Rumors of 'shadow aliens' at Bayside Marketplace go viral after large fight among teens creates chaos
MIAMI — A large brawl between teenagers caused chaos at Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami on Monday night; however, social media users claim that what ensued then was something much more... extraterrestrial.
As the fight drew a heavy police presence to the area that evening, rumors quickly spread around Twitter and other social media platforms suggesting that police weren't there to handle a group of rowdy teens, but rather "8-10ft tall shadow aliens."
According to an amateur video posted online, there are moments when a big "creature" could be seen in plain sight standing in front of the entrance to the shopping mall, causing many online conspiracists to post their takes on exactly what happened that Monday night.
And of course, the memes came flooding in as well.
"I don't know if the rumours about the aliens at the Miami Mall are real but I do know I never seen this many police in one place," one X user posted.
"Everybody have cell phones, but nobody have an up close video of the 8-10 foot alien by the Miami mall?" another user posted.
"Me greeting the aliens at the Miami mall," another user shared.
Even William Shatner, best known for his iconic role as Cpt. James Kirk from the television series "Star Trek," shared his reaction to the conspiracy theory.
"So apparently space aliens visited a mall in Miami?" he asked on X.
CBS News Miami has reached out to the City of Miami Police for official comment about the conspiracy and rumors. Officer Michael Vega reiterated the circumstances regarding the altercation between 50 juveniles, adding: "There were no aliens, UFOs or ETs. No airports were closed no power outages," followed by a face-palm emoji.
On Friday, the phrases "Miami Mall" and "Aliens in Miami" have been among the top 10 searches on Twitter's Trending tab and Google News has even aggregated several news outlets wanting to believe because the truth is out there.
Aliens and UFOs have seen their share of headlines over the decades, especially in the past year.
In July 2023, a former military officer-turned-whistleblower told House lawmakers during a hearing that Congress is being kept in the dark about unidentified aerial phenomena (or UAPs, the new terminology for unidentified flying objects [UFOs]). Also in that same hearing, a former U.S. Navy pilot and a Harvard professor made similar claims.
