'Supernatural Creature' in Viral Video Was Actually Just a Naked Woman

A viral video allegedly showing a "supernatural creature" on a bridge in the Hazaribagh district of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand was reported to be that of a naked woman walking on a highway in another area.

Alt News, an Indian nonprofit fact-checking website, reported the origin of the video—which received at least 106,000 views in a post shared by Twitter user @Ashutos32363607—was confirmed by two local youths who recorded the footage.

Alt News reported the pair told local news channel Jan Doot News that they spotted the woman—who has not been identified—while traveling from Chakradharpur (a city in the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand) to Seraikela (a town in Jharkhand's Seraikela Kharsawan district) via the Kharsawan road.

It is not known why the woman was walking naked on the highway that night. Local Seraikela sub-inspector Mohammad Noushad told Alt News that the incident is being investigated.

Newsweek has contacted the Seraikela Kharsawan district police for comment.

The Alt News report about the video was also tweeted Thursday by Arvind Chauhan, the journalist at The Times of India who was among those who previously shared the video of the alleged "supernatural creature."

Chauhan tweeted: "It was not alien but a woman was walking unclothed on a highway at night."

According to Alt News, the video was originally posted by the two youths as a 30-second WhatsApp status before it was widely shared on social media.

Initially believing the figure captured in the video was a witch, the pair were reported to have shouted: "Chudail hai, ladki hai, record kar, record kar!" (Witch, Witch! It's a girl. Record it!)."

They later realized she was not a witch, one of the two locals, known only as Deepak, told Alt News.

Deepak stated: "We were returning to Seraikela from Chakradharpur after attending a funeral of a friend's mother. We got scared when we first saw the woman and stopped at a shop near the highway.

"When a few others reached the spot, we asked if they too saw the woman. She was not a witch. She was a woman and this was also confirmed by other passersby," Deepak said.

Sharing a screenshot of the properties of the video, Deepak confirmed to Alt News that the incident occurred on the evening of April 27.

Alt News reported the metadata confirmed the footage was shot at 7:40 p.m. local time on National Highway 75 in Ichinda, a village in Jharkhand, on April 27.

Deepak also shared with Alt News the full video of the footage, which is about a minute longer than the clip that was widely shared on social media.

He also shared a video statement in which he debunks rumors circulating online about the footage.