A perplexed man captured a breathtaking optical illusion that appeared to depict a sizable boat seemingly suspended in the sky.
Colin McCallum spotted a red ship seemingly hovering above the horizon while traveling through Banff, Aberdeenshire. He initially recorded the unusual sight before deciphering the mechanism behind the optical illusion.
Colin, a health and safety worker hailing from Turriff, Aberdeenshire, shared the video and accompanying images on Facebook with the caption: 'Saw a real-life optical illusion in Banff today.'
Colin said: 'When I first saw the boat, I had to do a double-take because I genuinely thought it was floating.
'Upon further inspection, however, I noticed that it was in fact just a remarkable optical illusion.'
He added: 'It was caused by a cloud formation closer to the shore which changed the color of the water closer to the land.
'The boat, being further away, was in a cloudless area, and therefore the sky reflected the sea - making it look like the boat was floating.'
In the image, the portion of water closer to the shore appears darker due to the shadow cast by another cloud formation. Although the ship's keel is submerged in the water, it gives the illusion of a shallow vessel hovering above the horizon.
The footage left social media users baffled, with some describing it as 'eerie'.
One person said: Superior Mirage, they call these. I've seen them often.
A second wrote: It's a common optical illusion, actually.
A third said: OMG, what am I seeing, this ship is so weird.
Someone else said: it looked like the boat was floating
Another said: I saw it in a Historical Documentary called "Pirates of the Caribbean"
“I've been going to the beach my whole life, I ain't NEVER seen any sh*t like this!” Someone added.
Watching the video below:
