Beware the car-destroying rock of West Omaha

A spectre is haunting West Omaha—the spectre of auto repair bills. For a mighty rock has arrived to do battle with the cars in this most American of towns, and by any rational assessment, the rock is winning.

A gallery on Imgur is highlighting the story of this humble but efficient collection of minerals, hardened and formed into a solid chemical compound that is now wreaking havoc on drivers too intent on shaving milliseconds off of their travel time. Apparently, there is a curb entering into a parking lot in West Omaha, and enough people were jumping it in a hasty attempt to get to their destination of choice a little sooner, someone decided to discourage such behavior by placing a large rock on the grass edge in between road and lot. And we’re not talking medicine-ball height; this thing is closer to a baby rhinoceros in size. It’s hefty, is the general bullet point. And yet, shitty drivers are routinely ignoring it. Hilarity ensues.

Best of all is the rough shape of said boulder. As the introduction to the gallery of photos notes, “Since the rock is more or less shaped like a ramp, if a car hits it with just a little bit of force, it gets stuck right on top of it.” We would pull a single frame to demonstrate, but frankly, the collection deserves to be seen in its entirety, where the tidal wave of car after car, perched clumsily like condors with balance problems, makes for a beautiful distraction to your day. It is a silly, fleeting, and insignificant contribution to the flood of pop-culture detritus with which we all occupy ourselves as a bulwark against the terrible ennui of existence, true, but it is a satisfying one. Gratias tibi ago, rock.