Is Pareidolia Responsible For Those Ghostly Faces?

A phenomenon known as face pareidolia is described as seeing faces in random places. The human brain is hard-wired to see faces even when they're not really there. People see faces in all sorts of things, from a shadowy face on Mars, to President Kennedy in a rock formation, to the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich.

Most people are ridiculed for reporting seeing these types of images, but Dr. Kang Lee, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, said in a written statement,

But our findings suggest that it's common for people to see nonexistent features because human brains are uniquely wired to recognize faces, so that even when there's only a slight suggestion of facial features the brain automatically interprets it as a face."

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com...

Here is a piece of toast that some say shows a picture of Jesus:


And here is a rock formation in the Canary Islands, said to look like the head of a Native American chief wearing a headdress.


Some say they can see the face of Jesus on Mt. Diablo in California.


This nebula looks a bit like a witch.


And these craters on Mercury look like Mickey Mouse.


Now, after reading the full article from the source page and seeing these pictures, do you think any of these ghostly images below could be caused by face pareidolia?

Source for pictures: images.search.yahoo.com...;_ylt=A0LEVjT8mHZT6TEAwXcPxQt.;_ylu=X3o'___'Bsa3ZzMnBvBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--?_adv_prop=image&fr=yhs -iry-fullyhosted_003&sz=all&va=ghostly+faces&hspart=iry&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_003







I see a couple that could be due to pareidolia, but I have to say, some look too real to mistake, unless it's a camera malfunction.
As for the orbs, anytime I see a face in an orb, I consider it's real. A piece of dust doesn't usually show a face.

Does anyone have any personal photos of ghostly faces/images they would like to post and let the ATS community see what they think?

COME ON! BE BRAVE!

originally posted by: sled735
Does anyone have any personal photos of ghostly faces they would like to post, and let the ATS community see what they think?

I don't have a photo, merely a yarn. I was once shown...by an archaeologist...a black and white photo of a house that was apparently haunted, and was build atop an ossuary. Pareidolia or not...the shrubbery was full of Iroquois false-faces. Freaked us both out.

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck

Yarns are good too.

a reply to: sled735

I've taken pictures underwater, both facing the surface and right through the water ahead.

Each set had some where I thought there could be faces, but in zooming in, I saw that the ones facing up, were distortions of me and fish and background and the ones forward were just currents and different shades from the darkening distance.

Do ghosts exist?

No clue.

I haven't seen or captured one in a pic though.

Gotta say though, your pic 8 is probably dust motes near the camera, and the 9th is just odd moisture in the concrete bricks. The nebula, toast, mountain, yeah paeradolia, too IMO.

Okay, I'll go first. Here is a picture of my cousin's late husband standing beside a tree he planted when they were first married. There is no tree there where he is... it's his ghost!
I've shared this in a few threads, but I'll share it again here.




NEXT

I've got one here for you that my uncle took. Couldn't find the original in my email so I snapped a screen shot off of fb.

a reply to: sled735

Ok, that's pretty weird.

a reply to: TiedDestructor
Do you have any way to circle the area where the ghost is? If not, can you tell us where to look? I don't see anything. lol

a reply to: TiedDestructor

At first I saw a giant face in the whole lower half of the window.

Then I saw what I think you meant in the lower left of the top portion of the window.

Smudges, shadows, angles?

For some reason it seems when I type w i n d o w correctly it shows a "__"

WTF

a reply to: Chamberf=6

just to test: window.


eta: so.. S.O.'s tweak of ATS recently doesn't like us typing w i n d o w.

originally posted by: TiedDestructor

But for God's sake don't say it's in the window. !!

a reply to: TiedDestructor

I see something on the left side that could be a man's face in the bottom pane of the top window. Is that what you want us to see?

ETA: Yeah, that's what I meant.
Were his windows clean? If so, that's a decent capture! If not, it could be smudges on the w i n d o w.

originally posted by: sled735
a reply to: TiedDestructor

I see something on the left side that could be a man's face in the bottom pane of the top window. Is that what you want us to see?

ETA: Yeah, that's what I meant.

Were his windows clean? If so, that's a decent capture! If not, it could be smudges on the w i n d o w.

Not his house he was out looking for one and took them. I just thought this was a great example. Not a ghost.

However I couldn't convince him it wasn't a 19th century man.

originally posted by: TiedDestructor

originally posted by: sled735
a reply to: TiedDestructor

I see something on the left side that could be a man's face in the bottom pane of the top window. Is that what you want us to see?

ETA: Yeah, that's what I meant.

Were his windows clean? If so, that's a decent capture! If not, it could be smudges on the w i n d o w.

Not his house he was out looking for one and took them. I just thought this was a great example. Not a ghost.

However I couldn't convince him it wasn't a 19th century man.

It look like Abraham Lincoln. LOL
Yes, that's a great example. Thanks!

originally posted by: Chamberf=6
a reply to: Chamberf=6

just to test: window.


eta: so.. S.O.'s tweak of ATS recently doesn't like us typing w i n d o w.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I have many times experienced the auditory equivalent of pareidolia. It occurs when I am hearing white noise such as a fan, air conditioner, or heavy wind. I've heard what sounds like an old radio station or a crowd of people talking, but I can't quite make out what is being said, symphonic music, and once I heard what sounded like gypsy violin. I have wondered if others experience this. I don't really like to bring up the subject because I don't want people to think I'm schizophrenic. I'm not sure if it's a neurological disorder or if it's something others experience and just don't mention.

originally posted by: sled735

originally posted by: Chamberf=6
a reply to: Chamberf=6

just to test: window.


eta: so.. S.O.'s tweak of ATS recently doesn't like us typing w i n d o w.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

show off.

originally posted by: Chamberf=6
a reply to: Chamberf=6

just to test: window.


eta: so.. S.O.'s tweak of ATS recently doesn't like us typing w i n d o w.

It's never liked the word window . If you have any sort of punctuation next to it, like a comma or period, the word won't show up. Put a space before the period at the sentence end when typing window .

originally posted by: skunkape23
I have many times experienced the auditory equivalent of pareidolia. It occurs when I am hearing white noise such as a fan, air conditioner, or heavy wind. I've heard what sounds like an old radio station or a crowd of people talking, but I can't quite make out what is being said, symphonic music, and once I heard what sounded like gypsy violin. I have wondered if others experience this. I don't really like to bring up the subject because I don't want people to think I'm schizophrenic. I'm not sure if it's a neurological disorder or if it's something others experience and just don't mention.

Ahh, don't worry. The world is full of people like us. Don't believe me? Click on my signature and read through the pages... all 251, so far!!
I usually run my fan beside my bed to block out the noise while I sleep. To be honest, I haven't heard anything, but that could be because I have ringing in my ears that takes over my focus. It drives me crazy when it's quite!