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A skeleton tattoo. A Ukrainian man has broken the record held by the legendary Zombie Boy

A skeleton tattoo. A Ukrainian man has broken the record held by the legendary Zombie Boy

27 April 2026, 18:31

A skeleton tattoo. A Ukrainian man has broken the record held by the legendary Zombie Boy — Oleg Karpa works as a medical assistant in forensic medicine

28-year-old Oleg Karpa has set a world record, surpassing the achievement of the legendary Zombie Boy – the most famous figure in the world of body art. The Ukrainian has 230 tattoos in the form of bones on his body, recreating the anatomy of the human skeleton.

This was announced by Lana Vetrova, head of the National Register of Records of Ukraine.

Details of the record

‘While the world remembers the record set by the flamboyant Rick Genest (creator of the global brand Zombie Boy), a new world record has been quietly (well, almost) in the making in Drohobych for five years. Meet 28-year-old Oleg Karpa – he has created a visual guide to skeletal anatomy on his body. Together with a pathologist (yes, you read that right), we spent three hours counting the bone tattoos, studying every centimetre of Oleg’s body,” the statement reads.

According to Vetrova, the tattoos effectively replicate the actual structure of the skeleton. The doctor confirmed that each tattoo corresponds to an image of a real bone.

“Oleg didn’t just break the previous record, he ‘multiplied’ it: Rick Genest had 139 bones tattooed on his body. For those who remember the figure 206 from anatomy, let me explain: we have recorded a record level of anatomical detail – here we have the sesamoid bones, and the tiniest bones of the metacarpus, metatarsus and phalanges (which are usually not included in simplified anatomical models) – a masterpiece of scientific precision! “If Oleg’s body is a masterpiece of anatomy, then he left his face untouched,” the expert added.

Vetrova explained that the record-holder is a medical assistant in forensic medicine, works in a mortuary and is simultaneously developing the field of thanatopraxy (the professional practice of preparing a deceased person’s body for burial, which includes a range of measures for preserving the body, disinfecting them and ensuring they look presentable and dignified before the farewell – ‘Glavkom’) in Ukraine, running both online and offline courses.

Zombie Boy: what is known about him

Zombie Boy became famous for his skeleton tattoos and has twice been listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the person with the most bone tattoos on their body. Rick Genest earned the nickname Zombie Boy at the age of 15 following surgery to remove a brain tumour.

In August 2018, in Montreal, Canada, model Rick Genest took his own life.

Incidentally, a three-year-old boy from Kyiv holds the Ukrainian record for ‘the largest circumference of curls in a child’.

Also, a Ukrainian national record was set in Zhytomyr in the category ‘Longest hair on an infant’. The record holder is three-month-old Mark from Zviahel, whose hair measures 8 cm.

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