Fact Check: Did a Tree Grow from a Car Overnight in France?

Fact Check: Did a Tree Grow from a Car Overnight in France?

Claims: A video recently circulating on social media platforms, particularly on WhatsApp groups claimed that there was a mystery tree that grew through the roof of a car in France.

Full Text: The two minutes and 39 seconds video which was widely shared on social media, showed a Nigerian among a group of people standing by a tall tree that had allegedly sprouted through the roof of a white car with a number plate AY-642-WY.

The Nigerian who was recording the event in a seemingly live broadcast style, claimed that the tree grew overnight through the roof of the car in France. 

According to the Nigerian who spoke in pidgin English said: “I know this incident has gone viral, but I don’t want to witness this alone that is why I am sharing it for everyone to see. Things de happen na for Europe, na France this thing de happen”…….he spoke with all sense of bewilderment and excitement.

He was passionately showing every part of the car, the interiors, especially the front seat where the mystical tree sprouted through, and even underneath the car were the stems of the tree.

Verification: To ascertain the originality of the widely circulated video and the claims, the PRNigeria Fact-Check team searched keywords and used reverse image technology. 

Findings reveal that the strange occurrence was actually a work of art that took place in Nante, a town in France in November 2019.  Ouest France, a French news website in a report titled ‘Nantes. With his tree in the middle of a car, Royal de Luxe is a sensation in Bellevue,’ disclosed that the event was exhibited by the Royal de Luxe, a local theater group known to install logic-defying street art. 

Further findings reveal that the organizers on their website stated that “Mémé Rodéo and the tree in the car” is an imaginary situation that takes place within the framework of the “Grand Bellevue” project from 18 to 23 November 2019. 

Meanwhile, AFP Fact-Checked the same claim in 2019 and reported that “the claim is false; the tree did not grow naturally in the car, but was rather placed there as part of an art installation created by a theater company in the western French city of Nantes.” 

Conclusion: PRNigeria concludes that the tree did not grow naturally in the car but was an “art installation” created by a theater company for an awareness campaign in the western French city of Nantes in 2019.

Therefore, the report claiming that a tree naturally grew in a car in France is MISLEADING and FALSE. 

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By PRNigeria