Pareidolia poll


i-8c87ab4d1ce1b1fdd384ae703d12b4fe-jesus_moth.jpg

Two things I find absurd are people who see Jesus in random patterns, and internet polls that try to impose patterns in noise. Here’s something that does both: a moth was found with speckles that are supposed to look like Jesus.

“His hair right here and you can see the mustache and the beard and there’s a little slit right there that looks like His mouth and when he would move the mouth would open so it looked like he was trying to talk to you.”

Kirk Harper spotted the moth on an RV trailer Monday, and right away could tell it was unique.

“I immediately thought it looked like Jesus and that was what was so cool cause you’ve seen His face in grilled cheese sandwiches and windows and things but on a moth’s back…we thought that was pretty neat.”

Just to top off the silliness, the story comes with a poll to ask if you see a face. Yeah, I do — it’s Charles Manson.

Comments

  1. Mandy says

    Actually, it looks kind of like Satan to me. The brown section up top kind of has two big horns, and there’s even a pointy beard at the bottom of the face in that section of brown. Hmmm . . . what does this mean!?!?! Ha!

  2. says

    I…genuinely don’t see a face.
    These things still piss me off to no end. It’s ridiculous for SO many reasons, as I’m sure everyone here already knows.
    1) That vague description matches any near-human with a beard. 2) How the hell does anyone know what Jesus looks like anyway? When are the earliest paintings of him? Centuries after his (alleged) death? 3) Really? THIS is how god chooses to reveal himself to the world? A tacky stunt on a moth’s back? Not, you know, suddenly appearing in the sky to all of humanity and saying “Sorry about cancer. My bad. It won’t happen from now on” and curing everyone?

  3. says

    Whoever it is, they’re wearing a turban and touching their temples as if trying to communicate psychically with someone…

  4. says

    Oh, for crying out loud. Haven’t they ever seen an Imperial Moth before? They pretty much all look like that. In fact, a lot of the ones in Bug Guide look more face-like than that one!

    Personally, I think the “face” looks more like your classic Zoroastrian priest than anything else.

  5. valdemar says

    I see D’Argo from the spiffing space adventure series Farscape. Who’d have thought he would appear on a moth, like religious fictional characters?

    And I would like my Sad Old Nerd t-shirt in a size M, please.

  6. Yossarian says

    In my opinion, it looks like Jerry Garcia, as depicted in one of those Peter Max illustrations from the 1960’s.

    I’m guessing that I’m not the only person who isn’t surprised to learn that the moth was found (a) on an RV; and (b) in Texas.

  7. Sophist says

    I dunno, with the thing on “his” “forehead” and the two lobes to the sides it looks more like a cross between Charles Manson and a French lop to me.

    Also:

    Members are keeping the moth at the church. They say if anyone wants to buy it, the money would go towards relocating the church.

    “Pieces of the true cross, twelve for a buck, get ’em while their holy!”

  8. Qwerty says

    I don’t know. It looks like an Assyrian King to me. Then, maybe I am an ass-yrian for seeing it.

    As for finding Jesus in a grilled cheese sandwich, you HAVE to eat it or face the wrath of Bill Donohue and the Catholic Cheese League.

  9. says

    Kirk Harper spotted the moth on an RV trailer Monday, and right away could tell it was unique.

    If RV parks in Texas are anything like the ones here in Alberta, Kirk probably sees a lot of things in other things, like seeing a refreshing apéritif in a bottle of Aqua Velva.

  10. WRMartin says

    To me it looks like Gilda Radner’s Saturday Night Live character, Emily Letella, wearing a veil.

    What do I win?
    ;)

  11. Amber says

    I swear it’s Rasputin on that moth…or at least a version of him close to most cartoon depictions I’ve seen.

  12. Holbach says

    Holy shit, a flying shit face of the jeebus! Bring that sucker down with hurled crackers!

  13. Deepsix says

    “Actually, it looks kind of like Satan to me.”

    I agree with Mandy. I saw it the same way she did.
    Clearly, this evil moth species needs to be eradicated.

  14. says

    Heh. I blogged about this this morning. To me it looks like Mohammed – from the Danish cartoons. Or, a good likeness of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

  15. Hap says

    Someone needs to calibrate their drug dosages or change to another medication. Call your doctor, please.

    Oh, people see lots of things in the clouds. My ability to see an alligator up there doesn’t mean that there actually is one there, or somewhere else – my ability to do so is irrelevant. If you are that desperate to have proof for that in which you believe, a better thing to do might be to ask why rather than to make up proofs that don’t prove anything, other than perhaps your desperation or lack of logic.

  16. firemancarl says

    I see a set of tits on top on of an ice cream cone. With the yellow streak making it look like cleavage. I prefer tits over Jebus any day.

  17. says

    I don’t recall Jesus’ bald spot being so prominent. And purple eyes? And a really long pointy beard? And a Hindu “wisdom dot” on His forehead? Definitely not JC.

  18. Lago says

    Here is your problem right here:

    “Kirk Harper spotted the moth on an RV trailer”

    Also, I am going to have to go with the above stated fact that this is actually a Zoroastrian Priest.

  19. Siamang says

    Okay, that’s silly. You’re right, PZ.

    But may I offer something you should be covering:

    Elizabeth Dole’s campaign seems to think that atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and humanists should not be allowed to meet with their candidates. They are attempting to embarrass Democrat Kay Hagan for having the guts to attend a fundraiser organized by the Secular Coalition for America. That’s right, the same group that the Democrats decided couldn’t attend their “values and unity” summit.

    Dole Campaign Communications Director Dan McLagan: “You can tell a lot about a person by their friends and these are friends most North Carolinians would not be comfortable having over for dinner.”

    We’ve got a lot of atheists fired up about this, over at Friendly Atheist. We’re taking action.
    http://friendlyatheist.com/4272/email-to-the-elizabeth-dole-campaign/

  20. says

    @ Dan B.
    If I recall my art history, the earliest pictures of Jesus we have depict him with short, blond, curly hair. It was the beauty ideal at the time. (Think adult Cupid.) It wasn’t until the Byzantine emperor Roger had Jesus depicted to look like him that we got the image we know today – caucasian with a gaunt face, long brown hair and beard.

  21. Raynfala says

    Really? THIS is how god chooses to reveal himself to the world? A tacky stunt on a moth’s back? Not, you know, suddenly appearing in the sky to all of humanity and saying “Sorry about cancer. My bad. It won’t happen from now on” and curing everyone?

    <bug-eyed>
    <spittle>
    <agitated>
    But… but… but… GOD doesn’t WORK that way!!!
    </agitated>
    </spittle>
    </bug-eyed>

    Ooops… forgot the <sarcasm> tag… my bad :^)

  22. Hap says

    I thought Jesus was supposed to eaten with lots of the social outcasts of his time – the unwillingness for Dole and friends to do so (and to oppose others doing so) tells you more about what Dole believes in than she might perhaps have wished. I’m sure she can find someone else to eat with – in a few months W will be free (I hope) and they can discuss hypocrisy and the art of Constitutional deconstruction at length.

  23. jimmiraybob says

    Clearly it’s Nostradamus with an afro and giant goat ears. Anybody that’s not biased will agree.

  24. says

    Continued OT

    Elizabeth Dole’s campaign seems to think that atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and humanists should not be allowed to meet with their candidates. They are attempting to embarrass Democrat Kay Hagan for having the guts to attend a fundraiser organized by the Secular Coalition for America. That’s right, the same group that the Democrats decided couldn’t attend their “values and unity” summit.

    Dole Campaign Communications Director Dan McLagan: “You can tell a lot about a person by their friends and these are friends most North Carolinians would not be comfortable having over for dinner.”

    We’ve got a lot of atheists fired up about this, over at Friendly Atheist. We’re taking action.

    Dole is one of the worst and most ineffective Senators employed right now. She’s awful and this doesn’t surprise me. She’s pissed at the effective campaign that Hagan is running against Dole’s senatorial record, what there is of one.

  25. Mike says

    I guess this says something about me, like a Rorschach test, but I see the dark lobes above his head as a set of breasts in a bikini top! There is even a belly button and his face is actually a skimpy bikini bottom.

  26. michel says

    from the priest at the end of the movie clip:

    “if he [the creator] can do that to a little moth, imagine what he can do to our lives”

    what a humble christian he is!

  27. Ubi Dubium says

    I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie, but I changed by mind.

    Honestly – it’s Jafar from Alladin!

  28. Chief says

    I see:
    a Samurai warrior
    Genghis Khan
    a concept drawing of Darth Vader (which makes sense, given #1 and that the inspiration behind a lot of the Star Wars characters were samurai warrior films)

  29. Patricia says

    Silly Raynfala, Everybody knows – gawd doesn’t need to report for duty any more. He sent Holbach some prophets. It’s heavy brain work, but do try to keep up. ;)

  30. ILYa says

    Holly FSM it is PZ Myers!!!
    Although early in the morning and with a zit on his forehead.

  31. Thrillhouse says

    My first thought was a balding Mesopotamian male, but then I noticed the bindi and now I’m really confused. I guess I’m back to random pattern.

  32. Neil B says

    Yeah, it really does look a lot like Charles Manson – even with that little spot in the middle of the “forehead”, where Manson has his little swastika tattoo IIRC>

  33. robert estrada says

    To me it looks like the back og Yoda’s head when he still had hair. See the pointy ears?

  34. Matt Hussein Platte says

    It’s obviously Ganesha — viz the third eye and the trunk that y’all have confused with a beard. And how do you explain those elephant ears: Jeebus wears pigtails!? Oh sure he’s gay, but pigtails?

  35. ennui says

    How the hell does anyone know what Jesus looks like anyway?

    IIRC, Jesus looks just like a combination of Mithra, Hercules, Baal, Krishna, Dionysus, and Epicurus. Does that help?

  36. Wade says

    Hey wait! There is a dot on “his” forehead. Its obviously one of the many Hindu deities. Also I don’t think Jesus had long dog ears or a fro.

    And he said unto me “I am the lord, the lord of funk”

  37. Karley says

    When you sit on the toilet in my childhood house, the glare hits the door across from you in such a way, that it reveals a serene shroud-of-Turin Jesus face. Used to freak me out when I was little- Jesus is watching you poop!

    I’ve told my mom that when the time comes that she sells the house, I want the door removed. That way I can claim that it’s a miracle and charge gullible Catholics $30 a pop to touch it.

  38. Sastra says

    Dan B #3 wrote:

    Really? THIS is how god chooses to reveal himself to the world? A tacky stunt on a moth’s back?

    Yes, eager belief in the most trivial manifestations of The Ultimate Necessary Infinite Eternal and Unchangeable Creator of the Universe always strikes me as weird, but I shouldn’t be surprised. When you get right down to it, there’s just as much disconnect between the enormous scope of the God concept, and Jesus deciding to impress us as really being God by “coming back from the dead.” Big frickin’ whoopy-doo. Credulous stories of people coming back from the dead were and are a dime a dozen. Like “changing water into wine” or curing blindness with spit, it’s popular parlor tricks. Pick a card, any card.

    I vaguely remember hearing about a story where the main character was given the power to change the laws of physics and bend the laws of nature — but only by doing a simple and ordinary card trick that 5 year old children could do. It’s just that, when he did it, the magic was real. Undetectable, and unremarkable — but the real deal.

    Maybe God is like that hapless character in the story, capable of enormous power and ability, but trapped into manifesting itself in the most banal ways — faces on moth wings, and “inspiring” people to do something they were thinking about doing anyway.

  39. Lee Picton says

    Hey! Thanks for the info on Kay Hagan, a person I never heard of. But I sure know who she is now. I linked right on over to her website and donated $25. I wish it could have been more but the life membership to the FFRF tapped me out for quite awhile.

    Oh, and I’m sorry – I can’t see a damned thing on the moth. Does this mean I do not have a discerning spirit?

  40. says

    A sailboat?

    Honestly I can’t see anything other than a moth. Its quite a pretty moth, but a moth nonetheless. Someone needs to show these people a Death’s Head Hawk Moth. Though they’d probably claim its been sent by Satan or somesuch nonsense.

  41. Aphrodine says

    To quote Family Guy, “Are you sure it was Jesus? Are you sure it wasn’t… nothing?”

  42. John Bode says

    I see a cross between Rob Zombie and Pippi Longstockings.

    Not that Jesus would have looked much like that anyway.

  43. mothra says

    Looks like a beat-up male specimen of Eacles imperialis to me. The only face might be that of Mr Ed. I didn’t know that god (even metaphorically) beat horses.

  44. Wade says

    You know for an omnipotent being God sure isn’t much of an artist. When my son draws pictures no one has to point out anything to me.

    You see it looks like Jesus if you close one eye, Squint the other, turn your head to the side, and think happy thoughts.

    It seems that if a perfect, all powerful being was really trying to put his sons face on things it wouldn’t be random things, it would be something symbolic. “I will put Jesus’ on a grilled cheese sandwich to teach the humans about the importance of calcium”

  45. Penny says

    If you look, you’ll see that it’s actually Siva. He has a third eye in the middle of his forehead. Om mani pa… errr.. I forgot the rest.

  46. Die Anyway says

    I scanned teh intertubes for more E. imperialis images. There is a lot of variation. I think the one in question would look much less like a face if the wings didn’t obscure the abdomen in a pointed fashion and if we had a bit better resolution. I’m reminded of the face on Mars. In any case, it’s laughable that Christians see Jeebus or Mary but when Muslims see iconic figures it’s always Arabic letters associated with Allah or Muhammed or whatever since images of people are forbidden. Personally I liked the Ganesha choice. A friend has a “Ganesha Loves You” bumper sticker on his truck and it draws a lot of odd comments.
    Eat well, stay fit, Die Anyway.

  47. jj says

    I must have a bad imagination, I really only see the moth, I keep trying to see this ‘face’ to no avail… Where the hell am I supposed to see this face? Is it like one of those damn magic eye puzzles?

  48. kermit says

    My first thought was “Evil Jesus!” so I guess I’m part of the Rasputin / Chas. Manson group. Still, I assumed the topic when I saw the headline, so I may have been biased before the mighty powers of my pareidolia were cast loose.

  49. Hoosier X says

    If that’s Jesus depicted on those moth wings, then He has some huge boobies!

    On His return there will be holy milk for everyone to supplement the loaves and fishes!

  50. craig says

    Took me forever to see a face, but when I finally did, it looked like a demon with a long pointy beard and two curly horns on his head.

  51. Zbu says

    I see the bastard son of Captain Marvel Jr and Dave Lister. And wouldn’t that be the true savior of mankind? ;)

  52. Sili says

    I think it’s a very pretty moth (despite my dislike of yellow). Pity they have to ruin it with woo.

    Speaking of flutterbys – Dummkatz caught a butterfly today. Big game for him; I’ve been picking up cranefly legs the past week.

  53. RamblinDude says

    I honestly first saw a grim, scowling face with a long, pointy beard and goat ears. I then tried to watch the video and when the preacher started talking I found him far more horrifying.

    I suppose this means I’m going to hell…

  54. HereticChick says

    It is so annoying that people see jeebus in everything….grilled cheese, cat fur, bugs, whatever. I’m sure if I looked hard enough, I’d see the face of jeebus in my husbands back hair!

  55. Andreas Johansson says

    Looks vaguely like a skull (or perhaps some sort of ornate masque) in the middle, but I wouldn’t noticed it at all unless someone’d pointed it out to me. As paeidolia goes, this one sucks.

  56. Sophist says

    Posted by: gg | August 28, 2008 1:45 PM

    Hmm… I see a dog with its head split open.

    Posted by: JRQ | August 28, 2008 1:50 PM

    I heard it was all staged — that moths don’t perch on trailers in real life.

    Hey, Rorschach and peppered moth references. I like this thread.

  57. Joel says

    Yes, it’s Charles Manson, I can see the cross on his forehead, evil eyes and menancing look…

  58. says

    Yossarian In my opinion, it looks like Jerry Garcia, as depicted in one of those Peter Max illustrations from the 1960’s.

    When I was eating lots of acid in the 70’s, and maybe a bit later, lots of people saw god, but I always saw Jerry Garcia.

    Wait a minute, maybe that’s because he was actually there.
    Perhaps alol moths are jesus, that’s why they fly toward ‘the light’.

    They should crucify it, and see if it resurrects. If it does, they can put it on a cracker and eat it.

    yumm

  59. says

    @ #38 Jackal :
    Damn, maybe I would have been treated better in catholic school if Jesus was still considered blonde like me. :)

  60. says

    God is such an inefficient chump. he sends the pictures of Jesus to Protestants, pictures of Mary t Catholics and the Arabic name of God to Muslims. You’d think he’s send them to people that NEED convincing

  61. 2-D Man says

    See, now I thought, “Kung fu master or Gandalf the wizard. Either way he has a really long beard that I’ve never seen on all these artists’ depictions of the west’s favourite godling.

  62. SASnSA says

    I was thinking Nostradamus in an indian style turban. Why he’s wearing an indian turban I don’t know, but he was one of those eccentric mystics.

  63. MikeM says

    Christ on a Cracker.
    Jesus on a moth.
    Crucified Christ on drywall.
    Our Savior on a grilled-cheese sandwich.
    Jesus on an underpass.
    Mary on discolored tinted glass.

    Wasn’t there one that someone said was Mother Teresa on a sweet bun? I still say that looked like Grumpy.

    And they say WE’RE the crazy ones.

    15% of the poll’s respondent’s say, “Yup, looks like Jesus.”

    15%. Egad.

    Maybe even just as scary is that 32% see a face, but it doesn’t look like Jesus. Um, how do they know that?

    Frackin’ cracker…

  64. amphiox says

    That’s not a speckled moth, is it, by any chance?

    (I see a character from a Capcom fighting game.)

  65. CrypticLife says

    “Maybe even just as scary is that 32% see a face, but it doesn’t look like Jesus. Um, how do they know that?”

    Because the moth isn’t caucasian. Duh. Clearly it looks more like Malcolm X.

  66. Bride of Shrek OM says

    I just see a penis. But then again I see penises everywhere.

    I think I have some sort of syndrome.

  67. JThompson says

    I see a conehead standing on his/her head.
    You can even see the arms it’s balancing with.

  68. says

    Nobody’s got it right, so far. It’s a pixie. With a beard.

    My 20-something twins vote for:
    — Jesus (and don’t argue with her or she’ll deck you; she KNOWS what Jesus looks like)
    — Skeletor

    Their sibs haven’t stopped by, so the local voting’s still in progress.

  69. says

    This phenomena really amazes me. That only only do we recognise faces in inanimate objects, but we see the faces of a particular person every time; even when the faces look nothing alike at all.
    “Look, eyes. Nose. Mouth. It’s Jesus. He had eyes, a nose and mouth.”

    It’s just so silly that every time they see a face, it’s either Jesus if the face looks young, God if it looks old, and Mary if it’s a female. It’s an exercise in the limits of cognitive perception and the need to instill evidence in the meaningless because you’d think there would be something more than a fracken’ face in a sandwich that shows an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being as existing.

    If the best God can do to show his existence is put his face on the back of a moth, then maybe it’s a god not worth worshipping…

  70. Ben says

    Maybe I don’t understand the definition of “absurd”, but isn’t this totally expected? We see the things that we’re most familiar with. Especially faces; we’re face experts.

    Why wouldn’t we expect people who care about Jesus a lot and spend a lot of time looking at purported drawings of Jesus’ face then see Jesus in places that the rest of us do not?

    Or to put it like a good cognitive scientist, I bet the photographer’s fusiform gyruslit up” when s/he saw this moth! Mine didn’t at first, but after reading more it happened for me too.

  71. Sophist says

    Maybe even just as scary is that 32% see a face, but it doesn’t look like Jesus. Um, how do they know that?

    That’s just a poorly worded option. What I imagine most people mean when they choose it is that they do see a face-like pattern, but that they don’t attach any importance to it.

  72. fatherdaddy says

    Cast my vote for Charles Manson with the swastika forehead. What this means is Charlie is the last prophet, not Mohammed, and we are all going to burn in hell unless we take Charlie into our hearts and do our best to live like Charlie. I just want to know who’s flesh we’ll be eating with that cracker. I don’t know about the wine, either.

  73. Nerdette says

    I admit that I saw the moth first, then had to put effort into finding a face, and then also saw D’Argo.

    There must be a lot of Imperial Moths out there that look like Jesus then, since, unlike the stripes of zebras, the spots and designs of Lepidoptera are very rarely unique to the individual, and are vital in identifying species. But I suppose that takes out the novelty of finding the face, huh?

  74. tresmal says

    It’s evil Jesus! From that same parallel universe that evil Kirk and evil Spock – no wait, Spock was the same in both universes – any way that universe. HE is coming, but not to save us.

  75. zy says

    Hell, he can’t even tell the difference between Osama bin Laden and Jesus?!

    That guy’s got to take a second look at Mary Magdelen’s photo album on Flickr. Or check out Jesus’ publicity stills on Imdb. Sheesh, in this internet age, there’s no excuse for mixing up celebrity images that badly.

  76. Morgan-LynnGriggs Lamberth [skeptic griggsy] says

    I note that theists use pareidolia to see a caring super mind behind and beyond the Universe.That is just a mere feeling that is no more than a replaceable placebo.They see pareidolia in addition to natural laws and causes and explanations when such is so inane.Google the ignostic-Ockham to see that that pareidolia is just that and is either redundant or fatuous.

  77. says

    Me, if I had to say it looked like a person, I’d say Anton LeVey.

    (sheepishly) But what do I know? To me, it’s looks as if a slide of the Mandelbrot set was projected on…well…erectile tissue.

    Let the howls of condemnation commence.

  78. says

    How weird is that – I went to comment that it looks like Anton LaVey, too, and when I did a search to see if I was the first to make the comment, it turns out I was JUST late to the party.

    I agree completely – LaVey all the way. (And picturing the face on that moth singing “Satan Takes a Holiday” makes me a bit giddy).

  79. says

    I think it looks more like an anime-style girl; however, I just finished watching “Death Note” not too long ago, so that could have something to do with the fact that I see a pig-tailed anime-style girl wearing a triangular tube-top instead of Jesus.

  80. Arnosium Upinarum says

    A jin with a turban and a ZZ Top beard. With a third eye. Holding his head as if he’s got a headache, about to remove his turban, or divining how many morons will see jesus on a moth…

    Otherwise, if I take off my glasses, it’s quite obvious it’s the Devil Hisself. Look at them learing, goatish eyes – and those buxom horns.

  81. Vidar says

    I see either Darth Vader without his facemask, or a stormtrooper.I knew Jesus was really a master of the dark side!

  82. ermine says

    I gotta say, I see satan too. I can kind of wrap my head around some of the other ideas (The bikini one is good!), but satan is the one it looks most like to me, from the moment I could see any ‘face’ at all.

  83. Julie Stahlhut says

    Looks like an imperial moth (Eacles imperialis) to me.

    Hmmm … if this is a real sighting, we’re going to have to retrofit all those Christmas creches by putting these little guys in the mangers.

  84. Pierce R. Butler says

    Moth, er, of gawd!

    C’mon, look at the whole wingscape: it’s a graphic rendition of an atomic mushroom cloud, towering over a vast crater with the remnants of a once-mighty city crumbling around the outer edges!

    This is our final warning of the End Times! Repent, ye sinners!

  85. Randy says

    It is Afro Samurai! The cartoon with Samuel L. Jackson

    If the afro isn’t there, then it looks like Rasputin.

    Not much like what Jesus is supposed to look like.

  86. says

    I had to stare at it for about two minutes before I saw a face at all, and even then it looked more like a Grateful Dead cover than Jesus. Does that mean Jerry Garcia is trying to communicate to me?

  87. says

    The first thing I saw was some kind of evil wizard with a big triangularish beard and devilish horns. But wizards don’t typically have horns, so it’s probably Satan.

  88. Ranxerox says

    If it’s Jeebus then he has massive breasts, pony-tails and walrus flippers for hands. I also see a bindi on his forehead.

    Jeebus is a She-bus.

  89. says

    Why do people do this crap? They see a face in something (last time I think it was some limescale in a bathtub, this time it’s a moth), so what? Then it’s never just a face, it has to be Jesus or something.

    One woman with the username Theresa proudly says in the comments that her husband Kirk found it, and describes it as “a great find”. Why? Is she really that stupid?

  90. Donovan says

    I agree with PZ. It’s Charles Manson. You can even see the swastika tatoo on his forehead.