In the bizarre world of social media, and particularly for those with an interest in topics such as UFOs and ETs, it’s ordinary to see the wildest of stories. There are frequent posts about ETs living among us who disguise their true faces. In such stories, Reptilians are hiding in plain sight, for example. They’re everywhere despite there being no hard evidence offered. For thousands of years, people have insisted there are monstrous beings among us, demons or dragons, particularly in religious contexts.
As with most such imaginative stories, there’s no proof, but people are convinced nonetheless. And who is to say what someone else has experienced? Can they all be wrong? Or is it something they are so sure of because it’s something some rare individuals can perceive, which others can’t? It’s a bit like seeing a person’s aura, only visible through some mystical ability.
Each individual’s perception is a world unto itself, especially when you factor in altered states of consciousness. There’s even scientific evidence to suggest that some people may genuinely perceive distorted faces, even a Reptilian appearance in some cases.
Woman Sees Reptilian Faces
As an article in The New Yorker shared, Ellen Novara-da Lima from the Netherlands reported sometimes seeing Reptilian or monstrous faces around her. Although others would see them as ordinary people, doctors diagnosed her with a condition that affected her perception of faces.
Ellen Novara-da Lima wrote to Oliver Sacks about it in 2011. He had written about a condition called severe prosopagnosia or “face blindness” the previous year, which he said afflicted millions in the United States alone, or about 2% of the population. Since childhood, he found it difficult to recognize faces and places, even his own reflection in a mirror.
“In 2011, a Dutch woman named Ellen Novara-da Lima sent Sacks an e-mail. “I am a woman of 52 years old, and I suffer from an illness,” she wrote. “I think there’s no name for it. I see monsters, ugly faces all day.” Because Sacks couldn’t evaluate her from New York, he referred her to a neurologist in the Netherlands, Jan Dirk Blom, who published a paper about her with Sacks as a co-author. “She could perceive and recognize actual faces, but after several minutes, they turned black, grew long, pointy ears and a protruding snout, and displayed a reptiloid skin,” they wrote.
Prosopometamorphopsia or PMO
In her case, Sacks and Blom diagnosed her as having a rare condition: prosopometamorphopsia, or PMO. Rather than not recognizing faces, people with PMO can see severely distorted faces, often affecting one side of the face. Some see what would be described as “demonic” features, dragons with stretched and warped features, strange textures (like tree bark or potato skins), or entirely different faces appearing on someone with no relation.
Brad Duchaine, from the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department at Dartmouth, says he’s seen several incidents of patients with PMO who see faces as dragons. Another saw faces that resembled the Dementors from Harry Potter. In some cases, Duchaine says, psilocybin use might increase the likelihood of seeing face distortions.
Perceiving Demon Faces Due to PMO
In another case, a man with PMO, Jason Werbeloff, began seeing faces become bizarrely distorted after recovering from severe mononucleosis.
After 14 years of living with it, he explained how people might mistake it as something demonic.
“I don’t believe in demons,” Jason Werbeloff related. “But I can totally understand that someone who was religious would find it a deeply religiously disturbing experience.”
Video by the HISTORY Channel about Reptilian-appearing “Archon” humanoid beings in the Nag Hammadi Codices:
People Living with PMO
Rather than seeing actual demons or dragons, in reality, people with PMO are seeing distortions related to the complex ways the brain perceives, interprets, and recognizes facial features.
In some cases, people don’t see distorted faces when viewed on screens. Interestingly, the distorted faces are only visible in the 3-D world around them. Some people with PMO don’t see the distortions as much when they wear glasses with colored or tinted lenses (see video below).
Scientists don’t yet understand how the brains’ built-in facial recognition abilities work or why those with PMO see faces in so many different ways. But they suspect many people are out there who are living with the condition and don’t know why it’s happening.
Of course, if a doctor suggested those visions were due to a brain condition, some might see that as insulting or suspicious. And who’s to say with absolute certainly if there really are monstrous beings out there? But they should know they aren’t alone. See more in the video below which includes many personal accounts of people living with PMO.
Werbeloff talks about prosopometamorphopsia or PMO in an episode of the “Brain in a Vat” podcast below:
Featured image: Reptilians Crew pyramid, urban art on Casas de Campos street, Malaga, Spain, Daniel Capilla, Wikimedia Commons