This brick-wall optical illusion is giving the Internet fits
Join thousands of other people baffled by an image of a brick wall that is building a viral life for itself on social media.
Can you see it? Look again. No, really. Look closer. See it now? Yes, it's a brick wall. But it's also something else. The latest optical-illusion challenge to sweep the Internet is a seemingly dull photo of a pretty ordinary brick wall.
UK resident Arron Bevin posted it to his Facebook page on Monday with the message "This is one of the best optical illusions Iv seen." You can't look away until you've sorted out what's going on.
The Facebook post now has nearly 30,000 shares and over 42,000 comments. The discussion even spilled over to Twitter, where people are saying things like "it took me SOOOO long to get that brick wall optical illusion thing. So obvious now hahaha" and "Once you see the illusion in this brick wall you'll feel you've achieved everything in life."
This isn't quite the same as the famous blue/black or white/gold dress incident that flummoxed the Internet over a year ago. The brick wall is more of an old-school optical illusion where you need to purposefully adjust the way you're viewing the photo to see what's hidden in the image. Once you get there, you can't un-see it.
Some viewers have completely given up on uncovering the secret, refusing to believe there's anything to see besides a stack of masonry. Trust me, there is something there. It took me a few minutes to locate it, at which point I felt a mixture of satisfaction and mild disappointment. You'll understand when you see it.
If you're feeling frustrated and need a hint, then follow Bevin's instructions: "Just look at what you originally looked at straight away." See it now? Good.