A rumor that circulated online in September 2025 claimed a 29-year-old woman who identified as a "trans-dolphin" drowned in Table Rock Lake — a body of water located in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas. Many users shared this matter with a headline reading, "'She Thought She Was a Dolphin' 29 Year Old 'Trans-Dolphin' Drowns in Table Rock Lake."
Snopes received numerous website searches for this subject, as well as at least one email.
In one example of the claim, dated Sept. 3, a manager of the Branson Area Breaking News Facebook page posted (archived) a picture and story about this matter, receiving more than 47,000 reactions, 13,000 comments and 13,000 shares, as of this writing.
The picture in the post showed a woman swimming in a lake while dressed in a dolphin costume, with rainbow-colored hair, a blowhole attached to a head covering and a fish in her mouth. Text at the bottom of the picture read, "Branson Area Breaking News. Self-Proclaimed Trans Dolphin Drowns in Table Rock Lake." Other users subsequently shared this rumor on Facebook, Gettr (archived), Instagram (archived) and X (archived).
(Branson Area Breaking News/Facebook)
The text caption featuring the story began as follows:
"She Thought She Was a Dolphin" 29 Year Old 'Trans-Dolphin' Drowns in Table Rock Lake.
A bizarre tragedy unfolded at Table Rock Lake when a 29-year-old woman, who insisted she was a "trans-dolphin," drowned while attempting to live out her aquatic fantasy.
Witnesses say the woman swam into the lake dressed in a full dolphin costume, complete with a snorkel fashioned as a blowhole. At one point, she was seen clenching a live fish between her teeth, declaring she was "finally swimming free." Moments later, horrified onlookers reported she began thrashing in the water before vanishing beneath the surface.
Some of the 11,000-plus users who commented on the Branson Area Breaking News Facebook post seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events, including mentioning their thoughts about politics and transgender people. However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no reports about a woman identifying as a "trans-dolphin" drowning in Table Rock Lake.
The Branson Area Breaking News Facebook page displays an in-jest "intro" reading, "We are a world renowned satirical news organization & have received many awards for our breaking news stories!" The page's owners also chose "Satire/Parody" as the page's categories.
In other words, the story did not report real events, but was instead fictional satire.
Further, the picture of the alleged woman displayed signs someone created the image with an artificial-intelligence tool. For example, the picture showed an overly-smooth appearance on areas including the woman and the fish, not to mention the idea that a purported photographer was near enough to capture a close-up shot but not to save her from drowning.
'Margaret' from Branson Area Breaking News
The Branson Area Breaking News Facebook page's owner only identified herself as "Margaret" in our past communications. Asked about this story, Margaret said over Messenger that she used the AI chatbot ChatGPT to generate the fake "trans-dolphin" picture.
In July, a reporter for OzarksFirst.com — a publication offering genuine news about the Springfield and Branson area of Missouri — interviewed Margaret, who told them she wished to keep her name anonymous. The report also addressed the fact that some users don't understand that the page's content is satirical, not real:
Margaret said some people don't realize the page is satire, and even those who do realize the humor sometimes still get upset with select content.
"I don't let the negativity bother me," she said. "The positive comments and messages far outweigh the negative ones. And honestly, part of the art of satire is making stories just believable enough to spark those reactions."
Margaret said she enjoys when people think BABN's stories are real news.
"It makes the page even more fun," she said. "Some of them argue, some get upset, and some eventually figure it out and join in on the fun. The page is clearly labeled as satire. I encourage everyone to read the tagline.
Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims from Branson Area Breaking News in the past, including that a picture showed hundreds of black bears taking over U.S. Highway 65 near Branson, as well as another rumor that officials in St. Louis revealed plans to relocate the city's famous Gateway Arch to Branson.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources calling their output humorous or satirical.