In June 2026, an image circulated online supposedly showing the statue of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., wearing a traffic cone hat that Scotland fans allegedly placed on it during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The Facebook page "Scottish Banter" shared the alleged image on June 17 (archived). The caption read, "Abraham Lincoln Statue Coned As US Learns Scotland Fans Are Not Just A Boston Problem."
The image also appeared elsewhere on Facebook (archived) and X (archived).
To check the image's authenticity, we used search engines such as DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo (archived, archived, archived) with the phrase, "Abraham Lincoln Scotland Traffic Cone" to look for any examples of credible outlets publishing the image. We did not locate any such reports.
The image did not authentically show the Abraham Lincoln statue wearing a traffic cone as a hat. As we will explain below, it was likely created using artificial intelligence tools. Therefore, we've labeled the image fake.
We contacted a manager of the Scottish Banter Facebook page, which first posted the image, to learn more about its creation, such as what software creators used and their motivations for sharing it. "Banter" is a term for funny, witty and unserious exchanges, suggesting the image and story were possibly meant as a joke.
We also contacted the National Park Service, which manages Washington, D.C.'s National Mall and Memorial Parks, where the Lincoln Memorial is located, to ask if they could confirm whether the Lincoln statue had been "coned" and await a reply.
We uploaded the image of the Lincoln statue with a traffic cone hat into software that screens visual media for signs of AI, such as Sightengine and Hive Moderation. According to those tools, creators likely used some type of generative AI software.
(Sightengine/Hive Moderation/Snopes Illustration)
Let us note here: These types of AI detection tools are fallible. Snopes cautions people against using them for definitive answers on media's authenticity without supporting evidence. In the case of this image, the lighting on the traffic cone differed markedly from the lighting on the Lincoln statue, suggesting the cone had been edited in from a different image.
Though this particular image was fake, statues in Boston, Massachusetts, did receive new headwear from Scottish fans in town for World Cup matches held there. The Boston Globe, which reported on the phenomenon, wrote that "coning" was an example of the Scottish fans' "penchant for tomfoolery."
According to British media, "coning" is a tradition the Scotland fans have brought from home. Locals in Glasgow have reportedly placed traffic cones on the Duke of Wellington statue outside the Gallery of Modern Art in the city for "decades."
Keeping the Duke "coned" has reportedly led to a spirited battle between locals and the council, which repeatedly removes the orange headwear from the statue. However, "any attempts to free the Duke of his plastic hat are quickly thwarted and the cone is replaced within days," the BBC reported in 2023.
For further reading, Snopes has investigated a series of World Cup-related claims.