Hurricane Sandy Photo of Statue of Liberty One of Many Fake Storm Photos
An image circulating on the Internet Monday of the Statue of Liberty in New York City overshadowed by ominous clouds brought on by Hurricane Sandy is just one of many Photoshopped images being used by the public to comment on the severe weather.
The frightening photo has actually been recycled numerous times, according to Snopes.com, a source for debunking and confirming rumors.
"[...] it's a digital manipulation created by merging a picture of the Statue of Liberty with a separate photograph of a supercell thunderstorm snapped in Nebraska by photographer Mike Hollingshead on May 28, 2004," Snopes.com reports.
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A similar image was used as recently as August, when Isaac brought troublesome weather to New Orleans.
The eerie and ominous picture of Tropical Storm Isaac coming ashore in New Orleans also went viral on the Internet, with the image being retweeted on Twitter thousands of times. The photo was soon exposed by meteorologists a total fake.
Another altered image shared on Twitter Monday shows a frightened Lady Liberty hiding behind a tower seeking shelter from Hurricane Sandy, dubbed "Frankenstorm" due to its severity.
However, many online users were slow to catch on that the image of the Statue of Liberty overshadowed by dark clouds was fake, with one Twitter user writing, "Wow. A photo of Hurricane Sandy reaching the Statue of Liberty. Hope everyone in New York evacuates in time & safely."
Curt Holman, writing on Twitter, took it upon himself to warn others to be on the lookout for altered images related to the storm and Lady Liberty.
"Remember: if someone Tweets an image of a headless Statue of Liberty, it's probably from CLOVERFIELD, not Hurricane Sandy," he advised.
Meanwhile, Instagram has complied a photo collage of very real photos of the flooding Sandy has already caused along the East Coast, especially in Atlantic City, N.J.
Several states are expecting the hurricane to come ashore Monday evening into Tuesday, including: New Jersey, Delaware Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Vermont.
Hurricane Sandy has claimed at least 69 lives in the Caribbean.
