If you’re like a lot of people out there, you’ve been watching HBO’s miniseries Chernobyl with a blend of fascination and horror.
(Not this author, though, studying nuclear war in college was more than enough radioactivity. But other people are really enjoying it!)
The historical drama seemed to have sparked a renewed interest in the crisis, where a power plant in Ukraine malfunctioned, spewing deadly particles into the atmosphere across the Soviet Union and Western Europe. In the days since the miniseries aired, an uptick of visitors have begun swarming the area, local tour operators told CNN.
In fact, it’s entirely possible that some people are enjoying visiting the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history a little…too much.
Case in point: Bruno Zupan, aka Twitter user @komacore, posted a compilation of pictures from Instagram on Sunday, showing a variety of poses from the young historians, ranging from the vaguely adventurous to the pretty dang thotty.
A look through the geotag for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the nearby ghost town of Prypiat shows a bevy of local and international tourists eager to let their followers know that they’re posted up at a spot that caused the death of an untold number of people.
A lot of folks tried their best to mean mug like they’re posing for a rap album cover amid the abandoned buildings.
Here’s another solid contribution to the art form.
The creepy old Ferris wheel on the grounds has proved to be a popular spot to snap a picture.
This gentleman mixed the Ferris wheel AND rap album genres of Chernobyl Instas here, a true innovator.
It’s gotten to the point that show creator and writer Craig Mazin took to Twitter on Tuesday to ask people who visit the Zone of Exclusion — the area that was evacuated immediately after the disaster — to be just a bit more chill.
Chernobyl tourists aren’t alone in ditching somber gravitas for the ‘gram at places they probably shouldn’t. Back in 2014, one girl’s selfie at Auschwitz Holocaust Memorial sparked outrage up and down the internet. In the years since though, the lesson seems to have faded. Just this year, the museum had to tweet a reminder to people to maybe not pose for cute pics on the railroads that carried hundreds of thousands of people to their deaths.