Obvious title, I know.
Guy sees slab of granite, guys sees Jesus, guy will sell it on eBay.
I see article, I look at picture, I see Satan, I make it obvious.
Why is it people see the subtle and miss the obvious? Satan was the first thing I saw… and the folks at Fark, where I saw this originally, agree.
What do you see?
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
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January 16th, 2008 at 9:04 am
It’s clearly a readaptation of a Georgia O’Keefe painting..you know, the one featuring a bull’s skull……..yikes
January 16th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Looks like an alien “Grey” to me, peeping over a ledge Kilroy-style. The bluish blobs at top and bottom form the eyes and hands, respectively.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:06 am
I saw Jesus. But then again, I was looking for him because it was suggested that he was there. I still don’t really see satan. Maybe that means I’m a saint or something? Hooray!
January 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I saw, in quick succession, satan, jesus, and a phallus with two large blue balls… :-/
January 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I see Abe Vigoda.
I always see Abe Vigoda.
I’m a cursed man…
January 16th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Satan, Jesus…same thing.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I saw cow skull at first…
But now its Abe Vigoda for sure. DAMN YOU DAN!!!!
January 16th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Actually, my first thought was the greek god Atlas holding up the globe.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I see somebody with way too much obsession with this topic. Make it a hobby if you must. Or collect the images in a scrapbook. Please, Phil, give it a break!
Or we’ll all start seeing Abe Vigoda. Gaaaaah.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:16 am
It looks like the face of the alien from Independance Day.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Do you mean this Abe Vigoda, or this one, or this one?
Then there’s the original. Scroll to the bottom.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I see an evil skeletal mummy on fire wanting to suck on my soul.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:22 am
I see satan, or some sort of demon. The bulbous head near the top seems to have a very sinister grin on it.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:25 am
First it looked like the rabbit of Donnie Darko to me. But now I think it’s an Orc.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:26 am
They’re wrong! And you’re wrong, too!
It’s CLEARLY the captured alien.
http://ufocon.blogspot.com/2006/12/ufo-questions.html
January 16th, 2008 at 9:28 am
It looks like a steer, or an auroch, or a water buffalo.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Does anyone know where I can get a conscience-ectomy so that I too can make money selling relics on E-Bay? I’d also like to sell holy-water to the terminally ill and bring false hope to the relatives of the recently deceased by pretending to be in contact with the dead.
(I heard that many psychopaths have damage to fairly specific areas in their frontal lobes, which robs them of a conscience. Thus, it shouldn’t be too much trouble for a skilled brain surgeon to remove my conscience with a few carefully chosen incisions.)
January 16th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I see some bad photoshopping going on.
Notice the (virtual) vertical line down the middle of the image? It’s pretty obvious in the upper part, but it goes all the way from top to bottom.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I agree with the alien contingent. I still do not see Jesus (at least not in that slab of granite).
January 16th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Quite frankly, I’m getting really ticked off that you people keep seeing my images–and my mom’s–in such random objects as waffles, slabs of granite, toast, rust stains, turds, and whatever the hell else (don’t tell my dad I used the word “hell;” he’ll ground me for cursing). Most of these so-called images don’t look even remotely human. Just how ugly do you think I am?
Mark my words: I’m taking names. When The Rapture comes, all you people who have thus insulted me and mom are going to be left behind to fend for yourselves…. Along with that Mike Huckabee guy.
That dude scares even me.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Actually, in that one I don’t see anything.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:40 am
A wasp’s head.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I think the blue rocks just by satan’s chin kind of look like he’s giving you the double middle-finger.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Bull Skull. I must be blessed because I still can’t see Abe Vigoda in it. Oh wait… DAMMIT!!!
January 16th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I see two slabs of granite that mirror each other - i.e., they were cut and glued together to look like that. (The seam is pretty obvious.)
Somehow, that doesn’t seem very miraculous to me.
Oh, and I also see some really pretty blue-gray quartz. Bull, shmull.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I found a birthmark shaped like a piece of toast on my Jesus.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I actually saw an “alien grey” when I first saw the picture. I guess I’ve been abducted once or twice, and the memories are coming back to me….
January 16th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Touchdown!!
January 16th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I think that’s a real line in the image. Stone tile is often laid out like pages of a book, e.g. the stone is sliced and the slices are opened like a book and set that way…there’s a name for the technique…but my google-fu is weak.
It’s done that way specifically because the natural patterns in the stone are “amplified” and look more interesting.
In this case it’s like a stone ink-blot - by creating symmetry it automatically implies some kind of image.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I see either a devil with really long horns, or an auroch. Holding up two blue hands/hooves/whatever.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Gunter! Glieben! Glauchen! Globen!
January 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Cory Meyer you’re right! It is totally Atlas holding up the Earth on his shoulders! Or, possibly, a ram skull.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:59 am
It looks like an anatomical drawing of the female reproductive system from a textbook.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:04 am
You’re all blind
It’s clearly a Vexirk in attack mode from Dungeon Master
http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/781
January 16th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I see either:
1. A silhouette of a person with raised hands. Which, I suppose, if I was more culturally immersed in Christianity, would be Jesus. I also see two people facing him in the foreground.
2. The University of Texas at Austin’s mascot (the Longhorn). Looking rather evil.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:09 am
I’m going to be honest, I see the guy with his arms outstretched more than I see the devil-face. But it doesn’t look like crucifiction to me. It looks like a guy bowing down. What’s that say about religion?
January 16th, 2008 at 10:10 am
The technique is called butterflying - woodworkers use it too for nicely grained wood.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:10 am
or as Oblio was told by “the Rock Man” in the pointless forest
“you see what you wanna see & you hear what you wanna here. dig?”
January 16th, 2008 at 10:15 am
No one else sees a uterus?
January 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am
You’re all wrong. It’s Conan, hanging on the Tree of Woe.
That, or Mr. McGregor chasing Peter Rabbit out of his carrots!
January 16th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Yeah… When I saw it, it was either a Grey or some sort of insect. I was thinking grasshopper, but I’ll go with Al and say Wasp Head. I don’t see “human figure” anywhere at all in there.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I see London … I see France ….
January 16th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Yes Laurel, the first thing I saw was a Uterus.
So it’s obviously the Virgin Mary…
January 16th, 2008 at 10:44 am
The first thing I saw was an alien.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:49 am
I saw Jesus on the cross. In fact, the arms-up, head down pose made it look pretty close to his pose in Dali’s “Corpus Hypercubus.” I didn’t see the devil face at all.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I see Granite…
January 16th, 2008 at 11:00 am
turn it upside down. It’s the lunar module landing on the moon.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Obviously the Arch-Vile from Doom:
http://www.answers.com/topic/archvile-png-1
January 16th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I immediately saw Jesus on the cross. Actually, this one seems pretty remarkable to me. The symmetry is quite good, although the right arm looks very muscular whereas the left arm does not. Also, the lower torso lacks any definition whatsoever. The other cool thing about this is that the white spots to the left and right look like they could be the criminals with whom Jesus was crucified (but if so, then their arms are missing).
I don’t really see Satan at all, but when I look at just the central white part of the image, I see a pretty wicked skull.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:21 am
A chupacabra!!!!
January 16th, 2008 at 11:33 am
That’s one angry donkey.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:35 am
If people are seeing female reproductive organs, then perhaps it’s the movie poster for The Core.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I saw a still from the scen in the movie Independence Day, when they perform the alien autospy at Area 51.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
At first, I saw a caduceus. Then, I saw some human-like form, with two others off to the right and left, and then it hit me: it’s obviously Tony Orlando and Dawn.
But, unless Jesus was hit by the Cloverfield bug, or felt a little bloated, I don’t see him.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I see the Fear Factory album cover for “Transgression”
January 16th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I see the autobot logo.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
What really bugs me about these “images” is this… if Jesus/Satan/Mary/FSM/IPU/Vorpal Bunny/Whatever is so damned powerful, why can’t it manifest itself in a suitably awesome way? Why would it choose to reveal itself in half-baked, vague, shapes-that-could-be-anything sorts of ways? No Christian I have ever asked this question of has been able to come up with an answer that strays far from “God works in mysterious ways”.
You’d think Jesus would reveal himself at, say, a Middle-East peace conference… whammo, in a big flash of light He’d come in and start smiting and handing out diseases to the dreadful sinners and stuff.
Nope, instead, He shows up as an image on a dog’s rear end.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
At first it looked like a cow skull, but then I saw the guy from Munch’s “The Scream” running with his hair on fire.
No, wait, wait, it looks like that dude on the motorcycle from that awful Nicholas Cage movie “Ghost Rider”.
Oh wait, maybe it’s something from alt.binaries.pictures.erotica (I won’t go into more detail, this being a family blog ‘n all that).
Now there’s two blue guys. The one on the left is a backpacker taking a leak on a tree, while the one in the right is reaching up into the tree for something. Or maybe nailing up a “Do Not Pee On The Trees” sign.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I see a happy soccer fan.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I see a vagina.
I’m not being crude! That’s what I see, dammit!
January 16th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Looks like something I saw at the last Tool concert.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Being a Texan the first thing I saw was a Longhorn image (see Univ of Texas). I am sure there are some Aggies out there who will agree the a longhorn symbol is the same thing as Satan.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I saw the shape they thought was Jesus, but it looks more like Atlas holding up the world to me. OMG! The ancients were right!
January 16th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
[…] baaaad Astronomer asks (in Bad Astronomy Blog » Rock of Ages): “What do I […]
January 16th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
i see Frank the rabbit.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I see a demon with horns. Either that or a grinning, crucified, skeletal cadaver. Some Jesus that is.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I see a demon with horns. Either that or a grinning, crucified, skeletal cadaver.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Looks to me like a member of Species 8472!
January 16th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
definitely ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, the whole nine yards.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
at least this one is still warm
http://blogs.news.com.au/news/splat/index.php/news/comments/can_anyone_else_see_jesus_or_is_that_just_me?from=mostpop
January 16th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I see the cow skull also.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I definitely see a Cyber Demon’s head. …or maybe I’ve been playing too much Doom lately.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Ya wanna smack this guy around, and ask him where he got the idea Jesus looked like this? Nobody babbling about this has MET Jesus, OR found an actual portrait of him.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Well, I see a lot of things in that: Abe Vigoda, Jesus, Atlas, Longhorn, Grey, Demon, a cat rubbing up against something, female reproductive organs, etc.
If anyone wants to see a real, amazing image of Mary holding and grieving over the body of her dead son, take a look here. It’s amazing, and I can’t find Abe Vigoda in it at all! Some guy named Michelangelo found it in a piece of marble like 500 years ago. AMAZING, I SAY!
http://gardenofpraise.com/art50.htm
January 16th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I see a frick’n bookmatched slab of granite as Michael Barrett said above. The only reason there’s anything interesting to tune your psyche into is the symmetry that comes from cutting and flipping the stone slab.
This isn’t even interesting pareidolia since the symmetry is manmade, unless you think *half* a Jesus is something you’re recognize. I’m sure this bookmatched image bears no resemblance to the real pattern the stone was cut from.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I am going to vote for uterus, fallopian tubes and assorted female plumbing as well.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
A grinning bull about to stamp on me. Or a small demon creature with long horns.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Others have said it looks like someone with their arms up. I agree, but my first thought was Nixon.
“I am not a pareidolia!”
January 16th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I just see a swimmer doing the butterfly stroke. Is that weird?
January 16th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Thou shalt not pass!
There’s a certain balroginess to it, although the bull’s skull is the most prominent feature. Perhaps a balrog, smoking a cigar who is raising his arms because he’s being mugged — Possibly by a gun toting Jesus.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I instantly saw the dog-demon (Vinz Clortho?) that Rick Moranis’ character turned into in the first Ghost Buster’s movie.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Despite the horrible pun (or perhaps because of it), I see Rocky. Even the gloves.
Now I’m going to have that damn theme going through my head all night…
January 16th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I haven’t read all eighty-whatever comments, but, with a slight tip o’ the hat to pz, I see ovaries, tubes, and a uterus. Where’s Arthur C. Clarke when we need him?
January 16th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
It’s a Grateful Dead album cover! (Steal Your Face)
January 16th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Wow, I instantly saw an alien giving us a double middle finger salute.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
RobertB beat me to it, it looked to me like a very good rendition of a woman’s womb & ovaries - complete with connecting fallopian tubes.
Possibly it describes Mary’s?
-Nivag
January 17th, 2008 at 9:51 am
it looks like…quick, check it out before I have to flush it down!
January 17th, 2008 at 10:00 am
first thing i saw …. same thing i *always* see in Rorschachs. Eh….
January 17th, 2008 at 10:14 am
The goggles they do nothing! I can’t see anything but a rock.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:03 am
i see saw 2 XD
January 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
i see saw 2 XD… that scene with the girl …
January 17th, 2008 at 11:15 am
It does look like a balrog, but the first thing that popped into my noggin was of the Grateful Dead skull giving me the finger.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Saren, from Mass Effect
January 17th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I see Gretchen Honeycut. She always had fabulous gams.
January 17th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Christos with a couple of buds just hanging out…
January 17th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
How about buying it & selling pieces of it to the faithful, Christians or Satanists.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Some freaky manikin. Chucky-style. Hanging by the arms.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
it looks like a rock sorry that’s it
a pretty rock there that’s better
June 25th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Unfortunately your all wrong, this isn’t one single piece of stone, it is 2 slabs of granite bookmatched, end to end. Look closely. You will see the seam.
Also, this is a closer up view of the slab, if you back up the image of the slab to it’s original size you would see an image of a skull.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I saw the satan image, but i can also see a man in pain like a sacrifice…
I like this kind of things, and i have a fertil mind so it’s easy for me to find shapes in this things!