How often are you walking down the street and you realize that your mind is playing tricks on you? It might not happen all that often. But sometimes you have to stop, take off your glasses, give your eyes a good rub, then you realize that your mind wasn’t playing tricks on you. You are actually seeing something unbelievable right in front of your face! If you don’t take a picture of it right then, there is just no way that your friends are going to believe what you saw. In different cities throughout the world, this can happen, whether the unbelievable sighting is due to an art project gone public, or possibly it’s a natural disaster that seems pretty irreparable at the time. The following 18 images may look Photoshopped, but I can assure you that they are not. Check these out and prepare to have your mind hurt.
1. Abstract Tarp – While I’m not sure where this picture was taken, it looks like the building is melting. That’s not the case though. The building is under construction and rather than throwing a boring old tarp over it, they threw this unique and abstract tarp over the side to hide whatever was going on inside.
2. Floating Boat – Is this a floating boat or just really clear water? You guessed right if you said that the water was really clear, giving the illusion of a floating boat.
3. Panic Room – This hotel room is located in Marseille, France at the Au Vieux Panier Hotel. They hired artist Tilt to paint this room, which he titled Panic Room. This unique hotel has a total of 5 rooms and they’ve invited different artists, graphic designers, and painters to come into their hotel to create unusual themes in each room.
4. Sandstorm – While this may look like a giant mug of frothy beer, it’s actually a sandstorm in Australia rolling over the ocean.
5. Chaohu Lake, China – This may look like two fisherman rowing their boat through a thick layer of water colors, but that’s definitely not the case. The Chaohu Lake contains blue-green algae, due to the rising amount of both domestic and industrial sewage that is being thrown into the waters of this lake. It is leading to very high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the water.
6. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia – Salar de Uyuni are the world’s largest salt flats, which cover approximately 4,086 square miles. It was formed as a results of transformations between several historic lakes and is covered by about 10 feet of salt crust. When there is a thin layer of water on these salt flats, it creates a photographer’s paradise providing some of the most beautiful reflections ever seen.
7. The Line, Western Hungary – In October 2010, a retaining wall around a reservoir broke in Western Hungary. This reservoir was holding an aluminum company’s toxic waste. Due to the retaining wall break, a million cubic meters of sludge went into the surrounding towns and countryside. Because of this disaster, nine people died and people were forced to abandon their villages, along with the millions of dollars of damage that was caused. As a result of this disaster, the head of the company was arrested due to criminal negligence.
8. Perfectly Shaped Trees – The location of these trees is unknown, but they are each cut into a perfectly straight line and thinned out to create an illusion unlike any other.
9. Piece Of Paper Art Project, New Zealand – This sculpture is made of welded and painted steel. From a distance it looks like a two-dimensional drawing, but once you get closer it ends up being three-dimensional.
10. Black & White Santa – It may look like this Santa Claus is Photoshopped, but this is actually a costume you can purchase online at various costume shops. Who knew that a black and white costume would actually make you stand out?
11. Parking Garage Sign, Australia – At a parking garage in Australia, they decided to make it painfully obvious which direction the ramps go. It looks like it’s in 3D, but that’s just how they painted it. Now there should be no confusion when it comes to getting around this parking garage.
12. Biografias, Madrid, Spain – Artist Alicia Martin created this masterpiece which totals three site-specific installations. The series itself is called Biografias, which basically translates to Biographies. The installation above is located at Casa de America and is made up of 5,000 books that look like a burst of books being thrown out the window.
13. Crooked Forest, West Pomerania – These pine trees look like they’re straight out of a Dr. Seuss book, but it’s actually unknown why these trees are bent like this. There are over 400 bent trees located in Crooked Forest. Some people think that it was caused by humans, others think that they were bent that way to be used in furniture or boat building, while others speculate they are curved like this due to a snow storm.
14. Geometric Paintings by Felice Varini – Felice Varini is a Swiss artist who is mostly known for his geometric perspective-localized paintings. These paintings fit into rooms using projector-stencil techniques. Usually the paintings are characterized from one vantage point where whoever is looking at the painting can see the entire painting. And other viewers in different locations would only see fragmented shapes that appear to be broken.
15. Sinkhole in Guatemala City – This may look like something out of a movie, but this sinkhole appeared in Guatemala City in 2010. It measures at approximately 60 feet wide and 200 feet deep!
16. UFO Shaped Cloud – This UFO shaped cloud looks like aliens may be coming to attack Earth, but it’s actually a lenticular cloud. These clouds are formed in the troposphere and usually are lined up to the wind direction. These clouds are often to blame for UFO sightings.
17. Sun Cruise Hotel, South Korea – Ever wanted to go on a cruise, but you’re worried about being stuck on a cruise ship for long periods at a time without being able to get off? Well the Sun Cruise Hotel in South Korea may be the perfect option for you. This giant cruise liner is perched on a huge cliff and offers everything a regular cruise offers, but you don’t have to worry about traveling on the ocean, the constant movement of waves, or the time crunch at each port. You can stay here, play here, and explore all that Gangneung, South Korean has to offer.
18. Grass Sphere, Paris – This grass sphere is located outside the Paris City Hall. And while it may look like a giant grass ball in the middle of a walking space, it’s actually flat, allowing people to relax on this sphere during their lunch breaks.
These images really play tricks on your mind. I could have sworn that the trees in Western Hungary were painted, but it was definitely much worse than I expected. These 18 illusions from around the world are definitely something that would stop you in your tracks. Which one was your favorite and which one would you love to see in person?