Giant Squid? ‘Second Giant Sea Creature Washes Ashore Along Santa Monica Coastline’ Fukushima Story a Hoax

Giant Squid? ‘Second Giant Sea Creature Washes Ashore Along Santa Monica Coastline’ Fukushima Story a Hoax
(Screenshot/Lightly Braised Turnip)
Zachary Stieber
1/9/2014
Updated:
7/18/2015

An article purportedly showing a giant squid that washed ashore along the Santa Monica coast line is not real.

Published by The Lightly Braised Turnip, the article shows a huge squid that grew so big because of “radioactive gigantism.”

The article claims that the squid was 160 feet from the head to tentacle tip.

“Scientists believe that following the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant an unknown number of sea creatures suffered genetic mutations that triggered uncontrolled growth – or ‘radioactive gigantism,’” the article said.

It quotes Santa Monica Parks Manager Cynthia Beard as saying that scientists intended to move the creature in pieces to the Scripps Research Institute to study it.

The institute is real, Beard is not, and the story’s basic premise is not.

Satire articles, which are sometimes known as fake news articles, are increasingly becoming popular, and are increasingly fooling some people into thinking that they are real news stories.

The Lightly Braised Turnip appears to be a satire website similar to the Onion, but doesn’t have a disclaimer on its website.

However, despite its name, other signs point to it being a satire website, principally some of the articles it’s published recently.

These include “Exclusive Interview with Santa Claus On Diverse Santas” and “It Is Time To Admit It: Women Over 30 Years Of Age Are Ugly.” 

As for the giant squid, it’s photoshopped into the picture. The squid, measuring 30 feet long, was actually discovered on the shore at La Arena beach in Cantabria, Spain in October 2013.

The largest species of giant squid known to mankind get to be about 40 feet in length.

Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at [email protected]
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