Did a Tentacled Creature Appear in a Tornado?

An image of what appears to be a large winged and tentacled figure in the sky above a highway is one of a number of images commonly circulated online after large tornadoes strike somewhere in the U.S. (such as those that hit Oklahoma in March 2015), presented as a “real” photograph of those storms:

This image doesn’t actually depict a tornado or any other natural phenomenon, however. It’s a digital artwork entitled “Cthulhu Rising” that was posted to an H.P. Lovecraft Facebook page and the DeviantArt online art gallery by Bulgarian artist Andrey Nazaro back in October 2014. The artist describes it as depicting “a cosmic horror emerging from the mist” and noted that he found the highway photograph on Google and “painted Cthulhu on top of it.”

Snopes.com

Since 1994

A Word to Our Loyal Readers

Support Snopes and make a difference for readers everywhere.

Read the Letter

Editorial

• David Mikkelson
• Doreen Marchionni
• David Emery
• Bond Huberman
• Jordan Liles
• Alex Kasprak
• Dan Evon
• Dan MacGuill
• Bethania Palma
• Liz Donaldson

Operations

• Vinny Green
• Ryan Miller
• Chris Reilly
• Chad Ort
• Elyssa Young

Most Snopes assignments begin when readers ask us, “Is this true?” Those tips launch our fact-checkers on sprints across a vast range of political, scientific, legal, historical, and visual information. We investigate as thoroughly and quickly as possible and relay what we learn. Then another question arrives, and the race starts again.

We do this work every day at no cost to you, but it is far from free to produce, and we cannot afford to slow down. To ensure Snopes endures — and grows to serve more readers — we need a different kind of tip: We need your financial support.

Support Snopes so we continue to pursue the facts — for you and anyone searching for answers.

Team Snopes

Support Snopes