Claim:   A South American camper was eaten by an anaconda.

Status:   False.

Example:   Collected on the Internet, 2000]

EXPLANATION: Apparently, three boys were sleeping in the jungle in South America when the other two woke up, one was missing and a huge snake was laying next to them. You'll see the snake in the first two photo's with the boy inside and the third one is when they cut the snake open to reveal the boy. You have to see this..... Unbelievable...

Origins:   This piece circulates in a version with the three photos shown above as a set, and also as only the last photo (the one of the putatively cut-open snake). The location of the tragedy is variously claimed as South America (and the snake an anaconda), Borneo, and Singapore. The victim is said to be a local child, a camper, or "a crew member on an oil rig."

There isn't much to say about this one other than it's just another hoax similar to the one about a crocodile eating a Florida golfer: a hoax created by using some several-year-old photos out of context within a fictitious explanatory framework. The first two photos have been around for several years and appear to be real pictures of a python (a snake found in southeast Asia, not South America) that has consumed a moderately large animal such as a pig. (It's unlikely that either a python or an anaconda could swallow something as large as the human being pictured here.) The final photo doesn't match the other two in detail or quality and simply looks like a bad fake. Either way, no major news service has run any stories in recent months about a camper's having become dinner for a snake in either South America or Borneo.

Last updated:   3 February 2007

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