A snap of the sign was shared to Reddit’s MildlyInteresting forum on Monday, where it amassed more than 80,000 upvotes.

Redditor u/Samiqan captioned the image: “I found a park bench in memory of someone that isn’t dead yet.”

The bench is located in the Caledon trailway, in Ontario, Canada and says: “Cathy in the forest. Your smile said it all.” And it gives the dates for her birth as September 7, 1954, but appears to give the date of her death as December 6, 2022.

The Redditor, aka Sami, told Newsweek he and his sister stumbled across the bench while walking along the trail.

Referring to his sibling, he said: “She stopped to sit down and enjoy the view. That’s when she looked around and noticed the plaque.

“She did a double take and had to question herself what year it was just to be sure. She even asked me… wait it’s not December yet is it?

“And when she told me this bench is for someone that is about to die I thought she read the date wrong.

“And yeah we were both just amused and thought it was a bit interesting to have a name with a future date on a bench.”

Numerous people commented on the post, as King5teve wrote: “We need to find Cathy and warn her of the doom bench that has marked her for death!”

Redraider-102 said: “What if the very act of warning her is what eventually leads to her death?” as they added: “OK, fine. You caught me. I’m working for the demon bench. But it pays the bills, so sorry, not sorry.”

MegatheriumRex thought: “Yep. This is giving me ‘Appointment in Samarra’ vibes. Tell Cathy all you want; there is no escape.”

Danteheehaw added: “You can’t just change a prophecy. It needs to happen. Or else.”

While referring the popular film, Gattaaca added: “Death Note 2: Death Bench.”

In the comments, a Redditor linked a woman’s obituary, who has the same birthday as the one listed on the plaque.

While it’s not confirmed they’re the same person, it was theorized the writing could contain a typo, as the woman died on December 6 2021, according to website Tribute Archive.

Sami added: “We definitely discussed if this was some sort of planned death or assisted suicide, or maybe they just created the bench plaque as a placeholder until an actual death occurred.

“Didn’t really take the omen thing seriously but just made a few jokes about how if a Cathy with that birthday stumbled upon this they’d be really worried.

“We did consider typo, but a few people would have to have verified the plaque so we thought it was intentionally 2022, until someone confirmed it was a typo with the obituary in the comments.”

The Town of Caledon has a memorial program, which “gives you the opportunity to adopt a bench or plant a tree in memory of a loved one,” although the webpage indicated the memorial program is currently “under review.”

Heather Savage, director, Community Services, at Town of Caledon, confirmed the plaque was a mistake.

She told Newsweek: “This memorial bench plaque was installed in late August 2022 and is incorrect. The resident passed away in December 2021. A new plaque is expected later this week and will be installed immediately.

“The memorial bench plaques are acrylic plaques (as opposed to bronze, to mitigate the theft of metals), and the overall cost for the original plaque and its replacement was $70 ($35 each). The Town will cover the replacement cost for the family.”

In Canada’s capital region, in the parks of Ottawa–Gatineau, a donation of $4,000 is required for the dedication of a personalized bronze plaque, to be maintained for 10 years.

In Toronto, a commemorative bench costs $2,530, while a plaque on an existing bench costs $1,753.

And it’s likely there’s a set of rules in place governing those remembered, as Montreal outlined when introducing memorial benches in parks of Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough.

A release announcing the program, in 2014, stated: “Citizens might acquire a memorial park bench in order to highlight the contribution of a resident to the community.

“Certain conditions are to be met in order to take part in this program, such as being an actual or former citizen of the borough and the bench must commemorate a death anniversary, the life of an exceptional citizen, a unique event, a wedding 50th anniversary, etc.”

Fees listed were $500 for a plaque on an existing bench, and $2,500 for a new bench.

Update 10/5/22, 2:59 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Heather Savage.