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90 Times People Spotted Something That Made Them Think We Live In A Simulation
Have you ever seen something so strange you had to look twice to make sure your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you? Most of the time, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. But now and then, you come across a photo that makes you wonder if reality has a few bugs in its system.
We found a collection of pictures that look like genuine glitches in the Matrix. They range from bizarre coincidences to scenes that seem to defy logic. These images might leave you staring at your screen, trying to make sense of what you’re seeing.
Take a seat and prepare to have your brain do a double take as we explore some of the strangest moments that make reality look a little less real.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Glitch In The Matrix
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#2
Wall Cat
#3
I Took This Long Exposure Photo Of Wind Turbines, Felt Like It Fit Here
The phrase “glitch in the Matrix” comes from the 1999 science-fiction film The Matrix, in which a strange repeating event makes the characters suspect that something has changed in their simulated world.
The idea stuck because it gives us a fun way to describe moments when reality seems to break its own rules.
#4
This Tiny Banana I Harvested Today
#5
Our Cookout In Gatlinburg, TN Was Interrupted By A Bear Who Sat Just Like A Human At The Picnic Table While He Finished Off Our Food
#6
A Cloud With Two Very Straight Edges
Philosopher Nick Bostrom explored simulated reality in a 2003 paper, arguing that we may already be living in a simulation created by an advanced civilization. He didn’t claim this was definitely the case, but his argument raised the possibility that what we experience as reality might not be quite what it seems.
So while these photos might make the simulation theory tempting, they’re not necessarily proof that someone has accidentally messed with the universe’s settings.
#8
An Oval Like Cloud Spotted Over Reykjavík Iceland This Morning
#9
I’m Visiting The USA For The First Time: There Was A Glitch In The Matrix Yesterday As I Stood In Line At The Met, NY
Psychologists study how people notice and interpret coincidences, including why certain unexpected combinations feel especially meaningful. When several details line up just right, it’s natural to wonder how they could have happened by chance.
But everyday life contains countless events, and some are bound to line up in extraordinary ways. Sometimes, all it takes is one well-timed photograph to make an ordinary coincidence look like a glitch in reality.
#10
Can’t Help But Think A Ship Just Displaced Out Of The Atmosphere Leaving This Behind
LakotaWolf (she/her) 16 hours ago
That's a fallstreak hole! They form in cumulus cloud formations (cirrocumulus, altocumulus, or stratocumulus) from the very cold water droplets. Passing aircraft disrupt the uber-cold water droplets and the aircraft's exhaust mix with the droplets, causing them to freeze into ice crystals! Thank you, elementary-school meteorology XD
#11
Red Corn From Georgia
#12
The Ice On The Trees Looks Like A Reflection In The Water Or Clouds
Your camera might have a little thing to do with this so-called glitch in the matrix. Many smartphones use a technique called rolling shutter, which records an image line by line rather than capturing the entire scene at precisely the same moment.
Adobe explains that the effect can distort fast-moving subjects, making objects appear bent or warped. It’s a technical quirk rather than a problem with the world itself, but the results can look remarkably like something has gone wrong with the simulation.
#13
Glitch On The Bus
#14
Grapefruit Or Orange
LakotaWolf (she/her) 17 hours ago
This is what is known as a "graft chimera" in horticulture! Grafting is very common, especially in fruit trees (e.g., cultivars that produce larger, tastier fruit are grafted onto hardier rootstocks from cultivars that produce cráppy fruit.) But a graft chimera occurs when two grafted plants actually produce a chimera at the site of union between the bud and seedling or the rootstock and scion. Other branches may produce normal fruits of the two "parent" plants, but the chimera will be a genetic mix of two different fruits, as above.
#15
This Endless No Parking Sign (Atleast 100 More Not In The Picture) Found In Florida
Some of the strangest-looking images come from phenomena that really do happen in nature. Take sprites, which are brief flashes of red light that appear high above powerful thunderstorms.
NASA explains that these electrical discharges occur in the upper atmosphere, around 50 miles above Earth, and can form shapes that look like glowing jellyfish or branching red tendrils.
They’re difficult to predict and can last only a fraction of a second, so catching one on camera is a remarkable stroke of luck. If you saw a picture of one without knowing what it was, you might reasonably wonder whether someone had photographed something from another planet.
#16
The Way This Corn Grew
LakotaWolf (she/her) 17 hours ago
This is called a phyllotactic defect! This is an abnormal arrangement of plant bits (it can be leaves, flowers, or in this case, kernels) when they form around a central stem. This can be due to a de novo mutation, a change in environmental conditions, or similar. This could also be a case of fasciation, but it doesn't follow the normal pattern of fasciated plants.
#17
Zig Zagged Bricks Making A Zig Zagged Shadow
#18
It Got Weirdly Purple Outside The Other Day
Have you ever looked at a tree, a cloud, or a random stain on a wall and spotted a face? Psychologists call this pareidolia, the tendency to perceive familiar patterns, especially faces, in things that don’t actually contain them.
A study published in Nature Communications found that the brain initially processes these illusory faces much like it processes real ones, before recognizing them as ordinary objects.
#19
The Bubbles At The Bottom Of My Water Glass Look Like A Script Of Some Kind 👀
#20
This Thin Streak Of Snow Across Ohio
#21
Mcdonald’s In Roswell, NM
Mirages can make the landscape look as though it belongs in a fantasy film. Under certain atmospheric conditions, light bends as it passes through layers of air at different temperatures. This can make distant objects appear higher than they really are, distorted, or even seemingly suspended above the horizon.
This phenomenon, known as a Fata Morgana mirage, can produce particularly dramatic views of ships or coastlines that appear to float in the sky. These sights may look impossible and otherworldly in a photograph.
#22
An Oddly Specific Speed Limit I Came Across
#23
Mirrored Glitch
#24
He's Just On Top Of The Closet
Door Door 20 hours ago (edited)
Quote from the reddit post: 'Wow, this was hard for me to see. For those that might be confused, this picture is looking up towards the point connecting a wall and the ceiling (the ceiling is the surface in the upper third of the picture). To the left of the cat’s head is a wall. To the right of the cat’s head is a hallway and/or another room. The cat is sitting on something behind the wall and poking his head around the corner.'
Of course, not everything that seems unreal or surreal has an obvious explanation. Unusual timing, camera quirks, scientific phenomena, and optical illusions can all make the world look like something straight out of science fiction.
And even when we can’t quite explain what we’re seeing, we don’t have to believe in parallel universes to enjoy a collection like this. Sometimes, the fun lies in trying to work out what happened, comparing theories, and realizing just how mind-bending the world can be.
#25
This Comically Huge Strawberry That I Purchased From The Grocery Store Today
#26
There Was A Massive Pirate Ship Driving Around My Neighborhood
#27
Devs, I Suggest You Add Some 3D Models, Because These Png Trees Are Really Ruining The Immersion
So, what do you think? Are these just bizarre coincidences and tricks of perception, or have you ever seen something that made you question reality for a second?
Tell us your theories in the comments. We want to hear about the moments that made you wonder whether we're living in a simulation controlled by some higher powers.
#28
Shadow.exe Has Stopped Working
#29
Default_juice
#31
Forgot To Change To The Sky Channel
#32
Forgot To Put A Piece Of Cloud There
#33
This Is A Real Picture I Took 6 Years Ago. Only Half Of The Clouds Rendered Properly
#34
This Flat Fire Extinguisher I Found
#35
Caught Them Changing Shifts
Emma Watson 15 hours ago
Thats just the cat distribution system in action! Now you have two beautiful kitties 😻
#37
This Is 100% Flat Farmland. Several Years Ago I Snapped This Pic Out Of The Plane Window In Eastern Co. The Snow Drifts And Melt On The Crops Had Created An Illusion Of Endless Cubism
#40
Starbucks In Dubai
#42
Who's Messing With The Shadow Graphics?
#43
The Sides Of The Building Were Exactly The Same Color As The Sky
#44
Found These In My Mil’s Back Storage Room! Vhs Tape With Both Spellings On It
Luke || Kira (he/she) 9 hours ago
"Berenstain Bears and The Truth" sounds like a name of a "lost media" creepypasta where the bears meet God who fills their head with all of the universe's knowledge which drives them into murderous insanity
#45
Found A Weird Sprite In My Coke 12 Pack
#48
Yellow Coke
#49
I Genuinely Thought My Car Was Hovering Over The Parking
Bill Swallow 6 hours ago
Another case of multiple light sources and overlapping fields of light and shadow.
#50
I Found A Door (And Nothing Else) On An Abandoned Beach
LakotaWolf (she/her) 16 hours ago
Well, as a huge lifelong fan of Stephen King's Dark Tower series... I know exactly what that door is XD
#51
Two Moons Spotted On My Walk Back Home
#52
I Don't Know If This Counts But This Building Near My House
#54
Entrance Of An Underwater Observatory In Lake Zug (Switzerland). I Took The Photo At The Weekend, Reminds Me The Truman Show
#55
Flying Kayak
#56
Super Trippy Plant I Walked By Today. No Filter Or Nothin
Elladine DesIsles 18 hours ago
Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis). There are plenty of these to be found here in Toronto and the GTA, where they are used in municipal plantings and public parks. They are lovely.
#58
I Guess I'm Still Dreaming
#59
Stop! But If You Really Want To Go I Guess That’s Fine
#60
Subaru Branded Honey From My Local Dealership. Harvested From Their Rooftop
Bill Swallow 6 hours ago
Should put that next to a jar of Lucas-branded electrical wiring harness Smoke.
#61
These Weird Lights In The Sky
#62
TV Scene Changed While Photo Was Being Taken
#65
Blue Pizza Hut
Bill Swallow 6 hours ago
When a business gets a storefront in a building where someone else controls the facade, branding can be problematical.
#66
Red School Bus
Emma Watson 15 hours ago
I think that this bus and the yellow stop sign just wanted to trade colours for the day for sh!ts and giggles
#68
Mirage On Lake Ontario Makes Boat Look Like Its Flying
LakotaWolf (she/her) 16 hours ago
Fata morgana effect! It happens when there are large temperature differences in layers of air. Warm air will sit "on top" of a layer of colder, denser air, and rays of light bend differently in the different temperature layers of air, leading to the look of a "floating" ghost ship.
#69
The Ice Froze... Up And Diagonally???
#71
Cut Into A Watermelon My Husband Picked Up The Other Day At A Farm Stand And We Learned That Yellow Watermelons Are A Thing!
#73
Came Across This Upside Down House
#74
My Friend's Phone Case Blends In With This 1982 School Library Circulation Desk
#75
Shiny Mcdonalds
#76
And What Are The Odds That I Now Have A Set Of Each Color?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 16 hours ago
The top middle red one has gilt (gold) writing, as opposed to the white lettering on all the other dice, including the one in OP's hand. Either someone put an extra non-matching red d*e in there at some point, or OP is faking the post.
#77
Bb.moveobjects On
#78
Ellie's Tattoo Spotted In Brazil - Twice
#79
My Coworker Thought This Was A Glitch Picture And Said I Should Post Here
Bill Swallow 6 hours ago
Looks more like someone's front bumper cover got caught on the ice and ripped off when they backed out. Those things are attached with the flimsiest construction ever.
#80
How!!!?? My Pencil Did This
#82
Mario Bros
#86
Car In A Wall
Bill Swallow 6 hours ago
"You know how it is when you're drifting, and your Oscillation Overthruster conks out? Yeah, I hate when that happens!"
#87
Traffic Glitch (Look At All 3 Cars In Line!)
#89
This Building…?
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