Pareidolias and Geography: From Seeing Something in Nothing to Actually Seeing Something

Pareidolias are "psychological phenomenon" in which a person sees something else or additional things in a object.  A good example is children looking at clouds and seeing what looks like to be a dog, house, or any other random thing.  Some argue that trying to find hidden things in standard environments is a natural survival tool which allowed early humans to be on the look out for predators hiding in the bush and jungle.  Others, like Anglican theologian C.S. Lewis believed humans were still quasi-aware of a larger cosmos full of other things therefore some pareidolia were actually either hidden messages or our everyday lives and the cosmos intersecting (this belief is similar to the Muslim belief in Djinn).

This post is not so much about whether or not some parediolias (everyone is entitled to their opinion) are real but more about the relationship between pareidolias and geography.  There are several intersections with one surprising exception.

Micro-level Geography

Every here of places like "Buffalo Ridge", "Old Man in the Mountain", or "Fist Rock",wonder why places were named that and received the reply of "Well, it looks like a Buffalo."  When a physical feature looks like something else it makes naming, whether official or not, and remembering the place easier.  This level of colloquial geography is encountered almost on a daily level and is very familiar to most people.  While now days most geographic pareidolias are thought of as just coincidences, some parediolias fit into mythologies and stories.  The salt pillars in Israel are tied to the story of God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah while the Sleeping Giant in Canada is part of traditional Ojibway lore.  Today, the Bosnian "pyramids" are the biggest on-going example of a geographic paredolia (excluding all the Google Maps 'Atlantis found" stories which come and go).

Satellite imagery has opined up a new front for pareidolias.  People combing through imagery have found things.  Some are believed to be real by a few people while others are thought of as just funny coincidences. Examples of these are the face on Mars, Jesus as the King of the Jews in Saudi Arabia, and the Indian head with an iPod in Canada.

Macro-level Geography

The previously discussed ley lines haunt those who work in the subfield of folk geography.  Some people claim that places are interconnected and either a god or ancient man made the region's physical geography to be somesort of giant outdoor temple.  English seem to be the biggest fans of ley lines.  English have always had an exceptionalism about themselves and some geographers believe their island separateness is the root cause of this belief.  This exceptionalism is common when discussing the English love for nature and the island of Great Britain (i.e. geography).  Examples include the affection for natural Druidism (ranging from neo-paganism including Wicca to the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury being a member of a "druid" history club), Anglicanism (a 1500s-created church that claimed/claims to be the pre-Roman (c)atholic church of Celtic Christianity allegedly native to England) and ley lines.

Continental-level Geography

There have been very few claims of hidden objects in the shape of the continents.  The exception is Abraham Ortelius (1596), Alfred Wegener (1912), and others independently noting how South America and Africa look like they could fit together.  These scientists proposed that the continents once fit together and then moved apart.  This view was long viewed as pseudo-science until continental drift became the excepted theory of geography and geology in the mid-1900s.

*Bonus Section:  Art*

The artist Olly Moss created a series of retro-style movie posters.  One of the posters was for the film American Werewolf in London which use a pareidolia in a map.  Moss was able to fit a werewolf image into the map of the British Isles by subtly changing the English western coast line between Scotland and Wales, playing with the geography of the Isle of Man, and adding an extra island in the Irish Sea.  (Try to see if you can spot all the changes)

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Map of UFO Sightings in Canada, Great Britain, and Argentina

The Map of UFO Sightings in the United States was such a popular post I decided to research and see what I could find for other countries.  Somewhat surprisingly geographic data for UFO sightings outside the United States is sparse.  What data does exist implies that UFO's sightings are less common elsewhere and sightings patterns vary by country.

Canada

I had extreme difficulty finding anything for Canada.  The best I could do was the massive database map mash-up on UFO Maps.  The KMZ file is too large to display on a traditional Google Maps but it can be downloaded for Google Earth.  The maps information is based information from the National UFO Reporting Center and UFO Evidence.

Maybe aliens dislike southerners and Canadians equally

UFOs are spread out the upper prairie provinces and into the mountains of British Columbia.  There are on-again, off-again sighting periods occurring in the Golden Horse Shoe area between Niagara Falls and Toronto.  A final spot of frequency is in Nova Scotia.  UFOs are extremely sparse elsewhere.  A general lack of sightings in the other Maritime Provinces in the east, Quebec, and along much of the Great Lakes coast/American border is surprising when one considers that ninety percent of Canada's population lives within one hundred miles of the border.  So there is a partial negative correlation between population and UFO sightings just like in the United States.

Great Britain

This map comes from Virgin Media and claims to be sightings since 1961.  Interestingly there is no citation for where the information comes from.

The English Midlands are the hotspot for UFO sightings on the island of Great Britain.  This area is densely populated with the largest city being Birmingham.  While the densely populated Midlands do break the "less population equals more UFO sightings" formula, the most densely part of Great Britain, Greater London, is not ranked in the top ten regions with UFO sightings.

Yeah West Yorkshire is the hot spot but only 34 sightings since 1961?

The big thing about the map is that it claims West Yorkshire, the UFO hot spot for all of Great Britain, has had 34 sightings since 1961.  Only?  That is less than one a year.  This could be seem to imply that "weird thing in the sky must be something paranormalish and therefore reported" line of thinking is more American than anything else.  Maybe British people are not distrubed by weird things flying or Americans' imaginations have the better of them.

Argentina

The last map I was able to find was Argentina sightings from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).  The map reports to show findings from 2005 to 2010.

By far most sightings are in and around the capital and largest city of Buenos Aires.  Most of the remaining sightings to the north and west of Buenos Aires.  The less populated south has only reported a few UFO sightings in the last five years.  Either aliens are Peronists or the power of cross-culturalization has had an effect as globalized Argentinians see and report UFOs while the gauchos and Mapuche Indians have yet to be influenced by the UFO-mindset.

Map of UFO Sightings in the United States

See also Map of UFO Sightings in Canada, Great Britain, and Argentina

"The truth is out there" is a popular saying among UFO enthusiasts.  "Out there" is usually implied as either outer space or some undefined otherness on Earth.  According to the Center for UFO studies; however, "out there" is clustered in the West and not the South.

UFO Sightings in the Contiguous United States by County

The above map comes from the Center for UFO studies from Burlington UFO Center.  The Burlington webpage lacks further data on the time range of sightings but there are clear spatial patterns, trends, and possible explanations to where UFOs have been reported.

1)  Population density does not equal sightings.  The Northeast has a much larger population than the West but the intensity of sightings does not match what it is in the Western counties.  One reason could be that people in the East are use to seeing lights in the skies (planes) but out West there is a power of suggestion/mythology that lights in the sky could be a UFO.

2) Military may equal UFO.  Without a doubt there are more military bases and  flights, both normal and "black", out West than in the rest of the country.


3) Clear skies may help with explaining more sightings.  The highest concentration of UFO sightings out West occur in desert counties that usually have clear night skies compared to Midwestern and Eastern counties with more pollution in the air and generally more cloud cover.


4) Big counties equal more UFOs on the map.  Though I doubt it would make a great difference one has to remember some counties in the West are the size of some small states.  The map is skewed to favor the Western counties that way.

5) Aliens hate Southerners.  Think of the stereotype of the trailer trash Hillbilly who goes on an intergalactic journey while aliens probe his anus.  This stereotype is confronted with the fact that southerners do not report UFOs.

So what is one to do if one sees a UFO in the United States?  First, know your astronomy!  Too many sightings have been planets, stars, and satellites just doing their thing in space.  Second, check out the FAA's Special Use Airspace website and See and Avoid to see if the airspace is in "special use."  One possible reason for special use could be the military is testing something out in the area and the military does not want a close encounter with a Cessna or Boeing 767.

The American skies are filled with unidentified flying objects.  Most can be explained away but there are those that remain a mystery.  Regardless of what one thinks about these unknown things in the sky, both physical and human geography play a role in their sightings.

Oak Island Mystery

A map of what may be

In Nova Scotia, Canada there is a mystery on Oak Island. In the late 1700s two youths set out for buried treasure on the island. They began to dig a hole that is yet to be finished despite over two hundred years of exploration. The background of the story is explained in the two videos below from the 1970s television show In Search Of...




For those who did not watch the videos here is a brief review: the hole is called the money pit. The pit has several layers of logs which slow digging. Further, at a certain depth the pit floods in with water despite having being a fair amount away from shore. Dye tests showed how dye poured into the pit end up in the ocean giving the idea that there may be tunnels that flood the pit thus acting like a defense mechanism. Finally, there is an alleged stone that says there is buried treasure (but the stone cannot be found). A short two minute movie below is a 3D diagram of the money pit along with the geography and geology of the island.



Now the mystery of Oak Island may be pirate treasure but it also could be physical geography. Geologist Robert Dunfield did not find a flood tunnel during his investigation. In fact, the underlying limestone is full of water-filled natural caves. It is possible that tide pressure could move the water around in the caves. The underground water could periodically fill the money pit because of this tidal pressure. The constant ebb and flow of the tides could force dye from the pit to the ocean. As for the timbers, natural sinkholes in that area of Canada have been known to have layers of timber at periodic distances. These sink hole will suck in debris like fibers and timer and be recapped by sand and dirt. This repeatable geographic cycle could replicate the money pit.

So is Oak Island a treasure island or are is it just natural? The money pit is probably just a natural geographic feature that was misinterpreted (if it was treasure it is the most complex vault ever with no equal). None the less it is a fascinating romantic story of history and geography.

Cryptozoological Map from SyFy's Destination Truth

One of the SyFy Channel's (the channel formerly known as SciFi) shows is Destination Truth. The show is a semi-serious investigation of cryptozoological animals around the world. The show is about as serious as much of the "History" Channel is today. However, there is still something to learn as monster myths in cyrptozoology reveal much about the local culture and there is always the small percentage that the cryptids are real.

Destination Truth's website has a map that links to cryptids they have examined and one can watch the related episode online. When one has time to kill they might as well have fun and watch an episode or two.

Halloween Geography: Incomplete and Way Too Short List of Geographical Development of Monsters

During October Catholicgauze likes to have a little fun and wright Halloween-related posts. This is not really a series and I do not know how many I will write or repost this month.

The nature, identity, and traits of monsters have changed over time. One element that has only partially been examined is the geographical location of monsters in stories. By examining various cultural stages of developments one realizes there is a correlation with where monsters are found. This list is by no means complete but is based on my cultural geographic observations and readings of myths.

Barbarian, Rural (Semi-civilized) Society: As Western Europe festered in the Dark Ages and the outskirts of still bright Eastern Europe were Roman Byzantine in name only, a new geographic relationship with monsters began. Society was settled and so was the monster. Humans had conquered their own little patch of territory but where the gates ended the terrifying wild world began. The story Beowulf tells how the Danish barbarian king’s settlement was attacked by its neighbors which were a demon, the demon’s mother, and a dragon. Meanwhile, Adobe-dwelling Indians in the American Southwest had stories of skinwalkers, people who left their villages but lived nearby to turn into flesh-eating monsters.

From Dark Age to Modern Age: As cultures conquered the nature of their homes monsters were pushed to the edges of the map. "Here be monsters" was used term on maps. It was easy to dismiss monsters at home but the frequent arrival of descriptions of places like Arabia, Africa, China and elsewhere led to even scientific minds to accept the possibility of monsters still existing in far off lands. Thomas Jefferson himself wondered what sort of animals would be found by Lewis and Clark on their journey through the poorly documented American Interior.

Early Globalization: The first truly global culture was Victorian England. Nature was firmly conquered on Great Britain and local monster stories faded away expect in the most rural areas. What came into being was the idea of a foreign monster invasion. This mirrors the rise in invasion literature which was popular in the time. Also, there were still black/blank spaces on the map which allowed people’s supposedly scientific mind to run wild with all sorts of imaginative ideas, including monsters. The Lost World is a great example of the scientific world allowing itself to believe in blank spots where monsters could exist. However, the early globalization monster is best personified by Dracula. A foreign creature from the dark spot of Transylvania utilized the global system to invade England itself, establish itself in the English system, and run amock.

Modern, Urban Cultures: Modern cultures have treated monsters in two different ways: by demonisterifying the monsters and by pushing the creatures to the outer most limits. Instead of the classic monsters like werewolves and vampires we have moody teenagers ala CW, Twilight, and their related ilk. What remains are extraterrestrials and other cosmic being that live in no particular place, at least in the physical sense. That was not always true as the first extraterrestrials were claimed by the contactees to be from nearby places like Venus, the Moon, and Mars. However, as probes become better aliens were forced off these planets and implanted in our minds to space’s outer most rim and beyond. Besides aliens there are inter-dimensional beings of various sorts like shadow men who can pop in and out of our universe.

Bloop: The Mystery Underneath the Waves

Back in the summer of 1997 NOAA repeatedly recorded a mysterious sound coming from about 50° South and 100° West. The sound was heard by various recording equipment thousands of miles apart and appeared to be organic. However, the strength of the sound would make it the by far the largest animal in the world.

The microphone system that NOAA used is known as the Sound Surveillance System or SOSUS. It was first designed to monitor Soviet submarines around the world. It works by listening into the deep sound channel, which is a level of the ocean where sound can travel thousands of miles without being dispersed or distorted.

The exact nature of Bloop is a mystery. Some scientists will suggest things like really giant squid or even really big ice sheet breaking. However, the fact nothing like it has been heard since 1997 is mind boggling. An probably unrelated sound, Slow Down, was heard 2,500 miles away at 15° South and 115° West.

The site Bloop Watch links to a NOAA page where one can compare Bloop and Slow Down to other known sounds.

While some geographers and nay sayers may complain that the world has already been explored and that there are no more "white spots" left on the map, just remember that there are plenty of blue spaces that need filling in.

Marree Man: World's Biggest Geoglyph Mystery

Geoglyphs have an aurora of mystery around them. The wondering of who and why some were built has been a riddle for many. The fact that many can only be viewed from the air have only added to the mystery of the geoglyphs.

Marree Man is the world's biggest geoglyph and one of the newest. Discovered in 1998 in Australia's Outback its origin is a mystery. At two-and-a-half miles (four kilometers) long the massive geoglyph accurately depicts Aboriginal hunters using sticks as weapons. Investigation of the lines showed how it was created by a tractor plow.

Now for the weird part. No one claims authorship of the geoglyph. The lead suspect died without claiming it as his. An anonymous press release used American terminology but it is undecided if the press release is a clue or a false flag meant to through investigators off track. Later, an anonymous fax from an English hotel revealed a location of a plaque buried underneath the geoglyph. The fax and plaque indicated that this was to be dug up by Americans during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.

At first local government officials and Aborigine organizations were very upset. The Marree Man was called environmental vandalism and disrespectful to Aborigines. An investigation was launched to find out who made it but the case went cold.

Today the geoglyph is fading back into the earth (view it in Google Maps). There is no effort to save the geoglyph. It suddenly appeared and now is slowly disappearing.