure almost ''never'' requires a chalk outline -- chalk is impractical, prone to weather-related erosion, and contaminates the crime scene with a foreign substance, which ''seriously'' hampers an investigations or criminal proceedings at a later date. Not to mention that an outline wouldn't show anything useful about the body that a cursory visual examination wouldn't reveal. Therefore it is usually reserved for victims who are not dead and require immediate medical attention in places where contamination is less of a concern, most often road traffic incidents. Even if contamination is a concern, the police might note the location of the head with a cross or dot of chalk if they have to move the victims immediately.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1564703541059135400
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/framed_roger_rabbit_crime_scene_1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Murder?" "I'd say that's a safe bet."]]

%% Caption selected per crowner in Caption Repair thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/TheSpymasterandFunPersonified
%% Please do not replace or remove without further discussion in that thread.

* Played with in ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'': when Yotsuba is playing with chalk, she decides to do a life-sized drawing of her dad's friend, the six foot ten [[GentleGiant Jumbo]]. The result is a gigantic chalk outline that gives her friends pause on seeing it.

* Tape outline is used on ''Manga/CaseClosed'' multiple times throughout the show.
* Played with in ''Manga/HidamariSketch''. [[DitzyGenius Miyako]] drew a chalk outline of Hiro at where she passed out, despite Sae's objection over taste. Sae ended up ''envying'' Miyako though, as Miyako drew the outline in the style of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Modigliani Amedeo Modigliani.]]
* Spotted in the anime version of ''VisualNovel/PhantomOfInferno.''
* The anime of ''Literature/PsychicDetectiveYakumo'' plays it straight.

* Also played straight in ''Manga/BlackLagoon''.
* At one point in ''Manga/XxxHolic'' Yuuko has drooped from the heat, and her two assistants Maru and Moro have drawn an outline around her.
* In the Black Rose Arc of ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', the dueling arena is covered with desks and scattered red outlines of bodies. The losers of these duels fall onto these outlines and pose to fit them. This is probably related to the origin of the Black Rose Seals: a hundred students burned to death in a building.
* The pilot of ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' used a masking-tape outline instead.
* In ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'', Seo puts a chalk outline around a sleeping Wakamatsu, who she unknowingly [[BrownNote put to sleep with her singing]].

* Jerry Seinfeld talks about chalk outlines in a routine: "I think the lowest position in the police force you can get is chalk outline guy. The guy who wanted to be a sketch artist but couldn't draw too well."

* The cover photo for Creator/GeorgeCarlin's "On The Road" record shows Carlin drawing a smile on the head of a chalk outline.
* Creator/JohnMulaney contemplates how crime-solving was done in the days before DNA analysis. One of the lines from the theoretical investigation officer is: "Mmm, look for clues! I'll tell ya what we'll do, We'll draw chalk around where the body is, so that way we'll know where it was."

* In one ''Agent 212'' comic, the titular cop is asked to draw one. Unfortunately [[VomitingCop the sight is too much for his stomach]], and the "outline" he leaves is a hastily-scribbled mess drawn before he [[VomitDiscretionShot hurries to the bathroom]].
* In ''ComicBook/CaptainAmericaWinterSoldier'', a chalk outline by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents marks the spot where the ComicBook/RedSkull, of all people, was assassinated.
* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': In issue 169, Daredevil investigates a hospital that Bullseye escaped from, and the floor had several chalk outlines of staff and cops who were killed during Bullseye's escape.

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide''.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* The tape variant is used in ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'' to mark the place where the pegasus [[PosthumousCharacter Ace Swift's]] body is found, and it's the first thing noticed by [[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]] and [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]] in the crime scene. There's a small catch in that Twilight has no idea what the meaning of the tape is. [[{{Squick}} She doesn't like the explanation]].
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'' a lamp dies outside Aunt Fanny's house from her fart and the next morning there is a chalk outline of the lamp's body. The main characters walk by as if nothing had happened.

* ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'': Players who are caught by Shank and her crew while trying to jack Shank's car, will get blasted by Pyro with flamethrowers, reducing their avatars to tape outlines and a Game Over screen.

* ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'' features a chalk outline for a death which hasn't even occurred yet. Moreover, it's a RailingKill and the shot villain misses the outline. And then scoots over onto it before dying.
* In the first ''Film/ScaryMovie'', the TooDumbToLive first victim trips into one of those and holds the pose for a few seconds before running away.
* Parodied in ''Film/MrMom'', where Jack Butler has a dream where he gets shot, then falls onto a chalk outline on the floor of his house. He opens his eyes again for a moment to notice that he's a little off-center from the chalk outline, scoots himself over, then passes out.
* ''Film/FromBeyond''. Wonderfully parodied after a scientist meddling in things he shouldn't accidentally summons a creature that bites off his head. Later, some characters return to the murder scene, where police have drawn a chalk outline with only a little nub (suggesting a bit of spine sticking out) where the neck and head should be.

* Played for laughs in ''Film/ThePinkPanther2006''. "Isn't it strange that the dead man landed exactly in this chalk outline?"
* Used for grim humor in the 1991 film ''Film/FrankieAndJohnnie,'' where a group of teenagers are using a chalk outline on the sidewalk for a game of coin-toss.
* ''Film/LegalEagles'': In this movie, Creator/DarylHannah plays a [[CloudCuckoolander rather strange]] performance artist who, we're led to believe, was mentally unbalanced by witnessing her father die in a fire when she was a child. At one point we see her lying in a chalk outline in the same position as her father at his death... and that's ''not'' part of a performance. It's just something she does.
* PlayedStraight in ''Film/WhileTheCitySleeps'' for the second murder victim.
* ''Film/CoolWorld'': After Holli disposes of Nails, Frank examines the crime scene which has a chalk outline of Nail's body. Of course, as Nails was a spider, the outline has eight limbs. (The bizarre doodle logic of Cool World may also be at play here, as Nails was sucked into a fountain pen and didn't leave behind a body).
* In ''Film/SilentFall'', the police draw outlines of the Wardens' murdered bodies on their bedroom floor.
* Near the beginning of ''Film/TomAndJerry2021'', a rat shows Jerry potential living space in an abandoned car. As Jerry views its dingy interior, he notices a rat-shaped outline on the floor.
* An odd version in ''Film/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren'': Due to them living in a time loop, Miss Peregrine goes out every day to shoot the same Hollowghast as it comes out of the Sea. She can’t actually see it, but she knows when it will arrive and after she shoots it with a crossbow it falls into a white outline on the grass that she presumably made earlier.
* ''Film/{{Bardo}}'': The chalk outline of where poor Erdentsetseg fell after she was struck and killed by a car is still visible when Algaa, the street cleaner, picks up her personal belongings.
* In ''Film/Super8'', the movie the kids make features an outline that was drawn around a corpse before it turned into a zombie.
* ''Film/EyesOfLauraMars'': One of the victims is stabbed and then suffers a StaircaseTumble. When the police remove her body, they leave an outline at the bottom of the stairs.
* Given an utterly bizarre twist in ''Film/TheRulingClass''; rather than making a chalk outline of Lady Claire's body, the police make a ''plywood cutout'' of her silhouette and paint it black to drop on the floor where she was murdered.
* The 2009 HeroicBloodshed film, ''Vengeance'', opens with Sophie's entire family getting killed by triads, her husband shot and collapsing against a wall and her sons gettin blown away while hiding inside a closet. When Costello, Sophie's vengeful ex-hitman father, tries to avenge his daughter, son-in-law and grandsons, he investigates Sophie's residence, complete with outlines of her husband's since-removed corpse drawn along the wall as well as two child-sized outlines in the closet.

** ''Literature/GoingPostal'': there is a mail-sorting machine made by Bloody Stupid Johnson that contains a wheel with a circumference [[AlienGeometries exactly three times the diameter]]. There are chalk outlines of the pieces of someone who walked too close to it. Some of the outlines are very small indeed.

* Erle Stanley Gardner uses this trope in the first Franchise/PerryMason novel, ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheVelvetClaws''. When Perry returns to George Bender's bedroom to recreate Bender's murder, he notes that the chalk outline of Bender's body is still on the floor.
* ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. Literature/JamesBond is somewhat shocked over an incident where Japanese police insisted in drawing outlines around the victims of a road accident, and complaining when the victims moved.
* Parodied in ''Literature/{{Incompetence}}'', where the Roman police insist on putting an outline around every body and body part in a multi-death ''elevator accident''. When protagonist Harry Salt arrives on the scene, one of the CSI's is putting an outline around a stray ''eyeball'', and [[OnlySaneMan Harry]] wonders what possible use ''that'' could bring to the investigation.

--> "On the ground by the door there was a rough outline of a human figure, not a very good likeness, and beside it there was a dark patch. Blood, Senka guessed, and shuddered."
* In ''Literature/EyeOfAFly'', Ernest almost steps on the body of a girl who was murdered right outside his building. He arrives just as the police are wrapping up their investigation. When they remove the corpse, they leave a chalk outline.

* ''Series/MyWifeAndKids'' . In the "moving on out" sitcom, Junior has his own flat in a run-down town . A chalk outline is visible on the pavement and Kadie (too little to understand) wants to have someone draw her outline with chalk too.
* Jess draws one up with matching police tape in front of Taylor's market as a prank on ''Series/GilmoreGirls''. It puts the whole town (mostly Taylor) in a tizzy. Lorelai later comments that the town is so dull, they have a phony murder instead of a real one.
* ''Series/TheXFiles''. Played for dark laughs when a victim has their head shoved into liquid nitrogen and is then [[LiterallyShatteredLives thrown to the ground]]. The chalk outline of the body is perfectly normal until it gets to the head... which is a bunch of little X-marks.
* It was used in teeny-bopper Nickelodeon series ''Series/ICarly'', where a tape outline is seen on the floor of a rundown motel implied to be in a very Bad Neighborhood.
* In an episode of ''Series/FullHouse'', Danny and Joey are arrested and thrown in a jail cell. The other perps in the cell intimidate the two by forcing Joey to lie on the floor as they draw an outline around him.
* In the "Cola Myths" segment of ''Series/MythBusters'', this is referenced when they're testing cola's ability to clean up blood (OK, but not that spectacular), including mention that chalk outlines are not used in the real world as they are in fiction.
* Parodied by Channel 5 (in the UK) sponsorship adverts for the Kia Sportage which are shown during crime dramas. In them generic PoliceProcedural scenes are played out. This includes one where a car stops next to an outline and two people get out to look at it... which then gets up and steals the car.
* ''Series/TheColbertReport'' has a chalk outline on the floor of the studio where Stephen Colbert fell and broke his wrist.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' once inadvertently sat down in a victim outline (taped to the seat of a railway coach where a vampire massacre had happened). Averted after fellow vampire slayer Kendra is killed. Buffy makes a point of walking around her outline out of respect. Principal Snyder [[KickTheDog thoughtlessly walks across it]] when EvilGloating a short time later.

* ''Series/PoliceSquad'' played it straight, then spoofed it by drawing an Egyptian-style outline.

* On ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow,'' egotistical newscaster Ted Baxter couldn't decide on a new promotional photo, so he asked Murray, the acerbic newswriter:

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' used this for some very [[BlackComedy dark humour]] in "The Deadly Assassin", where a Time Lord corpse is marked out with an outline that is basically useless, because his [[ImpracticallyFancyOutfit Gallifreyan robes and collar]] completely obscured whatever position he'd been in.

* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' parodies this by having a man get shot and then fall precisely into a ''pre-drawn'' chalk outline.
* Played straight on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' when Claire's roommate apparently commits suicide by jumping out of her window. Claire suspects a murder and tests it by [[GoodThingYouCanHeal jumping out the window herself]]. When she lands on the chalk outline, she concludes that she was wrong.

* Averted in ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'': when Abigail Hobbes finds the bloodstain marking the spot where her mother died, she says she was expecting a chalk outline. Will bluntly explains that they only do that if the victim is still alive.
* Played straight in the ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' episode "Of Human Action." A policeman falls to his death from the top of a multi-story car park, and next time you see the ground, there is a chalk outline on it.
%% * Played straight in an episode of ''Series/Adam12''.
* It was used in the usually pretty squeaky-clean teen series ''Series/SavedByTheBell: The College Years'', where newly-engaged OfficialCouple Zack and Kelly look at on-campus housing for married students. The apartment is filthy and severely run-down, the manager is a stoner, and a rug covers a chalk outline on the floor.
* Parodied as part of a sketch on ''Series/PaulMertonTheSeries'', in which a man struck by a falling object draws his own chalk outline around himself as he collapses.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Mentioned but not seen, when Martin Crane recounts he and his wife Hester met over a chalk outline (he was a cop, she was working as a forensic psychologist). Apparently they'd commemorate this every year with ginger-bread men... made in the shape of the outline.
-->'''Martin:''' Didn't you ever wonder why the legs were funny and the head was kinda crooked?\\
'''Niles:''' ''(horrified)'' We thought they were ''dancing!''
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': After Brittas is crushed to death, Ben (Carole’s son) is seen putting flowers on a chalk outline of his body in the centre.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In a season 4 arc, a perp out for revenge for the death of his brother when they were kids invokes this by leaving a child-size outline as one of a series of clues to his motivation and identity.
* ''Series/MagpieMurders'': A BlackComedy joke. In the story-within-a-story, Sir Magnus was decapitated by a single stroke from a sword. The crime scene shows an outline in tape where the body fell--and a separate, smaller circle where the head landed.

* Dave Carrol's first viral "United Breaks Guitars" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo#t=1m38s video]] has a chalk outline of his broken guitar while crime scene investigators carry it away.

* The final scene of Ronnie Milsap's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvxQ57BvAQQ music video]] for "Stranger in My House" features a chalk outline of a guitar as part of an active crime scene investigation.

[[folder:Pinball]]
* A chalk outline appears on the backglass for Creator/WilliamsElectronics' murder mystery game ''Pinball/WhoDunnit1995''.

* The first part of the TV World in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' is littered with these outlines.
* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', although it's never actually shown, one NPC in Pocket D does remark, "Oh, the chalk lines? Yeah, Back Alley Brawler had a few too many one night."
** It should also be noted that Back Alley Brawler is a hero and that the entire zone is supposed to be a non-combat area, even watched over by an, in universe, virtual god of the realm. Take that for what you will.
** There are some chalk outlines at the bottom of the ski slope, although they're all in rather odd positions, so these probably represent certain supers who came in a little too fast.
* ''Gangsters'': Whenever you kill somebody, their bodies become chalk outline.
* You are expected to do this in ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest''. Or at least part IV.
** Though narration from the floppy disk version states that this is not actually done in real life (it still lets you do it). Only a certain piece of evidence found near a body is supposed to be marked (to draw attention to it so that it will be collected by the other investigators). The CD version doesn't include this bit and awards points for outlining the body without comment.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' has a pair -- Hugo Strange draws them in Crime Alley to mark the place where Bruce Wayne's parents fell on the night they were murdered. He also leaves flowers and a mocking tape recording for Bruce to find, since he knows that he's Batman. [[SmugSnake Classy.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Blood}} II: The Chosen'', the first level of the third chapter has one corner taped off and an outline of the upper half of a body, and one of its severed head. The cops responsible didn't even care to clean up the bloodstain that "connects" both outlines.
* Kelly's stage in ''VideoGame/BustAGroove 2'' is a crime scene in the middle of a dark city, complete with a chalk outline of a body. What's notable about this is that, if you line up all the bars in the Groove Meter, the chalk outline ''comes to life and starts dancing''.
* ''Videogame/BioShock2'' has a variant in that the outline is outside the body: when the player takes control of a Little Sister, it is shown that [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness in their eyes]], corpses filled with ADAM have wings around their shoulders (the girls do refer to those as "angels").

* In ''Webcomic/LivingWithHipstergirlAndGamergirl'', when Arthur moved in with Erica and Sophie, they mentioned that they had a previous male flatmate before him, who thought that just living with two gorgeous women gave him "benefits". We're not told exactly what they did to this guy for trying to take liberties with them, but this trope ensures [[http://www.jagodibuja.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/119english.jpg Arthur gets the message not to try anything loud and clear.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Series/FlandersCompany'': In episode 11 of season 4, a TV report about an alleged mob shoot-out shows the outlines on the floor, including one for a severed arm.
* ''WebVideo/FreshyKanal'': In "Walter White vs. Willy Wonka" rap battle, a white chalk outline of a man appears on the floor when Wonka is mocking [[spoiler:Walter White's]] death.

* In ''WebVideo/WhoKilledMarkiplier'', a tape outline of Mark's body is left behind after the body itself up and vanishes. An ''anatomically correct'' outline, no less.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': In a parody of film noir, OPERATION: PINK-EYE has a chalk outline of Numbuh 86 under her on the position of her after she was shot by an unknown assailant.
* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Disenchantment}}'' season 4 when Zog is being kept at a BedlamHouse his roommate draws an outline around him as he's sleeping. Given said roommate openly admits to killing both of his grandmothers ("A guy can have two grandmas") the intent is pretty clear.

** NOT played for laughs in the same series with Naoko Akagi's death. We don't see how she died or who (if anyone) murdered her- just her outline and the splatter of her brains on the MAGI computer. It's implied that she [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone jumped off herself after killing Rei-I]], though.

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'' - Carl "Cheapskate" Winslow didn't want to shell out $3000 for new living room furniture, so he bought a bunch of stuff from the police impound for about $300. Not only did it include a carpet with a tape outline of a body, it also included a lamp with bullet holes in the lampshade. Everything was uniformly garish - think "pimp" crossed with a velvet Elvis.

* ''VideoGame/GuitarHero II'' has one painted on the stage in the Harmonix Arena directly below your character - fittingly, you can only see it when you fail the current song.
* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' has a pair - Hugo Strange draws them in Crime Alley to mark the place where Bruce Wayne's parents fell on the night they were murdered. He also leaves flowers and a mocking tape recording for Bruce to find, since he knows that he's Batman. [[SmugSnake Classy.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', the chalk outlines of Ma and Pa Duskerton are still present in the convenience store where they died. They died in May of 1995. It is now midsummer 2012. [[spoiler: The longevity of the chalk is possibly explained by the fact that their ghosts still haunt the store, and in fact are awakened when Dipper accepts a dare to lie down in one of the outlines.]]

* Done in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Accidents Will Happen" to show where Squidward allegedly fell while fetching Krabby Patty buns in the storeroom. He wasn't killed-- in fact, the evidence shows he wasn't even hurt, just faking.

* Spoofed in the miniseries ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'': after Sally Peep is murdered, the location of her body is outlined in chalk, including her shepherd's crook. The {{Novelization}} [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this]] by having [[DeadpanSnarker Tony]] reflect in his thoughts: "They were nothing if not thorough."

* An odd version in ''Film/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren'': Due to them living in a time loop, Miss Peregrine goes out every day to shoot the same [[SlenderManStandIn Hollowghast]] as it comes out of the Sea. She can’t actually see it, but she knows when it will arrive and after she shoots it with a crossbow it falls into a white outline on the grass that she presumably made earlier.

* The 2009 HeroicBloodshed film, ''Vengeance'', opens with Sophie's entire family getting killed by triads, her husband shot and collapsing against a wall while her sons gets blown away while inside a closet. When Costello, Sophie's vengeful ex-hitman father, tries to avenge his daughter, son-in-law and grandsons, he investigates Sophie's residence, complete with outlines of her husband's since-removed corpse drawn along the wall as well as two child-sized outlines in the closet.

* [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2174 2174]] is a phenomenon that causes stereotypical, mind-altering crime scenes to form. Each scene contains a chalk outline even though the Foundation itself notes that "such practice contaminates the scene and is only done by inexperienced officers ignorant of proper procedure". There's also some implication that the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerne_Abbas_Giant Cerne Abbas Giant]] was created in this way.

%% * Played straight in an episode of ''Series/AdamTwelve''.

* Tape outline used on ''Manga/CaseClosed'' a few times such as the episode titled Which One's Reasoning Show.