Description: Viral image
Circulating since: May 2011
Status: Mislabeled (see details below)
Caption example #1:
As posted on Facebook, Jan. 31, 2012
This was shot today (1.25.2012) in Delray Fla.
Caption example #2:
From a forwarded email dated May 31, 2011
It's hard to believe this is real...Can anyone I.D. this reptile? Morganza Spillway - from WAFB TV, Baton Rouge. Look @ the size of this thing!
Caption example #3:
As posted on Reddit.com, May 11, 2011
King Brown Snake. Branxton, NSW, Australia
Analysis: This snapshot has been circulating since May 2011, when it popped up on Reddit.com under a topic header claiming that it depicts a venomous king brown snake spotted beside a roadway in Branxton, New South Wales, Australia.
Within a week it was also circulating via forwarded email, only now with a caption alleging that the photo was taken on the Morganza Spillway near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Since late January 2012 it has been replicating on Facebook, where it's claimed that the snake was photographed in Delray, Florida.
Obviously, all of the above cannot be simultaneously true. As a matter of fact, some viewers have objected that the snake in the photo doesn't even appear real, though there are no obvious signs of image tampering. According to one anecdotal report, the object in the photo is actually a roadside sculpture located in Alstonville, NSW (approximately eight hours south of Branxton).
It appears the mystery of the long, long snake may have finally been solved on January 27, 2012 by a Reddit.com member who claims to have visited Alstonville and photographed the object from a different angle.
Assuming the new image is authentic, the snake is, in fact, some kind of sculpture. Otherwise, the mystery abides.
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Last updated 02/02/12
