Remember That Hippo in the Chicago River? We Now Know for Sure What It Was

A few weeks ago, TheBlaze reported on a video that claimed to show a hippopotamus in the Chicago River.

Image: YouTube

In our initial story, we questioned the legitimacy of the video. After all, the Chicago Police told us they had no reports of a hippo in the famous river and a spokesperson from nearby Brookfield Zoo doubted if the creature could survive in the chilly water.

Earlier today, the people behind the Chicago River hippo video confessed that it wasn't real.

The short clip features another shot of the river with the "hippo's" nostrils poking through the surface of the water before disappearing again. The camera pans to a man on the riverbank saying, "That's not real. That's a stunt."

Image: YouTube

Before announcing that a new website called Mortgage Hippo was behind the scam, he added, "A hippo in the Chicago River? That would be awesome."

What is Mortgage Hippo? It is an electronic mortgage broker targeting younger home buyers who might be more comfortable searching for a home loan on the Internet.

Watch the reveal here:

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Follow Mike Opelka (@Stuntbrain) on Twitetr.