How a teenager’s bizarre death from injecting crushed butterfly turned into a meme

The Crushed Butterfly Death meme, also known as the Injecting Crushed Butterfly meme, refers to a bizarre and tragic news story about a Brazilian teenager injecting himself with a crushed butterfly. After reports of the teen’s death went viral in February 2025, social media users turned the unsettling incident into darkly humorous memes and jokes, remixing it with jokes about drug use, internet challenges, and even pop star MARINA’s latest single, BUTTERFLY.

Meme basics:

• Meme Creator: @MardyMarvel/X
• Meme Type: Unknown
• First Appearance: February 2025
• Origin Source: X
• Peak Popularity: February 2025

How did a teenager die from a crushed butterfly?

The Daily Mail first reported the story of the teenager's senseless death. The article explained that he mixed a crushed dead butterfly with water and then injected the fluid into his leg.

In the aftermath, the teen felt discomfort in his leg and began vomiting, which led to hospitalization. Toxins likely contained within the butterfly led the teen to experience septic shock. He finally passed away after spending about a week in the hospital.

Following a report in The New York Post, the teen's story went viral. The headline read, "Teen dies after injecting himself with butterfly remains — possibly as part of twisted online challenge: report."

Meme spread

Once the New York Post story hit X (formerly Twitter), people started discussing it, speculating that injecting crushed butterfly could have been part of an online challenge gone wrong. However, with no evidence any such challenge existed, many began to wonder why the teen would do something so strange and risky.

As the story continued to spread, people started making memes about injecting crushed butterfly. Many of these were repurposed from memes about drug use and death in other contexts.

MARINA connection

MARINA, formerly known Marina and the Diamonds, released a new single on February 25, 2025, called 'BUTTERFLY.' While the song's lyrics had nothing to do with the teenager who injected himself with crushed butterfly, the timing led fans to combine the two subjects in memes.

Meme examples

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