Did a video capture a demonic winged figure climbing to the top of a cathedral dome in Vatican City and flying away? No, that's not true: This is a computer generated animation that blends an animated demon figure with real footage of the dome of Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral in Granada, Nicaragua. The CGI video was created in 2019 by JJPD Producciones, two Nicaraguan brothers who have a paranormal and horror special effects YouTube channel.
The original video was first posted on June 2, 2019, and labeled as Grenada, it was three-and-a-half minutes long and includes additional scenes of Grenada to set the scene. Existing fact checks suggest the video went viral internationally in the spring of 2020, when a shortened version, featuring only the demon on the dome, circulated with a Vatican City title. The video was posted in the Facebook group "Mysterious Aliens & UFO Disclosure" on March 17, 2022. It was titled:
Vatican City.
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Image source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Mar 21 15:43:48 2022 UTC)
A Google reverse image search for the dome in the video identifies this as Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral in Granada, Nicaragua. A search on YouTube for "Granada Cathedral Demon" brings a top result of an April 4, 2020, fact check video by 'billschannel' titled, "DEMON BIRD IN ITALY - Fact Check". The Billschannel fact check breaks it down and includes links to videos on creator's channel "JJPD Producciones" -- the full original CGI video that was posted on June 2, 2019, and the follow-up on September 8, 2019, with a video about how they made the animated short film (embedded below).
