Best Pareidolia in History: Dr. King, James Bevel, JFK, Lincoln, Goddess of Liberty in iconic photo

This iconic photograph, taken in 1965 by James Karales and published in "Look" magazine, shows the energy and determination of the activists marching from Selma to Montgomery to highlight their movement for full voting rights in the United States. They just didn’t know until recently that they had some company.



In 2009 the face of James Bevel was “found” in the cloud looking down along the line of marchers. As a young man of 28, Rev. Bevel, the Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), had initiated and called for the Selma to Montgomery March as part of the Selma Voting Rights Movement, which he'd also initiated and was running. This pareidolia was found shortly after Bevel died in December, 2008.

Then, during the recent process of polishing an article about “James Bevel’s face in a cloud” on the satirical site Unyclopedia (yes, satirical, but the faces are there) I kept finding more faces, and darn if they aren’t the images of Dr. Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Goddess of Liberty - a young pretty Goddess of Liberty. And all of them, and maybe others, are looking at the line of marchers!

The article “A guidebook to the faces” can be found at two uncylopedia sites (some of the site’s users split last January and copied the Wikia wiki):

[en.uncyclopedia.co... Guidebook to the faces at Uncyclopedia.co]

[uncyclopedia.wikia.com... Guidebook to the faces at Uncyclopedia wikia]

Cloud-sighting instructions: Some people will see the faces quickly, or at least one or two of them. Once you find one of them this at least gives you a level of trust that we're not punking you (which we might be). Or you may be able to perfectly make out none of the faces with just a brief inspection. Then, spend some time with the picture. It's not as hard as those antique books which made you stare at them for minutes to try to get a 3-D image to jump out at you, or those "I Spy" books which make you find odds and ends in a photo of a haunted house made out of miniature toys. These cloud images are identifiable once you spot them. If you get good at it, and see them all, and spend time with the photo, whenever you look at it from then on you'll see a panorama of the marchers walking for freedom and, looking down upon them, Martin Luther King, James Bevel, John Kennedy, the Goddess of Liberty, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. And Pan. Did we mention Pan?

Why am I claiming this to be the best atmospheric pareidolia ever? Because it’s in context. All of the faces that are looking down along the line of marchers had something major to do with both the freedom of African-Americans and the movement’s determination to gain the Right-to-Vote. And James Bevel’s face was found only after he’d died. Found on the exact copy of the picture that was the last thing he signed his name to!

So please go to the source and follow the instructions in the guidebook. I don’t know how to use the tool which can outline things in a picture, and that’s actually better in this case, so you can explore it on your own with just written instructions. If the faces don’t jump out at you (that would be spooky, as if this wasn’t spooky enough), spend some quality time with the picture. Make it your best friend for ten minutes or so, to get your brain adjusted to looking for images in clouds. I’d say Dr. King and JFK are the easiest, with Bevel very obvious once you see him, and the Goddess of Liberty - very cute with a little crown in her hair and and carrying a lighted staff, you just want to hug her – quite obvious too. Frederick Douglass and Lincoln, on either side of Bevel, are a bit less distinct but identifiable. Did I tell you that JFK is holding out his left hand in a thumbs up salute? Or that Pan is at JFK’s right, where he usually sat? And that King is so solid that you can actually see him as if he’s photoshopped, peeking out from behind the clouds in the upper right hand corner?

Speaking of photoshopped, some people, upon seeing the faces, may think the photo has been manipulated. From the source:

This picture was taken long before photoshopping was available. And since nobody has mentioned the faces until now, this website is either totally crazy or it is involved hip deep in the sinister plot hatched by Look magazine in 1965 to use advanced alien reverse-engineering photo technology to put the faces into the photo, then never have anyone mention it, lay low, go out of business in the early '70s, and then let someone find them 48 years after the picture was published (in the case of Bevel's face, 43 years later) who would be willing to be paid in 1960s money to write an article on a satirical site about faces in the cloud.

The line about being paid is a joke, as uncy is an unpaid wiki.

Bottom line: Even though the source is a satire site I swear on a stack of Bibles, Korans, ancestor’s graves, and a Scientology and magick book or two, that I can see them as clear as day and I hope some of you can see all or some of them too. Please give it a go, and maybe you can find even more people related to voting rights, or stray Gods and Goddesses representing freedom, just hanging around. And yes, I know it’s just a cloud, like the images found on Mars are just rocks (except for maybe Arken’s spine). Yet in the photo’s context, and taking into consideration what direction all of them are looking - as if they’re both honoring the marchers and watching over them - and the circumstances involved in finding the first face, whew, what a cloud!

I think that you need to find a picture that outlines these supposed faces -- the instructions on the linked wiki article are not particularly helpful, and I see absolutely nothing resembling a face, never mind something so distinctive that it can be clearly defined as being Dr. King or Abraham Lincoln.

reply to post by adjensen



Personally, it looks like one of the planet of the ape guys to me. Or a skull. the face is "looking" towards the bottom right corner.

I call BS

Whats really sad is the perpetrators of the BS wont even get the satisfaction of seeing their victims frustration while they search for something that isnt there.
Juvenile crap at its finest.

Should be in Jokes or hoax forum, or better yet trash forum

reply to post by TKDRL


Thanks. Who is that supposed to be? Even if I squint it doesn't really look like anything to me, never mind the claim that a photo taken in 1965 contains "cloud images" of people who were ALIVE in 1965, apparently watching over themselves.

Personally, I view it as something akin to the Mars Rat:

All I see is Hellboy on the right, with maybe the mouth of a sandworm from Dune to the left of him.

Aleister

I don't doubt the faces in the clouds but I wonder if the photo is faked, with these
subliminals added deliberately.
Look to the guy in the white shirt towards the rear. By the laws of perspective,
he must be 8-10 feet tall!

I can't see a face at all.

IkNOwSTuff
I call BS

Whats really sad is the perpetrators of the BS wont even get the satisfaction of seeing their victims frustration while they search for something that isnt there.
Juvenile crap at its finest.

Should be in Jokes or hoax forum, or better yet trash forum

This is the one I'll answer first. It's personal, mean spirited, a low blow and I hope other people come by and prove to you that they are there. Better yet, I hope you take the time to spot them, and then your sincere apology will be gratefully accepted.

reply to post by Aleister


LOL I saw an angry looking cat in the top right corner

Feel free to highlight any faces you see, when you point out the half dozen the OP claims are there then Ill eat my words.

P.s Your right and I do owe you an apology, Im sorry for either ruining your fun or ruining your point that people will see things anywhere
Which one was it?

TKDRL
reply to post by adjensen

 

Personally, it looks like one of the planet of the ape guys to me. Or a skull. the face is "looking" towards the bottom right corner.

edit on Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:43:13 -0600 by TKDRL because: (no reason given)

Thanks for the circle. The long elongated face is the one I was calling Lincoln, although it has another angle just a little to the left where it looks more like him. That's an iffy one. But in the circle you made, just to the left of center, is the Bevel face, with his eyes closed (I can see these clear as day, but maybe I'm so used to looking at them that my brain sees them quickly).

Staying on your red circe, the King face is at 1 o'clock and just outside the circle, the red is rubbing against his cheek and covering his chin. He is the black section of the white clouds there, with the top of his head in the first dark area coming down from the top, his eyes and mouth in the second dark area of the white cloud, and his chin in the third dark area in the white cloud although your red lines cover it - like he's peaking through the white clouds. Looking at that one at a high zoom or on the larger picture on the sourced article is the way to go.

The Kennedy face is larger, and is just outside your circle at starting at 9 o'clock with his chin and going up to 10 o'clock and out for his face. At 11 o'clock and out a bit you can see his sideburns and hair. He does have his left arm outstretched giving the thumbs up sign, at the same size perspective as his head, but that's a little too much until you do locate his form.

Thanks for the red circle as a reference point.

IkNOwSTuff
reply to post by Aleister

 

LOL I saw an angry looking cat in the top right corner

Feel free to highlight any faces you see, when you point out the half dozen the OP claims are there then Ill eat my words.

P.s Your right and I do owe you an apology, Im sorry for either ruining your fun or ruining your point that people will see things anywhere

Which one was it?

I seriously don't know how to highlight and upload. Old school. And please have condiments ready, words are very tuff to eat unless cooked well and served with olive oil.

No, this is a serious thing, I am having fun with it and at the same time am still a little amazed and interested in how the faces are there and how they align themselves looking down the line of marchers and can be argued, at least, to be who I say they are. If they were easy someone would have seen them before, as this is an iconic photo and has been used on book covers and other Civil Rights Movemet related material. The Lincoln one is iffy, and Hellboy may be a better description (it does have two different angles though) but the others pop out. And just wait to someone finds the Goddess of Liberty!

As for seeing things anywhere, I agree with that. Author Robert Anton Wilson says that if you can't find the Virgin Mary within 10 feet of you then you'll not doing it right (I've shown people examples of that - the Virgin Mary on trees and in soil or grass - maybe I'm just good at this but I have been able to show people what I see in things).

TKDRL
reply to post by adjensen

 

Personally, it looks like one of the planet of the ape guys to me. Or a skull. the face is "looking" towards the bottom right corner.

edit on Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:43:13 -0600 by TKDRL because: (no reason given)

I'll use this post to focus on the Goddess of Liberty, who was found late in the game and has become my favorite (she's such a cutey). All of her is in the red circle.

Go to the exact center of the red outline and move just a little to the right. That little white spot, kind of like an elongated lne, is the fire at the end of a wand or staff, which you can see as a black line going down from the "flame". She's holding the staff in her right hand (Goddess of Liberty like, which is why I call her that, along with a little crown). She's in the white cloud, and her whole head is just under the tip of the flame as she's leaning a bit to the right. Hellboy's chin is resting up against her right shoulder, which is in a fluffy white dress. The top of her head runs along 3 o'clock on the red circle, and her shoulder is up against 6 o'clock in the same circle. Look for the two little eyes, and if you can catch those, her white hair pops in and then the whole face and body down to the waist.

Thanks to anyone who takes their time with this picture and thread, and I ask you to do so because of the claim that this is one of the best example of cloud faces because of the context (quite a claim, but I'm betting I can back it up if a few people give it a go. thanks).

TKDRL
reply to post by adjensen

 

Personally, it looks like one of the planet of the ape guys to me. Or a skull. the face is "looking" towards the bottom right corner.

edit on Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:43:13 -0600 by TKDRL because: (no reason given)

And now for the head I'm calling Frederick Douglass.

He runs right alongside the left edge of your red circle, within the circle itself, from 8 o'clock on the circle up to 11 o'clock. The right side of his hair is between 10 and 11 o'clock (this circle really helps a lot, thanks again). 9 o'clock cuts across his nose, and his eyes lay just a little above that.

reply to post by Aleister

Thanks to anyone who takes their time with this picture and thread, and I ask you to do so because of the claim that this is one of the best example of cloud faces because of the context (quite a claim, but I'm betting I can back it up if a few people give it a go. thanks).

LOL I would say its one of the worst examples of cloud faces as no one can see the bloody things

I have nothing but time till January so Ill sit here and play with ya, but I must say you didnt strike me as the prankster/troll type.

If this was really a thing they would have dozens of pics with circles and highlights and outlines drawn.
Whoever set this up knows a ton of morons out there (like me) will stare at it for ages before giving up and moving on. I can appreciate this sort of thing in person and even somewhat on this site but to just put it on a website to waste peoples time, just sad and pathetic really

That said I do wish I hadnt of been such a smarty pants and had of let a few others take the bait as well, next time I ruin ur fun let me in on it and Ill edit my posts to say I see them as well

IkNOwSTuff
reply to post by Aleister

 

Thanks to anyone who takes their time with this picture and thread, and I ask you to do so because of the claim that this is one of the best example of cloud faces because of the context (quite a claim, but I'm betting I can back it up if a few people give it a go. thanks).

LOL I would say its one of the worst examples of cloud faces as no one can see the bloody things

I have nothing but time till January so Ill sit here and play with ya, but I must say you didnt strike me as the prankster/troll type.

If this was really a thing they would have dozens of pics with circles and highlights and outlines drawn.
Whoever set this up knows a ton of morons out there (like me) will stare at it for ages before giving up and moving on. I can appreciate this sort of thing in person and even somewhat on this site but to just put it on a website to waste peoples time, just sad and pathetic really

That said I do wish I hadnt of been such a smarty pants and had of let a few others take the bait as well, next time I ruin ur fun let me in on it and Ill edit my posts to say I see them as well

As I said, I'm so old school that I don't know how to circle and outline things on an internet pic and then upload them. That's why the red circle is so welcome.

And when you or some others start to see these, and I think I gave some good descriptions on the red circle posts, you'll not only going to have to apologize but I expect a drink and a handshake. There is no bait. And no, I'm not a prankster about something like this, my rep is clean on that score (I do write satire, and that's how I came across all the faces besides Bevel's in the first place, writing a satire page on James Bevel which gives more history on him than most non-satire pages have even tried. But if I'm being this serious on ATS, please be assured I'm not pranking or punking you). As I said, taking the time is important. Personally, I never could see the more complicated forms in those 3-D pics that pop out at you if you stare long enough, remember those books and posters from the '90s?

Ahh yes the magic eye pictures, those are actually quite easy to see and you can train yourself.

Looking at those pics is like looking through a chain fence, pick a spot then focus on the chain and the background will be blurry, without shifting your eyes focus on whats behind the chain and the chain will then become blurry, thats what you need to do with the magic eye pictures. Just adjust the depth of your sight so to speak.

OK so to highlight the faces and get your apology,handshake and drink what you need to do is right click on the picture and then click "save image as" this will save it to your hard drive, you can then open it in paint or whatever you have to circle or highlight the images the save it.
When your done click on the arrow between "log out" and the profile button here on ats, click on uploads and select the file from your hard drive.
In your next post click on "insert image from your library and select the highlighted image.

Simple

Once again I got plenty of time so Im happy to play this through with you

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


Thanks for the instructional on the uploading. I've never done paint, and don't even know if I have it on my computer, but will try later today but don't hold out much hope for myself. It took me years just to find out how to upload a picture to the internet. I remember now about the Magic Eye pics, trying to unfocus my eyes and all and stare at the thing. I didn't like doing that "looking into the distance" thing with those. And yes, thank you for sticking with this, and if you can be the one to start to see the faces I take back my insistence on a drink and even an apology. Appreciate that you've stuck around.

OneFreeMan

Aleister

I don't doubt the faces in the clouds but I wonder if the photo is faked, with these
subliminals added deliberately.
Look to the guy in the white shirt towards the rear. By the laws of perspective,
he must be 8-10 feet tall!

thanks. I took a look at the large picture and the guy you mention does seem quite tall, but it looks like he is walking along the edge of the highway while the others around him are into the highway a little bit, from the photographers perspective. He took a nice shot here, I like the front marchers strutting, very proud and determined activists. It's a real photo, and was used quickly in "Look" magazine. This march was a beautiful affirmation of the movement participants intention to assure the right to vote for all Americans, and by the time they were marching in this picture they knew that they had all but won that right, as Lyndon Johnson had already made a televised prime time address to a joint session of Congress and demanded that they write and pass a Voting Rights Bill. This was after the horrid scenes of the first march, which became known as "Bloody Sunday".

Going to give this a bump so people just signing in can see it, although the reception so far is chilly and forlorn. I thought some people would find the faces, they'd say "Oh my god" and it would be an ATS sensation. Instead, crickets and tumbleweeds, except for one nice soul who gave me a flag and a star (thanks ma!). Please take some time to read through the series of posts with the red circle on the pic, I think they may lead one or two folks to the WOW corner of the sideshow. thanks for looking.