O.k.,

To make this short and sweet: What, if anything, does the "figure" on Mars truly represent?

This object has been ballyhooed as meaningful with little objective thought applied; similarly, it has been panned, derided and dismissed by bloggers and others with an equal lack of attention to detail and consideration of the facts.

The object is obviously humanoid. The resemblance is not superficial. It appears to set on and be part of a carved pedestal of stone, with raised relief blocks along the side and a rounded top. But many say that this is just coincidence, that "human-looking" forms can be found by an eager eye seeking patterns.

Given the nature of the weather on Mars, could such a well-formed simulacrum, with outstretched arm and hand, torso, neck and head, really come about purely by chance? Could such a well-formed shape be carved purely by the blind caprice of wind-driven sand?

The obvious way to decide this question is to take a look at the original photograph from NASA. This photo shows a bleak desert location, strewn with rock debris--or is it the devastated remains of something else, something more meaningful? If it is, how would we know without stepping foot there ourselves, and beyond this, bypassing government censors? Because if evidence is ever brought out, decidedly and undeniably, that there was once a civilization on Mars, that there are ruins there after all, and so on, well...all bets are off.

The race to the moon will look like a joke by comparison. Every technically-capable nation on Earth will strive, connive, and do their damnedest to get to Mars first, to make and claim the lion's share of discoveries, to parcel off the most important and meaningful finds. It will unleash the greatest treasure-hunt and "gold rush" in human history. And people just might die. Wars might even be fought as a result.

Perhaps this is the reason for some of the secrecy which goes on when it comes to anomalous "things" on Mars.

Going back to looking at the photograph: below you will see a low-res version of the high-res original, for the web. On this version there are some numbers; these numbers correspond to other "questionable" items which are to be seen AT THE SAME SITE on Mars. One anomalous form? Call it chance. Two, call it coincidence. Three or more? Come on now.

By the way, there are other forms in the image which are perhaps even more Mars-shaking in their implications. These are NOT marked, but I invite you to download the original high-res file from here (CAREFUL: right-click and save to your drive, because the file is TOO LARGE to open in most browsers) and look for yourself. You might just be surprised at what you find.

In the meantime, peruse the images below. Maybe they're all just an interplanetary mirage, "chance," a "trick of the eye".

Or maybe they're not.

-Wm. Michael Mott, January 24, 2008

PHOTOS:

Update: 1/25/08: Well, some brainiac debunker-wannabe is claiming the figure is a photoshopped-in image of a famous earthly sculpture, the Danish "Little Mermaid" statue.

As I just noted on another blog, what a nice Fortean coincidence, and the similarity was noted right off by many people, several days ago.

I have a sculpture that I created years ago that also has a very similar form, when viewed from a certain angle.

However, unless NASA is pulling the prank on the entire world, the "statue" form is PRESENT in the actual raw footage available for download from their website:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/207432main_sol1369a-F-20080102-hires.tif

The main page from which to download the original image is here:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/images/sol1369a-F-20080102.html

Yep, it's in there!

So, nice try at debunking, but it just doesn't wash. Whatever "it" is, "it" is actually in the photo of the Martian surface--or else NASA is hoaxing everyone.

The Fortean element of obfuscation has entered the arena.