Monkey’s Paw Illusion

This illusion greatly reminds me of an old horror story by W. W. Jacobs, called Monkey’s Paw. If you haven’t read it, you’ve probably encountered the motive in numerous cartoons, movies or series where the person receives some kind of mysterious monkey paw from India, which is a talisman that grants wishes, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. Each time a wish has been granted, one of the fingers of the paw contract. There’s a great chance you’ve seen the reference in one of the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror specials. Anyway, can you see what’s so mysterious about the hand shown below? Hint word of the day: Fringe.

136 Replies to “Monkey’s Paw Illusion”

    1. The lego is probably there just to draw your attention away from the fingers so you don’t notice what’s wrong with the picture.

  1. Don’t know if this is an illusion. Not sure what the deal is with the lego but other then that the hand had 6 fingers instead of 5.

  2. Besides the Lego block being held in by nails in the palm (What’s that there for?), there are 5 fingers in addition to the thumb.

  3. Well.. If I stare at the Lego, the fingers begin dissappearing one at a time. The last one to dissappear is the middle finger, so it kind of looks like i’m getting the bird.

    1. You are right. I thought, like others, it was just the extra finger but did as you wrote and it worked. Cool

    2. James Smith, exactly correct. The illusion isnt the 6 fingers. the illusion is to stare at the lego and the fingers slowly disapeer leaving a clear image of some one giving you the bird (the version where there thumb also is extended)

    1. lol c-c-c-c-combo breaker, classic. Im drawing a blank as to what game it was from. I want to say something from the sega era.

  4. Anybody else notice that there’s people on the fingers? Like pictures, all except the thumb… and i didn’t even relize there was six fingers till i looked at the comments…

  5. Very cool if you stare at the Lego piece (though it seems like it could have been done without something so out of place). Fringe is one of the best shows on TV, if not the best. It just keeps getting better and better!

  6. I don’t understand this. Yes it clearly has six fingers, but what’s the illusion? Is the sixth finger actually coming from another hand that is behind and therefore blocked by the one that we can see? And what’s up with that Lego piece? It’s clearly not a real Lego piece but a computer graphic, but is it a sticker and if so is it stuck to the hand or to a window or other glass surface against which the hand is pressed?

  7. um hello? does no one else wish to point out that this is a story by edgar allen poe? not by w w jacobs? his was a copy cat of the original. and the simpsons episode was based on the story by poe as well.

  8. I tried starting at the lego block, as James Smith suggested. Nothing whatsoever happens. The fingers do not disappear. I think the lego block is there to distract your eyes from the real illusion – the five fingers.

  9. Aside from the five fingers and thumb, and the lego with a slice taken out of it, it looks like there are two nails protruding out of the left side of the palm. Ouch.

  10. I’m struggling on this one as well, clearly too many fingers, and staring at the yellow block (that looks a bit like a lego brick but isn’t) does kind of make most of the fingers dissapear (the larger the picture the easier I found that) and it also turns the blue handprint white.

    The hint Fringe is definitally for the TV series, similar to the picture used for the letter S (pictures are used before and after advertisment breaks, and if you add them all together for the episode, it spells a word) but the yellow thing is norally a dot and is in the wrong place.

  11. It has six fingers, and while that’s kind of weird it strikes me as way to obvious to be the ONLY thing wrong with this picture. Please post update :3

  12. The Chinese character superimposed over the lego block is a nice touch: 幻
    I don’t know the strict meaning in Chinese, but in Japanese it’s read “maboroshi”, and means “illusion” or “phantom”
    ^_^

  13. Besides the obvious 6 fingers, there’s a face on the palm below the base of the index finger and an eye on the thumb. If I stare at the Lego block, some of the fingers do seem to fold to a fist or disappear.

  14. OH!I think i get it… if you look at the lego it looks like just 5 fingers. As always. Because it s a bright yellow, The colour can destract us from looking at the amount of fingers! Cool.

  15. 6 fingers and a yellow lego block plus it’s not a monkey’s paw? i don’t get it. btw can you tell us more about the monkey’s paw story? horror story much appreciated :)

  16. I didn´t see it has 6 fingers untill I read the comments because I was wondering about the lego haha.
    So it´s kind of an illusion…

  17. The image is off the TV show fringe, about fringe science eg crazy mutations, this image shows the handprint of a person with polydactylism (like hannibal lector does, not that he has anything to do with fringe). The lego cube does not appear on the TV show so as a guess its someones attempt at a watermark

  18. Yesterday I looked at this in my RSS feeder and totally didn’t see it, this morning I looked at it in my Mac Widget and it was so obvious. Not an illusion I would expect to be easier to notice when tiny instead of full size though.

  19. and yes, another illusion in it is that if you stare at the lego the fingers start to disappear. double illusion!!!

  20. interesting responses. i like james smith’s, who went beyond pointing out the 5 fingers+ 1 thumb. still, when i focus in on the lego brick, the fingers disappear in a less obvious fashion for me.

    I personally think that the lego brick is placed to draw your attention away from counting the fingers. when you first look at the image, your brain processes the whole thing as being “relatively normal” except for the lego brick, which stands out. I think its meant to draw your attention away from the fingers for as long as possible, as you try to figure out why it’s there. its more of a case of optical misdirection to me, not so much an illusion

  21. HA you all got it wrong. Its a monkey, can you see it? And yes if it were a hand the 6 fingers is obvious.. The monkey however took a little bit to see.

  22. I wonder at the lego as well. There was one episode of “fringe” where a little lego pirate figure kept watch over Olivia and Astrid in a strange interaction. Can not think of any other significance of the lego piece

  23. I read the monkey’s paw, and now im trippin as the fingers disappear… also, I think monkeys are SUPPOSED to have 6 fingers… WAIIIT NOOOO

    GAAAh

  24. Nice, I didn’t see it (late last night, early now, no coffee yet) because I was starring at the Lego. But thats the whole point, so it works fine. :)

    Or if you want me to post like everybody else:
    It has an extra finger! Easy peasy! What’s with the cube dough? I am awesome for seeing it just as it is. I am not tricked!

    Sorry, still no coffee, but sometimes I wished people would think about what people want to read before they comment.

  25. Probably not what was intended, but if you look at the palm, there is a cross created by the creases, and then there are three nails around and through the Lego.

  26. how is this supposed to be an illusing ??
    a print of a hand with 5 fingers & a yellow logo brick ?

    Dictionary Definition
    illusion
    n.
    1.
    a. An erroneous perception of reality.
    b. An erroneous concept or belief.
    2. The condition of being deceived by a false perception or belief.
    3. Something, such as a fantastic plan or desire, that causes an erroneous belief or perception.
    4. Illusionism in art.
    5. A fine transparent cloth, used for dresses or trimmings.

  27. Those lines at the LEGO brick are not nails.
    They are the chinese word “huan” 幻. there should be a second word behind hidden in the dark that says “ying” 影. Together, the word “huan ying” 幻影 means illusion.

  28. cgimusic is colour blind the lego is yellow

    also – if you stare at the lego brick and focus the nativity scene appears with the three wsie men following the star of the east

  29. it has six fingers and i actually had to look at the comments when i saw that… didnt see it, looks soooo normal WOW. I can kinda see faces in the fingers… maybe there supposed to be mokeys???

  30. Having looked at the fringe poster there are extra images. Take a close look at the little finger – there is an image of a person(looking rather like a Gandalf figure). None of the fingers has fingerprints as such. images maybe.

  31. There are faces and images in all 6 fingers…………………………………i still dont know what that lego is for :?

  32. I find it strange that none of the fingers look like an extra finger. They all seem perfectly normal. Yet there is an extra, I just don’t know which one it is. Interesting.

  33. in case no one knew, those markings right below the lego make up the chinese word

    which roughly translates to imaginary, dreamy, unreal, etc.

  34. in each of the fingers i see a creepy girl looking 0.0 but in the thumb..i see a hand reaching twords the left of the fingers…u might have to angle the pic a litlle to see some of these

  35. i dont c anything really. but if u just stare at the lego, then the fingers seem to slowly fade away. but they dont fade away completely.

  36. The answer is: there are 6 fingers in total, including the thumb. Stare at the yellow lego block and you will notice that the fingers seem to dissappear.

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