By Tim Binnall
The president of Mexico caused something of a stir over the weekend when he shared a strange photo of what he suggested was a legendary elf-like entity known as an alux. Andrés Manuel López Obrador reportedly posted the odd image, which can be seen in the video above and isolated below, on Twitter this past Saturday evening and claimed that it had been taken three days earlier by an engineer working on the country's Maya Train railway project. The peculiar photo appears to show a figure that is perched in a tree and sports a pair of glowing eyes as well as either long white hair or some kind of hood.
Obrador asserted that the perceived being could be an alux, which is mythical elf-like entity from the Mayan culture. Similar to countless diminutive creatures found in legends across the globe, the forest dweller is described as something of a trickster said to possess a variety of supernatural powers, such as being able to turn invisible. Alongside the alleged alux image, Obrador shared a photo of what he described as "a splendid pre-Hispanic sculpture" of what appears to be the mythical being and concluded his tweet by musing that "everything is mystical". As one might imagine, the president of Mexico posting a picture of what he suggested might be a mythical creature raised eyebrows on social media and quickly sparked confused headlines around the world.
However, it was quickly determined that Obrador's account of the image's origin appears to be in error as seasoned students of strange 'creature photos' recognized the alleged 'alux' picture as one which had gone viral two years ago. In that instance, the entity was purported to be a witch that had been spotted in a city park by a stunned witness. At the time, skeptical observers suggested that the 'being' was merely a trick of light and shadow it stars comprising the figure's eyes. As of now, Obrador has not made any comment on the curious furor sparked by his tweet, though one imagines he may be feeling a bit embarrassed at being hoodwinked by the tall tale that was presumably told to him when he received the image.