Mexico’s president claims he has proof that a mythical woodland elf exists. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador posted a photo on his social media accounts that he says shows an “alux” from ancient folklore.
According to the UK’s “Independent”, Lopez suggested that the creature resembled a sculpture from an archaeological site on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and revealed that it had been taken recently on the site of a new railway line known as the Tren Maya, which will connect ancient Mayan sites.
López shared the photo in apparent seriousness and said that the mysterious animal could be an ancient Mayan woodland elf.
The poor-quality image, taken at night, shows an unidentified creature with luminous white eyes and long white hair, clinging to the branch of a tree with all fours.
Les comparto dos fotos de nuestra supervisión a las obras del Tren Maya: una, tomada por un ingeniero hace tres días, al parecer de un aluxe; otra, de Diego Prieto de una espléndida escultura prehispánica en Ek Balam. Todo es místico. pic.twitter.com/Tr5OP2EqmU
His social media post comes as thousands gathered in the largest protest against his administration yet, as campaigners opposing the government’s drive to shrink the independent electoral authority argued that the changes threaten democracy.
Social media users, commenting under the post, suggested an engineer was making it up as the photo had been originally published in February 2021, and had been previously “used in Indonesia, Thailand and other countries”.
One user, Mauricio Schwarz, said “Yes, Andrés, an engineer three days ago took a photo that has been doing the rounds in Nuevo León since February 2021 and in Thailand since December of that year.”
He added: “If you believe it, you are stupid … if you know you are lying, you are malicious.”
Many also accused the president of spreading fake news after multiple users posted articles from where the image had allegedly been making the rounds over the years. The original source of the image is still unclear.
According to Ancient Origins, the alux is a kind of spiritual little person that causes mayhem, mischief and destruction wherever it goes. When visible, aluxes (or aluxob, in the Mayan language) are only knee-high and have wide, owl-like eyes.
They are also quick in their movements, and some have even been said to have the body parts of other animals, including iguanas, deer, macaws, or coati.
Other physical descriptions are similar to those of sprites, spiritual fairy-like creatures. In some regions, Yucatan locals say aluxes can appear in more frightening forms, including dark shadows or shapes with glowing red eyes.
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