Pareidolia and selective blindness

Pareidolia  is seeing patterns and images where only random colors and shapes really are present.  It’s a very human thing that your brain does.  Our  brain is built to see patterns and images, and it will see patterns and images even where there are none.  It’s hard not to see them.

Then there is the contrary phenomenon.  It doesn’t have a name, but I am going to call it selective blindness.  It amounts to not seeing patterns and images where there are patterns and images.  If you don’t see a hiding fox, that is normal,  but if you don’t see a fox that is in the open, and you deny that there is a fox even if it’s pointed out, I’d call that selective blindness. 

In order to see sasquatches that are there and not to see ones that are only imaginary, it helps to look for some specific clues.  There are some photos below only to illustrate what sorts of things clue you to the possible presence of a sasquatch.  Do not interpret these as picture of actual bigfoot.

→  Where are they?  Ask yourself, If I didn’t want to be seen where would I hide?  Look at those places first.

→  Off color:  You’ve been looking at nature your whole life.  You know what is normal.   One not-normal thing to spot is a color that seems wrong.  Is the black way too black?  Should the tree trunk be that color of reddish brown?  Are those dead leaves or is that red color someone’s fur?

Orange color out of place, possibly.

→   Shadows:  Shadows of trees are generally dappled.  A solid shadow cast by a tree means look again.  A shadow of a boulder is a great place to blend in if your fur is darker.

Hiding beside boulder?

→  Textures:   look for furry texture and the leathery texture of skin.  Especially telling is a furry arm wrapped around a branch or feet dangling from a tree limb.

Are those arms wrapped around tree trunks?

→  Look twice at objects a bigfoot could mimic. Tree trunks, tree stumps, boulders, tree roots, shadows, and deadfall can turn out to be more lively than still.

→  One thing to be aware of is that someitmes when you see them, they are sort of piled up so it’s hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.

→  Feet and hands:  look for the pale bottoms of feet and for pale nails on hands. 

→  Look for eyes and eyeshine.   The white of teeth shows up well, too.

→   Be sure to look down at ground level and under and around shrubs and trees.