Our pattern-recognizing brain can be a little too eager to help us and will just tell us what it thinks we see. As a result, we’ll happily accept a further on, black cat as just a shadow and a series of scratches on a boat as a wonderful image of a tropical island. So it would be best to always look twice, not just when crossing the street, but when seeing almost anything.

The mildly interesting subreddit, on top of being quite humble, gathers the best happy little coincidences our brains and eyes put together. So scroll down and get comfortable, since you’ll probably be staring at some of these for a bit. Make sure to upvote your favorites and if you want some more things that look like other things, Bored Panda has got you covered, you can find them here and here.

#1 I Present To You The Rare And Wonderful Dogtopus

Image credits: lospolloshermanas

#2 The Sunset Lighting Makes It Look Like Firebreath

Image credits: PoonSwoggle

#3 My Friend's Snake Has The Superman Logo Naturally Emblazoned On Its Skin

Image credits: backdoorwolf

Some illusionists even try to get people to “fall” for these tricks through knowledge of psychology and clever design. One of the better-known, intentional examples is the Rabbit-Duck illusion, which is a sketch of either the head of a rabbit or a duck. The same person can respond that they see different woodland creatures at different times of the year, though this may be because there is no actual reward for saying that you can recognize both, just the expectation that you see something.

In the case of the rabbit-duck, duck-rabbit, or however you prefer to call it, the brain is creating a full image out of disparate pieces. Like the images here, it’s just our mind trying to figure out what is going on, while filtering everything through what we already know. Unfortunately, our brain can only work with what our senses give it, and once it’s made up its (or our) mind, it might be disinclined to help you see what’s actually happening. So in the case of the two cats, it might not notice the second cat because it’s already ‘established’ that the first cat’s shadow is visible.

#4 The Inside Of My Red Onion Looks Like A Lotus Flower

Image credits: Ban_Pending

#5 The Way The Sunlight Reflects Off My Vase Makes It Look Like Smoke

Image credits: SimpleSpyder

#6 My Cat's Shadow Is Actually My Other Cat

Image credits: IAMGodAMAA

Camouflage works in similar ways, by hijacking the methods our mind uses to determine what is what. Once we have accepted that a clump of bushes is a clump of bushes, it will fade into the back of our minds. We might only start to see the hypothetical camouflaged man if we are actively looking for someone or something that may be hiding in the clump of bushes. Animals use this strategy to great effect, while humans, as usual, just copy their homework to replicate the patterns, colors, and shapes found in nature.

#7 These Fishnet Stockings Made From The Table’s Shadow

Image credits: Nicky-Al-Dente

#8 Random Blister That Looks Like An Exclamation Point Appeared On My Finger

Image credits: ZeloChief

#9 This Agate That Looks Like A Wildfire

Image credits: Magnetron85

Sometimes nature itself conspires to trick and confuse us. For example, a mirage is caused by light bending in such a way that a human, normally depicted as tired and thirsty, sees reflections of things further away or in the sky. Often in popular media, the person, no doubt wandering through the desert, sees an oasis and drags themselves towards it only to find more desert. This is actually not a mirage, simply some sort of psychosis. A real mirage is just the bending of light that can actually be caught on camera. Mirages aren’t limited to the desert and can be found near large bodies of water as well.

#10 I Got A Chicken Tender Shaped Like Africa

Image credits: Mute_Jammer

#11 My Blinds Reflection Looks Like Lunar Phases On My Wall

Image credits: spaniard702

#12 This Basket, Flattened By A Semi-Truck, Now Looks Like A 3D Picture Of A Basket

Image credits: BRQuick

Mother nature wasn’t done with just mirages, certain illusions can also be found near obstructed horizons, where our brains create a slope on a hill that is actually stable. This is sometimes referred to as a gravity hill, though it’s a lot less sci-fi than it sounds. It is also sometimes called a magnetic hill, though neither gravity nor magnets have anything to do with it. It’s caused by surrounding items appearing straight when they are actually leaning, making the ground appear like it’s sloping in one direction or another.

#13 My Blue Moon Beer Has An Orange, But It Looks Like There Is A Fried Egg On Top

Image credits: reddit.com

#14 Sunlight Through This Fountain Looks Like It Is Pouring Lava - l'Aquila, Italy

Image credits: daenel

#15 The Way The Light Shines Through The Bookcase Makes A Cityscape Shadow

Image credits: Mitchdavismann

We sometimes create these illusions ourselves, like the watercolor effect. It comes about when a colored line on a white background appears to ‘bleed’ parts of itself into the white area. Our eyes see this similar to a watercolor painting, where the edges of the brushstroke are lighter than the center. While this actually happens when using watercolors, in the watercolor illusion, the colored lines do not actually have a pale border of any sort. While it is less understood than the others mentioned here, scientists believe it could be a result of our brain ‘splitting’ the image into a background and something placed upon it, i.e. the line.

#16 The Colors In This Piece Of Agate Look Like A Sunset

Image credits: forged_elements

#17 Looks Like They’re Flying To The Moon

Image credits: weII_then

#18 Coco Biting On A Toy Lightsaber, Looks Like He's Shooting His Laser Beam

Image credits: cokeplusmentos

The simplest way a layperson can go about making something confusing would be to apply something called contour rivalry, which is also a great band name. Simply put, it’s the process of using shared indents, lines, and groves to create a series of images that change when viewed from different angles. This method has been known for over two thousand years, but creative artists can still use it to trick and confuse viewers.