Fact Check

Dead Bigfoot Confirmed at Elephant Butte Lake, New Mexico?

A "prank" Facebook post claimed that Bigfoot was found dead on a lakeshore.

Published July 17, 2017

 (Judd Irish Bradley / Shutterstock)
Image Via Judd Irish Bradley / Shutterstock
Claim:
The corpse of a bigfoot was found at Elephant Butte Lake.

A prank Facebook post that appeared to link to a genuine news item reporting that Bigfoot was found dead on the shore of Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico was circulated in July 2017:

Although the link resembled a genuine news item, those who clicked this link were redirected to the "prank" web site BreakingNews365.net, which allows users to create their own fake news stories and carries a disclaimer:

This website is an entertainment website, news are created by users. These are humourous news, fantasy, fictional, that should not be seriously taken or as a source of information.

BreakingNews365 is one of many "prank" web sites. In this case, the person who created this story used a photograph of a Russian tourist who passed away on a beach in Italy in 2013 and combined it with fictional text about Sasquatch.

An uncropped version of the photograph shows tourists playing in the water just a few yards from the dead body:

Sources

Squires, Nick.   "Two Foreigners Drop Dead on Different Italian Beaches."     Telegraph.   18 June 2013.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.