A rash of social media posts claiming that two rivers in Texas had become the home of giant alligators has been determined to be a hoax by authorities, according to Fox News.

It seems that the images and video used to perpetuate the myth of gators swimming freely in the Comal and Guadalupe rivers started with a remote-control alligator head.  The strange RC boat (?) was created by an unnamed person who videoed the device in action.  The video was sent to friends with no context, and one apparently thought it was real.  After the public was sufficiently terrified that some rather large carnivorous reptiles were patrolling the nearby waterways, the authorities had to get involved.  The New Braunfels Police Department contacted the creator of the craft and the video during their investigation and learned that it was a huge (and scary) misunderstanding, calling the situation “apparently unintentional.”

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