Orac is the nom de blog of a (not so) humble pseudonymous surgeon/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will. (Continued 
One of my favorite phenomena that represents better than perhaps any other how humans are wired to look for patterns, whether there is a pattern there or not, is the phenomenon known as pareidolia. As a Catholic-turned-sort-of-heathen, in particular I like Virgin Mary pareidolia, and have blogged about multiple such incidents. Of course, the Virgin Mary is not the only sort of image seen in pareidolia. Jesus shows up quite frequently as well.
Now, would you believe that the late Pope John Paul II is showing up in flames? No, really:
This fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II making an appearance beyond the grave.The image, said by believers to show the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing, was spotted during a ceremony in Poland to mark the second anniversary of his death.
Details appeared on the Vatican News Service, a TV station in Rome which specialises in religious news broadcasts.
Service director Jarek Cielecki, a Polish priest and close friend of John Paul II, travelled to Poland after hearing an onlooker had photographed the image.
Father Cielecki said he was convinced the picture showed the former pontiff.
"You can see the image of a person in the flames and I think it is the servant of God, Pope John Paul II," he said.
The pictures were being broadcast continuously on Italian TV and also posted on religious websites, some of which crashed as thousands logged on to see for themselves the eerie figure formed by the flames.
Here's the image:
Uncanny, yes?
Maybe not.
Dan Finkelstein, who caused such a furor over his comments about Richard Dawkins and the Jews not too long ago, perhaps in a bid to kiss and make up, sees this fire in a different way. Naturally, as he does so often in cases of pareidolia, the King makes an appearance:
Finkelstein has a few other ideas about whom this miraculous flame resembles, as well. Personally, although Finkelstein's suggestions aren't bad, I think this magical fire looks more like Pete Townsend (that is, if you tilt the picture a little so that they match up more closely):
Rock on!
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
Looks to me like a wizard casting a spell. I'll see if I can find the cross stitch pattern it remind me of.
Posted by: Inquisitive Raven | October 17, 2007 2:43 PM
I dunno. . . When I sse things like this, I instinctively think "Photoshop."
Posted by: jk | October 17, 2007 2:45 PM
Wizard? It's Dumbledore.
Posted by: rl | October 17, 2007 3:00 PM
It looks like a profile of an Aztec face looking to the right. Does that mean that the Aztec calendar should somehow come into play?
Posted by: obscurifer | October 17, 2007 3:06 PM
Looks to me more like a guy on fire trying to escape said fire. Less a blessing, more a "HELP! GET ME THE HELL OUT OF THIS FIRE!"
Posted by: pough | October 17, 2007 3:20 PM
Um, I'm a bit confused. Why would a Catholic expect to see JPII in flames? Clouds, maybe.
I mean, if even the Pope is consigned to a fiery afterlife, there's no point in the rest of us attending mass or saying rosaries or any of that. It clearly doesn't help!
Posted by: qetzal | October 17, 2007 3:25 PM
"I mean, if even the Pope is consigned to a fiery afterlife, there's no point in the rest of us attending mass or saying rosaries or any of that. It clearly doesn't help!"
I think this sums it up perfectly.
Posted by: sailor | October 17, 2007 3:40 PM
It's Graham Gooch playing a forward defensive, with a high backlift.
Don't look at me like that!
Bob
Posted by: Bob O'H | October 17, 2007 3:58 PM
Obviously the late pope has failed. Those flames don't look exactly like him. They also don't seem to be saying anything.
If you're going to make an appearance after death, make an undeniable appearance.
Posted by: Koray | October 17, 2007 4:27 PM
Film any ordinary bonfire for ten minutes, and among the frames you'll find all the interesting images you want.
Posted by: anon1234 | October 17, 2007 5:03 PM
Looks like a 3/4 profile of a bust of Bozo the Clown to me.
Posted by: clheiny | October 17, 2007 5:04 PM
Speaking of pareidolia, why is it so hard to find anything about it in the peer-reviewed literature? I was hoping to try and look at it for my senior thesis (in Cognitive Science, with a Psych professor), but it turns up almost nothing in Google Scholar (as does apophenia). Especially when you're looking for it in folks without psychopathologies.
Anyone know another search term I should be using for the same phenomenon? Seems like somebody must have wanted to study it in normals..
Posted by: yonatron | October 18, 2007 12:22 AM
"Speaking of pareidolia, why is it so hard to find anything about it in the peer-reviewed literature?"
No problem; just take any piece of random literature and keep on staring at it until you see what you want.
Posted by: has | October 18, 2007 7:35 AM
ba-dum bum tssss....
Posted by: yonatron | October 18, 2007 9:59 AM
Feh. Pete Townsend isn't dead how could he be making appearances in bonfires...
Posted by: Bourgeois_Rage | October 18, 2007 12:08 PM
No way man, that's Lee Harvey Oswald getting shot again!
here's a random image from a google search
Posted by: tonyl | October 18, 2007 12:27 PM
"Speaking of pareidolia" - it IS an uncanny little phenomenon... I went canoeing this summer, and the river was lined with fallen trees, branches outstretched into mid-river, tangled roots bared etc. I can assure you I saw meaningful images (like a huge cat crouched on the bank, or a pair of birds, and other stuff), in ALL these jumbled groups before getting closer and thinking "ow, it's just a bunch of branches again" ;-)
I thought it was normal until I asked my boyfriend and he said no, he didn't see any of those images at all!
Are some people more prone to this stuff, and if yes, then why?
I'll be coming back here for an answer! ;-)
Posted by: magdalena | October 19, 2007 4:42 AM
Wow! the bonfire image was not wearing pants nor shortpants, how can you claim it was elvis, paul or john.
Posted by: Mike Spears | October 20, 2007 8:13 AM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4oscOsCGNE0
This is my favorite Virgin Mary appearance.
Posted by: Sirrus911 | October 20, 2007 7:16 PM
Bob:
Could be a forward defensive, but it looks more to me like a squarish on-drive... then again, Goochie's technique was always suspect :p
Posted by: Tunic | October 21, 2007 8:13 AM