Thousands Pack Dublin Streets for Fake Halloween Parade Listed on AI Website

Mar. 15, 2025

Aerial view of the O’Connell Monument on O’Connell Street at night.Photo:Guven Ozdemire/Getty/Stock Image

Guven Ozdemire/Getty/Stock Image

Thousands of people in Dublin received a rude awakening when they showed up to the city expecting a Halloween parade that never happened.

The website contained listings for Halloween events in Ireland, the U.K., the U.S. and Mexico. Among the events mentioned on the site was a parade in Dublin.

According to images shared on social media, people were seen lining up in the city center waiting for the parade to start,BBC Newsreported. No police were present.

A witness, Peter Farrelly, recorded video of the crowds congregating on O’Connell Street from his window. “It was funny,” he told theIndependent.  “We are still smiling now.”

Farrelly added: “The Gardaí [Irish police] were trying to clear the street. It was also the festival of Divali last night, so a lot of people were out on the street [for that] as well.”

Bertie Brosnan told BBC News that he initially thought the event was legitimate based on what he saw online. Upon arrival, he realized something was amiss “because parades usually have barricades, security, police and some sort of organization,” and he didn’t see any of those — just attendees.

O’Connel street in Dublin, Ireland.Guven Ozdemire/Getty/Stock Image

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In an X post on Thursday,Irish policefurther clarified what happened, writing: “Please be advised that contrary to information being circulated online, no Halloween parade is scheduled to take place in Dublin City Centre this evening or tonight.”

“All those gathered on O’Connell Street in expectation of such a parade are asked to disperse safely,” police added.

In an interview withThe New York Timespublished on Friday, Nov. 1, Nazir Ali, the owner of the My Spirit Halloween website, said there was no intention on his part to deceive people and maintained it was not a scam. He also said that artificial intelligence (AI) was used to create the website’s content.

Ali told theTimesthat he took the listing off the site after learning of the error and further added: “We were very embarrassed.”

PEOPLE contacted Ali through MySpiritHalloween.com and Macnas for comment on Friday.

source: people.com