Spokane, WA is not only home to fake Bigfoot video, it's also home to fake Whale photo

Remember that Spokane River Bigfoot video (click to watch) from May 2010? It's the one where some kids were hiking down to a river near Spokane Falls Community College and inadvertently filmed a "juvenile sasquatch" on their iPhone. They said they didn't notice it until they got home and viewed the video on their computer.

The video went viral, generating over 1.4 million views on YouTube. Samantha13950, the original uploader, never came forward with her true identity, and that was the end of the story. The footage is considered to be a hoax by many Bigfoot investigators, including Finding Bigfoot's Matt Moneymaker.

When we heard about "The Kayak and the Whale" photo being fake, it got us thinking a lot about viral campaigns. The photo originated from Spokane and somehow went viral, showing up in over 2,000,000 e-mail inboxes. We did some research and learned that Spokane Community College had a course where students were given a "viral video" assignment. Perhaps that may have something to do with the viral phenomenon as of late.

Watch this video about a photographer from Spokane, and how he faked the whale photo that went viral:

SPOKANE, Wash. - They say a pictures worth a thousand words, but what about 2,000,000 e-mails. That's the number of times Spokane Native Tim Shobe believes an edited photo of his has shown up in the inbox of people worldwide.

About two years ago he took two of his pictures and edited them together. One was of a whale's mouth and the other was of a friend on his kayak. Once the edit was finished it looked as if the kayaker was going through the mouth of the whale.

And since that night, without checking twice, many people and publications have presented it as fact, even though the image is not real.

"They're so used to believing what they read, they just take it for face value, they don't question it," Shobe said. "Then that person sends it to another person and pretty soon it's out of hand.

And the reactions have varied. Several people have taken a liking to the look, but others didn't enjoy the edit.

"I get a lot of negative comments about me frauding the world," Shobe said. "Or for me getting too close to the whales when that never happened.

So it appears in this digital age that the power of a picture has never been stronger. But it seems in this case, the words to the wise may be you don't always need to believe what you see.

[via www.khq.com]