Miami Mall "Aliens" Rumor

About

Miami Mall "Aliens" Rumor refers to a conspiracy theory based on unsubstantiated claims that aliens were the cause of a massive police response to the Bayside Marketplace mall in Miami, Florida early in the morning of January 1st, 2024. Police reports regarding the intense response detail unruly juveniles starting fights in the mall. Rumors of aliens, thought to be 7-10 feet tall, are unsubstantiated hearsay, and there is no footage of an alien or unusual figure during the incident. Nevertheless, the viral rumor inspired multiple jokes and memes about the possibility as it spread online in early January 2024.

Origin

On January 1st, 2024, Miami police responded to a disturbance at Bayside Marketplace. That day, the Twitter account @RawsAlerts^[1] posted a compilation of footage taken at the scene, showing dozens of cop cars descending on the mall (shown below).

The following day, local Miami news outlet Local 10^[2] reported that a large group of juveniles was causing panic in the mall by throwing fireworks, leading 911 callers to claim they heard gunshots, which led to the outsized police response.

While it's unclear where the rumor of "aliens" started, one of the earliest mentions of people seeing tall "creatures" and "beings" at the scene was posted on January 1st by Twitter user @AlphonsusOlieh,^[3] gaining over 2,100 retweets and 7,300 likes in four days (shown below).

Spread

The rumor of aliens began spreading further following a January 4th, 2024, article by Radio Free Hub City,^[4] which claimed social media users were discussing seeing tall creatures at the riot and some reporting UFOs. This caught the attention of Barstool Sports employee Jack Mac, who posted about the rumor on TikTok, gaining over 375,000 views in less than one day (shown below).

On January 5th, multiple users posted about the rumor on Twitter, with many expressing disbelief at the idea aliens had appeared in the Miami mall, largely because there was no video footage of unusual creatures.^[5] This led to many posting humorous jokes about the supposed "aliens" at the mall.

For example, Twitter user @RDCWorld1 posted a video sketch imagining the aliens, gaining over 460 retweets and 2,700 likes in one hour (shown below, top). User @mydolo_lonely joked about the rumor with a doctored video of "aliens" stealing a car, gaining over 120 retweets and 1,000 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, bottom).

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References