Skip to main content

There is something in the water, but what exactly is it? Just a few months back, a South African man sparked some controversy online when he posted images of creepy alien-like creatures crawling out of the ocean.

The pictures were shared to a South African Facebook group, but slowly made steed throughout the rest of the internet. “I was surprised [by the reaction],” says Jan Vorster, who told Kennedy News about the pictures, which were taken in his hometown in Still Bay. “I thought that people would have fun with it, but then it was very serious, some of it was extremely serious.”

He continued and said, “A lot of people were scared of these alien-looking sea monsters. It was like ‘Jaws’- is it safe to go into the water?”

He intended to take pictures of the aloe vera plants, which are considered prized plants, due to their healing properties. However, the plants just so happened to look like sea creatures or aliens, so he thought it was a valuable opportunity.

“I thought I could use this as a metaphor for how people see these plants as aliens, but we are the two-legged aliens messing up their world,” Vorster described. “That was the idea.”

However, many people took the image very literally and believed the images were of aliens who were taking over the beach. One commenter said, “Just wanted to cancel my vacation, because of things like this I don’t swim. I’m already scared of a shark.”

“People kept asking me when they [the creatures] were coming out, and if they were only coming out at night,” says Vorster.

However, some people were onto him and googled the images and found them to be alone, while others who were concerned forwarded the images to an environmental scientist. “I’ve learned a lot, and I’m very motivated to continue with Aloe forexes and keep focusing on nature-related issues,” Vorster concluded.