Billions of dollars have been spent by various space agencies, such as NASA, and scientists from around the world in their search of alien life on the surface of Mars. According to alien hunters, however, such life has been staring us all in the face.
A video posted by the user with the handle Paranormal Crucible, who is a self-styled paranormal investigator, claims to have identified the skull of a giant alien or Sasquatch on the Red Planet.
The supposed skull was spotted in one of the images that were beamed back to Earth by NASA’s Curiosity rover. The rover has been trundling around on Mars since its landing in 2012.
What we have to keep in mind is that humans are prone to pareidolia, a psychological response to seeing faces, other significant or everyday items in random situations. It is a form of apophenia — when people see patterns in random and unconnected data. The media has often reported on people who think they see religious images or themes in potato chips or pieces of toast.
All Photos by Paranormal Crucible
In terms of the Red Planet, one of the most famous instances of pareidolia occurred when people claimed to see the “face on Mars” from one of the Viking orbiters in 1976. Later, this face was proven to be just a chance alignment of shifting sand dunes.
In the video, Paranormal Crucible noted that the suspected skull was “obviously alien in nature” and appeared to resemble the remains of the mythical Sasquatch, also known as Big Foot.
In the description under the video, they wrote, “’Strange artifact found by the rover, appears to resemble a large skull, obviously alien in nature, could it be the remains of a Sasquatch or a bizarre Martian creature?” NASA has not yet commented on their claim.
As already noted, this was not the first suspicious object that has been spotted by alien hunters since Curiosity landed. For example, one alien enthusiast claimed that the rover had captured images of the surface of the planet. This was, they said, proof that ancient oceans once covered Mars.
Other recent sightings include a mouse, the face of God, a crucifix, and even an Egyptian sarcophagus. Mars appears to be a veritable zoo—some enthusiasts have claimed to see a silver-back gorilla, while others say they see a camel. Still, others claim to have seen a mother bear and her cub—this one was particularly interesting as they claimed that the two animals were alive at the time that the photo was taken.
It has become a popular pastime on the internet to search the images sent back by NASA rovers. Mister Enigma is another UFO enthusiast who has posted about various the mysterious animals on the Red Planet. He seems to have spotted an octopus-like creature, as well as an Egyptian statue that was built by Martians.
Of course, the majority of experts believe that the enthusiasts are simply seeing interestingly shaped rocks and are being tricked by pareidolia.
When Paranormal Crucible found the suspicious objects, they alerted the website called UFO Sightings Daily. Scott C. Warring, the site editor who is based in Taiwan, said “there is a reason NASA puts photos into black and white. To hide the living creatures and plants that are obvious in color.”
When a blogger claimed to have seen a lizard meandering around Mars, the website reposted it in order to share the news. This posting caused some of the more excitable conspiracy theorists to fear that NASA was planting life on Mars to perform scientific testing.
“With water existing on Mars in small amounts, it’s possible to find such desert animals wandering around…although very rare mind you,” Mr. Waring wrote on his site.
Undeterred by what the conventional experts say, alien hunters persist. In August in 2013, they shared an image on Journey to the Surface of the Mars Facebook page. The image in question, which was taken by the Mars Curiosity rover, shows a mysterious Martian face-hugger crab that closely resembles the monster from the movie Alien.
A year before that, a frog was supposedly spotted on Mars. The discovery was made by Jason Hunter, who then shared a video that elaborated his theory. When hunters thought they had found a rabbit on Mars, NASA investigated and found that the ears of the rabbit were in fact part of the rover and its body a piece of airbag material.