A supposedly seven-foot-tall “mysterious beast” has allegedly been spotted in a city in Argentina, and according to the YouTube channel that uploaded the video of the beast, it has already killed two dogs, the New York Post is reporting .
The video was uploaded to the channel UFO Mania, and has since been viewed over 830,000 times, as of this writing. In case you’re on limited bandwidth or otherwise not keen to load and watch the video right now: there’s not much to it. A robotic voice describes the creature, and it’s a series of photographs of the beast, rather than an actual video.
Supposedly, according to the uploader of this video, the beast killed two dogs, a German shepherd and a pit bull.
Sorry, It’s A Hoax
If you were coming into this article thinking you were going to finally see photographic evidence of a “cryptoid” — that is, a mysterious animal not known to science — then this is the part where your dreams are going to be shattered. Long story short: this video is a clever hoax.
First of all, UFO Mania is hardly a reliable source, considering that the site posts just about any video of anything its providers claim it to be and present the videos as true. Further, they can’t even be bothered to use a real narrator, instead relying on software that [poorly] turns text into speech. Here, watch for yourself.
Additionally, the channel cites as its source a random blog , which itself cites another random blog , which has been taken down.
Second, if this “beast” is terrorizing Argentina, it appears to have escaped the notice of actual Argentinians. A search of several Argentinian newspapers, using the search term “Santa Fe” (the province where this creature supposedly lurks), fails to turn up any articles about the supposed cryptoid.
Third — and this is the final nail in the coffin of this hoax — you can see this “beast” on another website — and that website is Pottermore , the source of all things Harry Potter. In other words, it’s concept art of one of the werewolves from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , flipped and resized, and digitally inserted into a street scene. Since the image is copyrighted, it can’t be shown here, so you’ll have to click the link to see for yourself.
The bottom line is, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Always apply critical thinking when it comes to things like this: consider your source, first and foremost; look for backup evidence; and most importantly, don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
