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Bad Astronomy
« Perspective
Weekend coolness »

Fureidolia

It’s Caturday. So, here’s your dose of Jesus appearing on a cat’s leg.


It’s unclear if the owners think this is divine or not, but I’m having a hard time seeing Jesus. It looks more like a mummy to me.

IMHOTEP! IMMMHHOOOTEPPPP!

And yeah, I thought of pusseidolia, but I have a hard enough time keeping the comments on this blog polite.

Tip o’ the catnip mouse to BABloggee Singe.

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November 22nd, 2008 8:06 AM by Phil Plait in Humor, Pareidolia | 49 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

49 Responses to “Fureidolia”

  1. 1.   Woodguard Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 8:12 am

    It is only feline not divine!

    Maybe he ate a Jesus fish!

  2. 2.   Nigel Depledge Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 8:17 am

    Yeah … I say photoshop – the “face” is way clearer in the photo than in the video :-)

  3. 3.   Chris Hughes Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 8:23 am

    Does nobody ever ask these people how they know what ‘Jesus’ looked like?

  4. 4.   shane Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 8:39 am

    At first they say it looks like Jesus with a shroud on… um… it could be Osama with a shroud on or… Britney Spears… or me for gosh sakes.

    I love Caturday.

  5. 5.   LarianLeQuella Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 8:54 am

    I need to examine my Occicat and Calico cat more closely. I’d like my 15 minutes of fame too!

  6. 6.   brnofeathers Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 am

    Can you say, “Slow news day”?

  7. 7.   IVAN3MAN Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 am

    Joyriding cat:

  8. 8.   uselesstwit Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:10 am

    Yep, mummy with a mohawk is what I see.

  9. 9.   Donnie B. Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:17 am

    So when the cat gets old and has to be put down, will they be desecrating the Body of Christ?

  10. 10.   John Paradox Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:22 am

    The Cat of Turin?

    IMHOTEP! No, Bubba Ho Tep

    J/P=?

  11. 11.   LZ Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:28 am

    You mean ‘Purreidolia’, surely?

  12. 12.   The Chemist Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:31 am

    Why do all these things look far more like the “face” on Mars to me? Seriously. Why go straight to Jesus? No one ever seems to tilt their heads one way and see Charles Dickens. Ever.

  13. 13.   Scott Smith Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:39 am

    ~Tilting my head a little to the right looking for a face~ No go… maybe if I enhance my vision with a little scotch or bourbon? I’ve seen more convincing faces in other things. Looks like the photo was ‘Shopped with a picture of the Shroud of Turin maybe?

  14. 14.   Greg Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 am

    It looks like me with a beard.

  15. 15.   Daniel Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:56 am

    The Lone Ranger maybe…Jesus…no.

  16. 16.   Joe Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 am

    THIS

    IS

    NOT

    NEWS.

  17. 17.   Winston Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 am

    Yeah… For me the telling quote was “After looking at the picture and stuff, it was like ‘OH, there it is!’”

    Uh huh. If you can’t see it with the naked eye, and have to rely on a grainy and very poor-quality picture to see it, it’s just not there.

    Why do these nutjobs almost universally provide such crap pictures as ‘proof’, anyways? There’s not a camera being sold in America that routinely results in such garbage photos. It’s pretty obvious that the pictures are intentionally selected, if not outright ‘massaged’, to achieve the desired result.

  18. 18.   Oskar Kennedy Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 10:18 am

    Worst pareidolia ever. It looks more like a picture of a raccoon-skin hat.

  19. 19.   Annette Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 10:33 am

    I can’t see Jesus in the actual video… methinks there has been some tampering with the original picture or they lucked out and shot it right at the perfect angle with the skin bending perfectly.

    BTW, that was the first time I read the Mummy Returns BA spoiler and I didn’t even notice it when I watched the movie because I think I fell asleep before that part (lack of The Rock = no attention from Annette). Although I saw another “night sky” display in a movie that nearly had me fall off the couch the other day. I was watching “A Beautiful Mind” and during the party scene when the two main characters were outside looking up at the sky my only thoughts were “Holy frak, that is a lot more stars than I can see with my naked eye” and “I don’t recognize that sky at all… Russell Crowe must be imagining those too”.

  20. 20.   Annette Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 am

    The Chemist: Because the face on Mars is actually a monument of Jesus made by the Martians?

    *runs away and hides*

  21. 21.   ccpetersen Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 11:15 am

    It’s not just Jesus cats out there:

    http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/11/19/128716296919041794.jpg

  22. 22.   Fizzle Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 am

    It looks like a Sensorite to me.

  23. 23.   Elmar_M Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 am

    I thought that one still picture looked like that often used photo of Osama Bin Laden, just sideways. So she has got Osama on her cats fur?!
    Really funny find though Phil!

  24. 24.   Assi Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    Just love your blog and your sense of humour. Caturday ;)

  25. 25.   kitty Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm

    yeah rhoomba cat rules over badly photoshopped Jesus cat

  26. 26.   Sam Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm

    Where is PETA when you need them? Please rescue this cat from the nutters.

  27. 27.   IVAN3MAN Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm

    Another DOOMED Mouse:

    funny pictures of cats with captions
    more animals

  28. 28.   Steve Ulven Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    If you did go with your other option for the title, this likely would’ve been my first view from my reader instead of in order of posts. Well, I guess it’s a sacrifice you have to make.

  29. 29.   Naked Bunny with a Whip Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm

    I have a hard enough time keeping the comments on this blog polite.

    So my joke involving Jesus’ face, my rump fur, and the Second Coming are right out, I suppose. *sighs*

  30. 30.   evirus Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    yah the best way to see what something is, is to look at a fuzzy image of it first. people need more eudcation

  31. 31.   Adrian Lopez Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    From the title, I thought this would be a post about seeing Hitler in a polish sausage or something. You know… Führeidolia.

  32. 32.   tripencrypt Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    That old Jesus….always playing jokes on people. First it was water to wine then fish and bread. What’s that crazy cat going to do for an encore?

  33. 33.   Aeryn Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm

    @Adrian Lopez: That would be the height of irony.

  34. 34.   Jivlain Says:
    November 22nd, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    I’m definitely going with Osama on this one. Terrorist cat!

  35. 35.   Logan Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 2:10 am

    I love cats, but where they see Jesus, I see a Wookie.

  36. 36.   theinquisitor Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 2:26 am

    They always miss the opportunity to actually educate the public about this phenomenon. Do they ever even say the word paradolia? Why can’t they just say:

    “here’s another example of how our brains are wired to see patterns in random noise, particularly faces, isn’t that an interesting quirk of the human brain? Here’s two dots and a curved line : ) that’s all it takes to see a face. It’s paradolia.”

    What would be so bad about that?!

  37. 37.   Elmar_M Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 8:37 am

    Because it would not make for good news. “Jesus face in someones cats fur” just sounds more newsworthy than “yet another trickery of our brains”. News is unfortunately a business like any other. So if there are no real news, you have to make them to get viewers/readers, etc.
    What a weird world we live in.

  38. 38.   Rebel Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 am

    I can normally see the face when someone suggest it/points it out, but I could not see anything that resembled a face on this one.

    I agree, slow news day.

  39. 39.   Edweird Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    wow this is destiny…

    My cats name is Imhotep…

    and when I look into his black fur I can clearly make out what is either Cthulhu or the FSM.

  40. 40.   ccpetersen Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    Ramen!

  41. 41.   Mick Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    I don’t see anything there to be honest. Just catfur.

  42. 42.   RobertMadewell Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    It’s bigfoot!

  43. 43.   Scott Smith Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    I wonder if they are the ones responsible for this call?

    fail owned pwned pictures
    see more pwn and owned pictures

  44. 44.   quasidog Says:
    November 24th, 2008 at 1:16 am

    How does anyone know what Jesus was supposed to look like anyway. If anything, it is just an obscure face. I see crap like that all the time in the carpet, and in clouds.

    On another point …. why even point it out? Oh yeah … I forgot … ridicule makes people feel big … even really smart people. Get over it man.

  45. 45.   justcallmehatshepsut Says:
    November 24th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

    As a big fan of Imhotep, I take personal insult to your attempt to belittle him in this cat’s fur. Arguably the world’s first great minds and he is the only Ancient Egyptian you can think of to razz?

    Akhenaten. Now there is a dork to razz. Consumed with who worshipped what.

    Hmphhh.

  46. 46.   Siri Says:
    November 24th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    What a bunch of morons! This is beyond stupidity.

  47. 47.   quasidog Says:
    November 25th, 2008 at 12:24 am

    Yes it is Siri, but you can be certain it will be pointed out time and time again …. by really smart people … who seem to have nothing better to do than to point it out constantly.

  48. 48.   Clair Says:
    December 4th, 2008 at 8:01 am

    Oh yeah? Well… on facebook, I’m a fan of Jesus of the Terrier Rear! ;-)

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jesus-of-the-Terrier-Rear/29932639868

  49. 49.   DLC Says:
    January 9th, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    Jesus Leg Cat Sez : I can haz transubstantiation naow ?

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