Kmart’s $19 ‘demonic’ cloud artwork shocks the internet

It might be a bargain, but turns out shoppers aren’t too keen on this Kmart product because of one rather unsettling detail.

The world feels like a pretty scary place at the moment and understandably, most of us want to make our homes as calm a place a possible as a result.

So we can’t really blame one woman who took to Facebook to share that she was removing a Kmart photo print after finding it was making her feel rather unsettled.

“So after finding a demonic face in this pic I don’t want it above our bed anymore,” the woman wrote in the Kmart Inspired Homes Facebook group.

“Where else can I hang a cloudy pic?”

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Soon others said they too could spot faces in the clouds.

Her post soon attracted hundreds of comments and it seemed, despite the canvas being a bargain at $19, shoppers weren’t willing to put a price on peace of mind.

Commenters told her to “burn it” and that it was “ruined for me” now that the poster had pointed out the “demonic face”.

“I have this above my bed oh no,” one person wrote, while another added: “God I wouldn’t put it up at all.”

Soon others were reporting seeing other shapes in the photo too including Mufasa, a turtle and Pope Benedict.

“I might just have a really creepy mind, but I can see a mutated baby alien face happening there too,” one person commented.

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The woman shared how she was scared to hang the photo over her bed after spotting something ‘demonic’.

“I had mine hanging in the toilet. Hubby demanded me to take it down as there was a poop monster in it,” another wrote.

But while the post had attracted scores of comments from people reporting figures in the clouds, other pointed out it was just a trick of the eye that made humans see faces – phew.

“If you look hard enough, you can see a demonic face in anything,” one person said.

An 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich (toast) which allegedly depicts the Virgin Mary was sold in 2004. Picture: AFP

WHAT IS PAREIDOLIA?

Pareidolia is the name given to the human tendency to see faces or obvious patterns in objects and things – and it’s perfectly normal to experience.

There’s been many famous cases of pareidolia over the years, such when a US woman whose cheese toastie looked like the Virgin Mary sold at auction for $40,000 in 2004.

Pareidolia expert Kang Lee from Canada’s University of Toronto told the BBC in 2014 it was “pretty easy to induce this phenomenon”.

If someone reports seeing Jesus in a piece of toast, you’d think they must be nuts,” he said.

“But it’s very pervasive … We are primed to see faces in every corner of the visual world.”

What you see is also impacted by your life experience, with a University of Helsinki study finding that those who are religious or believe in the paranormal are more likely to see faces in inanimate objects or photos.