25/08/2026
How does a rock end up looking almost exactly like Cookie Monster?
In late 2020, an unusual agate from Soledade in southern Brazil reached Brazilian gemologist Lucas Fassari.
California mineral collector Mike Bowers later bought the specimen.
Once the agate was cut open, its interior revealed something strangely familiar.
Blue bands formed the outline of a face, two round cavities looked like eyes, and a crystal-lined opening resembled a wide smiling mouth.
Even the two matching halves carried the same basic face.
The resemblance wasn't carved or added afterward.
Agates can form when silica-rich fluids enter cavities in volcanic rock and slowly deposit layers of microcrystalline quartz.
In this case, those natural layers and empty spaces happened to line up in a very recognizable way.
It's a good example of pareidolia, the tendency of our brains to find familiar shapes, especially faces, in random patterns.
Bowers shared images online in January 2021, and the rock quickly gained attention.
He later said collectors had offered more than $10,000 for it.
Geologically, it's an agate.
To almost everyone looking at it, though, there's a blue monster staring back.
Credit: Mike Bowers
