5688559
Note added 5 December 2001: It turns out I was wrong in at least one respect. I am now convinced that the images were not doctored: see here and here.
I still do not believe these faces are actually the manifestation of Satan, of course. I would be interested to see the results of someone going frame-by-frame through the pictures and finding other just-as-convincing visages: a cowboy, perhaps, or an elephant, or The Phantom of the Opera.
My apologies to those whom I harshly accused of idiocy.
If I had slightly less faith in humanity I might have seen this coming: so far 29 (see below for current number) people have hit my Live Recordings Trade Center looking for variations on a theme of “Satan/Devil face in World Trade Center”. Can we assume there has been an imbecilic rumor floating about that if you freeze-frame one of the explosion recordings, and turn your head just right, you see the face of (whoooah, man!) Satan?
I know on an intellectual level that people are scrambling to make sense of the disaster, but the fact that this story is being gobbled up strains credulity. Maybe they are Asimov fans: his 1956 short story Hell-Fire covered this ludicrous ground. Regarding the Asimov story, reviewer John Jenkins writes:
This and “Silly Asses” are Asimov’s two worst nuclear war
cautionary tales, being too short, too obvious, and having nothing
of merit outside of their message. In this case, the fact that the
story’s conclusion–the face of Satan is visible in the explosion–has basically been headline material for the likes of the
National Enquirer doesn’t help it. Avoid this story, if possible.
Yes, folks: avoid this story if possible.
Note added 14 Sept 2001, 21:30:
The total searches for ‘devil in trade center’, ’satan face in world trade center’, etc. to hit my site now number 122.
Note added 16 Sept 2001, 10:30:
The total has now grown to 207.
Note added 17 Sept 2001, 23:45:
We are up to (brace yourself) 352.
Note added 19 Sept 2001, 11:15:
We have now reached 443.
Note added 20 Sept 2001, 11:15:
Another 89 hits in the last 24 hours; now up to 532. And this has to be a very tiny sampling, since savvy web searchers would disregard the “hit” from the Google excerpt that shows on the search results page. If one searches for “devil face in world trade center”, the following appears on page 1:
Live Recordings Trade
Center: List of Recordings
… Devil
By His Side; … In The Free World; Tuning Up for … 95,
The Delta Center, Salt Lake
City … so if you trade
with me I … Flow; Daughter > Broken Face > Real Me >
Another …
www.mcgees.org/livereclist.html - 17k
- Cached
- Similar
pages
If one searches for “satan face in world trade center”, the following appears on page 2 of the results:
Live Recordings Trade
Center: List of Recordings
… In The Free
World; Tuning Up for … Small Town; Rats; Satan’s Bed;
Once; Sonic … 95, The
Delta Center, Salt Lake City …
if you trade with me … Daughter > Broken Face >
Real Me …
www.mcgees.org/livereclist.html - 17k
- Cached
- Similar
pages
I finally gave in and looked into this rumor a bit more. A Salon article attributes much of the hullabaloo to Art Bell. Apparently he discussed this on his radio talk show, and posts some faked pictures on his website. Here I will be blunt: If a viewer has even the slightest sophistication regarding, or experience with, digital images, it will be immediately obvious that these are nothing more than rather poorly-executed fakes.
Note added 22 Sept 2001, 12:00:
661
Note added 24 Sept 2001, 11:20:
This post is about to fall off the front page of mcgees.org, so this may be the last addendum. The total is now a staggering 826.
Email subscription
