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What is that image?

Thursday, September 13, 2001

A demonic face stared out from the smoke at the World Trade Center, newspaper readers nationwide say.

by BRYCE HOFFMAN

THE SAGINAW NEWS

A front-page photograph on more than 13,000 copies of Tuesday's Saginaw News has prompted some to believe that Satan himself presided over terrorist attacks on the United States.

The picture, shot by an Associated Press photographer, captured the features of a seemingly demonic face -- eyes, nose, mouth, beard and horns -- as it emerged from the billowing smoke over the World Trade Center, observers say.

"It popped right out at me," said 17-year-old Brad Witt of Merrill. "It's apparently the face of a demon or the devil. There's nothing else that it could be. I've never seen anything like that before."

The son of Steve and Sheila Witt of Merrill said he bought a copy of The Saginaw News to keep as a reminder of the historic tragedy and immediately noticed a face in the smoke.

"I don't see a way it could be just sheer coincidence," he said. "I believe in God above and heaven and hell. It wasn't God's work at hand here."

The image dominated the front page in the fourth and fifth editions of The News -- about one-fifth of the 56,535 newspapers printed in six editions that day. Carriers delivered it to homes and newsstands in outlying areas of Saginaw County, including Frankenmuth, Hemlock, St. Charles and Merrill.

A later edition for delivery to homes closer to Saginaw did not carry the picture because new information and better, more current photographs became available, said Editor Paul Chaffee.

Witt was among scores of people who called to inquire whether staff members altered the photograph (they did not) or to ask for reprints. The News does not own the rights to the photo.

Discussion surrounding the photograph also surfaced on mid-Michigan talk radio programs and on Flint-based ABC affiliate Channel 12, WJRT.

"I wanted to ignore (concern over the photograph) because I did not want to trivialize an incomprehensibly tragic event," Chaffee said, "but I don't think I can anymore. We're getting all kinds of calls.

"People are going to see what they see, and there's no debating that. Having said that, it was smoke."

There is no telling how many of the 1,700 Associated Press member newspapers in the United States carried the image. However, speculation about the photograph was not limited to Saginaw County, the New York-based news cooperative reported.

I.J. Kranats, president of the International Association of Arson investigators, based in Bridgeton, Mo., said it was not unusual for people to see unusual images in smoke clouds.

As a fire generates heat, it draws in cold air while unburned debris swirls through the smoke, causing the clouds to look thinner in some areas and thicker in others, he said. Natural wind currents can contribute to the effect, he said.

Mid-Michigan religion and psychology experts disagreed over the likelihood of otherworldly intervention in Tuesday's events and whether the picture portrays the face of the devil.

"Satan's power is very real, so it's certainly within the realm of possibility," said the Rev. Mark Brandt, pastor of Frankenmuth's St. Lorenz Lutheran Church, 140 Churchgrove. "We certainly see Satan's work in the events (Tuesday), if not in that picture.

"Satan is a real entity, and a lot of people today don't believe that. A lot of people would chalk up a picture like that to the power of suggestion."

Gerald L. Peterson, who has not seen the photograph, is among the naysayers.

The Saginaw Valley State University psychology professor and co-founder of the Tri-City Skeptics, a group that searches for scientific explanations for apparently paranormal events, said the image likely is "a trick of the brain" similar to the way people can spot pleasant pictures in clouds.

"The human brain tends to seek some kind of pattern," he said. "It tends to look for figures in random or ambiguous stimuli."

In this case, he said, widespread fear and uncertainty prepared people's minds to search for cosmic symbols of good and evil in the aftermath of the attacks.

"It's a social phenomenon," he said. "It's not uncommon."

Morley Glicken, program director of the department of social work at Central Michigan University and an expert on the psychology of grief, at first offered a similar explanation.

He retracted his remarks within seconds of seeing the picture for himself.

"It's disturbing," he said. "It could be just an optical illusion or it could have broader meaning. I'm sort of caught between being rational about it and being concerned about what I saw.

"I can't give you an explanation. It does look very ominous and evil."

Regardless, Brandt said, the faithful can take heart that the forces of good are not defeated.

"There are supernatural forces at work in this world that are far beyond our ability to understand," he said. "While Satan is real, we know that God's power is also real and stronger. Otherwise, we've got nothing to live for." t

Bryce Hoffman is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9673.