In August 2024, two female tourists, Jessee Clauson and Camille Avarella, embarked on a 15-day climbing adventure in the Longs Peak region of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.
Their usual routine of posting scenic climbing photos on social media took an unexpected turn when they captured a bizarre image that quickly went viral.
The photo, which was initially intended to show a beautiful morning landscape with a gray cloud hanging over the mountain, had something unusual in the center: a strange, sinuous shape. When the image was enlarged, this ‘snaking’ was revealed to be a thin, humanoid figure seemingly clinging to the side of a steep cliff.
The figure stood in stark contrast to the natural environment and appeared to be approximately 6 meters tall. Nothing similar was seen in other photos taken by Clauson and Avarella. The duo were left stunned and unable to determine if what they saw was something supernatural or simply a case of pareidolia.
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon in which people see familiar shapes, such as faces or human figures, in random objects or patterns. In this case, it refers to the possibility that the strange figure in the photo is merely an illusion created by shadows, rocks, or other natural features.
To solve the mystery, the pair turned to the Internet for opinions, but online users were evenly divided. Some speculated that the figure may have been nothing more than the tangled roots of a creeping plant, while others believed it could be something more sinister, such as a nauwo – a mythical creature from Native American folklore.
Others suggested that the climbers return to the site to investigate, but both Clauson and Avarella hesitated. Despite their curiosity, they admitted they were not keen on another grueling fifteen-day trek through the mountains.
Avarella told how the figure was first noticed: ‘We were looking at the mountain pictures on our TV and suddenly my father asked, ‘What is hanging there?’ And we all just stared and said, ‘What the hell is that?’ It could be a piece of rock, but the anatomy is so human: it’s bizarre.”
Clauson added with a laugh, “I like to think it was an alien.”
