The House of Many Faces

Have you ever looked at your walls or ceilings for a little too long and began seeing eyes or faces in the divots and lines? I think a lot of us have done this at some point or another, imagined shapes out of nothing. I’ve seen faces in clouds, along the ground, many times. It can be a very neat, imaginative thing.

Until it isn’t.

You usually seek it out yourself for fun or out of boredom. But a family in Andalusia, Spain didn’t seek it out. Instead, the faces came to them.
Over and over and over.

Let’s get settled in, maybe read this with the lights are off.

In 1971, Maria Gomez Camara caught sight of a strange looking face on her concrete floor, appearing out of nowhere. Distraught and disturbed, her husband Juan Pereira and their son laid new concrete in the spot after taking a pickaxe to the macabre piece of kitchen floor.

However, the effort was pointless. Another face showed up on the floor. Though this time, they didn’t destroy the face. Instead, the mayor of Belmez ordered the chunk of flooring to be taken in for study. But this was far from the only face to appear on their floor.
And they were far from the only people to know about the phenomenon. By Easter of 1972, Maria’s home was flooded with the curious and the skeptical after being advertised as “The House of the Faces.”

For 30 years, the family claimed to see many faces in their flooring, both male and female, with various expressions and creepy exclamations.

Real or Hoax?

Many Belmez residents believe these faces could not have been created by human hands, while others were not so easy to believe in the paranormal explanation. Skeptics have believed for many years that this was nothing more than a cash grab by the family.
One journalist by the name of Luis Ruiz-Noguez wrote for the Journal of the Society of Psychical Research, and stated that zinc, lead, and chromium could have been used in the production of these faces, possibly leading to the theory of the family using paint. But he also couldn’t prove that paint had been used. To further dive into this hypothesis, you can continue reading here.

Another individual, Jose Luis Jordan, vice president of the Spanish Society of Parapsychology, dived into the case as well. Despite being heavily involved in the paranormal, he too was skeptical.
He gathered a group of technicians that specialize in concrete chemistry to try and solve this mystery. He later concluded that several mixtures could have been used to create the illusion but from what I could find, nothing was definitive or concrete.
But eventually, others also dove into this idea that the famly simply used paint, however in 1990, through an IVC (institute of Ceramics and Glass) analysis, no traces of paint residue could be found on chunks of flooring.

For years, it has been a debate of fact or fiction, whether or not the family used chemical compounds to create such faces or if it was in fact paranormal phenomenon, the ghosts of the deceased plaguing the family with eerie appearances. Over the years, paranormal enthusiasts and investigators have visited the home and have been in favor of the family not faking anything at all, some saying they have seen faces appear before their eyes.

Personally, I don’t know which way I lean. I’ve had my fair share of paranormal experiences and being a believer, I can see where something like this could happen. However, I do have a skeptical side, which says that a number of different things (mainly chemical compounds) could logically have been used.
One thing is for sure. If creepy, ghostly faces started appearing on my floors and walls, I think I’d be moving out yesterday..But either way, this story is quite compelling.

But I’d love to know what you think, as always!

Thank you once again for joining me and thank you for being patient while I took a much needed break.

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More haunted history here…