Photo Captures a 50-foot wide "Crabzilla"-Fiction!

Photo Captures a 50-foot wide “Crabzilla”-Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:
Google Maps reportedly captured satellite images of a gigantic 50-foot crab, known as “Crabzilla,” that have gone viral.
The Truth:
Crabzilla is a hoax.

This image posted by Bing Maps shows the shores off the seaside town of Whitstable in southeast England. The Bing Maps satellite image is exactly the same as the image used in the eRumor, only the real version is missing the 50-foot Crabzilla. The gigantic crab was clearly added to the satellite image by a prankster.

The doctored Crabzilla photo was first posted at WeirdWhitstable.com, a website that covers unusual or paranormal activity in the seaside town. Quinton Winter, the website’s administrator, first told the Express that he had personally witnessed Crabzilla and that an anonymous user submitted the photos to him. Winter later changed his story, however, and told Kent Online that he was just trying to have “a bit of fun” with the Crabzilla hoax.

A second version of the eRumor surfaced on October 23, 2014, when a photo that supposedly showed Crabzilla emerging from the water near two young fishermen went viral. A quick glance at the photo, however, reveals that Crabzilla seems to get smaller each time he’s photographed. The original photo showed a “50-foot wide” crustacean. Crabzilla is a fraction of that size in the more recent photo, likely because it was easier to Photoshop a smaller crab into the image.

Posted 10/23/14