A man was baffled after spotting a breathtaking optical illusion that appeared to depict a sizable boat seemingly suspended in the sky.
Colin, who is known as 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 McCallum spotted a red ship seemingly hovering above the horizon while traveling through Banff, Aberdeenshire. Initially, he recorded the unusual sight and shared it on Facebook to find the answer.
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.'
The picture showed that the ship was at sea. The portion of water closer to the shore appears darker due to the shadow cast by another cloud formation. Besides, the cloud closer to the shore caused the ship's keel to be submerged in the water, creating the illusion that the ship was hovering above the horizon.
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.'
The video quickly went viral on social media, leaving several people puzzled by a bizarre optical illusion while another was surprised by the strangeness of nature.
One person said: Superior Mirage, they call these. I've seen them often.
A second wrote: It's a common optical illusion, actually.
While 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 haven't ever seen anything like this! Someone added.
