History Main / CouldntFindAPen

* TheNostalgiaCritic, after the ''{{It}}'' review, [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide slits his wrists]] in his bathroom]] and, using [[spoiler:his blood]], writes the word "Balloons" on the wall. [[spoiler:[[IGotBetter He get's better by the next episode, though]]]].

* Averted in ''{{Memento}}'' where the main character is stuck without a pen and desperately needs to write something, but ''doesn't'' manage to find a workable substitute. However he does tattoo himself as a way to remind himself of important information.

** [[YourMileageMayVary To some]], it's his CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
** Who did he get to write it, the Mad Arab Alzared?

* StephenKing's ''{{IT}}'' has Stanley Uris, one of the protagonists, commit suicide in his bathtub because [[spoiler:he doesn't want to face It again]]. When his wife finds him, she finds that he's written the single word "IT" on the bathroom wall in his own blood.

* In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes finds 'Rache' written on the wall in blood. Lestrade wrongly concludes that a woman called Rachel is involved, and the victim died before finishing the name. Rache is German for revenge, and the murdered [[spoiler:who was American intended for the police to believe it was committed by a German. Holmes wasn't fooled when he noticed that too much effort went into making the handwriting look German.]]

* In ''FullmetalAlchemist'', characters frequently draw alchemic transmutation circles using whatever is on hand, regardless of what it is. For example, in its first anime adaptation, Edward freed himself from Barry the Chopper by etching a circle with a metal bolt; when Lust attacked Dr. Marcoh, he drew a circle with his own blood to counterattack her.

** In A Study in Scarlet, the book it is a pastiche of, Holmes finds 'Rache' written on the wall in blood. In both books, Lestrade wrongly concludes that a woman called Rachel is involved, and the victim died before finishing the name.
*** Coincidentially, 'Rache' is german for revenge.

** In "Cape Feare", Sideshow Bob writes death threats to Bart in blood. And his diary. When he starts feeling faint, Snake suggests that Bob get a pen.

* On ''FlashForward'', when [[spoiler: Lloyd Simcoe is kidnapped by Flosso]], he tries to write a note like this, using his blood as ink and a flyer for paper. [[spoiler: It's blown away though, and only found after he's rescued.]]

* In ''[[OneHundredBullets 100 Bullets]]'', a woman writes "He's going to kill me" in her lipstick on the bathroom mirror in Wylie's gas station, referring to her husband, who she's with. (Wylie acknowledges that he received the message when he compliments the woman on her shade of lipstick.)

[[redirect:{{ptitledjgmisos}}]]

[[redirect:ptitledjgmisos]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/message2.png
[[caption-width:250:Post-Its from nightmare land.]]

->'''Kryten:''' The poor devil scrawled it in his death throes, using a combination of his own blood and even some lengths of his own intestines.
->'''Rimmer:''' Who would do that?
->'''Lister:''' Someone who badly needed a pen.
-->-- ''RedDwarf'', "Psirens"

Maybe pen and paper weren't available. Maybe that just wouldn't be cool/creepy/dramatic/funny enough. This is a trope for writing with unusual equipment.

A particularly common (and gruesome) version is a victim of a murder or monster attack to use the last of their blood and strength to write a DyingClue. Also the blood will often be [[RustproofBlood immune to oxidization]], remaining bright red no matter how long.

See Also: DistressCall, RoomFullOfCrazy and DealWithTheDevil all of which use or overlap with this trope to some extent.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* In "Calliope", ''TheSandman'' has a characteristically squicky example when Dream curses a writer with ideas. Lots of ideas. All at once. [[AssholeVictim It's hard to feel sorry for him, though,]] considering [[spoiler: he kidnapped and imprisoned the titular muse of poetry just to get ideas for stories and get rich. Did we mention he rapes her from time to time too?]]
* In an early ''{{Batman}}'' comic, when Linda Page is being kidnapped, she insists the kidnappers give her a moment to fix her make-up (Hey! It was the 1940s. Criminals were more polite) and writes a note for Batman in lipstick on her vanity table.
* Played for laughs in ''{{Deadpool}}'', when the title AntiHero meets up with Alex "Agent X" Hayden, wins their scuffle, then proceeds to write messages using his entrails. Don't worry, [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Hayden can heal]].
* In a TheSimpsons comic, Lisa has to mark RalphWiggum's homework:
-->"Did he write this in crayon?"
-->"He used a crayon until he ate it. Then he used mustard. For the last two questions he-"
-->"Nevermind. [[YouDoNOTWantToKnow I don't want to know]]."
* Done literally in the ''SquadronSupreme'' trade paperback; the first edition was printed with the cremated ashes of writer Mark Gruenwald mixed in the ink.
* A writer character in ''Shade the Changing Man'' has the ability to extract the abilities and characteristics of real people for use in his stories. When he bases one character on Lenny he takes away her unique and caustic wit, and when she realizes this she freaks out by scribbling "It just isn't funny anymore" in lipstick on the bathroom mirror before [[spoiler: trying to kill herself]].
* In ''100 Bullets'', a woman writes "He's going to kill me" in her lipstick on the bathroom mirror in Wylie's gas station, referring to her husband, who she's with. (Wylie acknowledges that he received the message when he compliments the woman on her shade of lipstick.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
* Done by a dying man in ''{{Constantine}}'', using a corkscrew as a pen and his own hand as paper.
* ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' had two versions of this trope using the same sheet of paper! Roger's alibi for murder is that he was writing a letter to his wife with her lipstick on a "nice, clean, sheet of paper" which [[spoiler: turns out to be Marvin Acme's will, (the MacGuffin of the movie,) which has been written in ACME's Disappearing-Reappearing Ink.]]
* ''TheUntouchables'': After [[spoiler: murdering Oscar Wallace and George the Bookkeeper in an elevator]], Frank Nitti uses [[spoiler: their blood]] to write the word "TOUCHABLE" on the wall.
* In ''{{Quills}}'', the Marquis De Sade has his writing equipment confiscated and resorts to writing on his clothes, first using red wine and eventually bodily fluids.
* Averted in ''{{Memento}}'' where the main character is stuck without a pen and desperately needs to write something, but ''doesn't'' manage to find a workable substitute. However he does tattoo himself as a way to remind himself of important information.
* Dr. Lizardo in ''TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossTheEighthDimension'' made a RoomFullOfCrazy by writing on the walls with ...chalk? Charcoal?
* Miss Froy in ''TheLadyVanishes'' writes her name with condensation on the train window. When the heroine sees it again, it confirms to her that she's not crazy and something is amiss.
* In ''{{Transformers}}'': Revenge of the Fallen, Sam starts having a mental breakdown in the middle of a frat party, and in order to get the symbols out of his mind, he starts drawing them on the table... with cake frosting.
* ''JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'' (1959). Explorer Andre Sarcassan leaves a message in blood on a plumb bob which -- encased in a lump of volcanic rock -- is retrieved centuries later by the protagonists, sending them on their journey into the HollowEarth.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* ''TheDaVinciCode'' does this in the first chapter. Possibly includes a ShoutOut to ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'':
--> '''Sophie:''' Why would a dying man bother to write out "P.S.", Mr. Langdon?
* In ''ChittyChittyBangBang'' the children are prisoners of the mob, and are forced to write a message for help by pricking pinholes into a large-denomination franc bill.
* In one of the ''Lovejoy'' novels, Lovejoy writes a note using his own urine as invisible ink.
* In the RobertAHeinlein short story "Goldfish Bowl"' the protagonist is captured by aliens. He repeatedly scratches himself to make scars and form a message on his skin.
* This happens repeatedly in ''{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Discworld/MovingPictures'', CMOTDibbler runs out of bedsheets and starts writing on a wall, which he then pays a troll to carry around for him.
** The same thing happens in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', when Jeremy gets the idea for the [[{{Macguffin}} Glass Clock]] in a dream and ends up writing the specifications for it all over his bedsheets and part of the wall.
** In ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', Detritus, a troll, is trapped in a freezer, and the cold temperature brings his brain to peak efficiency. Unfortunately, this also means he's probably going to freeze to death, so as he gets smarter (and closer to death), he starts writing a mathematical grand unified theory of everything in the frost on the walls, and is up to the = sign before he's rescued, and the heat from opening the door erases the rest of the equation.
** In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', a dying dwarf miner uses the last of his strength to scrawl a cursed mine symbol onto the door he was trapped behind.
* Writing an important letter in blood (complete with dramatic biting of the finger) is a great way to get across that your message is Top Priority. (That might be why in China, the Emperor gets to use red ink.) One such message is written in ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' in an attempt to get rid of Cao Cao; the note is found, and all of the signatories end up being fugitives of the government.
* A mention of this trope is made in ''TheBelgariad'': When the party finds themselves in such a situation, Polgara has a quill, ink, parchment, etc, and explains that on a [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld past occasion]], she found herself needing to leave a note ''without'' the necessary implements, and ended up using her own blood to write the message. Following the event, she took steps to make sure it wouldn't happen again.
** Subverted in the ''Malloreon'' where Belgarath curses whoever was stupid enough to write an important prophecy on human skin: The ink didn't "hold" and Belgarath was forced to go ''yet'' elsewhere to try and find that prophecy.
* Subverted in the AgathaChristie novel ''Death on the Nile'': a murdered woman uses her own blood to trace a letter on the wall, presumably the first of her assassin's name. It later turns out that [[spoiler: the killer wrote the letter. In a double-twist on this trope, it was written to implicate one of the people actually directly involved in the murder, in an attempt to make it look like another party was trying to frame her.]]
* MarkTwain's ''TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer'' (making this at least OlderThanRadio). Tom and Huck Finn swear an oath to not talk about seeing Injun Joe murder Dr. Robinson. They write the oath on a shingle and sign it in their own blood.
* Played with in ''HarryPotter and the Order of the Phoenix.'' Harry is forced to do lines as punishment for telling the truth about Voldemort and is given a pen with no ink. He starts writing, and the message comes out carved across the back of his hand. Played straight in Chamber. [[spoiler:Ginny]] writes threatening messages in blood while brainwashed
* In ''Mr Bean's Scrapbook'', the in-universe tie-in for the film ''{{Bean}}'', a running gag is that Mr Bean keeps having to switch to new ways of writing: first his typewriter breaks, then his "borrowed" word processor is taken back, then he resorts to using a child's printing kit which takes three hours to lay a (mostly backward) sentence, then a pen which runs out, a crayon and a pencil which break, and finally he ends up using his own blood to refill the pen.
* In ''Something Wicked'', a murder mystery based on ''Macbeth'', Duncan is found dead with "Malcolm" written on the wall of his tent in blood, which seems to implicate his son... except the hero realizes that everyone, including Duncan, called his son Mal, and it's unlikely that a dying man would have bothered with the extra letters. It turns out to be a frame-up by the real killer.
* The NeilGaiman-authored SherlockHolmes/[[CosmicHorror Cthulhu Mythos]] pastiche ''A Study in Emerald'' has the two main detectives ([[spoiler: ''not'' Watson and Holmes]]) called to the murder of the nephew of Queen Victoria (actually one of the Great Old Ones). They find the word "Rache" written on the wall in blood. ''Green'' blood.
** In A Study in Scarlet, the book it is a pastiche of, Holmes finds 'Rache' written on the wall in blood. In both books, Lestrade wrongly concludes that a woman called Rachel is involved, and the victim died before finishing the name.
* In the ElleryQueen novel ''The Scarlet Letters'', a dying man uses his own blood to write XY on a wall in an extremely cryptic DyingClue.
* And then in the unrelated VampireTheMasquerade story "Scarlet Letters," a girl cuts her own throat and uses the runoff to start writing ''poetry'' on the wall while she's bleeding to death.
* The BanjoPaterson poem "Clancy of the Overflow" contains this line (known to all Australian school children):
-->"And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected
-->(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)"
* StephenKing's ''{{IT}}'' has Stanley Uris, one of the protagonists, commit suicide in his bathtub because [[spoiler:he doesn't want to face It again]]. When his wife finds him, she finds that he's written the single word "IT" on the bathroom wall in his own blood.
* In LarryNiven's ''The Patchwork Girl'' the victim leaves "NAKF" written in his own blood on the rocks of the lunar surface. [[spoiler: He was trying to write "NAKED" indicating that his killer was naked: i.e. not wearing a space suit, which is quite a trick out on the surface of the moon.]]
* In ''JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' Childermass briefly attempts to copy [[spoiler:the Book of the Raven King, which had been written as blue discolouration on a man's skin]], onto his own flesh. He quickly gives up for some of the many, many reasons no one should ever even try to copy out something in a language they don't know onto their skin, with a penknife, all alone in a cold and isolated area, [[spoiler:when the book covered the man's entire body except for groin, face and hands, and for all he knows size and placement of the marks is vital.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* Happens from time to time on ''{{NCIS}}'', generally of the giving-a-clue-as-to-the-murderer variety. Except for the time it was a call for help. Unintentionally aimed directly at a NCIS investigator. ...Which also ID'd the person making that particular call for help.
* From a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1NdFeJHnmU deleted scene]] of BeingHuman:
-->The two see GetOut written in red on the wall.
-->'''Mitchell''': Oh, Shit!
-->'''George''': Shit! What is it, blood?
-->'''Mitchell''': Paint, And it's still wet. Tch. Blood. You ever try writing anything in blood? It's totally impractical.
* [[{{Becker}} "Look, writing your name in the snow with your pee is good drunken fun when your name is something like Joe Smith. But, when your name is Stanislav Kasacinski and it's ten below out, you're just frostbite waiting to happen."]]
* ''RedDwarf'' has a dying RedShirt scrawl a warning using blood and intestines. The Cat wonders why he went to the trouble of using his kidney as a full stop. Rimmer notes that it probably just "plopped out" on its own. In ''Better Than Life'' (The book), where the crew get stuck in a virtual reality game and the only way to communicate with them is by carving messages into their arms.
* There's an episode of ''{{Friends}}'' where Phoebe writes a phone message on the back of Chandler's neck.
-->"Get the woman a pad! A PAD!"
* [[TopGear Jeremy Clarkson]] declared that the Dodge Viper was a car "so sophisticated, it could write its own name." He then proceeded to write the word 'Viper' on the test track, using skidmarks.
* ''{{Angel}}'' used this trope a lot for ghosts. In season one, a malevolent spirit wrote messages on the walls of Cordelia's apartment. In season five it was the messages in the condensation of Fred's shower door.
* ''JonathanCreek'' used the contract-signed-in-blood version in the season three episode ''The Curious Tale of Mr Spearfish''.
* A classic ''SesameStreet'' sketch has Ernie writing a shopping list with chocolate pudding, because he couldn't find a pen, a pencil, a crayon or a typewriter.
-->'''Bert:''' He's improving. Last time he used spaghetti sauce.
* ''{{Blackadder}}'': "I'm sending off some party invitations and to make them look particularly tough, I wish to write them in blood. [[TheBaldrick Your blood, to be precise]]."
* Seen in the ''{{Torchwood}}'' episode, "Captain Jack Harkness." Tosh and Jack are stuck in the past, and need to send a message that will last the next 60 years and be found by the other members of their squad. Tosh doesn't have a pen, so she cuts her hand open on a rusty can and writes in her own blood. Also seen in "They Keep Killing Susie." The word "Torchwood" is written in blood on a white wall on a crime scene.
* The opening episode of Season 4 of ''{{The X-Files}}'' had [[spoiler:X, Mulder's then-informant]] writing a message in blood on Mulder's doorstep, having been shot trying to bring information.
* In {{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}, after Angelus kills [[spoiler: Jenny's uncle]] he writes a message to Buffy on the wall- "Was It Good For You Too?"- in the victim's blood.
* Played for laughs in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt25hZDZzEo this]] comedy sketch by Jinnai Tomonori.
* John Crichton in {{Farscape}} lured Scorpius into a trap by using the complex-looking equations for wormhole navigation written in Blood on the floor of the holding cell. [[SpecialEffectsFailure It was rather obviously ketchup.]]
* In the {{Charmed}} episode "The Power of Three Blondes," the Halliwell Sisters are replaced by three [[BlondesAreEvil evil blonde impostors]] who are all [[BrainlessBeauty Brainless Beauties.]] While impersonating Phoebe, Mitzy Stillman gives Phoebe's newspaper-editor a report written in eyeliner (she was intentionally trying to get Phoebe in trouble with her boss). When explaining why it's written in eyeliner, Mitzy claims that, you guessed it, "I couldn't find a pen."
* TheSarahConnorChronicles had one of these which was even more absurd than the usual examples of this trope. In the beginning of the second season, a guy makes the jump from the future to the past but is shot when he does so. He needs to get his message to Connors, so what does he do? He breaks into their basement and scrawls a confusing and incoherent message on the wall with his own blood then visits upstairs, whispers something cryptic then dies. He sure failed at that mission.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Manga & Anime]]
* Parodied in ''ExcelSaga''.
* In Naruto: [[spoiler: Jiraiya etches a dying message on a toad's back]]
* In the final episode of ''DeathNote'', after [[spoiler:getting his pen destroyed by Matsuda while trying to write down Near's name in the pages of the titular ArtifactOfDoom, Light continues writing with his own blood, which prompts Matsuda to blast the hell out of him.]] This is actually a pretty severe "What the hell were you thinking" moment, as apparently at this point he had lost all self-control whatsoever and couldn't just calmly write down the name. Also, that's how he managed to write the third Kira's name without being noticed while in the helicopter with L.
* While investigating [[NightOfTheLivingMooks the Mariage]] case in ''[[AllThereInTheManual StrikerS Sound Stage X]]'' of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', one of the things found was an Ancient Belka Psalm painted in blood over an entire wall.
* Parodied by [[ADayInTheLimelight Sayo's chapter]] in ''MahouSenseiNegima''. Trying to calm down the panicking class after they mistook her for a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent malevolent ghost]], Sayo wrote "It's a misunderstanding" on a window. Unfotunately, since being a ghost, the only writing material she had was blood, and "It's a misunderstanding" in katakana is the same as "Death five times", all it did was make the class panic more.
* In ''PrincessTutu'', Drosselmeyer is said to have written a story in his own blood [[spoiler:after the Book Men cut off his hands. Yes, it's implied he used the stumps.]]
* Parodied in one of the {{omake}} strips in the back of one of the ''FullmetalAlchemist'' volumes--Roy reveals that he wants to make all the women in the military wear [[MemeticMutation tiny miniskirts]], but then also admits that he'd fire all of the men at the same time, which prompts them to shoot him. His last words are written in his blood on the floor next to him: "Miniski..."
** Lest we forget, Al's blood seal? The iron in the blood made it possible to bind his soul to the armor, so even if Ed ''could'' have found a ballpoint while flailing around in a sea of his own blood, it wouldn't have worked quite as well...
** Also the scene where, after losing his gloves and the runes inscribed on them, Roy carves his alchemical runes into his own skin.
* {{Bleach}} uses an instance that plays this trope every way ''simultaneously'' except for straight. Urahara tells Ichigo to leave his window open on the night that they leave for Soul Society, and on that night, he sends a balloon through the window, which splatters over Ichigo's wall. The liquid in the ball (which looks alarmingly like blood to Ichigo) drips down and forms a message. After the important bit of the message has been formed, it keeps on going to form a post-script: "Anyone who thinks this looks like the message of a dying man has no sense of humor."
* Happens all the time to victims in ''DetectiveConan''.
* Parodied in ''SoulEater''. During an episode involving the entire cast taking a test, [[HighlyVisibleNinja Black* Star]] gets caught trying to steal the answers. The teacher beats the crap out of him and hangs him on the board as a warning. Later, when Soul is getting very desperate (having had his cheat sheets taken away), he sees Black* Star writing on the board in his own blood. Cue melodramatic inner monologue about how he must be trying to save his friend in dire straits- until Soul realizes it's [[ItsAllAboutMe an autograph]]. He is not amused. The audience is.
* In FullmetalAlchemist, characters frequently draw alchemic transmutation circles using whatever is on hand, regardless of what it is. For example, in its first anime adaptation, Edward freed himself from Barry the Chopper by etching a circle with a metal bolt; when Lust attacked Dr. Marcoh, he drew a circle with his own blood to counterattack her.
* In {{Hellsing}}, a pair of vampiric serial killers write blasphemous messages on the walls of their victims' homes using the victims' own blood.
* In chapter 53 of ''MiraiNikki'' [[spoiler: after the second Yuno is stabbed by the real Yuno, the other Yuno uses her last moments of life to write "Help Me" on the wall in her blood]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Music]]
* Music Videos, to be precise. In the JohnLandis directed video of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," we hear:
-->'''Man:''' ...it was a message, scrawled in his own blood.
-->'''Man 2:''' What did it say?
-->'''Man:''' [[AuthorCatchphrase "See you next Wednesday."]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' module I12 "Egg of the Phoenix". A revenant [undead creature] will try to communicate by writing a message using its own decaying flesh.
** In the ''{{Planescape}}'' setting, a cleric of a god of communication once tried to use magic to communicate with The Lady. After [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath The Lady's shadow had passed over her]], the cleric arose as a vampire that was unable to communicate in any way except by using people's intestines to form words. To compound the problem, a rumour arose that The Lady had indeed said something to the cleric, leading to someone actually seeking her out to find out what. She was apparently happy to comply, but ran out of guts before she could finish.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* Twice in the ''PhoenixWright AceAttorney'' games there has been victims who wrote names, presumably of their killers, in blood. [[spoiler:Both times they were incriminating Maya, and both times they were fake.]] ''Apollo Justice'' has a victim writing a number on the floor in his blood, which is then cleaned by his assassin [[spoiler:because it was a clue that the victim was an Interpol agent]].
** There's also the case concerning Maggie, whose boyfriend wrote her name in the sand next to him with his right hand before he died. [[spoiler:He was left handed, and her name is actually spelled "Maggey".]]
*** WallBanger being that no one ever points out that the man with a ''broken neck'' wrote in fancy cursive.
**** Moreso in the Japanese version; Why would he be writing in kanji, one line at a time?　鈴木(Suzuki) takes way more effort than スズキ or すずき.
** In the demo case for ''Gyakuten Kenji'', another prosecutor finds that the victim (supposedly) wrote Gumshoe's name in his own blood on the crime scene. As Edgeworth, you have to demonstrate that the detective must be innocent.
* In ''ChronoTrigger'', you find a fallen knight who gives you a monster-fighting tip using his blood as the ink. Good thing he was a knight instead of a writer of strategy guides...
* DeadSpace has "'''Cut off their limbs!'''" written in blood around the ship. It's good advice.
* ''Portal'' has loads of insane messages scrawled in... Uh, it's hard to tell what it is actually.
* Bioshock has a number of messages written in blood, most notably the message on the board of photos reading: [[spoiler: "Would You Kindly"]]
* When you reach Delta Labs 4, the epicenter of the demon invasion in ''[[{{Doom}} Doom 3]]'', the walls are streaked with bloody messages. Whether it was done by [[LegionsOfHell demons]], [[DemonicPossession demon-possessed victims]] or just by [[RoomFullOfCrazy insane victims]], there are no survivors left by the time you arrive. The words repeated over and over again are "suffer", "die" and (appropriately enough for being on the edge of a {{hellgate}}) "burn".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* ''TheSimpsons''
** In "Principal Charming", Bart wrote his name in the schoolyard using grass-killing chemicals.
--->'''Bart:''' Maybe it was one of the other Barts that-
--->'''Skinner:''' [[OneSteveLimit There are no other Barts!]]
** In "Cape Feare", Sideshow Bob writes death threats to Bart in blood. And his diary. When he starts feeling faint, Snake suggests that Bob get a pen.
** In "The Springfield Files" Homer runs away from an alien screaming "Yahhh!" As we watch from above we see him run through a field spelling out the word "Yahhh!" in cursive (including the exclamation mark!) [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJuZqumRP70]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: WebComics]]
* Parodied. When the cast of ''AnsemRetort'' played Pictonary, Axel drew his in Riku's blood for kicks.
* In {{Juathuur}}, Rowasu uses blood at the end of chapter 11.
* A particularly awesome moment in ''{{Kagerou}} has Dark, bleeding out of his [[strike:eyes]] eye sockets, writing the names of Red's victims in blood, as well as revealing Red's true name, [[spoiler:James Valentine Beethoven]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]
* Slightly done in ''DrawWithMe'', where, oddly enough, they use coal on glass, which makes no sense.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Of the second variety (because it's cool and symbolic), it is general knowledge in Philippine history that members of the [[LaResistance anti-Spanish revolutionary group]] ''Katipunan'' (literally "commune" or "brotherhood") sign their membership forms with their own blood drawn from their forearms as a sign of commitment to the struggle. [[FridgeLogic It was never known whether members suffered from tetanus or infection]], [[RuleOfCool but who cares?!]]
* Marquis De Sade, after being imprisoned, wrote his stories on his own body, first using wine and a chicken bone, then his own blood.
* The Manson Family had a creepy habit of writing things on walls at murder scenes - in the blood of the victim.
* The murder of Frenchwoman Ghislaine Marchal in 1991 involved her writing in her own blood on a wall: "Omar m'a tuer" ("Omar killed me", with a glaring spelling mistake.) The phrase is still very famous in France (perhaps due to the controversial nature of the whole thing.)
* Apparently, several people have made last-minute testaments in this way: I have read about a farmer, trapped under his own tractor writing on the bumper, with mud, who of his neighbours would get which of his animals and about a dying man who wrote "all to wife" on the wall in his own blood. Both of these were accepted as valid.
* ParentheticalGirls are hand-numbering their latest album in their own blood.
[[/folder]]

----
<<|NarrativeDevices|>>

* In A Study in Scarlet, the book it is a pastiche of, Holmes finds 'Rache' written on the wall in blood. In both books, Lestrade wrongly concludes that a woman called Rachel is involved, and the victim died before finishing the name.
** The NeilGaiman-authored SherlockHolmes/[[CosmicHorror Cthulhu Mythos]] pastiche ''A Study in Emerald'' has the two main detectives ([[spoiler: ''not'' Watson and Holmes]]) called to the murder of the nephew of Queen Victoria (actually one of the Great Old Ones). They find the word "Rache" written on the wall in blood. ''Green'' blood.

* In "Calliope", ''TheSandman'' has a characteristically squicky example when Dream curses a writer with ideas. Lots of ideas. All at once.
** [[AssholeVictim Hard to feel sorry for him, though,]] considering [[spoiler: he kidnapped and imprisoned the titular muse of poetry just to get ideas for stories and get rich. Did we mention he rapes her from time to time too?]]

* Averted in ''{{Memento}}'' where the main character is stuck without a pen and desperately needs to write something, but ''doesn't'' manage to find a workable substitute.
** However he does tattoo himself as a way to remind himself of important information.

* ''TheDaVinciCode'' does this in the first chapter.
** Possibly includes a ShoutOut to ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'':

* This happens to CMOTDibbler in ''Discworld/MovingPictures''. He runs out of bedsheets and starts writing on a wall, which he then pays a troll to carry around for him.

*** And in ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', Detritus, a troll, is trapped in a freezer, and the cold temperature brings his brain to peak efficiency. Unfortunately, this also means he's probably going to freeze to death, so as he gets smarter (and closer to death), he starts writing a mathematical grand unified theory of everything in the frost on the walls, and is up to the = sign before he's rescued, and the heat from opening the door erases the rest of the equation.
*** Also, in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', a dying dwarf miner uses the last of his strength to scrawl a cursed mine symbol onto the door he was trapped behind.

* Played with in ''HarryPotter and the Order of the Phoenix.'' Harry is forced to do lines as punishment for telling the truth about Voldemort and is given a pen with no ink. He starts writing, and the message comes out carved across the back of his hand.
** Played straight in Chamber. [[spoiler:Ginny]] writes threatening messages in blood while brainwashed

* The NeilGaiman-authored SherlockHolmes/[[CosmicHorror Cthulhu Mythos]] pastiche ''A Study in Emerald'' has the two main detectives ([[spoiler: ''not'' Watson and Holmes]]) called to the murder of the nephew of Queen Victoria (actually one of the Great Old Ones). They find the word "Rache" written on the wall in blood. ''Green'' blood.
** And of course, in A Study in Scarlet, the book it is a pastiche of, Holmes finds 'Rache' written on the wall in blood. In both books, Lestrade wrongly concludes that a woman called Rachel is involved, and the victim died before finishing the name.

* In ''JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' Childermass briefly attempts to [[spoiler: copy the Book of the Raven King, which had been written as blue discolouration on a man's skin, onto his own flesh. He quickly gives up for some of the many, many reasons no one should ever even try to copy out something in a language they don't know onto their skin, with a penknife, all alone in a cold and isolated area, when the book covered the man's entire body except for groin, face and hands, and for all he knows size and placement of the marks is vital.]]

* Happens from time to time on ''{{NCIS}}'', generally of the giving-a-clue-as-to-the-murderer variety.
** Except for the time it was a call for help. Unintentionally aimed directly at a NCIS investigator. ...Which also ID'd the person making that particular call for help.

->The two see GetOut written in red on the wall.

-->'''Mitchell'': Paint, And it's still wet, Tch, Blood, You ever try writing anything in blood? It's totally impractical.

** They would use a [[AcceptableTargets Polish]] name for that one, wouldn't they?
*** What, you'd prefer Chen Toi?
* ''RedDwarf'' has a dying RedShirt scrawl a warning using blood and intestines. The Cat wonders why he went to the trouble of using his kidney as a full stop. Rimmer notes that it probably just "plopped out" on its own.
** Not to mention ''Better Than Life'' (The book), where the crew get stuck in a virtual reality game and the only way to communicate with them is by carving messages into their arms.

** '"Get the woman a pad! A PAD!"

* Seen in the ''{{Torchwood}}'' episode, "Captain Jack Harkness." Tosh and Jack are stuck in the past, and need to send a message that will last the next 60 years and be found by the other members of their squad. Tosh doesn't have a pen, so she cuts her hand open on a rusty can and writes in her own blood.
** Also seen in "They Keep Killing Susie." The word "Torchwood" is written in blood on a white wall on a crime scene.

* In the final episode of ''DeathNote'', after [[spoiler:getting his pen destroyed by Matsuda while trying to write down Near's name in the pages of the titular ArtifactOfDoom, Light continues writing with his own blood, which prompts Matsuda to blast the hell out of him.]] This is actually a pretty severe "What the hell were you thinking" moment, as apparently at this point he had lost all self-control whatsoever and couldn't just calmly write down the name.
** Also, that's how he managed to write the third Kira's name without being noticed while in the helicopter with L.

* Bioshock has a number of messages written in either blood or a nice shade of red paint, most notably the message on the board of photos reading: [[spoiler: "Would You Kindly"]]

** Except for the time it was a call for help. Unintentionally aimed directly at a NCIS investigator. ...Which also ID'd the person making that particular call for help.

* TheSarahConnorChronicles had a dying time traveler scrawl clues on their garage wall with his blood.

* TheSarahConnorChronicles had one of these which was even more absurd than the usual examples of this trope. In the beginning of the second season, a guy makes the jump from the future to the past but is shot when he does so. He needs to get his message to Connors, so what does he do? He breaks into their basement and scrawls a confusing and incoherent message on the wall with his own blood then visits upstairs, whispers something cryptic then dies. Fail.

* In ''{{Discworld/Thief of Time}}'', Jeremy gets the idea for the [[{{Macguffin}} Glass Clock]] in a dream and ends up writing the specifications for it all over the bedsheets.
** This also happens to CMOTDibbler in ''Discworld/MovingPictures''. He runs out of bedsheets and starts writing on a wall, which he then pays a troll to carry around for him.
*** And in another book, Detritus, a troll, is trapped in a freezer, and the cold temperature brings his brain to peak efficiency. Unfortunately, this also means he's probably going to freeze to death, so as he gets smarter (and closer to death), he starts writing a mathematical grand unified theory of everything in the frost on the walls, and is up to the = sign before he's rescued, and the heat from opening the door erases the rest of the equation.
***Also, in Thud!, a dying dwarf miner uses the last of his strenght to scrawl a cursed mine symbol onto the door he was trapped behind.