Horrifying NASA photo of “Bigfoot on Mars” has sparked a major debate

Here’s the story of a “scary” photo that appears to show Bigfoot walking across the surface of Mars.

Few places have captured the creative imagination of UFOlogists, alien hunters and conspiracy theorists as much as Mars.

The Red Planet is one of the closest planets to Earth and serves as both a popular source of inspiration for depictions of aliens and as humanity’s next big step on its journey into space.

The search for life on Mars has not yet provided definitive proof of the existence of extraterrestrial beings, but our imagination is still fired. And one image remains particularly fascinating.

It is, of course, the photo of “Bigfoot on Mars”.

What is the picture “Bigfoot on Mars”?

The panoramic image taken by NASA with its Mars exploration rover Spirit in late 2007 appears to show a figure standing on the eastern ridge of Mars.

The photo was later shared online in early 2008 and received the expected reaction: you guessed it: aliens.

At first glance, the image bears a strong resemblance to common depictions of Bigfoot, or at least a human-like figure with elongated limbs.

According to the BBC, the image was posted online by a Japanese blogger and later went viral; the broadcaster was inundated with emails about the alleged “proof” of life on Mars.

“Bigfoot on Mars” still makes the rounds on the internet from time to time. In a recent Reddit thread, reactions included: “The poor guy escapes to another planet and then thinks: oh shit, here we go again!” and “That’s a lonely guy.”

Could Bigfoot actually have made it to Mars before us? (Getty Stock Images)

What exactly is the object in the photo?

You don’t have to be a great cynic to realize that the image is not actually of one of North America’s largest mythical creatures enjoying an intergalactic journey on its day off from terrorizing lone hikers. It is, in fact, just a rock.

A Planetary Society blog post has since branded the image as one of many examples of “pareidolia,” the phenomenon in which people are able to perceive shapes and patterns in completely random images.

Common examples of pareidolia include seeing faces in inanimate objects such as clouds, the face of Jesus on the Shroud of Turin, and in this case, Bigfoot hanging out on Mars.

Here is the full panorama captured by the rover (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University)

So there you have it: Bigfoot hasn’t actually mastered the art of space travel, it’s just our minds playing tricks on us.

But who knows, maybe next time we’ll actually come across extraterrestrial life as our understanding and exploration of space continues to evolve.