Bigfoot on Mars
Friday January 25, 2008
It's time for some straight talk on the subject of pareidolia, defined by psychologists as the human tendency to perceive meaningful shapes or sounds where there are none. Common examples of pareidolia include the man in the moon, hidden messages in recordings, and the face of the Virgin Mary on tree trunks, underpass walls and grilled cheese sandwiches.Ask any hardcore skeptic and they'll tell you pareidolia is synonymous with delusion.
Both words came to mind earlier this week when the mainstream media caught on to Internet rumblings about a so-called "mysterious figure" photographed on the surface of Mars by Spirit, NASA's robotic planetary explorer.
Some had already dubbed the figure "Bigfoot" due to its uncanny resemblance to the hairy hominid purportedly filmed by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin in 1967. Others insisted it looked more like a woman. It couldn't really be either sort of entity, of course, because atmospheric conditions on Mars aren't hospitable to hominids, hairy or otherwise. Furthermore, as Museum of Hoaxes curator Alex Boese points out, when viewed in its proper context it becomes clear that the mysterious extraterrestrial figure, whatever it is, is very, very, very small.
There's little you can say to discourage a true pareidoliac, however. A few diehards remain convinced the Martian mystery thing is a dead ringer for the Little Mermaid of Copenhagen, a bronze statue inspired by the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. At least it's a step in the right direction.
Read more about it:
• NASA: Mystery Creature on Mars Is Wind-Carved Rock - Local6.com
• Is Martian Figure Actually a Danish Mermaid? - The Telegraph
• NASA Photo Shows Humanoid Figure on Mars - Fox News
• The Martian Bigfoot - Museum of Hoaxes
• Mystery of 'Woman on Mars' - Adelaide Now
• Life on Mars? - The Daily Mail
Comments
How narrow minded you all are. Remember when we believed Earth was flat? Remember when we believed we were the center of the universe? Remember when we believed sun moved around planet Earth? Remember when we believed that women with black cats were witches and flew on brooms? When you say that “We are carbon-based so nothing else different can live” or “Mars doesn’t meet the requirements to hold life” remember that WE DON’T KNOW AT ALL, and even if NASA pictures a whole civilization we won’t find out until past decades, If we ever do, and will say anything to keep us from thinking it is what it looks, but a rock. Sadly they won’t shoot back at the same place to make sure, or if they do they will deny. That’s it.
Geesh! Use your brain…unless your mind is not only very broad, but very flat…
‘Sounds to me like Mr. Emery made a sizable wager, a decade ago, against life ever being found on Mars, and he’s worried about having to finally pay up.
i love u so much ???
“Remember when we believed Earth was flat? ”
No civilization, as a consensus, believed the earth was flat. That was just something made up and no historians take it seriously.