Alien hunters are hopeful that a photo snapped by the Mars Rover could show a stone coffin amid an ancient extraterrestrial burial ground on the red planet. Others attempts to read the picture resulted in observers “finding” a fallen statue amid the piles of stones.
The photo, taken by the Mars Rover back in May 2015, shows what first appears to be ordinary rocks and rubble. However, this week it captured the attention of several alien websites and UFO channels, which believe it could be (gasp) something more.
The Mister Enigma YouTube channel – which claims to be a source for the “best UFO, alien, and ghost news” – posted a video of the image and said it appears to show “some kind of sarcophagus laying on the edge of a cliff.”
The video went on to state that in another photo taken a few moments later, there appears to be two faces carved into a cliff looking towards the object, prompting Mister Enigma to ask: “Could this be an ancient alien burial ground?”
Mister Enigma did admit to digitally editing the image and other footage published by the YouTube channel to “make it clearer,” The Express reported. He has been accused by some UFOlogists of misrepresentation, although he denies those claims.
He did state, however, that this particular photo could be the result of an optical illusion.
Scott Waring from UFO Sightings Daily believes it could be a stone coffin or a “statue of a standing figure that has fallen over on its side,” he wrote on the site.
It comes just over a year after UFO Sightings Daily shared a similar photo which appeared to show a coffin made of a “stone substance” on Mars.
"What would it take to get NASA to turn the rover around and examine the contents of this box?" the website asked at the time.
The chances of that are highly unlikely, based on previous statements from NASA.
Referring to the alleged sighting of a face on the red planet last year, spokesman Guy Webster told Fox News: “As you can probably tell, it is a natural rock at the disrupted rim of a small crater, not a sculpture made by some ancient culture...but it's great that people are using their imaginations and enjoying the full public access to every image taken by any Mars rover.”
Indeed, most of the “findings” of life on Mars are a result of pareidolia, which takes place when the brain tricks the eyes into seeing familiar objects in textures and patterns. The 'Man in the Moon' is a popular example of the phenomenon.