Out of all the terrifying clips of the Capitol riot, a handful of the viral moments confused onlookers. One of them was from Yahoo News‘ White House correspondent Hunter Walker, in which he talked with a woman who identified herself as “Elizabeth from Knoxville.” Elizabeth said she made it a foot inside the capitol building before being maced and pushed out as she participated in the mob’s “revolution.” While the woman’s identity, hometown and story have yet to be confirmed, the video has made the rounds partially due to the object in her hands.
As Elizabeth talks to Walker, she is holding a round, yellow-ish object in a towel. She then holds it up to her face, seemingly to alleviate her pain. It’s unclear what the object is, but online speculators believe it’s an onion. While that might seem strange, it’s a running theory online that onions help counteract mace’s effects. However, some have also theorized Elizabeth was simply holding was off-color ice. While we might never know what Elizabeth’s full story is, it sure has led to plenty of chatter on Twitter. Scroll through to see the video in question, as well as some of Twitter users’ thoughts on the alleged onion.
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This woman was maced inside the Capitol. She told me, “It’s a revolution!” pic.twitter.com/hMKYSzrkue
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) January 6, 2021
Wait, so Elizabeth from Knoxville, who claims she was maced after storming the Capitol, was dabbing her eyes with an onion towel? pic.twitter.com/99UvDcS0Rj
— Mike P Williams (@Mike_P_Williams) January 7, 2021
Onion to the eye after mace very effective. Spoken as someone who has definitely not clashed with riot police on many occasion in their youth.
— Phil in Gibraltar (@PhilinGibraltar) January 7, 2021
Onion, then water.
One second! What is on Elizabeth’s towell? I hope is ice, but what I’ve been reading is that is a piece of an onion… what?
— Miguel Alvarez (@Malvarez2038) January 8, 2021
Some people think onions help the eyes after you’ve been pepper sprayed or maced or whatever. It doesn’t.
— David Bailey 🇨🇦 (@DABailey62) January 7, 2021
Some people think onions help the eyes after you’ve been pepper sprayed or maced or whatever. It doesn’t.
— David Bailey 🇨🇦 (@DABailey62) January 7, 2021
It’s the onion in the towel for me https://t.co/xR4jYYaVSW
— ELIZABETH ❤️ (@Propaganda_Babe) January 8, 2021
Not to bring Elizabeth up again, but what was in that towel she was dabbing her eyes with? Ice? Onion? 😳 https://t.co/db8Y7YR1mc
— Real Sore Loser Lame Duck (@RedHatsofNedCo) January 7, 2021