For many years, a picture of a castle that appears to be perched atop a rock and is situated in the middle of a body of water has been making the rounds on social media and other digital platforms. The claim also names Dublin, Ireland as the location of the castle.
Our study, however, revealed that this picture was actually altered.
Posts on Social Media
According to social media posts, Castle Island in Dublin is perched on a large V-shaped rock. Steps go down to the base of the rock, where a door has been chiseled out, as can be seen in the image below.
This Image Of A Castle Perched On Users
Reality Check
Our first keyword and reverse image searches revealed that the image had been digitally altered using images from two different locations outside of the UK.
The rock formation in the viral image corresponds to Khao Phing Kan Island in Thailand, popularly referred to as “James Bond Island.”
The upper piece of the viral image was edited from a portion of the Lichtenstein Castle in the Swabian Alb, Baden-Württember, Germany, according to research we conducted utilizing a reverse image search. The castle’s location on Google Maps is shown below.
The viral image of Castle Lichtenstein and the one in the comparison photo are the same castle, with a few minor digital changes, as shown in the side-by-side photo comparison below.
Our study revealed that the photograph of a castle in Dublin, where the building is built atop a rock, is fake.
A picture of Germany’s Lichtenstein Castle and a picture of Thailand’s Khao Phing Kan island were combined to create the altered image.