A July 16 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims a major university in Indiana made a shocking announcement earlier in the week.
“Forensic scientists at Purdue University announced today that the decapitated human remains discovered in Lake Monroe last week appear to have been the result of a gruesome attack by a giant snapping turtle, potentially the largest ever recorded,” reads the start of the post.
It was shared more than 14,000 times in two days.
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The university said it did not make any such announcement, and that the named scientist in the post is not one of its employees. The county coroner said the post is a hoax and that no human remains were recently found in the area. Though snapping turtles may decapitate prey, they are not known to be aggressive toward humans unless threatened.
Neither Purdue University nor the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office had any such announcement on their respective websites or social media pages.
The post cites a supposed Purdue University forensic biologist named Dr. Eric Paddlejack, but no employee by that name is listed in the school’s online directory.
Purdue University spokesperson Tim Doty confirmed there is no such employee and that the university did not make an announcement of...
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