What Is Pareidolia? 30 Funny Faces In Things

Have you ever stared at your breakfast and felt like it was staring right back at you? You are not losing your mind. You are just experiencing pareidolia. This quirky trick of the mind turns mundane moments into accidental comedy by making inanimate objects look surprisingly alive.

What Is Pareidolia?

At its core, the pareidolia meaning comes down to the brain finding familiar patterns in random things like objects, food, clouds and shadows. It is especially eager to recognize faces. The word itself comes from the Greek terms para, meaning beside, and eidolon, meaning image or form. Your brain is simply trying to make sense of visual chaos by finding something recognizable.

What Is It Called When You See Faces in Things?

If you are wondering what is it called when you see faces in things, the answer is pareidolia. More specifically, this visual phenomenon is sometimes called face pareidolia. It is the reason your appliances suddenly seem to have distinct personalities.

Does Everyone Have Pareidolia?

You might be asking does everyone have pareidolia. Yes, it is a completely normal and very common way the human brain works. It is definitely not a disorder. Finding faces in your surroundings is just a harmless byproduct of how our minds process visual information every single day.

Scroll down to see some truly excellent examples of seeing faces in everyday things.

1.

A hamburger whose toppings look like a mouth with teeth sticking its tongue out.

This burger looks absolutely thrilled to be your lunch today.

2.

The back of a semi-truck cab where the windows and coiled hoses look like a surprised cartoon face.

This surprised truck cannot believe the traffic on the highway today.

3.

A double kitchen sink where the drains and an orange washcloth look like a Muppet-style face.

A dramatic kitchen sink Muppet demands more dirty dishes immediately.

4.

A spotted turtle resting on a reflective glass surface that, with its reflection, looks like a bearded man in a dark cap.

The turtle and its reflection form a very serious bearded man.

5.

A lampshade casting a shadow on a textured ceiling that looks like a giant watchful eye.

The ceiling eye is always watching to make sure you behave.

6.

A package of raw chicken with a freezer burn mark shaped like an Among Us crewmate.

This piece of chicken looks pretty suspicious in the freezer.

7.

A wireless earbud case and two earbuds on a table that look like a little cartoon figure lying face down.

This exhausted little cartoon figure has clearly given up on today.

8.

Security cameras and a red alarm box on a green parking garage pillar that accidentally form a funny face.

The parking garage security system is taking its job very happily.

9.

A washing machine whose dials look like eyes and a red cloth hanging from the drum looks like a tongue sticking out.

The washing machine is sticking its tongue out at your laundry.

10.

A folded wool sock on a hardwood floor that looks like a gorilla face.

This folded wool sock looks like a very grumpy floor gorilla.

11.

A vacuum-sealed cut of raw steak on a supermarket shelf that forms the contours of a human face.

Finding a solemn human face in your steak is slightly unsettling.

12.

A cast-iron wood burning stove that looks like an Easter Island Moai statue face.

This wood stove looks like a stoic statue judging your firewood.

13.

A full moon rising perfectly centered inside a sandstone arch, turning the rock into a giant eye.

The moon perfectly aligns to create a giant eye in the rock.

14.

Sliced green onions in a pan whose cross-sections look like tiny smiling cartoon faces.

These sliced green onions are just so happy to be cooking.

15.

Two cargo planes with their hinged nose doors lifted open, facing each other like they are laughing.

Two cargo planes sharing a hilarious joke on the airport tarmac.

16.

The base and roots of a tree that look like a wrinkly, one-eyed creature.

This wrinkly tree creature is keeping a single eye on the forest.

17.

A round chocolate cake cooling on a rack with surface cracks that look like a wide smiling face.

This cooling chocolate cake is incredibly cheerful about being baked.

18.

A telescope view of the Sun where solar filaments and active regions form a smiling face.

Even the Sun likes to flash a giant smile sometimes.

19.

Two stacked cardboard boxes in the bushes with cutouts that look like happy smiling faces.

These cardboard boxes are having the best day in the bushes.

20.

A person's shadow on a stone wall that lines up with two round lights so it looks like it has cartoon eyes.

The stone wall shadow seems very surprised by those bright lights.

21.

A terracotta tiled roof with two eyebrow-shaped vents that look like narrow, watchful eyes.

The tiled roof is glaring down with very suspicious narrow eyes.

22.

An old concrete military bunker overgrown with dry, bushy grass that looks like a head with wild hair.

This overgrown bunker looks like a frantic head with wild grass hair.

23.

A plastic closet rod bracket with two screws that looks like a wide-eyed face with the rod sticking out of its mouth.

The wide-eyed bracket is shocked to be holding up your closet rod.

24.

A potato with a small growth that looks just like the face of a seal.

This adorable potato looks exactly like a very small baby seal.

25.

A detached door handle whose metal faceplate, screw holes and opening form a surprised human face.

The detached door handle is completely shocked by its current situation.

26.

A dented plastic chocolate milk jug that looks like a solemn human face, with the handle as the nose.

A dented milk jug looking very solemn about being left behind.

27.

The ancient trunk perfectly captures the sleepy profile of a bearded man.

28.

A potato on a kitchen counter whose end looks like the wrinkled face of a sleeping person.

This kitchen potato features the extremely wrinkled face of a sleeping person.

29.

Getting a dent shaped like a human profile is uniquely unlucky.

30.

The chocolate chip cookie printed on a bag of baking morsels that looks like the face of a frog.

The printed chocolate chip cookie looks just like a smiling frog.

WHAT IS PAREIDOLIA? 30 FACES IN THINGS YOU CANNOT UNSEE