Sunset video sparks mockery and conspiracy theories online

"Eerie" sunsets: the hoax that turns a sunset into the apocalypse

A sunset. That's all there is in the video that has sparked a wave of conspiracy theories: an orange sun sinking below the horizon, with a bird flying by, shared on social media tagged as "HAARP experiments" and "artificial auroras." There is no solar explosion, no alien invasion, no end of the world. There is a sunset. And a legion of internet users ready to see in it the definitive proof that something is being hidden.

The story, which has circulated for days under the hook "URGENT," has ended up turning into an exchange of mockery and insults. Most posts agree on the obvious: it's an ordinary sunset, the kind you can see any summer evening. "It's called a sunset. You're asking as if you'd never seen one," sums up one of the most repeated comments. Others go further and point out that the video looks "made with AI," which adds a layer of irony: the supposed proof of an anomalous phenomenon would actually be a fake generated by artificial intelligence.

Why does a normal sunset look "eerie"?

The key lies in perception. When the sun sets, light travels through more atmosphere and reddish tones intensify. That's basic physics, not a secret experiment. But in a context of misinformation, any striking image becomes conspiracy material. The video in question shows a particularly large, orange sun, with a bird crossing the frame, which some interpreted as a sign that "the sun doesn't exist" or that "it's edited."

The discussion quickly drifted into familiar territory: flat earth, the HAARP project, Project Blue Beam and the idea that "they're going to sell us the whole TV series." One of the most repeated messages warns that "if we stay this gullible and impressionable, they'll sell us the whole Blue Beam series." Another adds: "The earth is flat and the sun doesn't exist. The usual lunatics."

The sun as a symbol: from conspiracy to irony

The story has also unleashed people's segarro side. "It's a non-binary sun. Heteropatriarchy is over. Next step: a trans, empowered Moon," one participant writes. "They used the last eclipse to swap the Sun for a new one made of LEDs, more eco-friendly and resilient," adds another. Irony works as a vaccine against the hoax: ridiculing the theory is more effective than refuting it.

But it's not all jokes. Some see in this episode a symptom of something deeper: the inability of part of the population to tell the real from the fabricated. "Since people are brain-dead glued to their little screens and no longer see physical reality, they look at an ordinary sunset and think the apocalypse is coming," one comment notes. "These are the signs of the times; the level of stupidity reaches stratospheric heights."

What is HAARP and why does it get blamed for everything?

HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is an ionospheric research program funded by the US Air Force and the University of Alaska. Its goal is to study the ionosphere and its effects on communications. It has no capacity to control the weather or to trigger artificial auroras visible from Florida. Yet it has become the favorite scapegoat of conspiracy theories, which blame it for everything from earthquakes to changes in human behavior.

In this case, the original tweet linked the sunset to "HAARP rolls out Aurora Experiments," a claim with no basis whatsoever. The scientific community has repeatedly denied that HAARP can generate atmospheric phenomena of this kind. But that doesn't stop the hoax: misinformation doesn't need evidence, just a catchy headline.

The conspiracy business: attention and engagement

Beyond the humor, the episode reveals an economic pattern: conspiracy generates clicks. Videos with apocalyptic theories get more interactions than those explaining reality. That incentivizes content creators to fabricate "evidence" of nonexistent phenomena. In this case, the video may have been generated with AI, which makes production cheaper and verification harder.

"Damn, the source is a ing AI making it all up. A ing AI. That's the level we've sunk to," one post laments. The paradox is obvious: the tool that could help detect hoaxes is being used to create them.

Conclusion: the sun keeps setting

There are no signs of apocalypse. The sun sets every evening, as always. What's changing is the ability of part of the public to interpret what they see. Next time someone shares an "eerie" sunset video, remember that it's probably just that: a sunset. And that the real anomalous phenomenon isn't in the sky, but in how easily people swallow any story that confirms their preexisting biases.