Human sacrifice at a scientific research center? Ha ha, nope, that’s a hoax

A video depicting a fake human sacrifice at the famous European Organization for Nuclear Research (referred to as CERN) has surfaced, and CERN has launched an investigation into what it's calling a "spoof."

The video was filmed from the window of a nearby office building and shows a group of hooded figures standing in a square below. It appears to be an reenactment of a ritual sacrifice and includes the fake "stabbing" of a woman. 

Mic reached out to CERN for comment, and a spokesperson directed us to a statement that the lab has released regarding the video.

CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider where the Higgs boson was discovered, is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to employees with authorized access.  

"Persons that are authorized to access the CERN site sometimes let their sense of humor go too far, and that is what has happened on this occasion," officials wrote in the statement. "CERN does not condone this kind of spoof, which breaches CERN's professional guidelines, and is currently carrying out an internal investigation."

Perhaps CERN employees just got carried away leaning into the mystique that surrounds the lab. Various conspiracy theories have proposed that the LHC is capable of generating a black hole that could swallow up the whole Earth, altering weather patterns and opening a portal to another dimension. Perhaps staging a human sacrifice was just a way to goad the conspiracy theorists?

Or maybe CERN employees were blowing off some steam after all that hype about a new particle turned out to be nothing?

It might be a better idea to stick with smaller pranks, like that time CERN told everyone its physicists had confirmed the existence of the Force.