Filmmaker calls viral 'meteorite creature' videos a hoax; points to silicone and solvent trickery

A series of TikTok videos showing a tentacled, oily mass allegedly growing from a small meteorite in Panama has drawn millions of views and a large online following, but a UFO researcher and filmmaker who reviewed the footage told the Daily Mail he is confident the clips are staged.

The videos, posted beginning Aug. 29 by a Panama resident identified as Kin, show a silver-colored lump purportedly recovered from a fiery crater in the Pedregal district and then covered by black, wriggling appendages. Kin has posted 39 videos about the object and grown to more than 231,000 followers, with some individual clips receiving as many as 10.9 million views, according to the account's analytics cited in coverage.

Mark Christopher Lee, who describes himself as a UFO researcher and works in film, told the Daily Mail that his review of the footage suggested a practical-effects hoax. Lee said the moving tentacles were likely made from Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone polymer, and animated by the action of a solvent such as hexane. "In short: no alien, just silicone and solvent doing their thing," Lee said. He described a mechanism in which PDMS absorbs hexane and swells, then shrinks unevenly as the solvent evaporates, producing snapping or wiggling motions that can resemble breathing or crawling.

Lee also pointed to apparent editing tricks in the footage. He said there are jump cuts that reconcile scenes in which the object appears to burn leaves yet is later handled bare-handed, and he suggested the creator may have used mobile editing software commonly used on TikTok to assemble the clips. "My first impression was that it is a B-movie kind of thing, using special effects," Lee said. He further told the Daily Mail he had spoken with someone who described Kin as overwhelmed by attention and possibly unprepared for the publicity surrounding the posts.

Neither the object nor the surrounding substance has been independently examined by scientists or submitted to a recognized laboratory for analysis, and there has been no public confirmation that the item recovered by Kin is a meteorite. Lee and other skeptics noted that there has been no reported visit by local authorities or scientific teams to assess a potential biological hazard, and that absence, they said, is a reason to doubt the claim. Kin did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily Mail and in a recent video said he did not wish to speak with journalists.

Supporters of the account have urged caution, with some followers expressing fear of a purported cover-up and encouraging Kin not to cooperate with reporters. Others on the platform and independent commentators have pointed to apparent staging in the scene where the object was recovered, noting what look like matchsticks in the alleged crater and the previously mentioned editing inconsistencies.

Experts unaffiliated with the footage's circulation have said that extraordinary biological claims require laboratory testing and peer review. Without material evidence submitted for analysis, the provenance and composition of the object cannot be confirmed. Practical effects and household chemicals have been used in previous viral hoaxes to mimic organic motion, and digital editing tools are widely available to alter perceived continuity in short-form video.

The episode underscores the speed at which unverified scientific-sounding claims can spread on social media and the challenges faced by journalists and scientists in rapidly assessing viral material. Independent verification through physical examination, chemical analysis and, where appropriate, biological assays remains the standard for determining whether an unknown object poses any scientific or public-health concern.