The Onion hilariously invents a Fond du Lac Reporter obituary based on Genghis Khan

Who knows what legends walk among you in the Tuesday league at Ledgeview Lanes in Fond du Lac?

The Onion, the north star of news satire, invented an obituary in the Fond du Lac Reporter — a Gannett-owned newspaper that works closely with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — noting with some trepidation that the obit is "clearly just copied from Wikipedia article on Genghis Khan."

Khan, the legendary conqueror and founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (according to our Wikipedia research), had a lot in common with fictional Fond du Lac resident Garry Park, 74.

“For starters, it says right here that Garry was born in 1162 in the Khentii Mountains,” Park's "neighbor" Deborah Higgins claimed in the fake story, though Park had barely ever left Wisconsin, let alone “held control over much of central and northeast Asia.”

“Sure, he was a husband and father, that part’s okay, but cripes, he never mentioned having 16 million living male descendants, at least not to me. And he was married to Bev, not Börte, Yesugen, Yesui, Khulan Khatun, Möge Khatun, Juerbiesu, and Ibaqa Beki. Unless that was before they moved to Fond du Lac back in ’71? But I thought Bev and him were high school sweethearts.”

Higgins expressed skepticism about Park having time for his adventures while still keeping his weekly appointment at Ledgeview, which happens to be a real bowling alley.

The tie to Wisconsin is immaterial to the gag in this case, but The Onion, which originated in 1988 in Madison, has many times turned its attention to Wisconsin. Just six days ago, it was skewering Aaron Rodgers, a common target for the publication.

The Onion was all over the Wisconsin political scene in 2018 and has made a king of Culver's founder Craig Culver. It's also paid attention to a number of Wisconsin sports teams over the years. Heck, the state's dairy industry once even partnered with The Onion on a marketing campaign.

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The Onion famously invents Fond du Lac obituary based on Genghis Khan