Belmez Faces

The Belmez Faces is an alleged paranormal phenomenon in a private house in Spain which started in 1971.

In Aug 23 1971, Maria Gomez Camara noticed an expressionistic, painterly image of a man's face spontaneously appeared on her kitchen floor. Terrified, she ordered her son and husband to destroy the concrete, and to replace it.

One week later, another face appeared in the same spot again. Family wanted to destroy the image, but this time the town mayor intervened and had the offending slab of cement removed and preserved. The property was known to have been a graveyard in the past, so the floor was excavated in hopes of finding whatever was causing the phenomena. It was believed that the Pereira house, built circa 1830, stood above a graveyard used by the Romans, Spanish Muslims, and then Medieval Christians. Indeed, subsequent digging revealed human bones buried deep beneath the home, human remains were discovered 9 feet down and given a proper burial, and a new floor was put up.

Two weeks later, another man's face appeared, and two weeks after that, the face of a woman surrounded by 9 to 15 tiny faces. Their slow development was witnessed by investigators at the home. Some of the faces also quickly disappeared, fading within hours.

Belmez Faces

This affirmation did not end the phenomenon at Belmez, faces continued to appear on the floor both males and females some tiny in size, some large. The floor was torn out a number of times, but the faces returned every time it was restored. The images were scrubbed with detergent, but the eyes widened and the expressions changed, the pictures persisted over time, the faces seemed to age. Chemists tested samples of the cement, but found no evidence of paints or dyes.

Mysterious things had attracted crowds. At one point 5,000 people a day lined up outside to see the mysterious faces and the house was kept under 24-hour guard. Some of these were able to watch the faces appear before them, but there was never a consensus on their expression or meaning. Occasionally, these images would appear and then disappear within the course of a single day, others would last longer.

Many theories came out for why these faces were appearing on the floor. One popular theory was that the house was built on an old graveyard. It is said that an excavation beneath the house took place, and several bodies were disinterred and removed to be reburied elsewhere, however this did not stop more faces from forming. All attempts at washing away the faces failed. Cleaning agents, bleaches and even plain water failed to remove the faces. At times, they seemed to fade a little only to get back within hours.

Professional investigators were called out to look into this apparent paranormal phenomenon. Many experiments were carried out, including chemical analysis of the concrete, and any compounds found within it. These early tests determined that no paint was found in either of the two faces they tested in fine detail

Tape recorders were left in the house which was locked and sealed tight. The family was located away from place and no one had access to the house. When the audio was played back the sounds of human moaning and wailing could just be made out. Was the source of these disturbing sounds the cause for the human features in the kitchen?

There were several investigations on Belmez faces:

• The Forgery Hypothesis:

In Spain skeptical parapsychologists have maintained the forgery hypothesis. The first and most famous of the Belmez faces had coloration and deduced it had been painted:

"Through infrared photography we saw that this one had added pigmentation [over the original appearance], and even the paint brush bristles could be perceived. Of course, after that we had no doubts it had been painted".

In an article published in the July 1993 issue of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research Luis Ruiz-Noguez noted  the presence of three pigments in the manufacture of paint must be mentioned: zinc, lead and chromium. Two of these, lead and chromium, lay the foundation for suspecting the use of paint in making the Belmez faces. Lead was used for several reasons:

1.     Lead was the most commonly used pigment in making the primary colors.

2.     The percentage of chromium in the analysis is too low to be a viable option.

3.     Lead tends to cause dark, difficult-to-see colorations, something that does not happen in chromium.

4.     The most common and cheapest primary colors are enamels that contain lead; besides, these enamels are widely used in the home, since they are easy to apply.

The ICV analysis does not demonstrate the non-existence of paint. On the other hand, Ruiz-Noguez also points to several objections to the hypothesis of utilization of paint on the ICV samples: alkydalic-type enamels do not withstand abrasion; paint leaves a film that is easily differentiated from the substratum; and the alkydalics' chemical tolerance to acids, alkalis and detergents is low.

• The Thoughtographic Hypothesis:

The main researchers of the Bélmez case were Hans Bender and Germán de Argumosa. Bender’s crucial statement referred to the sealing of areas of the floor where some faces were in progress with a transparent plastic material:

"In Bélmez, slight changes of the faces' configuration during the period when the phenomenon was under seal (attested by a notary) have contributed to ensure its paranormal origin."

Scientific studies carried out on a Bélmez face were performed by Institute of Ceramics and Glass states that "The result, expressed in extremely abridged form, was that no traces of paint were found at any place”.

          People arrived at many conclusions, Ruiz-Noguez believes that the most likely explanation for the visual effect of the Bélmez images was the use of an oxidizing chemical agent. For example, nitric, sulfuric, muriatic, acetic acid, and others, could be used to obtain such an effect. Some studies stated that use of agents sensitive to light silver nitrate which, when subjected to ultraviolet sunlight, darkens. Products that leave the cement intact but change their chemical structure upon contact with external agents such as light or chemical reagents may be the cause of faces.

Brian Dunning of Skeptoid has written that "the faces were shown to have been painted on the concrete floor, the first with paint and later with acid, and the woman living in the house found to be perpetrating a hoax on the public for financial gain."

Claims suggest that the faces were manifested on the floor by telekinesis.The notion was based on the claim that expressions on their faces used to change with the mood of Maria Pereira.

Of course, scientists have found it possible to analyze the molecular changes in the whitewash and prove that some fakery was involved. Many now believe that the paintings were actually created by Maria’s son, Diego Pereira.