[VIRAL FLASHBACK] Remember the Double Rainbow Video That Went Viral in 2010?

Rainbows are rare sights. But a double rainbow is something more rare.

We can find numerous photos and videos of rainbows online. But there is one video of rainbows that went viral in YouTube.

Dubbed as the Double Rainbow video, the 3.29 minutes video clip has over 49 million hits in YouTube. What is the story behind this viral video?

How did the Double Rainbow Video Went Viral?

Double Rainbow was a viral video filmed by Paul "Bear" Vasquez. The short clip was filmed in his front yard just outside Yosemite National Park, in the U.S. state of California.

The video shows Vasquez' ecstatic reaction to a double rainbow. "Oh my god, it's a full-on double rainbow all the way across the sky!" Vasquez whispers in the video before letting out a yell, according to CNN.

The amateur video was taken on January 8, 2010. It shows the view from Vazquez's property into the skies above the Yosemite Valley. Vazquez enjoys an unobstructed view of a semicircular double rainbow, after he moved away from several trees that interfere with the scene

Vasquez's intense emotional excitement was also captured in the video. He weeps with joy and moans ecstatically.

He keeps on uttering phrases such as "All the way! Double rainbow! Oh, my God-it's a double rainbow all the way! Whoa, that's so intense! Whoa, man. . . . Wow! Wow! Whoa! Whoa! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Whoa!" according to the New Yorker.

The video was posted to YouTube by Vasquez using his account Hungrybear9562 (now Yosemitebear62).

On July 3, 2010, comedian and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel linked the video in a post on Twitter. The Twitter post said that he and a friend believed it the "funniest video in the world." Immediately, the video gained over one million views.

On July 16, 2010, the video was featured in CNN.com. Accordingly, it had gained 4.8 million views by that time.

Because of the video's popularity, Vasquez was featured in comedy show Tosh.0. the video was described by ABC News as "a three-and-a-half-minute emotional journey."

Vasquez was interviewed by Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on July 26, 2010. He was awarded Video of the Year on the December 16 episode. He also appeared in a video short created by the show for the event.

Who is the Man Behind the Double Rainbow Video?

The man behind the Double Rainbow video is Paul "Bear" Vasquez. He lived on the side of a mountain outside Yosemite National Park.

He will not be known to the world if not for a spectacular Double Rainbow video that he uploaded on YouTube in 2010.

Vasquez' ecstatic reaction at the sight of a double rainbow turned him into a viral star.

Vasquez was from East Los Angeles, where he was born and worked as a firefighter. He moved to Yosemite in 1985. At the national park, he worked in a variety of roles. Later, he also worked out of the park as a cage fighter and truck driver.

He married, had children and divorced. He finally settled at his humble perch on the side of a mountain in Mariposa. His shelter was located 10 miles from the edge of Yosemite. There, he grew his own food and cultivated marijuana plants.

On May 9, 2020, he died at 57. The Mariposa County Coroner's Office confirmed his death. Up until his death, Vasquez continued to document his daily life on YouTube.