Consider the following image:
If you stare at the black cross in the center for a short time, you will likely see two things happen. First, a green circle may appear to be rotating around the image. Second, the lilac circles may fade and even disappear.
This is called the Troxler Effect and Brad Walters at Cortical Hemming and Hawing has the story of how this may play into the Bloody Mary legend. It’s based on a paper in the journal Perception by Giovanni B Caputo entitled Strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion (PDF).
Caputo asked fifty people to stare at a mirror in a dimly lit room for 10 minutes and record what they saw.
The descriptions differed greatly across individuals and included: (a) huge deformations of one’s own face (reported by 66% of the fifty participants); (b) a parent’s face with traits changed (18%), of whom 8% were still alive and 10% were deceased; (c) an unknown person (28%); (d) an archetypal face, such as that of an old woman, a child, or a portrait of an ancestor (28%); (e) an animal face such as that of a cat, pig, or lion (18%); (f ) fantastical and monstrous beings (48%).
Caputo suggests that part of this result is explained by the Troxler effect, and the rest by what he calls the ‘multiple-faces’ phenomenon, which Walter’s describes:
When black and white photographs of familiar faces are viewed so that the face is centered on a blind spot, people have reported seeing different features and even different faces (i.e. white eyes, facial hair that’s not present, upside down faces, the subject’s own face, other faces than what is shown, etc.). Many of these characteristics were similar to what was reported in the “strange face in the mirror illusion”, and many of the same conditions appear to be necessary for both illusions to work. For example, the “multiple faces phenomenon” works much better with black and white photographs than with color photos, while the “strange face in the mirror” illusion relies on low level lighting that makes it difficult for subjects to perceive color information.
What’s the Bloody Mary legend?
The internet might be able to help you out with that one.
(stage whisper) Read the fuggin article.
Never underestimate the power of Wikipedia :-D
I looked up “bloody mary” and never got past the first option, Bloody Mary (cocktail).
I think this would be the one you’re looking for Len.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Mary_%28folklore%29
So cool … When I survey the wonderous cross, anyone? :-)
(FYI: that’s the first line of a hymn!)
When I survey the wondrous cross,
Little green lights go round and round,
Lilac circles fade away,
And Bloody Mary comes to town.
;-)
I wonder if this is how psychomancy works. Supposedly, the person who wants to contact the dead is sitting in a totally dark room looking at a mirror, and faces appear. I know what you’re thinking, what role does the mirror play if spirits are manifesting? I guess the room isn’t as dark as the person thinks it is.
When I was a child, I was always terribly afraid of mirrors, though I couldn’t really explain why. I don’t think I had seen any tv shows or films suggesting that monsters or ghosts would come out of them, though I suppose I can’t discount that, but it seems to have been something that has lasted with me throughout life, and even as an adult I am somewhat reluctant to look into one for any length of time. Being literally unable to remember what my face looks like doesn’t help (long story), of course, but I wonder if this effect might have something to do with it. Perhaps when I was young I started to see things in the mirror. I definitely get odd effects when looking at photographs, so it is nice to know more about this phenomenon.