Did an angel from heaven appear as a bright light in the sky above the African country of Botswana, causing fear and surprise among those who witnessed it?
A post currently circulating via Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp claims it did and even includes an image to prove it.
According to the post, a “bright light from the sky” turned into an angel with bright and beautiful wings after 15 minutes. After 45 minutes a very loud voice from the sky urged watchers on the ground to repent their sins because Jesus Christ is coming soon. Then, the angel disappeared.
But, in fact, the story is fanciful nonsense and the picture is just the result of some quite dodgy photoshopping.
The source photograph (see below) used in the fake image was not taken in Botswana. Instead, it depicts a September 2019 storm above Imperial Beach in San Diego County, California. The image was included in a September 4 Fox 5 news report about thunderstorms in the area.
Some prankster has simply flipped the original San Diego County photograph and added in the angel image from another source. He or she has then tacked on the fanciful angel story and launched it on the interwebs.
Here’s a screenshot of the circulating post:
Here’s the original image:

Image: Erika Diaz De Leon
Transcript of the circulating post:
Today afternoon in Botswana there was a bright light from the sky that came from heaven and after 15 minutes there was a bright and beautiful Angel that stretched it’s bright wings and after 45 minutes there was a very loud voice from the sky saying” repent your sins Jesus Christ is coming soon”. The people of Botswana was so afraid. It was so bright that the people could not drive. Everyone was surprised then the angel disappeared. The bright light was gone . Here is the picture of the Angel and it’s bright wings.