Pareidolia: Seeing faces at unusual places & why does it happen?

The psychological phenomenon, which causes few people to see as well as hear a vague or random image or sound as something significant is known as pareidolia.

The above word is derived from the Greek word para, which means something faulty or wrong. Pareidolia is a type of apophenia, which is more generalized term for seeing patterns in random data.

Why Pareidolia happens?

There are numerous theories as to the cause of this Phenomenon. Experts say pareidolia offers a psychological determination for many delusions that involve the senses. They believe pareidolia could be behind numerous sighting of UFOs. Elvis and the Loch Ness Monster and the hearing of disturbing messages on the records when they are played backwards.

Pareidolia often tend to have religious overtones. A study in Finland found that people who are religious or believe strongly in the supernatural are more like to see faces in lifeless objects and landscapes.

Few famous examples

A prime example of Pareidolia and its connection to religious images is the shroud of Turin, a cloth bearing the image of a man, some of them believe it to be Jesus-who appears to have suffered much trauma consistent with the crucifixion. The negative images was first observed in the year, 1898, on the reverse photographic plate of amateur photographer second Pia, who was allowed to photograph, it while it was being exhibited in the Turin Cathedral.

Few Visitors of St. Mary's in Rathkaele, Ireland, say a tree trump outside of the church bears a silhouette of the Virgin Mary.

Many people thought images taken in 1976 by Viking 1 mission showed a face on Mars that could have been remnants of an ancient civilization.

In September 1969, conspiracy theorists have claimed few Beatles records contained clues to Paul Mccartney's supposed death. Many heard the words, Paul is dead, when the song "strawberry Fields Forever" was played backwards, a process known as backmasking. This is a common urban legend often repeated to this day.

Diane Duyser of Miami sold a 10 year old grilled cheese sandwich, which she said bore the image of Jesus, for $28,000 on eBay in 2004.

In 2004, Steve Cragg, youth director at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas discovered a Cheeto that looked like Jesus.

In the year, 2007 in Singapore, a callus on a tree resembled a monkey, leading believers to pay homage to the "Monkey God".

Similarly in the year, 2007, a cinnamon, bun bearing a likeness of Mother Teresa was first discovered at the Bongo Java Café in Belmont, Tenn. It was on display for about 10 years, until it was stolen on Christmas day in the year, 2007.

In the year, 2012, numerous people have made a pilgrimage to a tree at 60th street and Bergenline Avenue in West New York, to see a scar on the tree which few of them believed to look like the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe depiction of the Virgin Mary.