History Main / KilroyWasHere

-->''"We two dear men, friends forever, were here. If you want to know our names, they are Gaius and Aulus."''

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': In an early episode of the anime, Ash, already insecure from how poorly he is faring compared to his Pallet Town peers, discovers a piece of graffiti, from his personal rival, on a sign in a town he had only just reached.

* Franchise/LupinIII is fond of leaving a token caricature of his face, usually on paper, but sometimes as a graffito.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** Stewie claims to have scratched [[Film/TheShawshankRedemption "Brooks was here"]] on the wall of Lois' uterus while he was being born. He admits that he did it "[[ItAmusedMe just to be a jerk]]".

** "WestermAnimation/RebelRabbit" has Bugs paint the Washington Monument to look like a barber pole, then signs it "Bugs Bunny Was Here". He then rewires the signs in Times Square to read "Bugs Bunny Wuz Here".

Do not confuse with [[Music/KilroyWasHere the Styx album]].

* ''Literature/TheShawshankRedemption'': The inmate Brooks, unable to fit into society after so many years in prison, carves "Brooks was here" into a ceiling beam from which he then hangs himself. [[spoiler:At the end of the film, Red carves "So was Red" before leaving to join Andy in Mexico.]]

* During the Potsdam Conference, UsefulNotes/HarryTruman allegedly had some fun at UsefulNotes/JosephStalin's expense by sneaking into his private bathroom and writing this on the wall. Stalin, in characteristic fashion, had the KGB on high alert looking for this mysterious "Kilroy". Though given that [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war]] had just ended a scant few weeks earlier, being on [[ProperlyParanoid high security]] makes a good deal of sense.

* One Viking trader scratched "Halfdan was here" in his native language into the wall of the Hagia Sophia when he visited Istanbul. Similar tags have been found in several places in the Mediterranean, as well as in the complex at Skara Brae in Orkney.

* In ''Art/TheArnolfiniPortrait'', the painter added the legend ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnolfini_Portrait#mediaviewer/File:The_Arnolfini_Portrait,_d%C3%A9tail_(6).jpg "Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434]]" (which translates as "Creator/JanVanEyck was here 1434").

* In ''Art/TheArnolfiniPortrait'', the painter added the legend ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnolfini_Portrait#mediaviewer/File:The_Arnolfini_Portrait,_d%C3%A9tail_(6).jpg "Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434]]" (which translates as "Jan van Eyck was here 1434").

* In ''Art/TheArnolfiniPortrait'', the painter added the legend ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnolfini_Portrait#mediaviewer/File:The_Arnolfini_Portrait,_d%C3%A9tail_(6).jpg Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434]]'' ("Jan van Eyck was here 1434")"

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10596850/1/Heaven-s-Conscripts Heaven's Conscripts]]'': Rico finds the names of soldiers that had been carved in the rocks a hundred years ago when the Dolomites were a battleground between Italian and Austrian forces in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. After killing three terrorists, she carves their names in the rock as well.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion "The Invasion"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E5WarriorsGate "Warrior's Gate"]], "Kilroy Was Here" is seen; first written on a lift shaft, later spray painted onto a wall inside a spaceship. Legend has it that the former, at least, was in tribute to the "Kilroy was here" marked on the lift shaft of the studio in which ''Doctor Who'' was taped during the Troughton years, Lime Grove studio D, which was on an upper floor reached by a large (but not very large) freight elevator.

* As noted above, [[Music/Styx]] released an album in 1983 named, yes, ''Music/KilroyWasHere''. The opening movie did feature rebel rockers using 'rock code' graffiti, albeit more for communication.

* "Kilroy was here" is a version of this that became popular during World War Two and has maintained on-again off-again relevance since; however it originated (Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here a few theories]]), American soldiers began leaving Kilroy everywhere, and took the meme home with them when they returned to the US. The graffiti typically consist of the basic phrase scrawled over a wall or other surface, usually alongside a stylized figure depicting a bald, long-nosed figure peering over the top of a wall.

* ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' features "The Scorch", the oldest unreplaced outer hull plate on the ''Enterprise''. Signing it is in illicit activity on "Enterprise Bingo", as is the requisite extravehicular excursion in space suits. In the season 1 episode "Spock Amok", the two notoriously uptight senior staffers Commander Una Chin-Riley (AKA NumberOne) and Security Chief La'an Noonien Singh catch wind of Enterprise Bingo and try it for themselves, finally understanding and partaking in the spirit of the game's lower-ranks mischief by forgoing the space suits and enveloping the outer hull sector that the Scorch is in with an atmospheric containment forcefield to go sign it... leaving a perplexing curio for the next ensigns going for a Scorch-signing, considering the pair's reputation.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'': Checking a certain sign in Summers shows a message from Porky insulting Ness.

!!Examples:

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': In an early episode of the anime, Ash, already insecure from how poorly he is faring compared to his Pallet Town peers, discovers a piece of graffiti, from his personal rival, on a sign he had only just visited.

%%* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': "Gary was here! Ash is a loser!"

* In [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnolfini_Portrait "The Arnolfini Portrait"]], the painter added the legend ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnolfini_Portrait#mediaviewer/File:The_Arnolfini_Portrait,_d%C3%A9tail_(6).jpg Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434]]'' ("Jan van Eyck was here 1434")"

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8149634/1/Showdown-No-holding-back Showdown: No holding back]]'': District 7 Tribute Yolo Underbrush finds a spot on the wall in his bedroom where two other past tributes wrote their names and what Hunger Games they were about to be sent into, and adds his own next to them.

-->''"We two dear men, friends forever, were here. If you want to know our names, they are Gaius and Aulus."''