The end of 'planking'...here comes 'owling'

The bizarre internet craze of ‘planking’ is set to lose its cult online status to the increasingly popular trend of ‘owling’...

Extra kudos is earned for those who do it in unusual situations

It consists of nothing more taxing than crouching on one's haunches and staring into the middle distance, like an owl.

A young woman perches on a shelf at her house

Hundreds of young people in America, Australia and now, Britain, have taken up the new ‘owling’ craze.


Participants then take photos of themselves and post them on Facebook or on other social networking sites.
Extra kudos is earned for those who do it in unusual situations.

Make like an owl

The trend is a development of the popular craze of ‘planking’ in which people would take pictures of themselves lying face down in strange locations.


However, in recent months ‘planking’ has become increasingly mainstream - and thus less popular on the trend-conscious internet.


Last month the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay - notorious for swearing, posted pictures of himself planking - a development that prompted trend-watchers to declare the craze ‘officially dead’.

Gordon Ramsay posted up a picture on his Twitter of himself trying out the latest internet craze of planking

‘Owling’ is believed to have started in Australia within the last few weeks.
Indeed, it is so new that the Wikipedia entry for ‘owling’ describes the practice as being a term used in the Middle Ages to describe the ‘the smuggling of sheep or wool from England to another country’.

Despite its relative youth, the owling craze already has two popular Facebook groups dedicated to it, onto which more than 1,000 people are listed as members.
Other social websites including Reddit also feature pictures of young people taking part in the craze.

The trendspotting site Buzzfeed has described ‘owling’ as a ‘worthy successor’ to planking.


Earlier this year an Australian man Acton Beale died while trying to ‘plank’ from a set of railings on a balcony in Brisbane.


Afterwards Deputy Police Commissioner Ross Barnett confirmed reports that the 20-year-old ‘may have fallen while attempting a planking episode’.

Owling in unusual situation

The new fad.

Is this owling as well? LOL...just 'lepak' only...

Planking at railway - teen ended up charged by police!

A teenager has been charged with trespassing on the railway after a picture was posted on the internet of him apparently 'planking' on train tracks. The photo of a teenager lying across railway tracks at an unknown location appeared on a planking fan page on Facebook.

Crazy: The 14 year old tried to plank like this different planker

The 14-year-old youth has been charged with trespassing in connection with this photo posted on Facebook

The shot of the youngster with his head on one rail and his feet on the other is one of hundreds which have featured on the group's page.

Now the 14-year-old boy is set to appear at York Youth Court on July 5 in connection with the photo, according to a spokesman for the British Transport Police.

Crazy fad: Planking in Istanbul

Planking is a craze for taking photos of people lying down in unusual places and then posting them on the web. The term "planking" was coined in Australia and the practice became a fad in 2011. Planking is described as the practice of lying down flat with arms to the side, to mimic a wooden plank. It has its origins in the "lying down game".

Planking in the air!

The page has already attracted nearly 3,500 'likes' on Facebook.

Fans have posted pictures of themselves on the page planking in locations including on top of nightclub soundsystems, on cars and on bales of hay.

The youngster allegedly pictured planking on the rail tracks was arrested after police received calls from members of the public identifying him.

 The police added -  'This was very dangerous behaviour. With high speed trains and electric currents, the railway should never be treated as somewhere to play or hang about. When people are spotted on the railway trains are alerted, which causes disruption and delays.

'People who trespass on the railway are not just risking a court appearance, they are taking a gamble with their lives.

3 men planking

'The last thing our officers want is to have to tell a mother, father or another family member that their loved one has died after trespassing on the railway.
Below are more sample photo (crazy photo!) that were taken from other planking fanatics:

Planking on live alligator!

Tree planking

Planking: points are awarded for  an original location

The crocs are waiting for him beneath!

Lastly, the photo that i like the MOST of all those planking photo is:

This is the cool one!