A weird visual experiment

Hello! how is it going folks?

So i had a weird experience, maybe a year ago, that i wish to tell you about, it goes like this...

So i was walking around a lake on this trail, that is about four feet from the water line, and i could see in the distance a figure next to a tree, that looked like a woman, so i thought to myself, i bet that is not a woman, its a piece of tree bark, so i decided to test my eyes, i started to stare the object that played tricks on my eyes, not blinking once, i walked towards the area.

As i got closer and closer to the spot, surprise, surprise it started to look more and more like a piece of bark hanging from the tree, and i saw the shapes in it, that fooled me thinking it was a human, but alas, when i was about ten feet away from it, it shifted back to a woman that had black hair and black clothes and she was completely motionless hugging the tree tight with one arm, and staring at the lake.

I slowed down and walked past her, wondering what the heck was she doing and tried to figure out how she had got there, because the terrain was not good, full of thorny bushes and what not, so she have had to hop and skip her way to the tree..

I felt uneasy because for the whole time i had thought that i was staring at a piece of bark, that had a human-like appearance, and was not expecting it to actually be a human,, and she was so still, not reacting at all to my approaching foot steps.

I wanted to say something, but i got a strong feeling that it is not a good idea, i wanted to run past her, but i could not, i only started to walk faster, so i could get away from that place and it, whatever it was..

I still feel confused, when i think about it, the whole thing looked and felt so weird, and i know that many people have drowned in that lake.

What an interesting story you have there. Very strange.

Plot twist.... it really was bark all along and you had just completely short wired your brain.

a reply to: solve
That is a definite "nope" situation. It reminds me of Bag of Bones by Stephen King.

a reply to: solve

Wow. Makes you wonder if she was a Goth, (that would explain all the black) or someone from the fairy realm.
Maybe some type of nature spirit with a connection to the lake area? I love stories like that. Thanks for sharing.

a reply to: solve

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me like that "woman," if she was a real woman and not some illusion, may have needed some help. If I were in this situation I would have called out to her just to be sure. Besides, it's not like I really expect it turn out horribly. I mean what could the "woman" possibly do to me from an area the original posters said was almost inaccessible? Yell and scream at me? Just for checking to make sure she's ok? That'd be a little nuts.

Just thinking logically here...

Welcome to pareidolia. You have specialized brain centers for finding faces in noisy data. As you approach the "face", the bark patterns/leaves/whatnot became less and less likely to be a 'face' until your fusiform gyrus at last turns off the 'possible face recognition' state and suddenly, it's all bark and you can't imagine how you saw a face in it.

a reply to: Bedlam

You need to re-read the OP - it turned out that it really was a woman rather than a piece of bark...

...So how's that work? 'Reverse' pareidolia?

a reply to: lostgirl

So how's that work? 'Reverse' pareidolia?

I believe he's saying that you didn't see what you didn't think you saw. I think....

a reply to: solve

Personally I think following your instincts to pass quickly and quietly by is the correct one. People have senses beyond the ones we usually rely on that function just fine if we would train and use and rely on them.

originally posted by: lostgirl
a reply to: Bedlam

You need to re-read the OP - it turned out that it really was a woman rather than a piece of bark...

...So how's that work? 'Reverse' pareidolia?

The people who are afraid to see what they see turn it into a nothing that way they feel safe and in control.

originally posted by: lostgirl
a reply to: Bedlam

You need to re-read the OP - it turned out that it really was a woman rather than a piece of bark...

...So how's that work? 'Reverse' pareidolia?

You're right! My bad. I stopped halfway through the fourth paragraph from the end and missed the punchline.

I would have HAD to have said something, I think. Inexplicable things provoke me to examine them up close.

Obviously, it was a woodwife. Had you done a task for her, she'd have given you a pouch of golden wood chips as payment.

originally posted by: SeaWorthy

originally posted by: lostgirl
a reply to: Bedlam

You need to re-read the OP - it turned out that it really was a woman rather than a piece of bark...

...So how's that work? 'Reverse' pareidolia?

The people who are afraid to see what they see turn it into a nothing that way they feel safe and in control.

Or they run off without looking more closely, eh?

a reply to: waarheid

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me like that "woman," if she was a real woman and not some illusion, may have needed some help.

Wouldn't she ask if she wanted help?

a reply to: SeaWorthy

Only if she was able... Seems like... I don't know because I wasn't there, but to me her hugging the tree and being motionless screams something just isn't right and she may be unable to really do much, so someone may need to help.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she was fine. Just... don't know unless you call out and see what's up.

a reply to: Bedlam

I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before someone shows up to insist that this OP amounts to circumstantial evidence that -

- that 'Martian' rat wasn't just a rodent shaped rock...

a reply to: Bedlam

Does pareidolia have pareidolia?

Why couldn't this simply be a woman enjoying the energy of the tree?

originally posted by: NewzNose
a reply to: Bedlam

Does pareidolia have pareidolia?

Why couldn't this simply be a woman enjoying the energy of the tree?

It absolutely could be. As long as she's colder than the tree, I suppose, otherwise she'll have to enjoy it as a thermal energy sink.

I understand your instinct but in the situation I think I would have asked if they were ok or needed help. If I didn't get a normal response.....run like hell.

Then let someone a few miles down the road see if the sprinting shape screaming down towards them is real or pareidolia.

a reply to: solve

Perhaps she was nailed there?