'I let 96 grieving strangers choose my tats - including names of murder victims'
A woman has let nearly 100 strangers choose tattoos to go on her body - and says it helps them to heal from trauma. Chelsea Rohrbough, 31, has tattooed herself with 96 tats resembling painful experiences or causes suggested by her TikTok followers - from symbols of domestic abuse to sex trafficking cases.
The mum-of-two has had over 7,000 requests for inked designs, including a broken phone screen for those affected by online grooming and a trans person's name after they were disowned by their family. Chelsea, from Clarksberg, West Virginia, US, said it makes her "feel good" knowing that she is "helping others".
She plans to cover herself in 10,000 inked designs (Chelsea Rohrbough / SWNS)Chelsea said: "A lot of the requests I get on my page I'm unaware of and I try and give them the attention they need.
"I've put on murder cases that got no justice, sex trafficking cases, transgender people who've not been accepted by their parents.
"I want to bring awareness to those things. I pick the ones that will bring the most awareness and sometimes simpler ones.
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"One was about two boys who were murdered and I wrote their football numbers on my leg and their dad reached out to say thank you.
"My TikTok is a safe space for no judgement between each other."
Chelsea self-tattoed herself through 2022 but inked her first requested tat in November and now aims to do two a day until she runs out of space.
TikTok followers open up about their painful life experiences (Chelsea Rohrbough / SWNS)
She aims to draw two tattoos on herself every single day (Chelsea Rohrbough / SWNS)"I've painted and drawn for years and during Covid I ordered a tattoo machine off of Amazon and self-taught," she said.
"I'm a single mum so I couldn't afford to do an apprenticeship."
Despite having nearly 100 requested tattoos, Chelsea knows exactly what story each represents and says she is asked about them "all the time" when she goes out.
"I wear shorts all year round and random people stop me at the grocery store and ask who does them," she explained.
Each tattoo takes Chelsea between one and four hours, depending on the size and she always tries to two a day of varying sizes.
She's had requests from all over the world and discovered "so many" different stories.
"I did an oak tree for a little girl who died in a tornado. "It was the first one I put on the back of my leg and her nickname was Oakie, she was the youngest victim," Chelsea said.
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Chelsea is passionate about raising awareness of tragic cases and stories (Chelsea Rohrbough / SWNS)"The parents lost their house and daughter. I reached out to her mum and now we talk a lot."
The mum-of-two says it helps give her a purpose in life and has no plans to stop until she runs out of space.
"I still have a good bit of room but I don't know how the heck I'm supposed to reach the back of my leg," she said.
"By the time I stop it'll be past 10,000 requests and the plan is to have a few TikTokers who are going to carry it on for me on their bodies.
"Then they'll continue the list of requests whilst starting their own list of requests.
"I don't want it to end with me. I want it to go further so people can still get their bad experiences out and let someone else do that for them."
Do you have a tattoo story to share? Email [email protected].
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