Optical illusion? Smoke and mirrors? Or is this creepy photo of Pikachu the work of the supernatural?
A Twitter user going by the handle of Otonashi posted this unusual photo on the evening of 6 May at around 10:30pm while they were playing around with mirrors. You might not notice it at first but look at the Pikachu on the right of the image, and you’ll find the reflection is facing in a different direction from the original.
The Twitter user also claims to see something odd in the background of the main mirror in the middle.
Still can’t see it? Look closer:
Some Twitter users thought the part in the background might be an eye, but one thought it was the silhouette of a person.
After witnessing this, Otonashi then tweeted about how they were going to take a bath. However, during their soak a Daruma was knocked over seemingly by itself. Daruma dolls are a kind of good luck charm in Japanese culture, and having one fall over by itself would be kind of like having a cross fall down or suddenly flip upside down.
In Japan there is a popular superstition that by looking into two or more mirrors facing each other, spooky things will happen such as seeing yourself at the moment of death. Much like how someone might chant Candyman or Bloody Mary into the mirror, Otonashi thought they would tempt fate by playing with mirrors.
The next afternoon, Otonashi heard a smashing sound and when they checked it out, allegedly found this.
Now, for those of us from countries where people looking into multiple mirrors elicits little more than fond memories of Enter the Dragon, Otonashi’s story may not be terribly convincing.
And although it’s rather nicely done and quite clever, this kind of photo trickery can be done pretty easily by taking two photos, each with Pikachu facing a different direction, from a tripod or even a steady hand. After that you could splice the shots together on something as simple as Microsoft Paint.
Nevertheless, Otonashi’s original tweet racked up 13,000 retweets and several comments of “Scary!” and other exclamations of shock and fear with this tale of a brush with the other side.
Sometimes its more fun to just let go and believe.
Source: Twitter/@otonashi via My Game News Flash (Japanese)
Images: Twitter/@otonashi (Edited by RocketNews24)