Unusual Photos That Make Us Feel Like We’ve Now Seen It All

If you’re anything like us, you love a delicious slice of lemon meringue pie. But have you ever thought, “This is delicious, but I really wish I could see through it?” Obviously the answer is “no,” but U.K. chef James Dempsey created a transparent version anyway! It’s equal parts fascinating and bizarre, and we can’t quite get our head around it. Clear… pie?!

Gaze at this picture for long enough and you’ll find yourself getting more and more confused. The picture is reportedly not photoshopped, and yet the building looks two dimensional. It took a Redditor posting a pic of a Google maps overhead view to show people that the building is shaped like a trapezoid, which is why from a certain angle it looks freaky. Crazy!

We love pics like this, because it takes a while for your eyes to pinpoint what you’re meant to be looking at. Then you see it and involuntarily let out a snort of amusement. We hope this good boy was concentrating hard on the lecture and got the treats he deserved. Who’s a good college student? Yes, you are!

To bumpkins like us, the notion of skyscrapers being tall enough to nestle amongst the clouds is something we can’t quite comprehend. After all, we get scared going up a couple of flights of stairs! This photo was taken in Chicago and, in reality, was actually caused by a fog that blanketed the city. So, the buildings mightn’t quite have been in the clouds, but we’d still go nowhere near them! No, sir.

Have you ever wanted to own a piece of furniture that challenges your perception of the laws of physics? Well, now you can! Ladies and gentlemen, we present “the floating table.” Feast your eyes and wonder just how this wacky combination of chains stops the table from collapsing on itself. It’s super clever, but we’d still be worried about setting our iced tea on it…

This pic shows just how much times have changed. Back in our school days, a teacher once accused us of being so lazy we were almost horizontal. Hilarious burn, admittedly. But now we see that they’re letting sloths into schools these days — animals whose whole deal is being lazy! And we’re meant to think it’s cute! Bah.

Looking at this is like seeing a glitch in the matrix — it just looks wrong. We can only assume the trees were shallow planted, or the grass was laid fairly shallow. Something is shallow here. Either way, a strong storm has blown all the trees down and that weird sheet effect it’s had on the grass is kind of hypnotic!

This spectacular image was captured in Upminster, England, on August 1, 2008. The plane is soaring above the Damyns Hall Aerodrome while there’s a partial solar eclipse occurring, and the effect is mind-blowing. The rainbow’s color is so saturated that it almost doesn’t look real — yet it most certainly is. Incredible.

This pic of a quasi-futuristic suspension monorail was taken in Wuppertal, Germany, in 2021. Astonishingly, though, it’s not a new invention — it’s actually been in operation since 1901! It’s the oldest elevated railway in the world, and still transports millions of passengers every year in its hanging train car. Whoa.

To be fair, we’ve all had packages get roughed up or wet in transit. But we’ve never quite seen anything as hilariously unlucky — or deviously planned — as this! Either the delivery person had no idea it was going to rain, or they did know and placed the packages just a few inches away from safety on purpose. Answers on a postcard, please.

Zhangjiajie, China, is home to the Tianmen Mountain’s Panlong Cliff. “Panlong” translates to “coiling dragon,” and one look at this photo makes it abundantly clear why. Amazingly, these tourists are brave enough to walk on its skywalk, which snakes its way for around 330 feet around the cliff. And yes, in case you’re wondering, that’s see-through glass beneath their feet. Eek!

Imagine coming across this on a leisurely stroll through the park. The circle in the trees is so perfect it almost looks like it’s been blasted through by a laser. What mysteries await inside? We’re not ones to overreact, but in this case there’s no other explanation — this is 100 percent a portal to an underworld dimension. Fact!

There’s certain things we’d expect to see when looking under the hood of our car. Firstly, a bunch of complicated-looking engine parts we will never understand. Secondly, an oil reservoir we don’t know how to refill. Thirdly, a dog hiding amongst the machinery. No, wait — that’s not what we’d expect to see at all!

Artist Yoshihiko Satoh is probably the most metal artist you’ll ever find. Why? Because he makes his sculptures out of guitars, that’s why! So, if you ever wanted to see what a man playing 12 guitars at once looks like, you need wonder no longer. There it is. And it looks simultaneously glorious, yet hilariously awkward!

On July 13, 2019, the West Side of Manhattan was plunged into darkness when a blackout hit New York City. Around 30 blocks — including Times Square, Fifth Avenue, and 72nd street — were without power for five hours. This picture perfectly captures the hauntingly beautiful image of darkened skyscrapers like gargantuan monoliths standing right next to their fully lit counterparts!

In 2005 Roger Federer and Andre Agassi — two of the world’s most iconic tennis players — played their most unusual game. At a vomit-inducing height of roughly 690 feet, they duked it out on the Burj Al Arab hotel’s Helipad, which had been turned into a makeshift court to promote the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open. We’re not sure we could’ve even stepped foot out there, let alone played a game!

Have you ever looked at a photograph and thought it looked more like a painting? Take this pic of a Boeing 777 flying beneath a solar eclipse in 2017. The composition is almost too perfect to be real — the long plumes from the plane’s engines crossing diagonally over the crescent shaped eclipse, all while the plane is angled toward the heavens. It’s striking and inspiring and mysterious all at once.

Upon first glance, you may not know what you’re looking at here. Your eyes may tell you it looks like an alien glass shard structure bursting forth from an old-fashioned brick building. To be fair, maybe that was the intention of architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed this controversial addition to the Royal Ontario Museum. It was added in 2007 and is known as “the Crystal.”

Pareidolia is when human beings see familiar things — such as faces — where there are none. Some may believe this is what’s happening in this image of an iceberg taken in Newfoundland in 2014. We disagree entirely, though — because this iceberg 100 percent looks like the Dark Knight himself! This isn’t a psychological phenomenon making us see things that aren’t there — that’s a Batberg!

Did you know that if you have nerve damage on one of your fingers, it won’t wrinkle like the others when exposed to water? How weird is that? Apparently boffins have known about this since the ’30s, and it points to the wrinkling being an active process controlled by our nervous system. Some scientists think it’s an evolutionary quirk that helps us handle objects better when our hands are wet!

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the Inntel Hotel in Zaandam, Amsterdam, is a perfect illustration of this. To some, the design — which looks like houses from the local area stacked on top of one another, from poor homes to rich — is a charming representation of Dutch culture. To others, it’s a bizarre, gaudily-colored eyesore. What do you think?

This huge collection of sheared sheep perfectly aligned in the shade of the windmill’s arms are much smarter than we give them credit for. On a hot day, they knew to seek the shade, and that’s pretty clever. On the other hand, though, they’ve made themselves very easy to be rounded up by their farmer — no dog needed!

In England’s Sussex County, people come from far and wide to get a selfie under the arches of the Ouse Valley viaduct. From this image, it’s not hard to see why — it’s both a feat of structural engineering and also gives the impression of a trippy optical illusion. At the core of its appeal is its sheer size, though — look how dwarfed the couple is!

There’s something oddly satisfying about this photo. It’s simply a wheat field next to a lavender field, but the split down the middle and contrast in colors is just… beautiful. Also, imagine how it smells — that beautiful lavender scent just wafting up your nostrils. Makes us sleepy and calm just thinking about it!

This is the bizarre result of soil erosion meeting a tree that says “Nuh uh!” This particular tree is in Tanzania and, even though the soil surrounding it has eroded and lowered over the years and the other plants are struggling to survive, its roots have helped it stay thriving. You see, roots turn soil into something akin to reinforced dirt, which helps keep the tree firmly attached to the land.

The weather in Wisconsin — where this hilarious pic was taken — must be schizophrenic. How can it be winter and summer at the same time?! You’ve got to appreciate the effort that went into the photo, though — the bare legs, flip flops, and smug grin contrasting perfectly with the woman wrapped up head to toe. It’s visual poetry, is what it is!

Siberia’s Lake Baikal is the biggest freshwater lake in the world — it contains a larger volume of water than all the Great Lakes in North America combined! In winter it completely freezes over, and this incredible photo shows an array of ships and boats trapped in the two feet of ice that has formed everywhere. Pretty crazy, huh?

This frozen pond in Switzerland became the talk of the internet when it was posted in 2014. Many people thought the image was altered in some way, but now accept that it’s genuine. Perhaps the water froze over, then some of that ice shattered into shards, which exposed some water from under the surface — and then that froze too. Whatever happened, it sure made for a pretty pattern!

This bemusing pic was uploaded to Imgur with the title “Car trafficking in Africa” and no context. It’s definitely a noodle-scratcher — how is this truck balanced when it has a full-sized car strapped to the side? And even if it somehow managed to avoid falling over while the car was affixed there, how is the truck supposed to drive away?!

It’s entirely possible — even likely — that this photo was a set-up. But, what if it wasn’t, and this was just snapped by a bystander who happened to see these two vehicles parked on the street? Then we don’t know what to think! It looks like they’ve been mashed together and rearranged, like in a cartoon!

If you ever want to feel like you’re hanging in the air 12,605 feet high over the mountains, then the “Step into the Void” skywalk is for you! The feature juts out on top of a French Alps peak in Chamonix, and the glass box is built to cope with winds traveling as fast as 124 miles per hour. We’d be a quivering wreck, obviously, but other — considerably braver — people might love it!

What is this nightmare fuel, we hear you ask? Why, it’s simply a male moth during mating season! Those long furry appendages? That’s just what he uses to send out pheromones that will attract a female. Well… it’s either that or some terrifying new beastie that’s come to Earth to jump on our faces and turn the human race into hosts for its insectoid empire.

This insane picture was taken by a spectator at the Estadio BBVA Bancomer in Monterrey, Mexico, during a soccer match between Monterrey CF and Guadalajara. The stadium was built in the shadow of the Cera de la Silla mountain, and from the right vantage point high in the stands, the view is absolutely astounding. Very few soccer arenas can match that!

Look at this happy hiker, gazing up in wonderment at the mass of ice surrounding him on all sides — he looks so happy! It must be a surreal feeling to be in an ice cave like that, because it’s so picturesque but also so alien to us. It’s quite the change in environment from our usual central heating and creature comforts!

You’ve got to admire the commitment this groom had to his joke — or lament his stupidity! Writing “HELP” on your shoes and displaying it to all your friends and family in attendance? That’s brave. And hilarious. We hope his blushing bride saw the funny side and wasn’t enraged that the photos of her special day are now immortalized because of a dumb prank!

Matthias Schlitte is a German arm wrestling champion. As you can see, he has one normal-sized arm… and one enormous arm! Schlitte was born with a genetic disorder which made his right forearm bone a third larger than his left. One of his nicknames is “The Real Hellboy,” a reference to the comic book character with a massive stone forearm dubbed the right hand of doom!

What do you see when you look at this picture? If you see a mass of writhing, twisted bodies, covered in black soot, screaming as they’re sucked into the fiery pits of hell — you’re not alone! That’s what a lot of people see. In reality, this is actually lava that formed into a crust when it cooled around a lava skylight. But we prefer the “hell” explanation.

This upside-down fig tree has been in Bacoli, Italy, since the days of ancient Rome and Julius Caesar. It grows downward from an arch ceiling in the Parco Archeologico Delle Terme di Baia, a place where the rich of that era wined and dined each other. Every year it bears fruit, and nobody has any idea how it got there, nor how it continues to thrive. Weird!

If there’s one place we consider sacred in the household, it’s the bathroom. That’s our fortress of solitude; hell, it’s where we do our best thinking! So, we’re not entirely sure we like the idea of having a perspective-warping design like this on the floor. Imagine walking in there after an evening partaking in a few adult beverages?! Yikes.

Fire is scary. Tornadoes are also scary. Throw those two terrifying things together, though, and this is what you get — a fire tornado. Yes, you read that right. They are formed when hot air is blown through fire at just the right angle. This results in a spinning movement which sucks up debris and embers as it reaches toward the sky. Now we’ve really seen it all!