Mighty Optical Illusions » Mother Nature http://www.moillusions.com Biggest Optical Illusions blog. Dedicated to visual phenomena and real life illusions. Daily updated. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:07:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 The Many Faces of Mountains http://www.moillusions.com/2011/07/the-many-faces-of-mountains.html http://www.moillusions.com/2011/07/the-many-faces-of-mountains.html#comments Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:57:22 +0000 Jill Harness http://www.moillusions.com/?p=11608 Pareidolia is what happens when someone sees the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast or Jesus in Google Earth. Essentially, it is the result of our minds taking a random image or sound and turning it in to something more significant. Some scientists, like Carl Sagan, speculate that this message is hard-wired into our [...]]]> Pareidolia is what happens when someone sees the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast or Jesus in Google Earth. Essentially, it is the result of our minds taking a random image or sound and turning it in to something more significant. Some scientists, like Carl Sagan, speculate that this message is hard-wired into our minds to help us identify human faces as quickly as possible.

One of the most famous non-divine examples of this phenomenon was the Old Man of the Mountain located in The White Mountains of New Hampshire. If you were wondering why I chose to say “was” instead of “is,” it’s because the Old Man is no more after the face fell from the cliff side in May of 2003. Even so, the face is still remembered by all of the world and it was such a major part of New Hampshire’s identity that it was used as the image on their state quarters that were released in 2000.

Here’s a composite image of the Old Man of the Mountain before and after the rock face crumbled.

If you’re looking for a similar natural illusion that is still standing, you can always head to Ebihens, France and explore the much less famous Apache Head in the Rocks pictured here.

Do any of you guys know other places where you can find human faces in nature?

]]> http://www.moillusions.com/2011/07/the-many-faces-of-mountains.html/feed 42 Tears of Mother Earth Illusion http://www.moillusions.com/2009/11/tears-of-mother-earth-illusion.html http://www.moillusions.com/2009/11/tears-of-mother-earth-illusion.html#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:51:38 +0000 Vurdlak http://www.moillusions.com/?p=5354 Tears of Mother Earth- Melting IceburgsmallA dramatic picture taken by Michael Nolan has been dubbed the face of Mother Nature crying on a canvas of melting ice and cascading water on a Norwegian Glacier. Randy Schutt discovered this amazing photo which shows a crying face in an ice cap located on Nordaustlandet, in the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. The tears [...]]]> A dramatic picture taken by Michael Nolan has been dubbed the face of Mother Nature crying on a canvas of melting ice and cascading water on a Norwegian Glacier. Randy Schutt discovered this amazing photo which shows a crying face in an ice cap located on Nordaustlandet, in the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. The tears of this natural sculpture were created by a waterfall of glacial water cascading from one of the face’s eyes, thus painting an alarming picture warning the world about the effects of global warming. Michael Nolan is a marine photographer and environmental lecturer. He has captured this picture while on an annual voyage to observe the glacier and surrounding wildlife. It’s best to quote Nolan’s words on this:

This is how one would imagine mother nature would express her sentiments about our inability to reduce global warming. It seemed an obvious place for her to appear, on a retreating ice shelf, crying.”

Tears of Mother Earth- Melting Iceburgsmall

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