In an online world where viral sensations and mysteries garner clicks, one homegrown sensation has been overlooked. But it’s now time to add it to the pantheon of human meme history. Presenting The Chronicles of Skychips: the story of chips left on the roof at a supermarket started a craze.
First sighting of Skychips - June 3, 2018 Photo: Supplied / Luke Rowell
It was June 2018 when Luke Rowell first discovered and posted about the corn chips on the top of the gerder at a supermarket in Wellington. Posting updates regularly to one Twitter thread, and even celebrating its one year anniversary with a cake, it took the staff at the Petone supermarket 538 days to take Skychips off its lofty throne.
Close up of Skychips Photo: Supplied / Luke Rowell
A second, short-lived, Skychips was located at the same store around six months into this journey. To identify the goods, Luke smuggled a DSLR camera and a telephoto lens. But upon further inspection, the second Skychips turned out to be a bag of sauce instead: but SkySauce doesn’t have that ring to it - unlike its more popular cousin.
What was largely considered to be Skychips 2, was simply a sauce packet. Photo: Supplied / Luke Rowell
Despite best guesses on how the chips made their way on the gerder in the first place, the origin of Skychips is ultimately unknown at this stage: a signature of other mysterious stories that circulate across the web.
Birthday Cake dedicated to Skychips on its first birthday Photo: Supplied / Luke Rowell
Dedicated to Skychips
June 3 2018 - November 23 2019
