Does a video on social media show a photo of a bizarre werewolf-like creature spotted in the Roma neighborhood of the Bulgarian city of Blagoevgrad? No, that's not true: The same image already circulated, having allegedly been taken in Mexico. According to an article published by an online tabloid in November 2023, as well as other online publications, the controversial photo was supposedly taken near a ranch in Oaxaca, Mexico, and purports to show a mythological creature from Mexican folklore.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published by @user3949456379207 on December 19, 2023. The text, translated from Bulgarian into English by Lead Stories staff, reads:
Spotted in Blagoevgrad in the Roma neighborhood.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Dec 21 08:03:10 2023 UTC)
The claim is circulating in different forms on Bulgarian social media, with several posts suggesting different locations in Bulgaria where the photo of the creature would allegedly have been taken. According to another Bulgarian TikTok video posted on December 18, 2023, (archived here), the werewolf-like creature shown in the photo was spotted and captured in Knezha, which is in a completely different part of Bulgaria than Blagoevgrad. However, the same footage can also be found in another TikTok video (archived here) from November 18, 2023, posted on a non-Bulgarian channel.
The photo was not taken in Bulgaria and does not show a creature wandering at night in the Roma neighborhood of Blagoevgrad. A reverse image search of the still shown in the TikTok video, conducted on Google Lens on December 21, 2023, (archived here) found that the same photo is featured in an article (archived here) published by the British tabloid The Sun on November 23, 2023. The article states that the shot was allegedly taken in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Another article (archived here) dated November 29, 2023, published on The Republican Voice website, with the same photo, tells the same story as The Sun. According to the information in the article, the captured creature is claimed to be a mythological creature from Mexican folklore known as a nagual (or nahual), capable of shapeshifting. The article shares numerous skeptical comments raising doubts about the authenticity of the image.
