Mum ‘creeped out’ after spotting Shakespeare’s face with goatee in cloud
A MUM was left "creeped out" after spotting a cloud resembling the face of William Shakespeare - complete with his signature facial hair.
Shaquira Hobbs was preparing to snap pics of lightning from her home’s veranda in the Macquarie region, New South Wales, Australia, last month when a bright flash made her turn around and spot a dark grey cloud.
The extraordinary shot shows a cloud looking similar to the profile of a man with his forehead, eyes, eyelids, nose and a prominent chin all outlined among the dark grey clouds.
Excited viewers have since pointed out it looks like just like the Bard himself - as they speculated it could have a goatee just like the famous playwright.
The face, which the professional snapper captured floating ominously over Mount Sugarloaf has since gone viral, racking up more than 13,000 reactions on Facebook.
The mum-of-one said "the whole street" heard her shout for her partner Brandon McEwan when she was startled by the sighting.
Shaquira said: "I said 'oh my god' and screamed Brandon's name and told him to come and look, so he he came running out.
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"I'm pretty sure the whole street heard me yell out.
"I had to get him to confirm I was seeing what I was seeing. I couldn't believe it. It all happened to be at the perfect place and the perfect time."
She's since revealed the "intriguing" comparisons, which also included Zeus and Thanos, have made the image her favourite weather shot ever.
"I was creeped out when I saw it. There's so much detail there.
"I could see what looked like a man's forehead and quite a prominent chin.
"After I'd taken the photo and I looked back I was shocked to see the cloud's darkness created an eye socket and an eyelid.
"Some people said it looked like Shakespeare and I can see that. I saw Thanos and Zeus too. I was really intrigued by what people were saying."
Shaquira said the "perfect formation" only lasted for around 30-45 seconds until the cloud shifted into another shape and drifted into the distance.
"I was looking in the complete opposite direction, then there was a big flash behind me. I turned around thinking I was going to miss something and there it was.
"I didn't quite have enough time to get my camera off the tripod to take it, so I grabbed my phone instead. It moved along quickly, so I got the photo just in time.
It was taken at the beginning of storm La Nina which rumbled through Australia last week and has been deemed the worst of its kind to hit the nation for 150 years.
'THIS IS AMAZING'
She posted the startling image to her Facebook story, and it has since gone viral with hundreds of Facebook users praising the capture and suggesting who they think it looks like.
Julie Anne commented: "Looks like Shakespeare."
Sheree Williamson added: "It looks like Thanos is coming."
Deb Griffin Seeley said: "Zeus the god of thunder."
Sheila Marshall wrote: "Wow. This is amazing. I've never seen anything like this before. Absolutely beautiful!"
Nicolla Amy de Sousa said: "Wow that's crazy you can see a male face clear as day."
Seeing recognisable things in otherwise random objects is a phenomenon called pareidolia, a term for a human's tendency to find patterns in random places.
Dr Alan Bowman, a clinical psychologist at Teeside University, said the phenomenon is completely normal and experienced by everyone.
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He said our eyes can “play tricks” on us when our visual environment is ambiguous.
"We have all experienced this at one time or another, for example when that shadow in the forest looks like a person for a fleeting moment, or when we momentarily see a face in a sky full of clouds."
