Serious question, how do you even start checking a story about a 'missing' national monument?

So last Tuesday, my buddy sends me this frantic text with a link to a video claiming the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota had been 'quietly removed' and the land sold. The video had all the classic signs, you know, dramatic music, a blurry 'before' picture, and a guy talking really fast about government cover-ups. It felt off immediately, but it had already racked up something like 200,000 shares. My first move was just to go to the memorial's official website, which showed normal operating hours and ticket sales. Then I checked the local Rapid City news sites, and there was nothing, not a single mention of a demolition or sale. The whole thing fell apart in about ten minutes of basic checking, but it's still spreading. What's your go-to first step when you see a story that's just physically about a huge object or place? Do you look for live webcams, call a local library, or something else?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_mia5d ago

Honestly, checking a live webcam is my absolute first move for stuff like this.

jessica9215d ago

Mia, you get it. That Mt. Rushmore story Charles shared really drove the point home for me too. Saves so much time and headache.

charles_baker285d ago

Three years ago I would have laughed at the idea of a live webcam being useful for fact checking. But then the whole "missing" Mt. Rushmore thing happened back in 2021 where people were claiming it had been defaced overnight. I wasted an hour digging through news archives and government statements before someone in the comments just posted a link to the park's webcam feed. Sure enough, there was the monument looking exactly the same as always. Now I keep a bookmark list of webcams for major landmarks and national parks. Takes maybe thirty seconds to check instead of half a day of research.