14 Internet Memes That Have Gone Viral And Their Unusual Background Stories

This photo of Zeddie Watkins Little was taken during the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run. Once it hit Reddit, he was dubbed the ridiculously photogenic guy. He even appeared on Good Morning America to talk about his experience becoming a viral internet meme. 

Redditor timekeepsgoing took this photo of his son at wedding and asked people to photoshop him into the baby Godfather. 

Griffin Kiritsy was a freshman at UNH when was interviewed by Reader's Digest and had a photoshoot for the interview. The photos found their way to Reddit and that's where the confused college freshman meme was born. 

Johnny Solis showed up at his friend Lizz's house one night with flowers and candy on her birthday. Seems harmless enough. Until she posted a photo of him with a caption that said “I am so blessed to have such great friends. Thank you sososoo much Jonathon!” It didn't take long for Reddit and Quickmeme to get ahold of the photo. Lizz and Johnny never did get together. 

Dr. Thomas Winter, a professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln really does skateboard around campus. In fact, it's his preferred method of transportation. A photo of him was posted on Reddit and was turned into this. 

Dustin Mattson is actually a very talented barista who has place in competitions regionally and nationally. Since it pokes fun at his profession, he's not super thrilled about being made into a meme. 

Katie Killet, who you may know as the Angry Hipster Girl meme, was actually wearing a Halloween costume when this photo was taken. She posted the photo on Flickr and Facebook and then started getting notifications from people she hadn't heard from in years, asking if it was her. She even go recognized in public as a result. 

The woman from the senior freshman meme is actually Nola Ochs, who received a degree from Fort Hays State University at the age of 95. She's now 103. 

The sheltered college freshman is actually a stock photo model named Kerin Portillo from Bogota, Colombia. She said in a Reddit Q&A that the popularity of the meme actually led to more modeling jobs. 

The baby in the skeptical baby meme is actually a little boy named Mason, whose parents took him to a museum for family photographs one day. The photographer his parents hired caught this hilarious snap during the shoot and his dad posted it on Reddit where it completely took off. 

Carly Phillips is a romance novelist whose author photo was used for the suburban mom meme. She found out about the mem long after it's creation when a Redditor left it on her Facebook Fan page. 

This photo of Sammy Griner was taken in 3007 before he was even a year old. His mother took the photo on the beach while Sammy held a handful of sand. She posted it on Flickr and it made its way around the internet until 2011, when it was made into the success kid meme. 

Jimmy McMillan's appearance at the 2010 Gubernatorial Debate and the subsequent SNL parody made him the perfect person to make a meme out of. 

After the Canucks lost to the Bruins in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals,  Alexandra Thomas was knocked to the ground by rowdy rioters. Her boyfriend Scott Jones swooped down to help her and a photographer caught their kiss on camera. It's now been photoshopped into a ton of hilarious and dangerous scenes.