The other day, Brend Glez was enjoying an afternoon at the beach in Panama when, amid that tranquility of the seaside scene, a dark figure caught her eye.

There was what appeared to be a body composed of black, tendril-like features. The form was positioned reclining in the sand, its back turned to Glez where she stood.

Glez later uploaded the unsettling-seeming footage to TikTok, where hundreds of users weighed in with their own reactions — many believing the creature to be paranormal in origin.

“I was scared!” one commenter wrote. They weren’t alone in the feeling.

But, as it turns out, Glez actually knew what the creature was all along.

Here’s that footage in full:

Though the “mystery” creature does appear to be a some sort of monster at first, it’s actually just Glez’s adorable dog.

“Her name is Lolita! And she LOVES the beach,” Glez told The Dodo.

It had all been a trick of the eye, an optical illusion that misconstrued Lolita’s undeniable cuteness with something that looks rather odd and creepy. Glez, however, just can’t see anything other than her dog playing in the sand.

“I was in shock as well to see people’s impressions about the video,” Glez said. “I ended up terrifying the whole TikTok community. And I still can’t see what scares them so much.”

After all, there’s certainly nothing scary about Lolita.

Sure enough, simply by being her playful self — albeit in a slightly confusing perspective — Lolita has captivated people around the world.

“I think that if she was aware, she would order, like, so many chicken treats right now,” Glez said. “It’s amazing the reach she’s achieved so far.”