Pareidolia or No?

 

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December 29, 2021

Pareidolia

per Merriam-Webster.com,

pareidolia, noun.
par·​ei·​do·​lia | \ ˌper-ˌī-ˈdō-lē-ə  , -ˈdōl-yə \

the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern

There is a horse, and also an owl, in my parents' wood paneling. I stared at them often during the years I lived in that house. The horse and the owl are made of the swirls and color variations in the wood. The horse looks a bit dilapidated; but the owl is perfect. It even has red eyes. I used to find it amusing to try to find "pictures" in the woodgrain. It was like finding pictures in the clouds. This is pareidolia; finding pictures, often of faces, not intentionally created, in random patterns, like woodgrain.

Some psychologists have theorized that humans tend to do this because they're lonely. I think it's nothing more than creativity; most of the time. Sometimes, however, this tendency to find pictures can be demonically inspired, or perhaps, demonically enhanced. Some additional memories I've recovered from those crazy few days when I was either truly possessed, or very heavily under the influence, involve a similar phenomena. These memories came back to me as I was thinking about devoting a chapter to this concept.

This first one took place early this year, when Johnny was here; and before he made me see ghosts everywhere. At this time, I was still very much in shock, and utterly confused about what was going on. Johnny and his crew were, at the time, pretending to be God and the guy I had known, talking to me from Heaven. I was sitting on my back porch, and they were talking constantly, yelling commands at me, mostly. Meanwhile, I kept thinking about various different men I know; seeing images of them in my mind. I didn't understand what was going on; that the demons were putting those images in my mind. I thought they were my own thoughts, but I truly didn't know why I kept thinking about those men. The thoughts seemed very out of place. All the while, Johnny was acting like a jealous boyfriend. He kept asking, angrily,
"Why are you thinking about David?! Why are you thinking about Josh?! Why do you keep thinking about other men?!"

After that, I started seeing pictures everywhere; as in, experiencing pareidolia. Since I've always seen pictures in this way, I didn't think anything about it. A tree in my yard looked like a grim reaper. A dark, hollow spot between the branches looked like the shadowed, hooded face. The hood itself was a cluster of dead leaves clinging to the branches. The trunk served as the robe. In the knots and grooves in the woodwork on my porch, I saw a girl playing baseball. Definitely a girl; I could see her ponytail.

Demons were talking,
"blah, blah, blah,"
and suddenly they said,
"Holy shit! That does look exactly like the grim reaper," having read my mind. Then they continued talking, and momentarily paused again, saying,
"Yes, that does look like a girl playing baseball."
After this went on for a while, though, they seemed to get angry about it, screaming at me,
"Will you stop seeing pictures everywhere!"
Later, after I was self-delivered, I couldn't find the grim reaper, the girl playing baseball, or anything else I'd thought I'd seen. That tree looked nothing like a reaper; and nowhere in the woodwork was a girl with a ponytail. Yet, I can find the horse and the owl in my parents' paneling. They're there, as they have always been.

This next one is hilarious, admittedly, so go ahead and laugh. Before I could hear Johnny, during the time when I thought I had a friendly spirit haunting my house, I discovered a face in a camping chair on my porch. It was one of those canvas foldout chairs; the kind people take to outdoor events. It was sitting directly across from the chair I sit in when I smoke. Every time I was outside smoking, I'd look at that chair, and there seemed to be a face in the fabric folds on the back of it. The way the fabric creased, combined with the way the light hit, created sort of a creepy smiley face.

When I first noticed it, I was amused.
"I'm too creative," I thought, with a chuckle. But then, I started to notice that every day the face looked a little bit different than it had the day before; or at least I thought so, but the change would be so subtle that I was never entirely sure. It seemed to be smiling more, or it seemed to be looking more to the left, or it seemed to be protruding more. I started thinking that was sure one creepy-ass chair, but I still thought it was all in my imagination. That is, until I found out what Johnny was. After that, I took that godforsaken chair to the dump, just in case.

Sometime later, but still early in the year, an acquaintance sent me some photos of the side of her dresser, with a message that read simply,
"See anything odd?"
Well, by that, I knew that I was looking for something odd; but I wouldn't have needed that clue. As soon as I zoomed in a little bit, I saw it. In the woodgrain on the side of the dresser, was a face. It looked, to me, exactly like the scene from The Shining where Jack Nicholson busts through the door and yells,
"Here's Johnny!"

I asked her if she was familiar with that scene, and she said that she was, but that's not what it looked like to her. To her, it looked like a face, but not that
face; not Jack Nicholson busting through the door. She confirmed that she'd never noticed the woodgrain resembling a face before. We were a little bit confused about its sudden appearance and why we didn't see it quite the same way. Still, although we disagreed about whether or not it looked like Jack Nicholson, the fact remained that we both saw a face; and not only that, but we had photographic proof. She showed the photos to other people, who also agreed that there was a face. I suspected then, and still do, that demonic influence plays a part in what we see in such instances. This may also be the reason that EVPs are sometimes interpreted differently by every person in a group, though all agree that they hear talking. This was the case when Father Ryan and his assistant, and Lee, listened to my EVPs. To me, that face in the dresser was a message from Johnny; and meant to scare me. I don't know what it was to her.

We were left with some interesting questions, though. If the face in the dresser had been an incident of pareidolia, or some other illusion or hallucination, would it have still looked the same when photographed? I have decided that it would, but only if it was truly something in the woodgrain that had always been there, like the horse and the owl at my parents' house; not like the grim reaper or the girl playing baseball; which I could never find again, much less photograph, so they must have been demon-sent hallucinations. Perhaps this is a good test. Perhaps the face in the dresser had always been there, and was an instance of pareidolia; but, demonic influence made my friend notice it, and demonic influence made me see Jack Nicholson and hear, in my mind,
"Here's Johnny!"

I theorize that demonic influence could majorly affect the outcomes of Rorschach Inkblot tests. Just food for thought.


Pareidolia?

There are a lot of photos I wish I could share, but I do not own the licences to them. I'll do my best to paint the pictures with words.

I recently saw a collection of not-supposed-to-be-haunted-but-definitely-are photos in a History group. The story behind the collection was really cool. A box of negatives was discovered among the possessions of a locally-famous photographer who passed away many years ago. These negatives were given to a man who has the equipment to develop film so that he could uncover their secrets. On the surface, they appeared to be family photos from the 1940s and 1950s. Everyone in the group was loving them, simply for their Norman Rockwell-esque charm. But, I saw something else.

Damned if there weren't shaints in every one of them! I mean, I wasn't looking for them, they were just there! And no one else seemed to notice! One of the photos featured two women posing beside a fake horse and carriage. I suppose it was something that was only there for taking photos. The women smiled, standing on the grass beside the carriage; but there were creepy, cartoony, very inhuman-looking "blotches," with faces and arms, strategically placed around them. One sat in the driver's seat of the carriage. Another hugged one of the horse's hind legs. Yet another hovered in the air above them. Two stood near the ladies; one of them resembling a large fish-headed serpent. I doubt that scratches on the negative or any other skeptic's explanation could account for it.

Another photo was of three women posing in a cemetery. They were leaning on some sort of statue, with haze all around them. Their arms and hands were all in view; and an extra, translucent arm extended out of the chest of the woman in the middle, reaching up and straightening her glasses. I know about double exposure in old photos. I've seen slow exposure photos where the subject's motion is visible, much like a flipbook; the subject is in their present position, and there's a "ghost" of their former position. I don't think that's what it was, because I don't think it was her arm. There were numerous photos with abnormalities such as those.

There was a photo of a nice-looking young couple. They were standing in front of a hedge, and partially hidden behind the man was an extremely clear female face. You'd almost think it was a real person, but it was so out of place. There was no trace of the rest of her body, and she'd have to have been standing in the bush. Furthermore, I actually identified that same female face in two other photos.

So, based on what I know about demons, I had already started filling in the blanks of this family's story. Someone in that family had demons; probably that young man. The main attachment, so to speak, was probably that female face that kept popping up, and the other goof troop performers were her crew. Furthermore, I theorized that the photographer had known exactly what was in those photos, and that's probably why there weren't any prints of them. He'd probably destroyed the prints; but kept the negatives, safely packed away in a box, out of morbid curiosity? Or for evidence?

No one else seemed to notice the anomalies in the photos; but, as I was pondering all this, another group member came along and commented,
"Oh, is that so-and-so? I used to rent his house years ago. It was haunted!"

You'll have to take my word for it about those photos, but I do have a few that I can show you.

After viewing that spooky collection, I started to wonder if there was something more that old photos could tell us. Maybe shaints show up better in black and white? Or, was there possibly something about old cameras themselves, or old film, or the old school developing process, that rendered them visible? Or, could it be that shaints, jokesters that are, might have enjoyed popping up in photos in the past, when photography was a newer commodity, and less common? Then it occurred to me that I have heaps of old photos; and access to plenty more, owned by people who will let me use them! I haven't gone through nearly all of them yet; but I have found one with something out of the ordinary going on. This photo is from a family my family knew, and was taken in the 1930s. Do you see what I see? 

And this one is the only one I ever took myself, that has... something. The photo was supposed to be of the truck; but when I zoomed in, something stood out.

 

There are posts almost daily, in groups about the paranormal, which include photos of some anomaly captured by a group member, in a random selfie, or on home security footage. If these are not photoshopped productions, then it's safe to say that spirits have no trouble showing themselves in the digital age. I still feel that there's something about old photos, though, that might make them more prominent to us.

Next, I read about full-spectrum cameras, and I want one! As I understand it, right now most so-called full spectrum cameras are regular cameras that have been modified. Humans are pretty much unable to see UV light. Some studies have found that we can see a little bit of UV light, but not much. At the other end of the spectrum is infrared light, which we also can not see. Cameras are designed with lenses that block these, which is why our photos appear truthful (to us). In other words, cameras are designed with the same visual limitations that we have.

Well, some smart and creative people started replacing these internal lenses with clear ones, and now, we can take pictures that are much closer to the real truth. We can technically take pictures of things we can't see. Our limited field of vision might prevent us from seeing the photos quite accurately, but still, these cameras produce some amazing images. One application of full spectrum cameras is that they can be used to take stunning pictures of the night sky. Using slow shutter speeds, photographers have produced nighttime photos in which the Milky Way is visible. Looking at some of these, I wondered if that's what Daisy saw when she asked me to stargaze with her.

Another application of these cameras is their potential usefulness in ghost hunting. GhostStop  Ghost Hunting Gear started making stock full spectrum cameras; no need for modifications. They're actually quite reasonably priced.

But, of course, if you want to invest a lot, you can choose to get the most powerful Canon-something model, and get it modified.

I want one. I'm not interested in taking pictures of ghosts except for providing proof that I'm not delusional, but it might be useful for that. Or, it might have the opposite effect... You see, I don't think these shaints will allow me to photograph them. They're already pissed about this book, and they regret allowing me to record their voices. They won't want to give me any more proof. Therefore, I'm willing to bet that if I were to set up one of those cameras to record me while I sleep, they'd scram; and I'd get a good night's rest. A security camera, for invisible intruders! Besides, who doesn't want to take beautiful pictures of the stars?

In the photos I shared, I see a clown peeping around from behind the leftmost man in the first one. It looks, to me, as if it resembles the child he's holding, if the child were made up as a clown. It appears to be completely solid. I can't find a logical explanation for it. My first thought was that it was a doll, but who's holding it? The child's arms are visible. Unless there's someone hiding behind that man, holding up a clown doll, which seems unlikely, that might be a shaint.

 

In the middle of the photo, between the two babies, is a man's face. In my opinion, it's far too clear to be pareidolia. He looks like Herman Munster, to me. He's transparent, and blends into the siding on the house. I don't think he's comprised of the various hues in the woodwork, though. His nose and the shadows of his brow and eye sockets stand out too much from the pattern. There are other things, some possibly pareidolia, but those are the main things I wanted you to see.

 

In the truck photo, I see a figure sitting in the cab of the truck. It looks, to me, like the profile of a woman; with a high-collared blue coat, and either a big, dark hat, or a lot of dark hair in an updo. She's not extremely in focus, but she's quite opaque. There is a branch disappearing behind her, so she's solid enough to block our view of it; she's not transparent. The border of the driver's side window is obscured as well; and she is not the border of the driver's side window, because the shape is all wrong. I can't figure out a way in which a trick of light could create this effect. The colors, especially that blue, seem out of place.