The internet has given us the amazing ability to share our experiences with the rest of the world.
But sometimes, a viral story is so unbelievable because it’s a straight-up hoax. Sure, we like to think we’re too smart to be scammed, but hoaxes aren’t always easy to spot.
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The other problem is that sometimes a story is so cool that we just want it to be true. So we buy into it and share, share, share ! I’ll admit, I’ve had to delete a couples posts after checking my facts.
If you bought into any of these stories, don’t worry — we won’t judge!
1. There was no shark swimming on the freeway following Hurricane Harvey.
Sharks swimming in unusual places are almost always the work of photo editing. And that’s exactly what this is. The shark is real — but it was taken from the original photo, captured by a professional photographer at the White Shark Trust in South Africa.
2. No little girl called President Trump “a disgrace” on camera.
In reality, it was part of the Comedy Central series called ” The President Show .” In the original video, it’s obvious that this is actually a Trump impersonator. But the viral video on Twitter has been strategically cropped to remove the Comedy Central logo.
3. McDonald’s didn’t really flood. But people apparently really like to exaggerate following hurricanes!
Following Hurricane Sandy, this photo emerged of a flooded McDonald’s. While the photo is real, it’s actually a still frame taken from an art installation film by Superflex. The group made a life sized replica of McDonald’s and gradually flooded it with water.
4. There was no tourist standing on the deck of the world trade center moments before the plane hit on 9/11.
The story goes that they found his camera in the debris following the attack. There are many inconsistencies in the photo, including the Boeing 757 that is shown, when it was actually a Boeing 767 that struck the tower.
5. Although there are definitely large breeds of dogs, there aren’t any the size of horses.
A few years ago, this photo of “Hercules, the world’s biggest dog” made the rounds online. The dog featured in the picture is a Neapolitan Mastiff, known to max out at a height of 31 inches at the shoulder. However, the accompanying measurements that were claimed from Guinness World Records actually belong to another dog. So most likely, this photo has been edited.
6. This photo purports to show “the longest traffic jam in the world.”
The story claims the traffic congestion took place on China’s National Highway 110, was over 62 miles long , and that it took 12 days to clear. In reality, the picture shows the I-405 freeway north of Los Angeles, California. In the original picture, the cars aren’t nearly as backed up.
7. The Trump sons don’t really look this ridiculous.
When Anthony Bourdain posted this picture to Twitter, it quickly went viral. But, despite the Getty images watermark, this photo has been tampered with. The original photo takes places at Trump Jr.’s 2015 wedding and includes Ivanka.
8. A tornado didn’t take out an oil rig.
The original photo was taken by an amateur photographer named Fred Smith. Fred was capturing the lightning he could see from his backyard, which overlooks a lake, and he lucked out when he captured a water spout forming. Later, someone added an oil rig to the photo and captioned it with “Not what you want to see.”
9. There is no such thing as blue watermelon, aka Japanese moon melon.
The original post even went so far as to provide the scientific name for the fruit (” asidus “). But ultimately, it’s just photoshopped. There are some fruits — like black currants and elderberries —that come in shades of blue, but none of them are melons.
10. Baby polar bears aren’t small enough to fit in your hand.
They’re definitely this adorable, though! This picture is actually from a sewing pattern to make a tiny teddy bear. The pattern can be purchased on the TSminibears Etsy store. This thing is adorable and I’m actually pretty impressed with how realistic this teddy is!
11. This castle sitting precariously on an island is pure photoshop.
The image says the castle is in Dublin, Ireland. For one, it’s a little too tropical-looking to be plausible. The real photos were found, and the image is a combination of Lichtenstein Castle in Germany and an island in Thailand known as the James Bond Island after it was featured in The Man with the Golden Gun .
12. The forgotten temple of Lysistrata doesn’t exist.
It’s fun to imagine that it does though, because it looks both architecturally impressive and totally serene. In reality, it’s just another image mashup. The image combines the Pantheon in Rome with a famous image of the Benagil Cave in Portugal.
13. The Venice canals did not freeze over.
It has only happened twice, ever! Once in 1929, and again in 2012 . But this viral photo combines a picture of Venice’s Grand Canal with a photo of ice on Lake Baikal in Russia posted by Daniel Kordan in 2013.
14. Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor didn’t hang out in a park wistfully looking off into the distance together.
It’s yet another example of — you guessed it! — photoshop. It’s a mashup of two separate photos of the women. The photo of Elizabeth was taken in 1948, while Marilyn ‘s photo wasn’t taken until 1950.
15. These two siblings hugging are neither orphans nor victims of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
In reality, the photographer, Na-Son Nguyen, posted on Twitter that he had taken the photo in Vietnam in 2007. He also told BBC that the children’s parents were working in a nearby field, and the kids only looked frightened because they were nervous around strangers.
16. Obama was not in Texas serving victims following Hurricane Harvey.
While the photo is real, it’s actually from 2015 when the presidential family served a Thanksgiving meal to homeless and at-risk veterans in Washington.
