Real or fake? Picture surfaces showing shoes poking from a cement block

What's your initial reaction when you see this photo?

(Image: Imgur via Reddit)

This is a picture going viral on the social news website Reddit.

According to the Redditor theduder46 who posted the image, it is "just one of many scattered around an abandoned cement factory."

But is it real or just a joke?

According to the top comment on the post by Redditor almeras, who supposedly worked at a concrete factory, it's most likely staged [emphasis added]:

When the drivers would return to the batch plant, they had to empty out the trucks each time. If they were able to dump unused concrete at the construction site, they just had to wash the truck out. If they were unable to dump onsite, they brought it back and filled forms for these blocks (sometimes known as "Jersey Blocks"). It was not uncommon for someone to put boots or gloves along the edge of the form, or at the top, in this case, as a joke. These blocks are poured on their sides in order to form the ridges in the top and bottom.

Others though have gone off on a tangent pondering if a body could really be inside. Some think that the rebar running through the cement would make it impossible to stash a body inside while allowing it to be strong enough to be moved without falling apart. Another person wrote that even if it is a joke the cement block should be opened -- or the more gruesome option posed by another was to just cut through the shoe -- just to check.

Still others continue to offer further evidence that suggests this was all in jest. Redditor saggy_potato_sack, who claims to be a construction worker, said the boots might have been cut in half, attached to the wall and smeared with concrete to look like they were encased. He also offered this illustration to give "insight into why there can't be boots sticking out the side."

Graphic showing he construction of a Jersey Barrier. (Image: Imgur via Reddit)

This Redditor also mentioned that the concrete appeared to be "at least 20 years old" while the boots look brand new. Let us know what you think about the photo by taking our poll.

Read more about the analysis by Redditors of the photo here.