Wednesday, December 14, 2016

"Story of Santa Claus with dying child can't be verified"

"Since publication, the News Sentinel has done additional investigation in an attempt to independently verify Schmitt-Matzen’s account."

Relatedly:
In case you don’t remember: In 2015, there was an incredible viral photograph, a “lucky” shot, that showed a raccoon perched on the back of a swimming alligator. A man named Richard Jones told the local news that he’d snapped the picture himself, and a lot of Florida news outlets ran with it. The story spread to larger publications. It went viral.

...

“I staged the raccoon and the alligator,” Zardulu said. The animals are taxidermied; she sprayed each with a commercial product used to waterproof leather to protect them from the water. Zardulu showed us photographs of the setup, and some of herself, in costume, clutching the animals.

...

Yes, Zardulu has said that Pizza Rat was performed by a trained rat as well