A video purportedly showing a humpback whale “swallowing” two women in a kayak in Avila Beach, California, has recently gone popular online. However, this is what actually transpired during the incident.
The footage was recorded in November 2020, and it has been available online for some time. However, its recent resurgence in popularity has many internet users scared.
The two women, who are visibly in shock, fall from their kayak as a humpback whale emerges from the ocean in the spooky video.
Explained video of “Humpback Whale swallows Women”
Several shots of the interaction between the humpback whale and the two women were taken. The two women are seen in their yellow kayaks in a video Melissa Newman, a Twitter user, posted on November 3, 2020.
When a humpback whale with its mouth open suddenly materializes out of thin air, they are silently pedaling away. When this occurred, there were numerous other people in the water. The two women, later named Julie McSorley and Liz Cottriel, appear to have been sucked up by the creature from the viewpoint of the footage.
The two women fall into the lake wailing in another video that was shot from a different perspective, giving a similar effect.
Some social media users started saying that the whale had swallowed the women before spitting them back out shortly after the footage went popular online.
Many people believe the story because of the incident’s incorrectly labeled footage. It’s far from the truth, though.
How did the fake news expand?
A Facebook post with the caption “A HUMPBACK WHALE SWALLOWS TWO GIRLS IN CALIFORNIA” sparked the rumour that the whale had swallowed the women before spitting them back out.
The two girls “almost became meal for a humpback whale hunting a school of fish,” the article continues.
The women were reportedly held captive in the mammal’s jaws for a brief period of time until it spit them out.
Actually, did the Humpback Whale swallow the two women?
Although the viewpoint gives the impression that the women fell into the whale’s mouth, Snopes points out that they actually fell into the water behind the whale.
CNN stated in 2020 that the two women “managed to escape unharmed, momentarily submerging when the boat capsized before reemerging.”
One of the women, Julie McSorley, told KMPH that she “watched the large pool of fish, the big bait ball rise up out of the water.” “I observed the whale ascend. Oh no, I thought. It’s too near.
I suddenly lifted up and found myself in the sea.
Liz Cottriel remarked, “The whale was literally right here in my face.”
In addition, humpback whales are unable to consume people.
The whale cannot swallow a human, despite the fact that the mammal can fit humans in its enormous mouth. According to a National Geographic article, a humpback’s throat is about the size of a human fist.