Internet baffled by photo of girl seemingly stuck in sidewalk

By | May 17, 2021

They’re searching for a concrete answer.

A trickster melted the internet’s mind after posting a trippy, non-photoshopped image of a girl seemingly submerged in a sidewalk while playing outside. The perplexing photo surfaced on Reddit about two weeks ago but is blowing up on Twitter as users fumble for an explanation of what, exactly, is happening.

“My daughter, where’s the rest of her?” reads the caption, which then tantalized viewers with the cryptic question: “Ohh I see, do you?”

The Salvador Dalí-evoking snap — posted by Reddit user MK24ever — shows a little girl in pink seemingly buried up to her waist in concrete and stone, as if she’d fallen into sidewalk quicksand.

Needless to say, the physics-defying optical illusion left social media sleuths scratching their heads.

“This is making my brain hurt … I just can’t see it,” tweeted one flummoxed observer of the brain teaser.

Another wrote, “Oh wow that took a minute.”

One jokester even shared the photo on Facebook with the caption: “Please remember to stop by and feed the sidewalk girl on your way home today. Otherwise she will not stop screaming.”

The full image that has baffled viewers of the original post on Reddit.
The full image that has baffled viewers, originally posted on Reddit
Reddit

Eventually, some astute viewers managed to decipher the illusion: The youngster is actually standing behind a low wall that’s made of the same material as the sidewalk. That makes it appear as if it’s part of the same pathway, when, in fact, the entire foreground is on a higher plane.

“Basically, the foreground is higher than where the girl is standing,” tweeted one truth-seeker. “Makes sense, but it’s very tricky.”

The illusion is enhanced by the placement of her elbow on the cobblestone barrier, which further makes the wall and the road seem like one and the same.

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“Her elbow [is on] a wall which is the same(ish) colour as the pavement she’s standing on,” tweeted one viewer.

Another even posted a handy, manipulated photo in which the grass is brightened and the wall’s edges are enhanced to better differentiate between the planes.

Living | New York Post