40 hilarious examples of Pareidolia captured on camera

Have you ever seen faces or familiar shapes in objects you shouldn’t see them? Have you seen dragon-shaped clouds or human silhouettes in the bark of random trees? Or perhaps the face of your dog in a banana slice? This weird phenomenon is known as pareidolia.

Pareidolia is something we often experience because our brains are wired to search for familiar patterns everywhere we look.

It’s nothing unusual, but it can happen in pretty odd situations. professor Kang Lee from the University of Toronto told Bored Panda:

“Pareidolia illustrates the interaction between the visual cortex and the frontal cortex of the human brain. It suggests that our brain is highly sensitive and expecting to encounter and process some special classes of objects in our environment because they are biological and socially important to our adaptions to the environment.”

Here are 40 examples of the curious experience called pareidolia captured on camera.

1. This pupper is not impressed with his lookalike.

Image credits: CloudyAero

2. Let us out!

Image credits: kabloona

3. Whatever this poor chair is going through, we all can relate.

Image credits: thirddegreebernie

4. This piece of driftwood looks exactly like a dragon’s head.

Image credits: MarliePwns

5. I cannot be the only one who sees how this cliff is nibbling on the moon.

Image credits: mok525zy

Prof. Lee said there is nothing wrong with experiencing pareidolia and it has nothing to do with paranoia or delusion. He added:

“For some people, their frontal cortex’s expectation for certain objects (e.g., faces) become so high that they see faces in many situations where no faces exist.”

6. Curves are back in style!

image credits: iseefaces

7. I wonder which song was on.

Image credits: Axel-Magoche

8. This car seems pretty happy about the snowstorm.

Image credits: nearpractical

9. Scared switches.

Image credits: adamlm

10. This is why literal fairy tales exist.

Image credits: Roach2791

In an interview with BBC Future, professor Lee said:

“If someone reports seeing Jesus in a piece of toast, you’d think they must be nuts. But it’s very pervasive. We are primed to see faces in every corner of the visual world.”

11. I thought this lady was a muppet.

Image credits: FS2017

12. These two rocks look like a mother breastfeeding her newborn child.

Image credits: xaeminn

13. I want to believe.

Image credits: mattythedog

14. This dragon tree.

Image credits: nelad1234

15. When the art looks exactly like the artist.

Image credits: Koda_Has_A_Top_Hat

As Life Science reports, religious people or those who strongly believe in supernatural forces experience pareidolia more often.

What’s more, in his book “The Demon-Haunted World – Science as a Candle in the Dark” the American cosmologist Carl Sagan issued that seeing familiar patterns in random objects was an important survival technique. According to Sagan, this phenomenon helped people tell whether an oncoming person is a friend or foe.

16. Do you see the lion wearing sunglasses on the belly of this cricket?

Image credits: opi_q

17. You thought it was a cute dog, right? Well, it’s only rust.

Image credits: XiaoRJ

18. The snow on top of this mountain looks like a huge albino lizard.

Image credits: mcspecies

19. Any Ice Age lover would get this.

Image credits: ChronicallySad

20. Overflowing cupcake fail or a masterpiece?

Image credits: Skyblue_Monty

The Rennaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci saw pareidolia as an artistic device. In a passage in one of his extensive notebooks, Da Vinci wrote:

“If you look at any walls spotted with various stains or with a mixture of different kinds of stones, if you are about to invent some scene you will be able to see in it a resemblance to various different landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide valleys, and various groups of hills.”

21. Looks like there’s a goddess in this orange.

Image credits: theone1221

22. This boiled egg that exploded while cooking and looks like a snail.

Image credits: monkeyman9608

23. I believe I can fly!

Image credits: claporga

24. This shadow looks exactly like a man’s head.

Image credits: clarkbarniner

25. This dinosaur-shaped cactus near the Superstition Mountains is dino-mite!!! 😂

Image credits: FOX 10 Phoenix

26. You’re a wizard, Harry!

Image credits: tiatiaaa89

27. Bubbles that form a little cat shape.

Image credits: HowAboutNo69

28. This awesome dog stick.

Image credits: AidanOrsargos

29. This lady is having twins.

Image credits: kYlejAEnz

30. This eagle-shaped orchid.

Image credits: kYlejAEnz

31. The pattern on this pupper’s chest looks like a cat mid sneeze.

Image credits: VintageRice

32. And while we’re on the dogs’ subject, look at this pure bread!

Image credits: HolyCoconuts

33. I’ve seen things. Terrible things.

Image credits: HashTheDankEngine

34. Have you seen the movie Alien? If you have, this pickle would probably freak you out.

Image credits: MaxMelisson

35. This is the happiest motorcycle you’ll see today.

Image credits: silodrome

36. I think these bumper cars are a little scary 😆.

Image credits: sandrasaile

37. That’s the saddest belt I’ve seen.

Image credits: iseefaces

38. Pulled the door handle off and he was as shocked as I was.

Image credits: MonsterPooper

39. The ice in this glass sort of looks like a face.

Image credits: HOOKMAN-BUTTZ

40. And lastly, here’s this ashy potato with a funny face.

Image credits: meebit

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