Religious pareidolia

January 3, 2007 7:41 PM

He's everywhere! previously on hot chocolate, shrimp, dental X-rays, a dog's ass and now on a couch. And we can't forget about the $28,000 grilled cheese sandwich. Religious pareidolia is here to stay.
posted by Afreemind2007 (22 comments total)

What I want to know is how these people know it's Jesus, and not some other bloke in a robe with his arms outspread. Same goes for seeing the blessed Virgin Mary in a patch of mould on the church wall...could be any chick, really.
posted by Jimbob at 7:52 PM on January 3, 2007

I am hereby instituting a new sacrilidgeous exclaimation. (Hits thumb with hammer.)

Jesus-on-a-dog's-ass!!!!!!
posted by The Deej at 7:53 PM on January 3, 2007

I walked around a corner at the V&A and yelled "Jesus Christ on an Ass!"
posted by eriko at 7:57 PM on January 3, 2007

My grandmother had a worn green corduroy-ish curtain in her bedroom that had a whole menagerie lurking in it. It was a pareidolic goldmine. I swear it had the complete Hindu pantheon and the cast of every Star Trek series, just for starters.
posted by fleetmouse at 8:07 PM on January 3, 2007

Of course any image of Jesus with long hair is inaccurate, because the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:14 that "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" Verily, Our LORD could not have such a shonda on his kopf.
posted by davy at 8:13 PM on January 3, 2007

You could make a lot of money selling religious artifacts like Jesus toast and splinters from the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Oh, wait, that idea is centuries old.
posted by caddis at 8:16 PM on January 3, 2007

Wait, what? Splinters of the cross??? I have been using them as toothpicks!
posted by The Deej at 8:17 PM on January 3, 2007

+
posted by kozad at 8:19 PM on January 3, 2007

I'm convinced that there's a devil face on the closet door in the upstairs bathroom. One of these days I'll get around to taking a picture of it...

The ability for us humans to see faces where there really aren't any is really cool, and the hubub we make as a result I find amusing.

You used to be able to go see a face in the side of a mountain, a face composed of mountains, and at least two faces on the surfaces of some more foreign places.

Great post, btw.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:22 PM on January 3, 2007

Jesus on a tortilla, for less than thirty dollars.
posted by Brian B. at 8:23 PM on January 3, 2007

Also.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:24 PM on January 3, 2007

I'm convinced that there's a devil face on the closet door in the upstairs bathroom.

Spooky! I see a face in my bathroom mirror everytime I look at it! It's hideous!
posted by The Deej at 8:30 PM on January 3, 2007

"I see a face in my bathroom mirror everytime I look at it! It's hideous!"

Are you sure you're not looking at a snapshot of me?
posted by davy at 8:34 PM on January 3, 2007

Pareidolia, cool new word of the day. Thanks for the neat post, Afreemind2007. I like that the Jesus on the dog's ass is shown on the Get Behind Jesus site. It's hilarious, there is a Click Here To Witness a Miracle box and it opens into an elaborate gold frame with the dog's heinie in the middle and some kind of flash thing so that the Jesus image appears more clearly in the fur and pucker. Insane.
posted by nickyskye at 8:44 PM on January 3, 2007

You can have a home-made Jesus-appeared-on-my-food with JesusPan!. Omelette, pancake, whatever you like - heeeeeeere's JESUS!
posted by tzikeh at 8:48 PM on January 3, 2007

What do you think the reaction would be if I were to purchase both the Virgin Mary toast stamp and the JesusPan for the church I work at?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:53 PM on January 3, 2007

You'd better not pout;
You'd better not cry;
Gonna find out;
I'm tellin' you why;
Jesus Christ is coming to town!
posted by Pollomacho at 9:01 PM on January 3, 2007

CitrusFreak12: I'll pay for half if you blog the results.
posted by The Deej at 9:09 PM on January 3, 2007

First there was that hospital window, and then that motorway wall, but I just brushed it all off as unnerving chance*, but THIS. . . I believe! I believe! (NSFW - images of extreme miraculousness)

* Psalm 14:1
posted by dgaicun at 9:11 PM on January 3, 2007

A map would be nice.
posted by unmake at 9:15 PM on January 3, 2007

dgaicun, nice virgin mary ellens.
posted by obol at 9:39 PM on January 3, 2007

How 'bout these faces?
Whose face is that in the 9/11 smoke? Mother Theresa in a cinnamon bun. Youtube of Paul Newman singing Plastic Jesus in Cool Hand Luke.
posted by nickyskye at 10:22 PM on January 3, 2007