Selene Delgado

About

Selene Delgado Lopéz or Selene Delgado, refers to an urban legend about a missing person who initially fascinated true crime enthusiasts before it was potentially proven that "Selene Delgado" never existed. The case was amplified by a 2020 hoax in which a woman named "Selene Delgado" friended many people on Facebook, making some wonder if it was the same missing person. Ultimately, evidence suggested that Delgado was a hoax created by Channel 5. The image of Selene Delgado used by Channel 5 began seeing use in video game mods in the summer of 2022.

Origin

On Mexican television's Channel 5 (Canal 5) in the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a section called "Al servicio de la comunidad" (English: At the service of the community) in which the hosts talked about talk about people who have gone missing. One of those people was Selene Delgado Lopéz (shown below),^[5] and the case fascinated true crime enthusiasts.

Spread

Facebook Hoax

In early September 2020, a hoax spread on Facebook that one "Selene Delgado" had suddenly appeared on everyone's friend list (shown below). The hoax was debunked by Mashable,^[6] who suggested that Canal 5 had employed a viral marketing campaign that inspired Facebook users to create a fake profile for Selene Delgado, then manipulate the privacy settings for the account to make it appear to an untrained eye that the account was their friend on Facebook.

Selene Delgado Does Not Exist

On September 2nd, 2021, YouTuber^[1] FlorecitaDreams used photographic evidence to suggest Selene Delgado does not exist, gaining over 103,000 views in 11 months (show below).

In one of those photos, he compares the famous photo of Selene Delgado with a portrait of murderer Derrick Todd Lee, arguing that the "Selene Delgado" picture is a manipulation of Lee's picture. He argued that Derrick Todd Lee was the inspiration for Channel 5 to create the photo of Selene Delgado.

On October 29th, 2021, mystery analytical YouTuber Nexpo^[7] covered the Selene Delgado mystery in his video titled "Disturbing Things from Around the Internet [Vol. 13]," which received over 4.5 million plays in roughly nine months (shown below).

Selene Delgado NextBot

In the Summer of 2022, Selene Delgado regained online popularity as a bot used in the NextBot Chase Garry's Mod game. The mod was submitted to Steam Workshop by the user Dunkaccino on June 11th, 2021.^[2]

The mod appeared in multiple viral videos on TikTok and YouTube. For example, on July 6th, 2022, YouTuber^[3] Davi's Stuff posted a gameplay video that gained over 9,786 views in three weeks (shown below, left). On May 6th, 2022, YouTuber^[4] Igor Bronshtein posted a video that received over 5.7 million views in 2 months (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References