This photo has been making the rounds on the local Central Illinois email circuit. I have received it 3 times. Each time I have replied to the author of the email that the photo is a fake, or rather not of the tornado from Springfield.
“Why? Why? Why?” all of you are asking why this is not the real deal. GTG and I discussed why this photo was a fake. Here is what we came up with.
1. The sunset time for March 12, 2006 was 6:01pm. The storm hit around 8:30pm. Way too much light.
2. Palm trees?
3. Hilton = Phallic symbol of the prarie. We’re missing some curvature!
4. In the horizon, we should the current state capital and the Illinois Building (Ameren CIPS).
5. In one email I received, it said that the shot was taken from St. Johns Hospital. The perspective would be different if it was. You would need to take the photo somewhere in comparable distance from downtown such as Knights Action Park.
6. Tornado Size. Way too skinny. The two tornadoes that hit Springfield were Katrina size. (okay, that might be a stretch).
Okay, now stop forwarding this email. Get back to work all of you state workers!!!
There are no trees around St. Johns that are as tall as the building either. *thinks* Don’t think there are many trees near the building(s) anyway.
plus, if this was taken from st. john’s, there would be a lot more buildings around…and like c pointed out, much less trees…and the few that are around there most definitely aren’t palm trees.
and thanks for giving me credit for helping debunk the photo, shoo.
This photo cracks me up. I sent it out to see who’d respond back to me. To my amazement, only 2 or 3 people caught on. Good stuff. The Hilton isn’t even shaped like that people. Come on.
i asked shoo if i could do something similar…i’d pick a tornado picture that obviously isn’t springpatch and see who responds. but he gave me some bologna about reactions and actions and made me feel guilty for wanting to trick people.
I’ve also gotten the photo about 3 times, as have other people in my office. It was generally accepted as real even though there’s almost nothing about it that even resembles what ours probably looked like. I’ve convinced most people that it’s a fake, but I think some think I’m crazy and will just believe anything they get in email regardless.
So to put the myth to rest, yesterday I ‘found’ (er, created) the only real and totally accurate picture of the Springfield tornado. Check it out:
http://www.daveheinzel.com/tornado.jpg
that’s hilarious!! i’m sending that out to see who believes me!!
Dave, although I’m worried you have too much time on your hands, I’m going to send that picture to everyone I work with. I’m sure it’ll make it’s way around the capitol rapidly.
Do you guys see the face of the devil in the tornado? No?
OK, then it’s a fake, obviously. Sheesh.
very astute observation, stern.
That’s the faked version…here’s the real one:
Tornado Hits The Hilton
Way to go Russ - now your photo is going to be emailed around like crazy, and it’s going to be even harder to convince my coworkers that it’s a fake. You could have at least put an unusually bloated Gus Gordon in there blowing around with the debris
I live in Springfield Illinois and I can tell you for sure that it was totally dark when those 2 monsters hit my town. Sunset 6:01 pm, sirens didn’t go off until about 7:50 or thereabouts. The sirens were sounded a good 1/2 hour before we got hit. Then the suckers hit about 8:25. The picture is definately a fake. And that building??? No way is it one of ours. I sure would like to know where the person was standing when they took that picture.