THAT'S A BONE

August 11, 2010 3:58 PM

Few phenomena have the power to confound as many different types of people as pareidolia. It doesn't discriminate by culture or religion. It causes Christians to see Jesus and Mary, Muslims to see the names of Allah and the Prophet, Jews to see the Star of David, Hindus to see the monkey-god Hanuman, and Buddhists to see — you guessed it — the Buddha. Even atheists who haven't devoted themselves to skepticism have puzzled long and hard over the famous face, and more recently, Bigfoot, on Mars. Now video has surfaced on YouTube of pseudoscientist and perennial attention-seeker Richard Heene (yes, Balloon Boy's dad) seeing things on the red planet too. If you'd prefer the filler edited out, the remix is highly entertaining.

Previously on MetaFilter: Pareidolia. Electronic voice phenomenon. Reverse speech. It's all in your head.

posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis (20 comments total)

Neil DeGrasse Tyson one put it awesomely "You know those books, they call them optical illusions? Those should be called 'Brain Failures'"
posted by lumpenprole at 4:04 PM on August 11, 2010 [8 favorites]

Mustn't forget the one about the devil in the WTC smoke.
posted by shiu mai baby at 4:07 PM on August 11, 2010

The resolution is so high they were able to capture the dashed yellow lines line of a Martian highway leading up the mountain.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:09 PM on August 11, 2010

Kind of amazing how Jeebus decides to look completely different in each manifestation. It's to test our faith, don'tcha know.
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:25 PM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

New rule: Everyone has to take a Rorschach test before they're allowed to eat grilled cheese sandwiches!
posted by qvantamon at 4:25 PM on August 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

Also, you forgot to mention that I see my my favorite deity every time I look at a bowl of pasta.
posted by qvantamon at 4:26 PM on August 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

Isn't that guy in jail yet?
posted by DU at 5:22 PM on August 11, 2010

The link mentions Richard Wiseman - who indeed has some good stuff.
posted by Rashomon at 5:41 PM on August 11, 2010

New rule: Everyone has to take a Rorschach test before they're allowed to eat grilled cheese sandwiches!

I tried taking a Rorschach test, but I failed when I let the mugger live.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:00 PM on August 11, 2010 [13 favorites]

I see faces in everything. It's sometimes creepy. I'm a Christian and I've never seen Jesus in anything but actual religious representations. I guess I'm just not blessed (or crazy) enough.
posted by TooFewShoes at 6:30 PM on August 11, 2010

Woman sees angel in photograph
posted by adamg at 7:40 PM on August 11, 2010

Reminds me of this funny take from That Mitchel and Webb look:

"Atheists from around the world have been queuing for hours for a look at this miraculous fruit section..."
posted by storybored at 7:47 PM on August 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

:)
posted by The Whelk at 8:06 PM on August 11, 2010 [5 favorites]

Even atheists who haven't devoted themselves to skepticism have puzzled long and hard over the famous face

I suppose some have. This was never a really mainstream idea - that there was some artificially constructed face on Mars - but if there were ever any doubt, that has long been cleared up.
posted by IvoShandor at 9:39 PM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

I saw a cinnamon bun in a cafe in Nashville that looked like Mother Theresa. Just looking at it cured my hiccups. Hallelujah!
posted by brundlefly at 12:24 AM on August 12, 2010

Every time I fail to see the face of Jesus in my toast, my atheism is confirmed!
posted by Decani at 12:43 AM on August 12, 2010

This one is described as representing the Virgin Mary, but it looks like something else to me. Virginity status undetermined.
posted by taz at 2:32 AM on August 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

I couldn't watch all of it - does he put forward any theories about what it is he's seeing?
posted by harriet vane at 2:56 AM on August 12, 2010

Phil Plait loves this topic.
posted by IvoShandor at 3:39 AM on August 12, 2010

This could have been yet another SLYT post, but you really turned it into something much more interesting. Well done on this post!
posted by Blake at 4:42 AM on August 12, 2010