Teresa Fidalgo is a fictional character that went viral on social media in 2003. Internet users first felt Teresa’s presence through a threatening message on Facebook, though it later went viral on other social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, and TikTok.
Many already believed the Teresa Fidalgo story to be true until the creator of the tale, David Rebordão, came up to debunk it. David claimed he created the tale from his imagination and was surprised that it had become a long-lasting myth.
Is the Teresa Fidalgo Story Real?
The Teresa Fidalgo story is far from true. It was a mind-boggling tale that was popularized during the early part of 2010 via social media platforms like Facebook, and it came with a warning;
“I am Teresa Fidalgo, and if you don’t post this on 20 photos, I will sleep with you forever. The next sentence said, “A Girl ignored and her mom died 29 days later. You can even search me on Google.”
With the kind of message it displayed, it goes without saying that the post went viral immediately after it hit Facebook in early 2010. It later died down, and people were relieved that the dreadful threat stopped coming.
However, the message resurfaced about a decade later, and this time around, social media had become more robust with several other platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, TikTok, and more, and the post went viral on all of them.
It even went as far as touching people’s individual email accounts. People would just log on to their mail to find the dreadful message, and the reaction would just be to close it back. In fact, the most dreaded part of the post is the consequences it threatens to unleash on people who failed to share it with at least 20 people.
Besides, the major reason it gained traction with the speed of lightning was the bloodied images that accompanied it. Those who weren’t scared by the content of the post would get scared by the accompanying pictures that closely resemble a ghostly apparition.
The internet space was thus suffused with Teresa Fidalgo photos, videos, hashtags, and more.
Even though it was discovered to be a hoax at the end of the day, the story was extremely chilling and scary while it lasted, especially for internet users coming across it for the very first time.
The Complete Teresa Fidalgo Story
With the scary post making its rounds on different social media platforms, the full story about Teresa Fidalgo soon hit the internet space.
The story revolved around three friends David Rebordão (David is a movie maker), Tiago, and Tania, who were driving on a deserted mountain road in Portugal. The incident purportedly happened on the 12th of July 2003, and the trio was on a mission to search out a perfect shooting location for David’s upcoming film, VIRUS.
As the three friends were navigating the highway, they were said to be having a heated conversation about ghosts, and that was when they encountered the lone figure of Teresa Fidalgo stranded in the middle of nowhere. Teresa was dressed in an all-white attire as she waited for a means of transportation to get to her destination while strolling along the road.
Out of the kindness of their hearts, the three friends decided to have pity on the stranded Teresa and offered her a lift. The young lady accepted their lift but appeared to be extremely reserved as their vehicle navigated the highway. Teresa didn’t do much in the way of conversation and was too quiet throughout the duration of their journey. After they have gone a bit far, the three friends decided to enquire about their passenger’s destination, and when Teresa was asked, she simply pointed ahead.
Then, when it seemed as if she had gotten to her destination, Teresa Fidalgo’s face suddenly became bloody as the lady points to a particular spot, screamed, and the vehicle crashed. The ensuing story said two of the three friends in the car lost their lives in the crash, and David was the only survivor. However, when quizzed about what actually transpired, he found it impossible to give a clear explanation. The reason behind his inability to narrate their ordeal was later attributed to great shock.
Different accounts of the story later surfaced. One notable version claimed that the tale is an actual depiction of a real-life incident in Sentra, Portugal, in 1983 when a young lady lost her life in a road accident. The tale went on to claim that the spot that Teresa Fidalgo pointed at was exactly where the accident that took her life happened.
People were also regaled with the tale of a purported police investigation that swung into action immediately after the 2003 accident and discovered stuff about the real Teresa’s death in 1983.
Rebordão Came up to Debunk the Teresa Fidalgo Tale
It later came to the fore that David Rebordão in the ghost story is actually an existing person, and he was the one who came up to debunk the whole ghost apparition saga.
According to David, who is truly a moviemaker, the story was just created from his imagination, and the Teresa character does not even exist. David said he was greatly surprised that something he casually created would birth a longstanding myth on social media.
David did it again on March 2014, taking to his YouTube channel to upload another video where Teresa Fidalgo was seen haunting another set of friends. The footage of the video was dated 15th of April 2008 and showed where Teresa was scaring a man called Rodrigues to death.
Portuguese Horror Video, A Curva, Features Teresa Fidalgo as a Fictional Character
It happened that David didn’t just create the story of Teresa Fidalgo for just fun. He was actually writing the plot of a horror video titled A Curva or The Curve.
In the video, David functioned as the writer, producer, and director. It was later revealed to be his directorial debut. David is still in the moviemaking business and has produced a good number of other movies, though none has gone viral like Teresa’s case.
The Fidalgo’s ale may have been debunked a long time ago, but it did a good job of highlighting the ills of rapid dissemination of misinformation on the internet space. The introduction of user-generated content, plus the ease of sharing, has made it possible for all sorts of things to grow wings and fly on different platforms, deceiving innocent and unsuspecting individuals.
