The Belmez Faces

The Belmez Faces first made their appearance in the small town of Belmez, Spain, on August 23, 1971.  On the kitchen floor of Maria Gomez-Pierera's home, an image of the above face appeared.  It was thought to be of paranormal origin, and six days later, the floor was ripped up and replaced with a new cement floor in an effort to remove the apparition.

One week later, a new face appeared in the same spot as the first one.  Word got around the little town, and the mayor ordered the face cut from the floor and preserved.  Knowing that the town was built on top of a graveyard, the floor was dug up and human remains were found nine feet down.  They were removed, and a new floor laid.

Two weeks later, the images began to reappear on the second brand-new floor after it was installed.  The images began to appear with regular frequency, sometimes coming and going within a single day, while other times taking several days to appear and disappear.  They often appeared before onlookers, who swore that the faces changed expression almost before their very eyes.  Investigators made tape recordings while the house was empty, and were said to have recorded wails, whispers, and crying.

Repeated attempts to clean the floor by scrubbing failed.  The floor was ripped up several times and replaced, only to have the faces appear again and again.  Chemists were unable to detect any substances in the faces that were not supposed to be present in concrete, and were at a complete loss to explain the faces.  To this day, the images of the Belmez Faces remain one of the most mysterious of paranormal events ever recorded.