This photo shows a movie set for 2013 film 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters'

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on January 11, 2022 at 05:03
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP Sri Lanka
Facebook posts purport to show a photo of an abandoned village in Scotland, with old-fashioned wooden houses surrounded by an eerily empty street. The claim is false; the image actually shows a movie set in Germany for the 2013 film "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters".

"An abandoned village in Scotland…" reads a Facebook post shared on January 2, 2022 on a page called "Abandoned places", which has more than 43,000 followers.

The photo shows Tudor-style houses and a well on a deserted street.

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Screenshot of the Facebook post captured on January 6, 2022

The same photo circulated in similar Facebook posts here, here and here

However, the claim is false. The photo shows a movie set constructed in 2011 by Studio Babelsberg in Germany. 

A reverse image search found the photo posted on a Reddit forum in November 2014 titled 'Abandoned movie set of Hansel and Gretel'. 

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Screenshot of the image featured on Reddit captured on January 5, 2022

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is a movie released in 2013. 

Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo shared in misleading Facebook posts (left) and the photo posted on Reddit (right). 

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Screenshot comparison between the misleading posts' image (L) and the photograph on Reddit (R)

According to the movie's IMDb page, filming locations around Germany included Potsdam-based Studio Babelsberg, which is also listed as one of the production companies.

Contacted by AFP, Studio Babelsberg spokeswoman Marlene Schneider said the photo circulating online showed a set built for the film, which is a dark adaptation of the fairytale.

"This is a scene from the Hansel and Gretel set, built for the movie by Tommy Wirkola in 2011," she said.

A comparison of photos of the movie set shared by Studio Babelsberg show various similarities.

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Screenshot comparison between the image in the misleading posts (L) and the image shared by Studio Babelsburg of the Hansel and Gretel set.

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