Pareidolia is the official name for the tendency to see faces in inanimate objects, according to psychologists. They say that the neuropsychological phenomenon is a cognitive illusion whereby our eyes see something and our mind interprets its structure, the result being the experience of seeing something that really is not there.

Well, given that our mind interprets the structure of everything that our eyes see, and figuring out if any experience is actually real or not is a matter of hardcore ontology, I’m going to ignore what the stupid psychologists have to say and get on with looking at some great found faces.

Unintentional Faces In Objects

Washing machine is hungry for more.

According to someone who sounds like a bit of an expert, this could actually be ‘a Polypore mushroom growing upon a tree substrate … even two species of rust/polypore infecting the same tree‘. According to other experts it could just be a little guy getting stoned.

Chilled out motorcycle engine.

This is actually part of the lunar landing module from a failed Soviet space mission. He looks like he’s still in a state of shock.=

Fossilized robot.

Cookie Monster bin.

I can’t help imagining this tough guy street sign taking like Marlon Brando or De Niro in Taxi Driver.

It’s difficult to tell if this is some kind of funny plastic thing that looks like a goblin or a goblin that looks like a funny plastic thing. Or Paul Daniels.

This grumpy rock is actually called Macfarquhar’s Bed and is located near Cromarty in the highlands of Scotland, if you fancy going round for a bit of a chat to see what’s up.

This gormless tourist viewer is preparing for a career change as a Muppet.

Wise old furniture.

Despairing box.

Surly architecture.

Surely this pair of bug eyed canisters must be full of laughing gas.

And finally, I couldn’t resist putting these two together and doing a bit of matchmaking between the parking meter and the sexy train station junction box.