Pet rock inventor Gary Dahl dies at 78

Americans will buy anything you can sell to them and no scheme epitomized that like the pet rock. In 1975, it swept the country, even though anyone could just as well pick up a rock from outside and call it a “pet.” Gary Dahl, who created the bizarre fad, died last month at age 78.

Dahl died on March 23, reports the New York Times.

Dahl was an advertising copywriter when he came up with the idea in the mid-1970s. It came to him while at a bar in Northern California and was talking with others about pets. While everyone else complained about all the high maintenance that comes with having a real pet, Dahl announced that he had a “pet rock.” Suddenly, he had an idea. He could market rocks as a pet that required no actual work to care for.

Of course, the only way to convince people that they actually have to buy the pet rock is coming up with creative packaging. Dahl put the rocks in a cardboard case and Dahl even wrote a manual to care for the pet rock. He sold them for $3.95 in 1975, notes TIME.

Even at the time, Dahl wasn’t shy about how crazy it was that this suddenly became a fad.

“People are so damn bored, tired of all their problems,” he told People in 1975. “This takes them on a fantasy trip—you might say we’ve packaged a sense of humor.”

Dahl struggled after the fad died, as investors sued him and knock-offs popped up that he never earned money from. He is survived by his third wife and three children from his previous marriages.