Like the endless staircase, these twelve musical notes seem to go up or down forever. Pass your mouse over the dots one at a time in both directions. Listen carefully. Do the notes get higher in one direction and lower in the other? Which note is highest? Lowest? Each note is really a chord ...

I stop looking...but my eyes keep on going! What keeps our eyes going after we stop looking is something called an after image. After images work because of the way human light receptors work. Our eyeballs are full of them. If we "bathe" them in light, they take a few seconds to calm down. ...

This multicolored cube has a built-in industrial strength contrast illusion, and the effect is mind numbing. The brown square in the center top, and the orange square in the center front are exactly the same shade of brown. Don't believe it? Use the slider bar to darken the background. You will ...

Our favorite games. We have some great games for you. They all require a Java-enabled browser to operate, or a Flash plugin. The plugins are free. Match wits with the Matchstick Game, reveal your mind to the Mystery Mind Reader, click away on a couple of classic Slider Puzzles, try to hide ...

Stare at this figure until a white subjective triangle appears. Can you see it? It is partially covering three circles. The circles look like PACMAN shapes don't they? Use the slider bar to adjust the amount of circle each corner of the triangle covers. By changing the shape of the PACMAN mouths, ...

was built by Mark Newbold and is named after its inventor, Jerry Andrus. It is said that Socrates discovered this effect while staring at a waterfall 2-thousand years ago. Look at the moving patterns in the spiral for 25-30 seconds, or long enough to charge up your light receptors. Now look at ...

Here are some illusions that you can perform and experience with "nothing up your sleeve but dirty elbows," as the magician says. No props are needed, and you can amaze yourself or your friends right now. Follow the simple directions for each of the examples below. If you know of any "personal ...

Mirage comes from the French word mirer, to look at; or se mirer, to be reflected. The phenomena includes the appearance of lakes in arid deserts and hot asphalt roads, the images of ships and icebergs, frequently seen as if inverted and suspended in the atmosphere in the Polar Regions, the Polar ...

The 44th President is no llusion! But this illusion is a great one. Look at these 2 upside down images of Barack Obama. Do you see anything wrong? Use the slider to flip the image upside-right! Whoa! What happened?

This design will generate apparent motion even though it isn't moving at all. The motion is anticlockwise. Keep your eyes moving when you look at the image. Use your peripheral vision to see the illusory motion.

If I be I be, and you be you be, who be he be? — Word Riddle "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men." —Gene Wilder from Willy-Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Ambiguous illusions seem like they have multiple personalities because they can often appear as one thing then ...

Vanitas Vanitatum, Omnia Vanitas A biblical phrase was the inspiration for Charles Gilbert's allegorical and ambiguous illusion. The phrase translates as; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” It is from Ecclesiastes 1:2, in which King Solomon expounds upon the vanities of the world. Charles Allen ...