Apophenia is a term used to describe a number of common human behaviors including illusory correlations (the root of much superstition), probability matching, and pareidolia. This term generally refers to the human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in random data, or data which are not consistent with the perception.
Infants will stare longer at the configuration on the left than they will the right (Goren, Sarty, & Wu, 1975)
The phenomenon occurs because humans naturally seek familiar patterns to help us to identify objects in the environment. Faces, for example, are extremely important for the survival of social creatures like us, so we “see” them everywhere. There are several websites with photo galleries illustrating this tendency. One of my favorites is an extremely creepy tree photographed and posted in a forum by Matthew Ward of Cookeville, TN.
On the following pages you will find things that look like other things…
Truly Amazing Faces – A few favorites which are so detailed they seem purposeful even to the skeptic
Holy Food – Jesus, the Virgin Mary, & others appear in edible form
Clouds – Beyond bunnies & duckies
More “Signs From God” – Religious apparitions come in many forms
Miscellaneous – Trees, rocks, flatware, smoke & fire, and even injuries form religious icons and other spooky stuff
WARNING: Items found on these pages may be considered offensive by some. If you do not have a VERY good sense of humor about your beliefs, view them at your own risk!
