This Optical Illusion Baffled New Yorkers Back In 1871

Often, you hear about mysteries of long ago and due to advances in science and our understanding of the world, they now seem trivial. Supposed miracles or acts of witchcraft are now revealed to be natural phenomena. But sometimes, things that baffled our ancestors can seem just as strange to us today. One such instance was an optical illusion in New York that occurred in 1871. It's actually still (rarely) observed throughout the world even today. While science now has an explanation for it, it is a complicated mirage that still has the power to amaze witnesses.

The historic Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester is one of the prettiest cemeteries in New York. This 196-acre Victorian graveyard was the first municipal cemetery in the United States.

More than 350,000 people are buried there, including Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.

Mount Hope Cemetery was once home to a massive wooden tower nicknamed the Fandango Tower. The tower was an observation deck that allowed visitors to view the city from a high vantage point.

The image above is what typically was seen from the tower: the city of Rochester, as you would expect.

However, on April 16, 1871, visitors were shocked to see the opposite shore of Lake Ontario. Though the Canadian shore was 50 miles away, it was visible clear as day from the tower, as if the city of Rochester had been replaced.

This optical illusion in New York was a form of mirage known as a Fata Morgana. The illusion forms when light rays bend when passing through air layers of different temperatures in an atmospheric duct.

Though science now has an explanation for this fascinating illusion, it's still just as marvelous to the people of today! Sometimes, the mirages will appear upside down, and the shape and direction of them can change frequently.

The term "Fata Morgana" comes from the character Morgan le Fay. She was a sorceress of Arthurian legend who was believed to use these illusions to draw sailors to false land, drawing them to their death.

Fata Morgana illusions can still occur today, given the right atmospheric conditions. Many believe they could explain legends like the Flying Dutchman, a mysterious ghostly ship trapped at sea.

While the Fandango Tower no longer exists, there's still a chance that Fata Morgana mirages could be observed elsewhere in New York. They are particularly common above water, and one was also reported to have occurred in Buffalo in 1894.