A rumor that circulated online in August 2025 claimed a cargo ship 1,400 miles off the coast of Brazil located a couple, Mark and Jennifer Patterson, who purportedly vanished 25 years earlier during a sailing trip from Florida to the Bahamas, in 1999.
For example, on Aug. 2, TikTok user ScaryTok (@realscarytok) posted a video (archived) with the text caption, "COUPLE FOUND ALIVE AFTER 25 YEARS LOST AT SEA! They vanished sailing to Bahamas in 1999. Found yesterday living on a MASSIVE RAFT they built from ocean trash! They had gardens, water collection, solar panels - all from debris." That clip, and a Facebook repost (archived) of the same video, each received around 6 million views.
Other users also presented the rumor, either in the same video or similar clips with the same audio, on Threads (archived) TikTok (archived) and X (archived).
However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no news media outlets reporting about a ship finding a couple lost at sea for 25 years — an extraordinarily long time to be stranded in the ocean. Prominent outlets would have widely reported this rumor, if true — just like they did when Salvador Alvarenga said he survived at sea for around 14 months, before spotting mountains in early 2014, and swimming to shore in the Marshall Islands.
Rather, a user managing the ScaryTok TikTok account told Snopes the video was created via a combination of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated visuals and audio narration and satire: "Because I try to make [the videos] as realistic as possible, I don't credit myself for my stories [or] videos. But if you look closely on the bottom left at the end, you will see my logo show up." In addition to that faint watermark at the end of the clip, the user also carefully placed the words "AI satire news" between hashtags in the text caption.
The user added, "I also use real footage to blend it to make it more realistic." That extra tidbit of information hinted at the use of deepfake technology to manipulate subjects' lip movements and vocals in interview clips from news reports unrelated to the fabricated story.
A fictional story of survival
The script for the AI-generated video read as follows and did not include any names other than the two supposed survivors:
NEWS ANCHOR: A shocking discovery. A couple lost at sea 25 years ago has just been found. Yesterday, a cargo ship 1,400 miles off the coast of Brazil spotted Mark and Jennifer Patterson, a couple who vanished during a sailing trip from Florida to The Bahamas in 1999.
INTERVIEW: "We had a funeral. We grieved for 25 years. My sister's been gone since 1999. We thought they drowned in that storm. I just can't believe it."
NEWS ANCHOR: Living on an impressive floating structure built from boat wreckage combined with the ocean waste, they created innovative ways to survive.
JENNIFER PATTERSON: "We learned to see trash as resources. We had everything we needed. Most importantly, we had each other."
NEWS ANCHOR: The couple developed a daily routine of fishing, maintaining their raft and collecting useful debris.
INTERVIEW: "25 years at sea should be impossible. They didn't just survive, they thrived. They created a sustainable lifestyle from what others call garbage. It's remarkable."
NEWS ANCHOR: Experts are calling their survival "unprecedented," and others are calling it "miracle."
MARK PATTERSON: "After year five, we stopped trying to get rescued and just focused on living. The ocean provides everything, if you're patient."
NEWS ANCHOR: They say they're grateful to be found, but will miss their ocean home.
Stories like this one somewhat resemble glurge, which Dictionary.com defines as stories "that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental." For example, the last part of the story talking about how focusing on living, as well as practicing patience, might provide the head-nodding moment some users might find inspiring and validating — leading to more likes, comments and shares.
The true story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan
A real story about a couple lost at sea possibly inspired the creation of the fake video and fictional story.
On Jan. 25, 1998 — over 27 years before the online video and tale circulated — a boat crew out for a day of diving at the Great Barrier Reef accidentally left behind a U.S. couple, Tom and Eileen Lonergan. The Australia-based newspaper Cairns Post reported no one noticed they were missing for two days. A search did not locate the Lonergans. Authorities ruled they died at sea.
The Post's story presented five theories as to what possibly happened to the Lonergans:
FIVE THEORIES
1. They made it safely to shore in the isolated Far North and have yet to be found.
2. They staged their disappearance and were picked up by a boat in the area.
3. They were troubled and killed themselves in a suicide pact.
4. They were attacked and eaten by sharks as they were swept to sea or tried to swim to safety.
5. Thomas and Eileen Lonergan were drowned after the dive boat left without them, stranding them at sea.
According to Fandom.com, the creators of the 2003 film "Open Water" loosely based the movie on the Lonergans' story.
For further reading, Snopes previously reported on another story claiming the U.S. Coast Guard rescued three people after being stranded for 33 days on a deserted Bahamian island.