@ Josh:

You are correct. The image was an artist’s interpretation of a fictional “brain crashing fractal image” described in a series of science fiction short stories written by David Langford. In other words: yes, we know it can’t harm us. If there was an image that could “fry” your brain, I would most definitely not post it online like this. :P

Just saying, this is a load of bullshit. “Crash the human brain”. The human brain is not a computer that can easily be destroyed. The human brain is a learning machine. There is no image that can destroy the human brain. There are images that can cause distress and memory lose but nothing can crash the human brain. This is a stupid post.

@ John J. Rambo:
Yes, it is too bad Mr. Bayes did not provide more insight into its creation. Fractals in general are rather unsettling to look at, so it seems natural that someone would try to weaponize them (though in the BLIT mythos it was not created for destruction, but rather a result from a experiment), hence Mr. Langford’s brilliant and downright creepy sci-fi series about them. Different Kinds of Darkness was awesome and really expands on the unique and disturbingly-weird world created in BLIT. But why is it the last? Mr. Langford, if you’re back here reading this, give us more BLIT!

Pity the original artist didn’t elaborate any on his inspiration. I’d like to know more about the image from the image creator, as well. Also, it’s awesome that the author replied to your post. I bet that made your day, eh? I know it would mine.

@ Kenneth Bayes:

Hey, I credited you under the picture and linked the image to the original on webshots. If someone clicks on the image it will take them to your original fractal art. I hope this is ok – let me know.

I always try to credit the images I post here and link them to source, but sometimes this is difficult. For example I found this one on some image sharing site where it was uncredited. I believe that the text under the image was added by someone from 4chan’s /x/ board and popularized as an obscure creepy meme, which is how it entered circulation on various message boards and blogs and eventually landed here.

This post was originally published in 2007 which is before Tineye was online. Nowadays when I find an uncredited image I want to post I run it through that search engine to see if I can find the author. It doesn’t always work either.

Anyways, cool image. Were you aiming to create a parrot like shape or was this an accident? If it was intentional, were you inspired by Langfords writing or was this just a coincidence that your fractal image came out in this rather infamous shape?

This is my original artwork. It was stolen to be posted here and has nothing to do with this article. It was done in Sterlingware fractal program. It was done Saturday, August 03, 2002, 7:24:48 PM and is titled, Parrothallucination, (Parrot Vision). I am searching for the original poster and filing copyright infringment complaints for all websites I have found it posted on. If you wish to keep it on this site then please give me credit as the original artist, K.R.Bayes aka, Koonak, aka, duhgly2. otherwise please remove it. Thank you!
I was asked for proof earlier at another site.
http://entertainment.webshots.com/ph…33068624tcOkrT
Check the date and check my email account here I used to sign up.
Also I still have the original fractal spot for this.
This is supposed to be included with all my work. Not sure why it isn’t on some sites unless having my work on those sites automatically copyrights it. I know Webshots does.
“This image is copy written. It is free for personal use and may not be distributed on the web or in a file or disk in any form and may not be altered in any way. Not for commercial use. If you would like to use my work commercialy or on your site please contact the author (me) at duhgly2@xxxxxxxx.com. Once permission is obtained credit must be given once posted.
Thank You,
Kenneth R. Bayes”

When I first looked at the image I got really dizzy and my vision went black. D:

i was kinda freaking out too. i thought it might have been real and i got really excited but scared. To me its very interesting… im gonna use it to freak people out who dont know about it, and try and cause a panic. haha!!!! :)

Omg that’s crazy, after I looked at it I needed to do a s**t out of nowhere and I was really scared that it was actually working haha.

[…] me a minute, but I eventually figured this out. This person was searching for langford baslisks. Here you go random internet person. I hope this […]