Lighthouse Journalism came across a video of lightning striking what appears like a mountain being widely shared on social media platforms. Social media users are claiming that the video is from a temple in Kullu in Himachal Pradesh where lightning strikes once in 12 years. During the investigation we found that the video of lightning is from Guatemala and not India.
Claim:
X user Vikash Mohta shared the video on his profile.
Check the archive version of the post.
Other users are sharing the video with similar claims.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
This gave us the prompt, ‘Volcan de Fuego’ in the Google reverse image search.
By searching for exact matches, we found the same video posted on reddit.com. The video was titled: Lightning striking directly into the Mont Fuego volcano’s crater. Nature is truly amazing!
We also found the video along with the audio of people in the background on a post uploaded on 9gag.com.
Video was titled: Volcanic Storm happening at the Fuego volcano in Antigua Guatemala during an eruption.
We then ran a Google keyword search and checked for news reports about the same.
We found several reports about this rare event.
The reports were uploaded in May, 2024.
One news report mentioned: Observers watching the eruption of Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala last month were treated to an unexpectedly dazzling show when lightning appeared to strike the active volcano. Videos of the scene have been making the rounds online this week, including one posted with the caption: “What are the odds?” As it turns out, the odds are pretty good. Any erupting volcano has the potential to produce its own lightning, thanks to the principles of physics.
Such videos were captured in the past too.
We then checked reports about the temple Bijli Mahadev (literal translation: Lightening Mahadev). We found several reports about this temple too.
We did find that the temple does exist in Himachal Pradesh where there are claims that lightning strikes the temple. We also found a Facebook page dedicated to the temple, however the video on the page is not similar to the one being widely shared.
We also found a video uploaded three years ago on the YouTube channel of The Tribune. The video was titled: Lightning strikes Bijli Mahadev temple in Himachal’s Kullu
Conclusion: Video from the lightning strike at Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala is being widely shared as that of India. Viral claims are misleading.
