u/Latter-Tangerine-179

Please forgive my English. I took this photo 2 days ago around 1 PM. I was walking and immediately noticed this thing slowly moving around in the river. At first it looked like a crocodile and I was shocked because there aren't crocodiles here. I instantly took this very bad photo but I noticed it had a long neck like a turtle and it was moving slightly.
This photo was taken in Sardinia, Italy, and reptiles this large have never really been documented here. It resembles an iguana, but it’s impossible that an iguana (if it even is one) would just be roaming free here. I mean, I’ve seen small reptiles inside cages at pet stores before, but this thing was free in a river and it was really big. These are not things that are normal in Italy, especially in Sardinia. You can look it up yourself there simply are no reptiles like this here.
I can’t figure out what it is. The sunlight ruined the photo, but in real life it looked much darker and it was slightly moving its head to the left.
I showed this to my online friends, family, and relatives and they were speechless. It may sound trivial to some of you, but I assure you that things like this do not exist here in Sardinia. You can research it and you’ll understand I’m being serious.
I honestly can’t even understand what it is, but it looks like some kind of iguana? The strangest reptiles you can normally find here are just regular lizards. I was so shocked by this thing that, even though I was looking at it from above, I didn’t think about recording a video. I whistled at it, but it didn’t react, it only moved its neck slightly then moved like a turtle under the bridge.
About half an hour later I passed by the same place again, but it was completely gone. I did not use AI, I did not take this photo from the internet, I took it myself, and I assure you this is Sardinia. I want to post this in Facebook communities of my town but I'm worried people will call me schizo

https://preview.redd.it/8c0sxvat1e1h1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bcedce3a28d123ec0a355360282d2f21530d1123

prima che tu utilizzi la tua scusa stereotipata dell'AI o del "lo hai rubato su internet" vai a cagare cazzo. Sono rimasto talmente basito che manco avevo pensato di postarlo su reddit, scrivo che è l'una di notte e non riesco a levarmi questa cosa dalla testa da 2 giorni. Stavo camminando quando noto subito questa sagoma che inizialmente sembrava un coccodrillo e già questo sarebbe stato anormale. Ho tirato fuori a velocità sonica il telefono e ho fatto sta foto uscita male poi ho osservato la cosa, nella foto non si capisce ma era molto più scuro e muoveva il collo leggermente verso sinistra, ho fischiato e ho battuto i piedi ma non reagiva. Tipo tartaruga ha sguazzato in avanti sotto al ponte ma non potevo riprendere perché mi cadeva il telefono di sotto e poi erano cazzi, ho mostrato questo ad amici online, famiglia e parenti sono tutti scioccati. Vorrei gridare alla comunità e ai miei concittadini l'esistenza di questa cosa, andando in giro per il paese a sbattere questa foto in faccia a tutti ma temo di venire ridicolizzato e preso per pazzo tipo Tom Cruise con la setta del sesso in maschera porca puttana. Ora ditemi se voi sardi e non in Italia avete mai visto qualcosa lievemente simile a questa cosa, l'unica spiegazione è che in qualche modo qualcuna aveva questa cosa in gabbia e la ha liberata. Non capisco cosa sia mi pareva un iguana ad un certo punto però dal vivo sembrava più una tartaruga gigante deformata e senza la casetta sopra.

inoltre la foto fa così schifo che non rende l'idea, era molto più scuro e grande dal vivo

https://preview.redd.it/pfkvkqhexd1h1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07382f63789c92d51136dfe592a9d6b255392c9f

Sorry for potential bad writing, I'm Italian. I logged into an old account where I don't receive notifications and I noticed that on May 1st a user called "Bono vox reply to this" wrote to me "prove you are Bono vox". In the same mail he left address and if I put the address on Google maps turns out to be a house in Georgia (US). The same user 2 hours before wrote me "hey how are you" followed by Yahoo links mentioning Robert De Niro and some arrested teen in Florida. Obviously I didn't click on them. Scrolling I found out that on April 3rd another user called nessywirefelea wrote to me asking to provide him a way to contact Bono Vox. I might be overthinking but is it possible that these people came across with someone using my email to impersonate Bono vox? My email contains parts of my name and is also the mail I use to log in tiktok, Facebook etc. And if you're wondering, no. I have never pretended to be Bono vox, I have never even visited any u2 related pages. I find it weird that contacting me are different accounts more than a month apart. I would add photos but it won't let me upload them. I'm wondering if someone is using my mail and saying it's somehow Bono Vox related