History Main / StrippedToTheBone

* Though it's yet to be shown happening to anyone, the voracious female faeries in ''Proof'' are said to be able to strip a person to the bone in seconds.

* ''{{Inuyasha}}'' is fond of this trope. Many demons turn to bones when killed, and this is the fate of [[spoiler: all of the Band of Seven.]]

* In ''Manga/DragonBall Z'', one blast Piccolo fires at a remaining member of Nappa's Saibamen destroys it so thoroughly only the skeleton remains.

** But the regeneration power depends on the writer, so in ''ComicBook/{{Days of Future Past}}'', Wolverine is stripped to the bone, but here it means KilledOffForReal.

* Happens to [[StrontiumDog Johnny Alpha]] at the end of ''The Final Solution'', though the bones are not exactly bleached white and do collapse into a pile once the monster releases its grasp. However, the recent ''Death And Life Of Johnny Alpha'' has [[RetCon retconned]] this into something that Feral just said happened.

** Sarah Connor's skeleton hangs on to that fence for dear [[IncrediblyLamePun life]]!

* In the original ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'' (or ''[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Gojira]]''), the device that ultimately defeated Franchise/{{Godzilla}} skeletonized him, and pretty much every living thing in the general area.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'': [[spoiler:After drinking from the wrong Holy Grail, Walter Donovan]] decays completely, including his bones, which are smashed against the wall when Indy pushes him back.

* In ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'', the Purifier [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome walks off into the]] [[ConvectionSchmonvection super-heated atmosphere of Crematoria]] and doesn't stop until his flesh has completely melted from his skeleton, which then disintegrates into ash.

** This scene seems to be a ShoutOut to the ''{{Terminator}}''.

* Happens to [[MadScientist Doctor]] [[KelseyGrammer Frankenollie]] in ''RunawayBrain'' after he switches MickeyMouse's brain with that of a monster's.

* In the original ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'' (or ''[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Gojira]]''), the device that ultimately defeated Godzilla skeletonized him, and pretty much every living thing in the general area.

* Piranhas have the potential to do this to meat carcasses in mere moments. However, they have to be isolated and starved first to get this kind of reaction; they do not naturally, as depicted in fiction, behave like a ravenous swarm.

* A rather disturbing episode of ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' features an insane Ren dropping Stimpy's precious already-dead mouse toy into a vat of acid. It skeletonizes, and then the skeleton dissolves, as Stimpy looks on in horror.

* ''{{Critters}} 2'' near the climax a man falls and is run over by a Crite Ball. His twitching skeleton is a rare example where it's not picked clean, to dramatic effect ([[http://horrordaily.com/2011/07/11/monster-mondays-krites/ See description and before/after images ... or don't]].

* In ''NoHero'', one of the heroes is killed with a chemical weapon specifically designed to dissolve flesh, leaving bone intact.

* The finale of ''Anime/{{Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd As}}'' has Shamal detecting the core of [[EnemyWithout NachtWal]] while it was in the middle of getting disintegrated by Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate's [[CombinationAttack Triple Breaker]], specifically at the point where its torso had been reduced to its ribs and spine.

* The alien death rays in the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode "Failsafe" reduce those shot (y'know, like Franchise/{{Batman}}, Franchise/GreenLantern, ''the teenage heroes of the show''...) into skeletons for a brief but memorable second before ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill disintegrating the skeletons, too.]]''

* In ''Astro Marine Corps'', when a Ballthrower breathes fire on you, you get skeletonized.

* Though it's yet to be shown happening to anyone, the voracious female faeries in ''Theatre/{{Proof}}'' are said to be able to strip a person to the bone in seconds.

* Though it's yet to be shown happening to anyone, the voracious female faeries in ''{{Proof}}'' are said to be able to strip a person to the bone in seconds.

* The disintegrator in ''DestroyAllHumans'' leaves a black skeleton [[BlackComedy frozen in place]] after killing a human, which promptly dissolves into ash a few seconds later.

* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', killing an enemy with the [[PlayingWithFire Devil's Kiss]] or [[ShockAndAwe Shock Jockey]] Vigors will result in this happening, followed by the bones falling apart and ''crumbling to ash''. In the case of Shock Jockey, it also causes their [[YourHeadAsplode heads to explode]] first.

* From ''{{Toriko}}'' this is [[EvilOldPerson Chiyo]]'s favorite method of killing.

* Don't forget ''VideoGame/{{FEAR}}'', with the Evaporating Particle Beam. And Alma likes to psionically skeletonize her victims.

* The alien death rays in the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode "Failsafe" reduce those shot (y'know, like {{Batman}}, GreenLantern, ''the teenage heroes of the show''...) into skeletons for a brief but memorable second before ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill disintegrating the skeletons, too.]]''

* In the films ''Film/{{Batman}}'' and ''[[Film/{{Batman}} Batman Returns]]'', the total of two people who get electrocuted more or less leave behind their skeletons in whatever suits they were wearing at the time.

* The finale of ''Anime/{{Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd As}}'', has Shamal detecting the core of [[EnemyWithout NachtWal]] while it was in the middle of getting disintegrated by Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate's [[CombinationAttack Triple Breaker]], specifically at the part where its torso had been reduced to its ribs and spine.

** Dark Eldar beastmasters have flocks of Razorwings, alien birds with extremely sharp beaks and wingtips, that can strip a man to the bone in seconds. Much like the Hellboy tooth fairies, they eat bones and tear off the flehs to get to them. Dark Eldar also have a piece of arcane wargear called the Casket of Flensing, which releases a swarm of invisible creatures that strip the flesh off their target's bones (they leave the brain intact tho, so the unfortunate victim can be aware of his final moments for as long as possible).

* In the fourth book of Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet, the protagonist confronts her nemesis by referencing this.

* In Creator/RobertWestall's ''Literature/UrnBurial'', the [[EldritchAbominations Attock]] created ''[[FesteringFungus harka]]'', an engineered mould that infects and [[BodyHorror grows on living creatures]], usually infecting females and young in the womb. It slowly eats away at the flesh and eventually even eats away the bones. It takes long enough on the skeleton that there a couple of collections of bones still held together with sinew and tendon in the PeopleJars on the Wawaka ship.

[[quoteright:254:[[MagicTheGathering http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CrumbleToDust_2478.jpg]]]]

The human skeleton is pretty tough. If you drink a lot of milk and get plenty of sunshine, your bones can grow to be stronger than concrete[[hottip:*:By weight, anyway. A pound of bone is stronger than a pound of concrete, but only just.]]; shattering a bone requires a really, really strong hit, as in "crashing your car at 60 km/h"-strong. Did you know that crematoria actually grind bones because otherwise the fragments could be too big to fit in the urns?

* Nathaniel Hawthorne's ''Ethan Brand'', making this OlderThanRadio.

* A caustic base will break down living tissue at least as quickly as an equivalent acid, but will do little or nothing to the bones.
* These ants manage to strip away an entire gecko into a skeleton in a few hours http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Mt2E1M6dU
* Any carrion eating animals (vultures, ants, maggots) will do this.
** Which is why scavenger beetles are used to clean bones for museums.

* From ''{{Toriko}}'' this is [[EvilOldPerson Chiyo]]'s [[NightmareFuel favorite method of killing]].

* ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' features the series' BigBad Bowser falling into lava and being skeletonized (which is depicted in a surprisingly NightmareFuel-ish level of detail for this series). Later on, you get to fight Bowser's animated skeletal remains. Though he eventually recovers later on with a little help from Bowser Jr.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'': [[spoiler:Parodied in Chapter 5, when, [[IntangibleMan after Guybrush fails to take the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu]], [=LeChuck=] shows him what it feels to be a ghost with a vulnerability to [[HollywoodAcid root beer]]; and Elaine, under the villain's influence as his [[EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette demon bride]], sprays root beer on Guybrush, making him scream and dissolving his transparent form, [[NightmareFuel revealing a skeleton underneath that crumbles into nothingness]]. Thankfully, he rematerializes back at the Crossroads Center.]]
** [[spoiler: If Guybrush tries returning to [=LeChuck=]'s ship as a ghost, Elaine will repeatedly spray root beer at our hero and force him back into the Crossroads, making it pure NightmareFuel.]]

* The alien death rays in the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode "Failsafe" reduce those shot (y'know, like {{Batman}}, GreenLantern, ''[[NightmareFuel the teenage heroes of the show]]''...) into skeletons for a brief but memorable second before ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill disintegrating the skeletons, too.]]''

*** Subverted in that D'Sparye could have actually destroyed the bones too, he was just too shocked stupid by the fact that Juggernaut was a skeleton and was ''still'' coming at him. Ultimately, Juggs would have still lost if not for [[WikiMagic being helped by someone I can't remember.]]