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What Was the Deal with Those Miami Mall Aliens? Original Witness Recanted

Let's chat about those Miami aliens. (Canva)

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If you paid attention to news or social media in the last few days, you would have heard a rumor that extraterrestrial aliens visited a mall in Miami, Florida. So what exactly happened? As it turns out, one of the main sources of the rumors later recanted, and the video of the “alien” ended up being a reversed video of people walking. People now believe the police presence was actually due to a lot of fighting on New Year’s Day. Still, there are some people who continue to believe something strange happened that day. 

 Interested in learning more about UFOs? The series “Skinwalker Ranch,” along with other UFO-related coverage, can be viewed on the History Channel via a free trial on FrndlyTV (this is an affiliate link.) 

One of the Original ‘Witnesses’ Later Recanted

A rumor about large aliens being seen in Miami went viral, with people initially believing the incident happened on January 6 (but it was later determined to be about an incident from January 1.) The Miami Police Department said in an email to USA Today that “there were no aliens, UFOs, or ETs.” 

But one of the original “witnesses” who helped the rumor go viral later recanted and said he made it up. @Sosa.Pippen of TikTok shared an original witness video that was reposted all over social media, including on Twitter.

But in a later video he admitted he made the whole thing up and had never even been to Miami. 

@sosa.pippen

♬ original sound – sosa pippen

His TikTok bio now reads: “Ppl krazy I was dead ass trolling .”

And the large police presence rumored to be from January 5 was later determined to actually be from an incident on January 1. 

The Viral ‘Alien’ Video Was Actually People Walking at the Mall

The viral “alien” video was also later determined to just be people walking at a mall. The video had been reversed and slowed down to look like an alien. 

Here’s the original video. 

And here’s one of the videos that was “allegedly” of a video, but you can see it’s the same video, only reversed. 

https://twitter.com/528vibes/status/1743268634565202312

 

The police response was to a group of more than 50 juveniles fighting in a mall, with fireworks being mistaken for gunfire (thus, the large amount of police present), USA Today reported. 

NBC Miami reported that four teens were arrested after the fighting at Bayside Marketplace. The article, which was originally posted on January 2, noted: “According to an arrest report, the teens were allegedly lighting loud fireworks, causing panic among patrons in the mall while disrupting and damaging businesses.”

James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, told NBC Miami: “Some officers were heavily armed and approached the crowd displaying high-powered rifles, reflecting the fact that officers were initially erroneously told the situation involved an active shooter.”

This video of the incident was released on January 1 by OnlyinDade on X, which shows the large police response later displayed in the viral rumors. 

https://twitter.com/ONLYinDADE/status/1742046286960791934

Despite the rumors, airports and flights were not shut down that day, and there were no power outages. (This was also confirmed by Miami locals on Reddit and Twitter.)

https://twitter.com/actionxander/status/1743319369575264313

There’s also a Reddit thread here that goes into detail about police transcripts from that night (with links) that show it was not a response to a UFO. 

Every word said by Police during the Miami Aliens at Bayside Incident! Hear it here first!
byu/ARCreef inaliens

Ultimately, it appears that this was a false alien rumor that got out of control and went viral on social media. It doesn’t hold up to the same scrutiny as the Peru alien rumors, which remain unresolved. 

    Stephanie Dwilson started Post Apocalyptic Media with her husband Derek. She's a licensed attorney and has a master's in science and technology journalism. You can reach her at [email protected].

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