Hoax Museum Blog: Pareidolia

Holy Cheesecake —
A family in Scottsdale, Arizona recently made a cheesecake. As it was cooling off it, it cracked in the shape of a cross. The reporter for azcentral.com asks:


Um. I guess I'll choose option A. My wife (the cook in the family) says it cracked because they didn't make it right. If you overbeat the batter, you'll get too much air in it, which can cause the cracking.

The family decided not to eat the holy cheesecake. Instead, they hope to sell it and donate the proceeds to charity.

The Belen Miracle Window — Here's a case of pareidolia from 1927. That was the year Mrs. Baca of Belen, NM glanced up at the window that had recently been installed in the attic of her family's house and noticed "an image of Christ ascending into heaven" on the windowpane. [miracles of intervention blog]


Soon thousands of people were flocking to see the "miracle window". The Christ figure could only be seen during daylight, and only from the ground. If you stood in the attic, the window looked perfectly transparent.

The image survived attempts to clean the window, even when it was cleaned with gasoline.

But puzzlingly, the image resisted being photographed. Many tried, but only one person, Fernando Gabaldon, succeeded in getting a shot of it. He then printed the image on postcards that he sold for 25 cents each.

The window is back in the news because it's recently been acquired by the Harvey House Museum in Belen and will be on display on Dec. 21 and 22.

The Virgin Mary Stump — It can be found in Harlingen, Texas. A mesquite tree was recently struck by lightning, and now some people are saying the resulting stump looks like the silhouette of the Virgin Mary. But others say it looks like "a gnome with a peak hat." [The Monitor]

Gummy Virgin Mary — Desmond and Amy Duguay of Turner, Maine claim that they found a piece of Dot gummy candy that resembles the Virgin Mary. They've put it up for sale on eBay, and bidding is currently at $215. [Bangor Daily News]


But some are crying hoax. The website corporatemal.com notes that there are Virgin Mary molds, which might have been used to create the Virgin Mary Dot.


However, the Duguays are sticking to their guns and insist their "Gummy Virgin Mary" is no hoax. In response to the accusations, they've posted this message on their eBay auction page:

Bird Poo Jesus — Thanks to LaMa for bringing this recent Jesus sighting to our attention. A bird pooped on the windshield of Jim Lawry's car, while the car was parked in his parents' driveway outside their Brooklyn, Ohio home. When he got into his car, Lawry could clearly see the face of Jesus looking at him from within the poop. Lawry says it's "some sort of sign." [newsnet5.com]

Pareidolia Roundup—October 2012 — Rust Spot Jesus
Spotted by Marcy Marksberry on top of her farm's corn silo. She says, "I just kinda veered my head to it and I saw it and it was there. It was weird." [myfoxdc.com]



Cloud Jesus
Filmed in the sky above Egypt (by someone incapable of holding the camera steady). [allnewsweb.com]



Angels Above Swiss Lake
Captured by Google Street view. [gawker.com]



Cookie Monster Crater on Mars
Or, as NASA explains, "the superposition of younger craters on older craters (in this case two smaller craters upon the rim of an older crater)." [nasa.gov]

Martian Pareidolia: An Elephant in Lava Flow — An image released by NASA last week, taken by the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter, shows ancient lava flow on the surface of Mars, in the Elysium Planitia region. Some are saying that the shape of the lava flow looks like an elephant. Hmm. It looks like Jesus to me. (link: space.com)

Monthly Pareidolia Roundup—Jesus on columns, floorboards, etc. — Jesus on a Column
A shadow cast by a chandelier onto a column, that's next to a statue of Jesus in the school chapel of the Ursuline Academy in New Orleans. Some say the shadow looks like Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. Strangely, the shadow has been casting this shadow for years, but no one noticed before that the shadow resembled anything in particular.


Jesus Dead Ray
A dead cownose ray found by Erica Scheldt on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. She saw an image on it that at first she thought resembled a homeless man. Then she decided it was Jesus. She left it at the beach.


Plaster Wall Jesus
While working on a house in Eldroth, North Yorkshire, painter Sam Dalby moved a stereo and noticed that the plaster on the wall behind it hadn't been finished, creating an image that resembled a bearded face. And obviously a bearded face = Jesus. Dalby took some pictures of the face, then covered it with two coats of off-white emulsion.


Floorboard Jesus
Elaine Ferguson was cleaning the floor of the Old Swan Inn in Paisley, Renfrewshire when she saw a mark in the floor boards. Yup, it was Jesus!


Virgin Mary in the Sky
Kevin McAleese was walking along a beach in New Jersey when he took a picture of the sky with a cellphone. When he later looked at the photo, he could clearly see the shape of the Virgin Mary. (I'm not seeing it at all.)


Plastic Glass Virgin Mary
A family in Colombia noticed a funny brown stain on their plastic spiderman glass. It was the Virgin Mary, who had materialized directly between two pictures of Spiderman.

Burnt Toast With Image Of Romney Shaking Hands With Satan — This auction managed to generate some attention from the internet — enough to get it pulled from eBay. Try as anyone might, no one could see the image the seller claimed was there. And the guy wanted $88.40 just for shipping. Apparently the auction was really just a thinly veiled anti-Mormon diatribe. Link: gawker.com.

TV Screen Jesus — This might be in the running for the stupidest pareidolia ever. Floridian Guerda Maurice was watching the Bachelor on TV when she saw a design she wanted to take a picture of. (A design? I have no idea what she means by that.) So she picks up her phone and takes a picture of the TV screen. Later she looks at the picture she took and sees "Jesus picture". That is, there was a reflection on the screen that she thought looked like Jesus. She was so excited that she made a locket out of TV Screen Jesus. Link: wtsp.com. (Thanks, Bob!)

Face of ET Found in a Log — Ken Dobson of Chiseldon was sawing logs with a chainsaw for firewood when he saw the face of ET staring back at him from the log he just cut. Dobson doesn't say anything about believing the face to be a message from extraterrestrials. (So by American standards he's clearly nuts! Isn't it obvious this is a sign from ET?) Nor does he have plans to sell this on eBay. Instead he wants to have a professional slice more pieces from the log to see if he can get a couple more faces out of it to give to his sons. Link: BBC News. (Thanks, Hudson!)

$8100 George Washington Chicken McNugget — Three years ago, Rebekah Speight of Dakota City and her kids were at McDonalds, where they ordered some Chicken McNuggets. One of the McNuggets went uneaten, but just as she was about to throw it out, Rebekah noticed that it resembled George Washington. So she took it home and kept it in her freezer.

And just a few days ago, this decision paid off when she managed to sell the GWCM for $8100 on eBay. But she's not keeping the money. It's all going to a charity to send children to summer church camp. Where they'll spend their time looking for the face of Jesus in tree stumps and the Virgin Mary in water stains.

Actually, I can definitely see the resemblance between the McNugget and the former president. Though is it that the McNugget looks like George, or George looks like a McNugget? (link: telegraph.co.uk)

Virgin Mary seen in condom —
(via reddit)

Pareidolia Round: September 2011 — Virgin Mary Sea Shell
Felicia Avila of Rio Grande Valley found a sea shell that she says bears the image of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. valleycentral.com

Virgin Mary Rock
Tammy Tollett was vacationing in Lake Tahoe when she found a rock that she believes looks like the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. She says this is the real deal (unlike, presumably, all those other phony pareidolia). orlandosentinel.com

Concrete Jesus Face
The face of Jesus materialized on Mary Vasquez's concrete patio. She's lived in the apartment for 18 months, but only noticed the Jesus face recently. Apparently she first tried scrubbing the face off her patio with soap. When that didn't work, she called the local newspaper. the33tv.com.

Jesus on Cross
Clay Perry recently made a 7-inch cross from some leftover scraps of poplar wood. Then the grandfather of his nephew noticed it appeared to have the face of Jesus on it... right where the face should be at the top of the cross. Personally, I'm not seeing it. 11alive.com.